084 - Conversion of Ka'b ibn Zuhayr

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We will continue from post Conquest of Makkah. What happened in the remaining months in the 8th year of Hijrah? The first interesting incident occurred around 2 weeks after the Prophet PBUH returned from Makkah and came back to Madinah, and that is the Islam of the single most famous poet in the entire Arabian Peninsula — in fact he was most likely the greatest poet alive at the time. We already mentioned by now the poets of the Quraysh had either been executed or accepted Islam. The role and nature of poets were propaganda machines, so they were considered the worst, and thus were executed at the Conquest. But some of them repented and accepted Islam, therefore were forgiven, e.g., Abdullah ibn al-Za'bari.

Conversion of Ka'b ibn Zuhayr

The premier and most renowned poet of all Arabs at the time was Ka'b ibn Zuhayr (كعب بن زهير). He is the son of Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma (زهير بن أبي سلمى) — Zuhayr himself was one of the authors of the Seven Hanging Poems; he was amongst the greatest poets in Jahiliyyah times, and he died before the coming of Islam. But his son Ka'b was alive and had animosity against Muslims, so he wrote poetry and satire against the Muslims. Eventually his brother accepted Islam, so he got more angry until he crossed the line that you do not cross — he began talking about Muslim women. And he used vulgar words and went to a level that's not acceptable. By the way, he is not of the Quraysh — he's never seen the Prophet PBUH or been to Madinah. He's from a northern tribe of Muzayna. His brother, after the Conquest of Makkah, wrote him a heartwarming letter telling him, "Flee this land if you value your life, or else convert to Islam and seek forgiveness for if you repent, the Prophet PBUH always accepts the repentance of those who repent." So even though Ka'b had done the worst possible thing at the time which is to write poetry against the Prophet PBUH and Muslims, his own Muslim brother still had care and love for him and told him to convert.

So Ka'b thought for a long time, and he realized in fact he didn't believe in idol worship, and so he realized he does actually want to convert to Islam. So he came to Madinah, and no one recognized him in terms of face —in terms of name everyone knows him, but not face— so he enters Madinah and he spends the night at the house of a distant relative who knew him, and he told the relative to keep the matter a secret. After Salat al-Fajr, he came to the masjid, and he approached the Prophet PBUH — he put his hand in the Prophet's PBUH hand and he says, "Ka'b ibn Zuhayr is seeking your protection, repenting for what he's done and accepting Islam, will you accept?" i.e., he's pretending to be a messenger. The Prophet PBUH said, "Yes." Then Ka'b said, "I am Ka'b ibn Zuhayr." As soon as he said this, one of the Ansar stood up to basically execute him on the spot, but the Prophet PBUH said, "Let him be, for he has come repenting and accepting Islam." Then Ka'b said, "May I recite for you a poem?" The Prophet PBUH said, "Go ahead." And Ka'b recited a poem that is called in the classical seerah books the Poem of Banat Su'ad (بانت سعاد) — but later scholars call it the Qasidat al-Burda (قصيدة البردة - Poem of the Cloak).

Note there are two Qasidat al-Burdas:

i) The original Qasidat al-Burda which is this one. It is said when Ka'b recited this poem, the Prophet PBUH took off his cloak and gave it to him. That is the highest possible honor you can give to a poet, that you take off your own shawl and give it to him. So this is the original Burda which hardly anyone reads because it is in deep classical Arabic.

ii) There is another poem commonly called Qasidat al-Burda: the Qasidat al-Burda of al-Busiri (البوصيري), and this is the famous al-Burda commonly known today. Al-Busiri was a poet of the 7th century Hijrah, i.e., 700 years later — he was a medieval poet. The reason why he is famously known to all cultures is because al-Busiri claims he saw the Prophet PBUH in a dream, and he recited this poem to him in his dream, and the Prophet PBUH in his dream took off his cloak and gave it to him. This is obviously only coming from the author (so no doubt it raises questions).

