Zaynab bint Khuzayma

Zaynab bint Khuzayma (Template:Langx) (Template:Circa 596 – 625), also known as Umm al-Masākīn (Template:Langx, "Mother of the Poor"),<ref>Lings, Martin (1983). Muhammad: his life based on the earliest sources. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 201.</ref> was the fifth wife of Muhammad. As a result of her early death, less is known about her than about his other wives.

Early life

Zaynab was the first of Muhammad’s wives who was not from the Quraysh tribe.<ref name="proph">Prophet Muhammad for All, Hadrat Zainab</ref><ref>Bodley, Ronald V. "The Messenger: The Wives of Mohammed", 1946.</ref> Her father, Khuzayma ibn al-Harith, was from the Hilal tribe in Mecca.<ref name="Hisham">Abdulmalik ibn Hisham, Notes to Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasulallah, #918, in Guillaume, A. (1955), The Life of Muhammad. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 794.</ref> Her mother is sometimes said to have been Hind bint Awf, but this tradition is weak.<ref name="Kathir3">Ismail ibn Umar ibn Kathir. The Life of the Prophet Muhammad Volume 3. Translated by Trevor Le Gassick (2000). Reading, UK: Garnet, 122.</ref>

Her first husband was her cousin, Jahm ibn ‘Amr ibn al-Harith.<ref name="Hisham"/>

While Zaynab was still a polytheist,<ref name="Sa'd8">Muhammad ibn Sa'd. Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir Volume 8. Translated by Bewley, A. (1995). The Women of Madina. London: TaHa Publishers, 82.</ref><ref name="Tabari39">Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. Tarikh al-Rusul wa’l-Muluk. Translated by Landau-Tasseron, E. (1998). Volume 39: Biographies of the Prophet’s Companions and Their Successors. Albany : State University of New York Press, 163-164.</ref> she acquired a reputation for extreme generosity. "She was called 'Mother of the Beggars' because of her kindness to them and her pity for them."<ref name=Hisham/>

It is not known exactly when Zaynab converted to Islam, but her second husband was a prominent Muslim, Abdullah ibn Jahsh.<ref name=Kathir3/> This marriage must have ended in divorce, since Zaynab was already remarried at the time of Abdullah’s death;<ref name=Sa'd8/><ref name="Sa'd3">Muhammad ibn Sa'd. Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir Volume 3. Translated by Bewley, A. (2013). The Companions of Badr. London: TaHa Publishers.</ref>Template:Rp and she is not listed among the people whom he took to Medina in 622.<ref name="Ishaq">Muhammad ibn Ishaq. Sirat Rasulallah. Translated by Guillaume, A. (1955). The Life of Muhammad. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 215.</ref>

Zaynab's next husband was Tufayl ibn al-Harith, a Muslim from the Muttalib clan;<ref name=Sa'd8/> but this marriage also ended in divorce.<ref name=Tabari39/><ref name="muk">Ahmed, M. Mukkaram. "Encyclopaedia of Islam", 2005. p. 141</ref>

Afterwards Zaynab married Tufayl's brother, Ubayda,<ref name="Hisham"/><ref name=Sa'd8/><ref name=Tabari39/><ref name="muk"/> who was more than thirty years older than herself. In 622 they joined the general emigration to Medina, where they lived on a plot of land that was shared with Ubayda's two brothers.<ref name=Sa'd3/>Template:Rp Ubayda was killed at the Battle of Badr in March 624,<ref name=Sa'd3/>Template:Rp and Zaynab remained a widow for nearly a year.<ref name=Sa'd8/>

Marriage to Muhammad

There are conflicting reports as to whether Zaynab was "beautiful"<ref name="zam"/> and refused many offers of marriage or whether she was shunned.<ref name="muk"/><ref>Hatimy, Said Abdullah Saif. "Woman in Islam", 1979. p. 105</ref> However, in February 625 her cousin Qubaysa (brother of her first husband) arranged for her to marry Muhammad, who gave her a dower of either 400 dirhams<ref name=Hisham/> or 12½ aowqiyas.<ref name="Sa'd8"/><ref name="muk"/> This was about a month after his marriage to Hafsa bint Umar.<ref name="Tabari7">Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. Tarikh al-Rusul wa’l-Muluk. Translated by McDonald, M. V. (1987). Volume 7: The Foundation of the Community. Albany: State University of New York Press, 107.</ref>

It has been suggested that Muhammad proposed or agreed to the match in order to provide for a deserving widow who would otherwise have been reduced to poverty.<ref name="Mus'ad">Mus'ad, M. F. (1991). The Wives of the Prophet Muhammad: Their Strives and Their Lives. Cairo: Islamic Inc. Publishing & Distribution, 99.</ref><ref name="Rizvi">Rizvi, S. A. (1999). The Life of Muhammad The Prophet. Darul Tabligh North America, 93.</ref> It was said the marriage was meant to reassure his followers that their deaths in battle would not mean their families would starve and be neglected.<ref name="zam">Wessels, Antonie (1972). "A Modern Arabic Biography of Muhammad". Leiden: Brill, 107</ref> An alternative suggestion is that the marriage was politically motivated, "cultivating good relations with her own tribe of ‘Amir b. Sa’sa’ah."<ref name="Watt">Watt, W. M. (1956). Muhammad at Medina. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 287.</ref>

One story about their married life tells how a poor man came to Zaynab’s house to beg for some flour. She gave him the last of what she had and had no food for herself that night. Moved by her compassion, Muhammad told his other wives about it, saying: "If you have faith in Allah ... he will provide for your sustenance even as he does for the birds, who leave their nest hungry in the morning but return full at night".<ref name="muk"/>

Death

Jannat al-Baqi cemetery, where Zaynab is buried.

Zaynab's marriage to Muhammad lasted only a few months. She died at aged about thirty. Muhammad carried her to Jannat al-Baqi and recited the funeral prayers, then three of her brothers descended into her grave to lay the corpse.<ref name=Sa'd8/>

Her house at the mosque remained empty for six months until Muhammad's sixth wife, Umm Salama, was moved into it.<ref>Muhammad ibn Sa'd. Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir Volume 8. Translated by Bewley, A. (1995). London: TaHa Publishers, 65.</ref>