Ruqayya bint Muhammad

Ruqayya, daughter of the Prophet, wife of Uthman ibn Affan, and mother of his son Abdullah ¹.

Ibn Hajar relays from Abu Umar that he knows of no disagreement that Zaynab was the eldest of the Prophet's daughters. The dispute concerns Ruqayya, Fatima and Umm Kulthum, and the majority follow this order ¹. He mentions, relaying from al-Jurjani, that Ruqayya was the youngest of them, though it is also said that Fatima was ¹.

Ruqayya was first married to Utba ibn Abi Lahab. When the Prophet was sent, Abu Lahab ordered his son to divorce her, and Uthman married her ¹. Ibn Hisham said: Uthman married Ruqayya and emigrated with her to Abyssinia, where she bore him Abdullah, after whom he was known by his kunya ¹. As for Qatada's statement that she bore him no children, Abu Umar calls it a mistake, and suggests that Qatada meant her sister Umm Kulthum ¹.

Ibn Sa'd says that she pledged allegiance to the Messenger of God, she and her sisters ¹.

Ruqayya fell ill in Medina when the Prophet set out for Badr, and Uthman stayed behind from Badr to attend her. She died on the day Zayd ibn Haritha arrived bringing news of the victory at Badr. It is also said that he arrived as she was being buried ¹.

Ibn Sa'd relates from Ibn Abbas that when she died the Prophet said: "Join our forerunner Uthman ibn Maz'un." The women wept, and Umar came to strike them. The Prophet said: "Whatever comes from the eye and the heart is from God and mercy; whatever comes from the hand and the tongue is from Satan." Al-Waqidi comments that this is an error, and that perhaps it was another of his daughters, since it is established that Ruqayya died at Badr ¹.

Ibn Manda relates, with a feeble chain, from Asma' bint Abi Bakr, a story of the emigration of Uthman and Ruqayya. Ibn Hajar says that this account contains an objectionable element (nakara). The position of the scholars of the biographies is that Uthman returned to Mecca from Abyssinia, and then emigrated with his household to Medina ¹.

The Sealed Nectar lists the Prophet's children by Khadija as al-Qasim, then Zaynab, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum, Fatima and Abdullah. It states that the daughters all lived to see Islam, embraced it and emigrated, and that death reached them during his lifetime, except Fatima ^{2 3 4}.