Nonetheless, we are discussing the original Qasidat al-Burda of Ka'b ibn Zuhayr. It's a 2-page poem upon the methodology/style of classical Arabic poetry. And it begins as all classical Arabic poetry does which is with a love story, which is a metaphor — it's not literal. Banat Su'ad roughly means "Su'ad Left Me"—the girl is Su'ad, she leaves the man; and the poetry goes on. We are interested in the last third of the poem which consists of praises for the Prophet PBUH, and it's very beautiful. It's very deep Arabic and it's almost impossible for an average Arab speaker to translate without immense help:

أُنْـبِـئْتُ أنَّ رَسُـولَ اللهِ أَوْعَـدَني*** والـعَفْوُ عِـنْدَ رَسُـولِ اللهِ مَأْمُولُ

مَـهْلاً هَـداكَ الـذي أَعْطاكَ نافِلَةَ *** الْـقُرْآنِ فـيها مَـواعيظٌ وتَـفُصيلُ

لا تَـأْخُذَنِّي بِـأَقْوالِ الـوُشاة ولَـمْ *** أُذْنِـبْ وقَـدْ كَـثُرَتْ فِـيَّ الأقاويلُ

لَـقَدْ أقْـومُ مَـقاماً لـو يَـقومُ بِـه *** أرَى وأَسْـمَعُ مـا لـم يَسْمَعِ الفيلُ

لَـظَلَّ يِـرْعُدُ إلاَّ أنْ يـكونَ لَهُ مِنَ *** الَّـرسُـولِ بِــإِذْنِ اللهِ تَـنْـويلُ

حَـتَّى وَضَـعْتُ يَـميني لا أُنازِعُهُ *** فـي كَـفِّ ذِي نَـغَماتٍ قِيلُهُ القِيلُ

لَــذاكَ أَهْـيَبُ عِـنْدي إذْ أُكَـلِّمُهُ *** وقـيـلَ إنَّـكَ مَـنْسوبٌ ومَـسْئُولُ

مِـنْ خـادِرٍ مِنْ لُيوثِ الأُسْدِ مَسْكَنُهُ *** مِـنْ بَـطْنِ عَـثَّرَ غِيلٌ دونَهُ غيلُ

يَـغْدو فَـيُلْحِمُ ضِـرْغامَيْنِ عَيْشُهُما *** لَـحْمٌ مَـنَ الـقَوْمِ مَـعْفورٌ خَراديلُ

إِذا يُـسـاوِرُ قِـرْناً لا يَـحِلُّ لَـهُ *** أنْ يَـتْرُكَ الـقِرْنَ إلاَّ وهَوَمَغْلُولُ

مِـنْهُ تَـظَلُّ سَـباعُ الـجَوِّضامِزَةً *** ولا تَـمَـشَّى بَـوادِيـهِ الأراجِـيلُ

ولا يَــزالُ بِـواديـهِ أخُـو ثِـقَةٍ *** مُـطَرَّحَ الـبَزِّ والـدَّرْسانِ مَأْكولُ

إنَّ الـرَّسُولَ لَـسَيْفٌ يُـسْتَضاءُ بِهِ *** مُـهَنَّدٌ مِـنْ سُـيوفِ اللهِ مَـسْلُولُ

فـي فِـتْيَةٍ مِـنْ قُـريْشٍ قالَ قائِلُهُمْ *** بِـبَطْنِ مَـكَّةَ لَـمَّا أسْـلَمُوا زُولُوا

زالُـوا فـمَا زالَ أَنْكاسٌ ولا كُشُفٌ *** عِـنْـدَ الِّـلقاءِ ولا مِـيلٌ مَـعازيلُ

شُــمُّ الـعَرانِينِ أبْـطالٌ لُـبوسُهُمْ *** مِـنْ نَـسْجِ دَاوُدَ في الهَيْجَا سَرابيلُ

بِـيضٌ سَـوَابِغُ قـد شُكَّتْ لَهَا حَلَقٌ *** كـأنَّـها حَـلَقُ الـقَفْعاءِ مَـجْدولُ

يَمْشونَ مَشْيَ الجِمالِ الزُّهْرِ يَعْصِمُهُمْ *** ضَـرْبٌ إذا عَـرَّدَ الـسُّودُ التَّنابِيلُ

لا يَـفْـرَحونَ إذا نَـالتْ رِمـاحُهُمُ *** قَـوْماً ولَـيْسوا مَـجازِيعاً إذا نِيلُوا

لا يَـقَعُ الـطَّعْنُ إلاَّ فـي نُحورِهِمُ * ومـا لَهُمْ عَنْ حِياضِ الموتِ تَهْليلُ

36. I was told God's Messenger had threatened me,
But from God's Messenger pardon is hoped.

37. Go easy, and let Him be your guide who gave to you
The gift of the Qur'an in which is warnings and discernment!

38. Do not hold me to account for what my slanderers have said,
For, however great the lies against me, I'm not as guilty as they are claiming!

