The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—had also taken as a son-in-law a man of Banū Umayyah who was inferior to Uthmān: Abū al-Ās ibn al-Rabīʿ. He gave him his eldest daughter, Zaynab, in marriage and praised his conduct as a son-in-law, holding up his example to Alī when Alī wished to marry Abū Jahl’s daughter. He said:

“Banū al-Mughīrah have asked my permission to marry their daughter to Alī ibn Abī Tālib. I do not permit it; again, I do not permit it; again, I do not permit it—unless Ibn Abī Tālib wishes to divorce my daughter and marry theirs. By Allah, the daughter of Allah’s Messenger and the daughter of Allah’s enemy will never be married to the same man. Fātimah is a part of me: whatever distresses her distresses me (1), and whatever hurts her hurts me.”

Then he mentioned a son-in-law of his from Banū Abd Shams, praised him, and said:

“He spoke to me truthfully, and he made me a promise and fulfilled it.” (2)

Such, too, was Uthmān’s conduct as his son-in-law: he remained praiseworthy throughout, and nothing on his part (3) gave the Prophet cause to reproach him in that relationship. Indeed, he said:

“If we had (4) a third daughter, we would have married her to Uthmān.”

This indicates that Uthmān’s relationship with the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—as his son-in-law was more perfect than Alī’s (5). Fātimah was his youngest daughter; she outlived him and suffered the affliction of losing him, thereby attaining merits that the others did not. It is well known that an elder daughter is ordinarily married before a younger one. Thus, Abū al-Ās first married Zaynab in Mecca; then Uthmān married Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthūm, one after the other.