Zaynab bint Jahsh
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Zaynab bint Jahsh |
Zaynab bint Jahsh (Arabic: زينب بنت جحش, born c. 593) was a wife of Muhammad and therefore a Mother of the Believers.[1] Prior to this, she was briefly married to Muhammad's adopted son, Zayd ibn Harithah.
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[edit] Early life
Her brother, Ubayd-Allah ibn Jahsh, went on the Migration to Abyssinia and there left Islam for Christianity. His wife, Ramlah bint Abu Sufyan, then remarried Muhammad.
She had a sister named Hammanah bint Jahsh.
[edit] Marriages
[edit] Marriage with Zayd ibn Harithah
After her migration to Medina, she became part of the newly founded Muslim community. There, Muhammad proposed to Zaynab's family the marriage of his freed slave and adopted son, Zayd ibn Harithah. While Zayd was an Abyssinian and a former slave, Zaynab had an aristocratic lineage, thus having a higher social status. On these grounds her brothers rejected the proposal and she disapproved of it.[2]
The prophet Muhammad, however, was determined to eliminate such class distinctions under pre-Islamic Arab custom. He also wanted to establish the legitimacy and right to equal treatment of the adopted.[3]
Montgomery Watt discusses other reasons for Zaynab's initial disapproval. He points out that Zayd, despite his social status, was held quite high in Muhammad's esteem. Thus, Watt concludes that one reason for Zaynab's disapproval was that she may have wanted to marry Muhammad himself.[4] However, this is contentious.
Whatever the reasons, Muhammad insisted on the marriage. When Qur'an 33:36 was revealed, Zaynab acquiesced and married Zayd in the year 626.[5][6] However, Zayd divorced Zaynab and their marriage lasted just over a year.[7]
[edit] Marriage with Muhammad
Since Zaynab was the wife of Muhammad's adopted son, pre-Islamic practices belonging to a lower, communalistic level of familial institutions where a child's paternity was not definitely known, considered such a marriage to be a taboo. Such a view considered a biological son to be the same as an adopted one. These ideas considered Muhammad's marriage to Zaynab as incest, as she was the wife of his adopted son, and the adopted sons were counted the same as a biological son.[8]
It has been suggested that Muhammad initially feared public opinion. The Qur'an, however, indicated that this marriage was valid. Thus Muhammad, confident of faith in the Quran, proceeded to reject the existing Arabic norms.[9] When Zaynab's waiting period from her divorce was complete, Muhammad married her.[10]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Rosalind Ward Gwynne (2004). Logic, Rhetoric, and Legal Reasoning in the Qur'an: God's Arguments. Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 0415324769. http://books.google.com/books?output=html&ie=ISO-8859-1&id=6Z8a_7B9uLcC&dq=%22Zaynab+bint+Jahsh%22&ots=Y9UlaXJPGe&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&sig=RBLybYH-WK_VUm8U14W3gIxm76g&q=%22Zaynab+bint+Jahsh%22.
- ^ Watt (1974), page 158.
- ^ Caesar E. Farah, Islam: Beliefs and Observances, p.69
- ^ Watt (1974), page 157-158.
- ^ Maududi (1967), vol. 4, p. 108
- ^ Haykal, p.295
- ^ Maududi (1967), vol. 4, p. 112-3
- ^ Watt, "Aisha bint Abu Bakr", Encyclopaedia of Islam Online
- ^ Watt(1956), p.330-1
- ^ Watt, page 156.