39. I stood where I saw and heard what would have made
The mighty elephant, had it stood in my stead,

40. Quake with fear unless the Messenger of God,
By God's leave, granted it protection,

41. Until I placed my right hand, without contending,
In the hand of an avenger, his word the word.

42. He is more dreaded by me when I speak to him
And I am told, "You will be questioned and must answer,"

43. Then a lion, snapping and rapacious,
Its lair in Aththar's hollow, thicket within thicket,

44. Who in the morning feeds flesh to two lion whelps
That live on human flesh, flung in the dust in chunks,

45. Who when it assaults its match is not permitted
To leave its match unnotched,

46. For whom the braying onager falls silent,
In whose wadi no hunters stalk their prey,

47. In whose wadi lies an honest man, his weapons and torn clothes
Flung in the dust, his flesh devoured.

48. The Messenger is surely a sword from whose flash light is sought,
One of the swords of God, an Indian blade unsheathed,

49. In a band of Qureshis whose spokesman said to them in Makkah's hollow
When they submitted to Islam, "Depart!"

50. They departed, but no weaklings departed with them,
None who flee the battle, none unsteady in the saddle, none unarmed.

51. Haughty, high-nosed champions, who on battle day
Don shirts of David's weave,

52. White, ample, their rings interlocking
As if they were the qaf'a plant's interlocking rings.

53. They walk as the white camels walk when kept in check by blows,
While the stunted black ones go astray.

54. Neither jubilant when their spears strike down a tribe,
Nor distraught when they are struck,

55. The spear does not pierce them except in the throat,
Nor do they shrink from death's water troughs.

The one phrase that is the most famous is when he says, "The Messenger is surely a sword from whose flash light is sought." And notice Ka'b compared the Prophet PBUH to an unsheathed sword from Hind/India (which by the way is the only real praise for the Pakistani/Indian/Bengali ethnicity in the seerah). Why an Indian sword? Because Indian swords were the best swords in 7th century Arabia — it was the pinnacle of perfection.

And the Prophet PBUH was so moved at this poem he gave Ka'b his own shawl. The Prophet PBUH also said to him, "O Ka'b, you have harmed the Ansar with your tongue, so now praise them." So Ka'b wrote beautiful poetry about the Ansar.

And Umar's favorite poet was Ka'b — he would quote Ka'b all the time.

So Ka'b basically died a Muslim and he is the most famous poet of his era and he accepted Islam at the hands of the Prophet PBUH.

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Conquering Smaller Tribes Around Makkah

What else happened during the last few months of the 8th year of the Hijrah? After the Conquest of Makkah, the Prophet PBUH began conquering the smaller tribes around Makkah that are semi-independent. He sends small expeditions to each of these tribes.

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Putting Bureaucracy in Place

The Prophet PBUH also chooses leaders and zakat collectors and teachers to send across Arabia. Sometimes he will send a governor; other times he will send a teacher to teach the Quran, sunnah, and salah; other times he will send a zakat collector to collect the zakat and jizya; and sometimes the same person will do multiple jobs. But we will gloss over this chapter since there is no need to mention all of the names and who went where. The point is for the first time we see the Islamic state being organized and politicized. There is a bureaucracy put in place by the Prophet PBUH.

