Zaynab bint Muhammad

Zaynab was the eldest of the Prophet's daughters and the first of them to marry. She was born some years before the mission; one account puts it about ten years before. She was married to her maternal cousin Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi', whose mother was Hala bint Khuwaylid ¹.

Ibn Sa'd, with a sound chain from al-Sha'bi, relates that Zaynab emigrated with her father, while her husband refused to embrace Islam. The Prophet did not separate them ¹.

Al-Waqidi reports from Aisha that Abu al-As fought at Badr with the polytheists and was taken captive. His brother Amr came to ransom him, and Zaynab sent with him a necklace that Khadija had sent along with her to Abu al-As at her wedding. When the Prophet saw it he recognised it and was moved, and he remembered Khadija. He spoke to the people, and they released Abu al-As and returned the necklace. He required of Abu al-As that he leave Zaynab free to go ¹. Al-Waqidi adds: "This is more firmly established with us" ¹.

Ibn Ishaq relates, on the authority of Yazid ibn Rumman, that the Prophet led the dawn prayer, and Zaynab called out: "I have granted protection to Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi'." When the prayer ended, the Prophet said: "Did you hear what I heard?" He said he had known nothing of it until he heard it, and that protection given by a Muslim, even the least of them, is binding on all ¹.

In al-Waqidi's version, Abu al-As left with a Quraysh caravan. The Prophet sent Zayd ibn Haritha with a hundred and seventy riders. They met the caravan at al-Is in Jumada al-Ula of 6 AH, and captured some of its men, including Abu al-As. He entered upon Zaynab, and she gave him protection. He then discharged the obligations he had to their owners in Mecca and returned. He embraced Islam in Muharram of 7 AH, and the Prophet returned Zaynab to him under the original marriage ¹.

• Whether al-Qasim was born before Zaynab or after her is disputed ¹.
• Al-Sha'bi's report of her protection of Abu al-As and of his Islam: Ibn Hajar gives it in Abu al-As's entry. He judges its chain to al-Sha'bi sound, but the report is a mursal and anomalous one, contradicted by what is more firmly established in Ibn Ishaq's maghazi ².

Ibn Hajar reports from Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr (may God be pleased with him) ibn Hazm that Zaynab died at the beginning of 8 AH ¹. Muslim reports from Umm Atiyya that when Zaynab died the Prophet said: "Wash her an odd number of times, three or five" ¹. She bore Ali to Abu al-As, who died close to puberty during the Prophet's lifetime, and Umama, who lived until Ali married her after Fatima ¹.

The Sealed Nectar lists the Prophet's children by Khadija: al-Qasim, then Zaynab, then Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum, Fatima and Abdullah. It says that the daughters all reached Islam, embraced it and emigrated, and that death overtook them during his lifetime except Fatima. It notes slight variation among the sources, and gives the view it judges more probable ^{3 4 5 6}.