Salim, freed slave of Abu Hudhayfa

Salim, client of Abu Hudhayfa ibn Utba ibn Rabi'a ibn Abd Shams, "one of the first forerunners" ¹. Bukhari said: his mistress was a woman of the Ansar ¹. Ibn Hibban said she is called Layla, or it is said Thubayta bint Ya'ar, and she was Abu Hudhayfa's wife — Ibn Sa'd asserts this; Ibn Abi Dawud said he is Salim ibn Ma'qil, client of an Ansari woman called Fatima bint Ya'ar, whom Sa'iba freed, and he attached himself to Abu Hudhayfa ^{1 2}. Ibn Manda claimed he is Salim ibn Ubayd ibn Rabi'a; Abu Nu'aym corrected him ².

Abu Hudhayfa had adopted him as the Prophet ﷺ adopted Zayd ibn Haritha (may God be pleased with him), so he regarded him as his son and married him to his niece Fatima bint al-Walid ibn Utba; when al-Ahzab 5 descended, each of those who had adopted a son returned him to his father, and whoever's father was unknown was returned to his patrons — narrated by Malik in the Muwatta from al-Zuhri from Urwa ².

Bukhari relates in Ibn Umar's hadith: Salim, Abu Hudhayfa's client, used to lead the first Muhajirun in prayer in the mosque of Quba, among them Abu Bakr and Umar; al-Tabarani adds "and he was the most Quran-learned of them" ².

Ibn Abi Hatim said: I know of nothing narrated from him; Ibn Hajar answers that two hadiths are narrated from him at al-Baghawi, Samawayh and Ibn Shahin, though both chains have weakness and breakage — so Ibn Abi Hatim's words carry the sense that nothing sound is established from him ².

In Sahih Muslim by way of al-Qasim from A'isha: Salim was with Abu Hudhayfa, and Sahla bint Suhayl came to the Prophet saying Salim had reached men's growth and came in upon her, and she thought she saw something of that in Abu Hudhayfa's face — he said: "suckle him and he becomes forbidden to you" ².

An account from Umm Salama has the Prophet's wives saying to A'isha: "we see this as nothing but a concession the Messenger of God gave Salim" ². This part of Salim's entry records only the incident and the transmitted phrase; the jurists' disagreement over suckling a grown person is a disputed matter needing review of the legal references before presentation — Sunni view first, then others.