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Destroying Smaller Idols

Also, the Prophet PBUH sent a number of expeditions to destroy the smaller idols. The larger idols had been destroyed, but smaller tribes still worshiped smaller idols. So for the next year, he sent expeditions to do this. He sent Tufayl ibn Amr (طفيل بن عمرو) to a tribe in Yemen who worshiped an idol called Dhi al-Kaffayn (ذي الكفين) which belongs to the tribe of Daws (the tribe in which Abu Hurairah is from). They had a massive idol called Dhi al-Kaffayn, and they even built a massive structure they called the ka'bah to compete with the Ka'bah in Makkah. So the Prophet PBUH sent Tufayl ibn Amr with 400 people to get rid of this structure. And Tufayl said, "Ya Rasulullah, I have a problem riding a horse — I always fall off." But the Prophet PBUH made du'a for him, "Ya Allah, make him firm," and thenceforth, he never fell off a horse ever again. So he went and burned down the massive temple which had the idol Dhi al-Kaffayn in it.

The Prophet PBUH also sent Jarir ibn Abdillah to Dhi al-Khalasa (ذي الخلصة). This was another idol that was worshiped in Yemen. He PBUH said, "Will you not get rid of Dhi al-Khalasa for me?"—meaning he isn't at peace knowing these idols are being worshiped in Arabia, and he did not want idolatry to be especially in the Arabian Peninsula. And this is what Allah reveals in the first few verses of Surah al-Tawba which is going to be sent down in a few months, which basically says from now on, no mushriks should be in the Arabian Peninsula.

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Conversion of Adi ibn Hatim

The Prophet PBUH also sent Ali ibn Ali Talib to the tribe of Tayy (طيء), which is now in the city of Ha'il (حائل) in Saudi Arabia. The famous person of Tayy is Hatim al-Ta'i (حاتم الطائي), and he is well known in pre-Islam for being the most generous person. He is considered to be the pinnacle of generosity. His son, Adi ibn Hatim (عدي بن حاتم) is to become a famous sahabi. His father Hatim was known by every single Arab — he's a legend and fable. It's said he would feed all of his guests — when strangers would come, they would be treated like kings. And it's well known that no one was known for their generosity more than Hatim al-Ta'i. He dies and his son Adi ibn Hatim is in charge, and Adi clearly did not have the same traits and characteristics as his father: When he heard the Muslims are conquering lands, he decided he wanted an escape route, so he prepared camels in case he needed to flee and abandon his people. And this is exactly what happened: He is the chieftain so he stationed various people to keep watch, and when he was told the Muslims were coming, he literally abandoned his people and fled with his wife, children, and wealth, to northern Arabia close to the Roman empire. Adi ibn Hatim had already converted to Christianity, so he had a good relationship with the Roman emperor. So he fled with his family there, and he was living a comfortable life for a while.

Now the Muslims under Ali ibn Abi Talib conquers the tribe of Tayy and destroys the massive idol. They bring back some prisoners of war and lo and behold, one of the women demands an audience with the Prophet PBUH. She says she is the daughter of Hatim al-Ta'i, so this is a big deal — she is the daughter of the most famous Arab in terms of generosity. She says, "You should free me, I am the daughter of so-and-so. Be generous with me and Allah will be generous with you," so the Prophet PBUH agrees, he frees her, gives her a camel, gives her some wealth, and tells her to go wherever she wants. She finds out her brother, the chieftain, is up north, so she goes to him. And she rebukes him and gets angry at him; she then says, "Why don't you go back to Muhammad, go down to him, because there are two possibilities:

1. Either he's a prophet
2. Or he's a king

If he's a prophet you might as well convert; if he's a king you might as well go to him and win some favor from him." She understands the situation, and the fact she mentions he could be a prophet shows she thinks he could be a true prophet.

