so ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr was admitted without her asking for clarification; she had given the blanket permission, “Enter, all of you.” They stepped inside, and she was behind the partition—the special hijab of the Mothers of the Believers. This was a curtain behind which they concealed themselves so that people could not see them; it is different from the hijab required of ordinary women, which is covering the face and body. Rather, this was a physical screen separating the Mothers of the Believers from others.
Once inside the house, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr went beyond the curtain, for he was her sister’s son and therefore one of her permanent maḥrams. He threw himself upon her, kissing her, weeping, imploring her by Allah, warning her of the sin of cutting ties, and explaining that such estrangement was impermissible. She replied, “The vow is binding; it is a grave matter.”
The two Companions then persuaded her to abandon the boycott she had resolved upon. They reminded her of the Prophet’s ﷺ saying that it is unlawful for a believer to shun his brother for more than three days. At length she was convinced; she wept and spoke to ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr. Yet the issue continued to weigh heavily on her, and whenever she remembered it she would cry—may Allah be pleased with her—because of its seriousness. This is a general principle: the better one knows Allah, the more one fears Him. Each time she recalled the vow and how she had contravened it, she would weep—may Allah be pleased with her.
Despite that, she emancipated forty slaves in expiation for that vow, hoping that Allah would thereby free her neck from the Fire. This clearly shows the depth of the Mothers of the Believers’ faith and their eagerness to be delivered from Hellfire and the punishment reserved for the disbelievers.
From this ḥadīth we glean several lessons:
1_ It is not permissible for a person to boycott his brother for more than three days—especially if the latter is a close relative—and he must break his oath and offer expiation, in accordance with the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: “Whoever swears…"