“When the Prophet intended to set out for Khaybar, I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, let me go out with you, so that I may mend the water-skins and treat the wounded’”—to the end of the hadith. It also states: “You have female companions from among your people and others to whom I have granted permission, so remain with Umm Salamah.”

I say: Al-Wāqidī is abandoned, so no weight can be given to his hadith, especially where it conflicts with another report, as it does here. Indeed, what he attributed to the Ṣaḥīḥ contradicts it; it is the hadith of Anas ibn Mālik—not al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib—who said: “On the day of Uḥud, the people fled from the Prophet. He said: I saw ʿĀʾishah, the daughter of Abū Bakr, and Umm Sulaym with their garments tucked up, such that I could see the ornaments on their lower legs, hurrying”—while another narrator said: “carrying”—“water-skins on their backs. Then they would pour their contents into the mouths of the people, return and refill them, then come back and pour them into the mouths of the people.” Al-Bukhārī related it (2880, 2902, 3811, and 4064). See Jilbāb al-Marʾah al-Muslimah [The Muslim Woman’s Outer Garment], p. 40, Islamic Library edition.

It also has a supporting report from ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him): “Umm Sulayṭ—one of the women of the Anṣār who had pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah—used to carry water-skins for us on the day of Uḥud.” Al-Bukhārī related it (2881).

But, in my view, there is no need to claim that these hadiths and similar reports were abrogated. Rather, they are to be understood as applying to cases of necessity or need, due to the small number of men and their being occupied with direct fighting. As for training women in the methods of combat and sending them down into battle to fight alongside men, as some states do