Adi ibn Hatim narrates this story in the first person as he is telling a tabi' in Kufa. (Side notes & tangent: he eventually dies in Kufa, and he is one of the longest living sahaba ever, he died at the age of 120. That is incredible. He lived a very long life: He saw the killing of Uthman, and he fought with Ali in the Battle of Siffin. Because of this, even the Shia respect him immensely. The Shia only respect a handful of sahaba, Adi being one of them. As for us we respect all the sahaba.) He narrates: "There was no one who was more despised to me than the Prophet PBUH. But I said to myself (after his sister talked to him), 'Let me go and meet him. If he is speaking the truth, I shall listen to him directly; if not, it won't harm me.'" So Adi makes his way to Madinah — this is in the end of the 8th year, some say beginning of 9th. When he arrived in Madinah, some of the guys recognized him and began shouting, "This is Adi ibn Hatim!" He's a famous guy since his father is Hatim al-Ta'i, so people gather around him and they take him to the Prophet PBUH. Note he walked into Madinah without any protection; there's a sense of, "No one will hurt me, I'm the son of Hatim"—and he's correct; he does have this honor. And the Prophet PBUH said to him, "Ya Adi, aslim tuslim (يا عدي، أسلم تسلم - O Adi, accept Islam, you shall be safe)," but Adi said, "I already have a good religion"—at the time, both the Jews and Christians felt superior to the pagans —and they are— so it's as if he's saying, "Why would I want to embrace your faith? I'm not a pagan. You should preach to the pagans. I already have a religion and civilization." So the Prophet PBUH repeated, "O Adi, accept Islam, you shall be safe." But Adi repeated his answer. Then the Prophet PBUH said again to accept Islam but Adi repeated his answer.

Then the Prophet PBUH said, "O Adi, I know your religion better than you know your religion," meaning, "I know Christianity — I know the message of Jesus better than you." And to demonstrate this, he PBUH said, "Are you not the leader of your people?" Adi said, "Yes." The Prophet PBUH said, "Do you not take ¼ of their income in taxes?" Adi said, "Yes." The Prophet PBUH said, "And do you not know your own religion forbids you to do this?" This is a very powerful dawah scene that shows the knowledge of the Prophet PBUH. He is showing, "You aren't even following what you know to be Christianity." And Adi narrates, "I became embarrassed, and I knew he was a prophet"—because the very fact he just immediately picks on his hypocrisy. And the Prophet PBUH then held him by his hand and took him to his house. On the way to his house, an old lady with a toddler stopped him for something, so the Prophet PBUH stopped and continued talking to her until her need was taken care of.

Adi says to himself, "This man is not a king — for him to stop when he has me (and he knows my rank and privilege)... he isn't a king." Adi continues, "Then we arrived at the Prophet's PBUH house, and he took out an old worn mat, laid it on the floor and told me to sit on it. But I was embarrassed since this was the only mat in the room; if I sat on it, he would not have anything to sit on. So I said, 'No, rather you sit.' But he insisted, 'No, you will sit.' So I sat down on the mat, and the Prophet PBUH sat on the sand." This is in the Prophet's PBUH house.

Adi continues: "He then said to me, 'Do you know of any god besides Allah?' I said, 'No.' He said, 'Do you know any who is more mighty and powerful than Allah?' I said, 'No.' Then he said, 'Verily, the Jews earned the wrath [of Allah] on them, and the Christians are misguided.' Then he said, 'Perhaps you are not accepting Islam because of the state of the people around me?'"—meaning poverty and political weakness. Adi is after all a Christian and has contacts with the Roman emperor, so he is living a life of luxury in a premier civilization; but he now comes and sees the Muslims of Madinah who at this stage still do not have that civilization. So the Prophet PBUH said, "Have you heard of [a city called] al-Hirah (الحيرة)? Verily it's only a matter of time before a lady will leave al-Hirah wanting to do tawaf in Makkah [without any company] and she will fear nothing but Allah. And it's only a matter of time before the treasures of Kisra will be distributed amongst us." At this Adi said, "Kisra ibn Hormuz (كسرى بن هرمز - Khosrow the son of Hormizd) [the Emperor of the Persian Empire]?" The Prophet PBUH said, "Yes, Kisra ibn Hormuz. And it's only a matter of time before a person will go around the streets of Madinah asking for someone to take sadaqa, and he will not find a single person to take it."

And when narrating this hadith, Adi says, "Wallahi, I have seen two of these three things." What has he seen? (i) The political stability, the peace and security of the Muslims, i.e., from the faraway land of al-Hirah a woman could go all the way to Makkah with no fear. (ii) The wealth of the ummah. And Adi says, "I was of those who opened the treasures of Kisra ibn Hormuz," i.e., he participated in the battle against the Persian Empire. (Tangent: To this day if you go to the site of Ctesiphon, you see huge pillars which belonged to the palace of Kisra.) Then he said, "As for the third, I know it is going to happen [i.e., it is only a matter of time]"—and it happened in the time of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (عمر بن عبد العزيز) [reigned 99-101 AH] — he secured the entire financial affairs of the Umayyad empire to such an extent that there were no poor people to accept sadaqa or zakat. (Side note: And we know from other ahadith this will happen again during the time of the Mahdi — that no one will need any zakat or sadaqa.)

After this deep conversation, Adi embraced Islam at the hands of the Prophet PBUH.

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Lessons From the Story of the Conversion of Adi ibn Hatim

We learn many things from this story:

1) Look at the manners of the Prophet PBUH — his humility and humbleness. This is what opened up Adi's heart.

2) Notice as well the Prophet PBUH then opened up the theological angle, simple and to the point:

i) Of them, he said, "I know your religion better than you." And wallahi, we as Muslims can use this as well. We can say, "We are following the teachings of Jesus better than you are. Jesus was a practicing Jew living his life according to the Torah: he never ate pig, never drank alcohol, he was circumcised, he prayed and fasted. Who amongst humanity still does all these and believes in Jesus? Only us Muslims."

ii) The Prophet PBUH then asked rhetorical questions, "Do you know of any god besides Allah?" "Do you know any who is more mighty and powerful than Allah?" to which any person of religion will say no — this is human fitrah. If the person is sincere and he's a believer in a god, he will say no. And by saying no, he has basically acknowledged, "La ilaha illaLlah (there is no god besides Allah)"—not by saying the kalimah, but at least by concept.

iii) After making Adi affirm "la ilaha illaLlah," the Prophet PBUH then told him why Islam is better than the other two Abrahamic religions, "The Jews earned the wrath [of Allah] on them, and the Christians are misguided."

iv) Once the Prophet PBUH realizes he understands him, he jumps to the impeding factors why Adi is not a Muslim. He says, basically, "Perhaps you are judging Islam by our sociopolitical status?" This is so relevant today: How many are the people that know the theological premise of Islam is very logical, but when they look all around them —Boko Haram, the backwardness, the education levels, etc.— they are turned off by these factors? Adi had the same problem right here, and the Prophet PBUH is telling him: You're worried about money? We'll get all the money in the world. You're worried about political stability? A lady from al-Hirah...so on and so forth; and he countered each one of these 'arguments.' In our times as well therefore, there is nothing wrong with mentioning the realities of our history, that Islam was the leading contender in science and technology for ~1,400 years. (Side note: The reason we say this is because ultimately, we have two extremes among our ummah as usual: [i] One extreme who considers science, algebra, alchemy, medicine, etc., to be the main emphasis of dawah [which is wrong — the main point of our dawah is theology, and we should not have this inferiority complex and pretend Islam is all about science], and [ii] those who say our dawah is only through tawhid and we should never mention anything about the glory of Islamic civilization [and this is also wrong — here we find the Prophet PBUH doing dawah through sociopolitical incentives].)

3) Also from the story of Adi, we find how culturally aware and psychologically sensitive the Prophet PBUH was. He judged and read Adi so quickly until finally Adi finds nothing to stop him from accepting Islam.

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Shall Good Nonbelievers Be Rewarded in the Hereafter?

Adi visited the Prophet PBUH multiple times, and in one of these visits, he asked a very important question. This hadith is in Ibn Hibban and it is hasan. He said, "Ya Rasulullah, my father used to be good with his relatives, and be generous to his people, and do this and do that. Shall he be rewarded?" So Hatim al-Ta'i, the most generous of all Arabs, the legend of hospitality, is being asked about. And the Prophet PBUH responds in a profound statement: "Your father desired something and he got what he desired." And that is the hadith. What did he desire? Fame/prestige/love. And he got it to the level that 14 centuries later to this day the Arab world still knows of Hatim al-Ta'i. He was generous and he wanted something, and he got it. Allah says, "Whoever desires the Hereafter AND STRIVES FOR IT ACCORDINGLY, and is a [true] believer, it is they whose striving will be appreciated" [Quran, 17:19]. It's very simple: When a person did not do good for the sake of Allah, why should Allah reward him? It's very clear — nothing illogical at all. Let him get his reward for whatever he did it for, and he shall get it. And they have gotten it. People love and respect them, they become legends in this dunya. But in the akhira? We leave their affair to Allah.

This is Adi ibn Hatim, he lived a full life before and after Islam, and died in 67 AH at 120 years old.

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Updates on the Personal Life of the Prophet PBUH

In this year as well, some interesting things happened in the personal life of the Prophet PBUH. There was a marriage, divorce, death, and birth all in the house of the Prophet PBUH.

Marriage to Fatima bint al-Dahhak That Didn't Last Long

Marriage and divorce. It's one of the most bizarre stories, and frankly, it's inexplicable. We'll mention it here because we don't want to be accused of not mentioning something that is well known. What happened is the Prophet PBUH proposed to a lady by the name of Fatima bint al-Dahhak (فاطمة بنت الضحاك) from the tribe of Kulab (كلاب). (Side note: There is an ikhtilaf about her name, there are at least 6 or 7 opinions.) When the Prophet PBUH entered upon her on the night of the marriage, she for some reason said, "I seek Allah's refuge from you." The Prophet PBUH said, "You have sought refuge in One who is very great. Go back to your family." So the Prophet PBUH married her but the marriage was not consummated.

Why did this occur? It is unclear, and frankly, you just do not record these personal things. Even in your own household, things like these are not recorded. Why did she say what she said? There are multiple theories: Ibn Hajar suggests she was mentally unwell. Others say this was a plot some of her jealous relatives told her, that, "When the Prophet PBUH comes in, this is what you are supposed to say," and she was ignorant in this regard, she didn't understand its implication, so she just said what she was told to say.

Whatever the case might be, clearly, Allah did not will she become one of our Mothers, and this is how it was averted away. Later on she would say, "How unfortunate am I that I chose this dunya over the Prophet PBUH"—she regretted it until she died.

Note this incident shows us it is allowed to divorce in an indirect language (كناية/kinaya). The Prophet PBUH did not want to use the word "divorce," so he simply said, "Go back to your house/family," and that was divorce.

This incident also shows the myth that the Prophet PBUH never divorced is not true.

Stigmas Attached to the Word "Divorce" Have to Be Gone

Unfortunately, there is a stigma in the Muslim community attached to the very notion of divorce, that "divorce is inherently evil," "anybody who undergoes it must be bad," etc., but this stigma has no basis in the Qur'an or Sunnah whatsoever. It is amazing this stigma even exists.

The Prophet PBUH himself divorced, and this wasn't the only divorce. He PBUH divorced Hafsa too, and she was in her iddah, but Jibril AS came down and said, "Allah commands you to take her back, for she is sawwama qawwama, and she shall be your wife in Jannah," so he took her back.

So the stigma we as a culture have for divorce is completely wrong. Sometimes couples just don't get along, but khalas, that's not the end of the world, and it doesn't mean one of them is bad. Sometimes personalities don't match up. We already discussed Zayd and Zaynab. They are both great Companions, but they just did not get along. Sometimes it's better for the couple to move on.

 

The Death of Zaynab bint Muhammad RA

The Death of Zaynab bint Muhammad, the eldest daughter of the Prophet PBUH, in the 8th Hijrah. She was born 10 years before the dawah, so she is now around 31. What was the cause of her death? She fell down from the camel during the Hijrah [see episode 41], and she never fully recovered from the bleeding. For 8 years she is in some pain until she passes away.

We know 3 of the 4 daughters of the Prophet PBUH died in his lifetime: Zaynab, Ruqayyah, and Ummi Kulthum. Order of deaths was Ruqayyah, Zaynab, and then Ummi Kulthum. And Fatima died 6 months after the Prophet's PBUH death.

(Side note: Recall Zaynab's husband was Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi'. And at Fajr Zaynab shouted out, "I have given him protection!" [see episode 62].)

The Birth of Ibrahim ibn Muhammad RA

Birth: As for the birth, the Prophet's PBUH son Ibrahim was born, who will die in the 9th year of the Hijrah.

[Transcribed by Br. Safwan Khan & Faizan]

safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, November 2021]