Seerah of Prophet Muhammad 84 - Conversion of Ka'b ibn Zuhayr ~ Dr. Yasir Qadhi | 7th May 2014

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 was the Islam of the single most famous poet in entire Arabia. In fact he was most likely the greatest poet alive at the time. We already mentioned the poets of the Quraysh had either been killed or accepted Islam. By now the Quraysh poets are Muslims or dead at Badr, etc. The role and nature of poets were propaganda machines. Therefore the worst amongst them were executed at the Conquest. Some amongst them repented and were forgiven and accepted Islam e.g. Abdullah 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. And he is the son of Zuhayr ibn Abi Salma. Zuhayr himself was one of the authors of the seven hanging poems; he was amongst the greatest poets in Jahiliyyah times. 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 worshiping. 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 Salah 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 execute him on the spot. But the Prophet PBUH said, "Let him be, for he has come repenting and accepting Islam so let him be." And he said, "May I recite for you a poem?" So the Prophet PBUH said, "Go ahead." And he recited one of the most famous poems in the entire seerah literature. And it's called 'the Poem of Banat Su'ad.' Later scholars call it 'the poem of the Burda.'

Note there are two Burdas: The original Burda (cloak) 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. This is the original Burda.

There is another poem commonly called al-Burda - the Burda of al-Busiri. This is the famous Burda commonly known today. Al-Busiri was a poet of the 7th century (Hijra), 700 years later - he was a medieval poet. The reason why he is famously known to all cultures, because al-Busiri claims he saw the Prophet PBUH in a dream. And he recited this poet 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 - no doubt this raises questions but nonetheless we are discussing the original Burda of Ka'b ibn Zuhayr. It's a 2 page poem and it's so classical because it's upon the style of classical Arabic poetry. And it begins as all classical poetry with a love story, which is a metaphor - it's not literal. The girl is Su'ad who leaves the man and it goes on.

We are interested in the last third of the poem which is 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 are 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,
It's 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 it's match is not permitted
To leave it's 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 important and most famous in all of seerah literature is when he says, "The Prophet PBUH is a light that others seek their guidance from." Ka'b also says he is an unsheathed sword from Hindi which is the only real praise for the Pakistani/Indian ethnicity in the seerah. 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, and 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. He also chooses leaders and zakat collectors and teachers to send across Arabia. Leaders: So sometimes he will send a governor, other times he will send a teacher to teach the Quran, sunnah and salah. Other times he would send a zakat collector to collect the zakat, jizya, etc. And sometimes the same person would do multiple jobs. All of this is a chapter, and we'll gloss over saying this is what the Prophet PBUH did. 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 to a tribe in Yemen and they worshiped an idol called Dhu al-Kaffayn which belongs to the tribe of Daws (the tribe in which Abu Hurairah is from). They had a massive idol called Dhu al-Kaffayn, and in their arrogance they even built a massive structure they called the ka'bah. And they wanted 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 burnt down the massive temple which had the idol Dhu al-Kaffayn in it.

He also sent Jarir ibn Abdillah to Dhu al-Khalasa. This was another idol that was worshiped in Yemen. And so Dhu al-Khalasa was destroyed, and the Prophet PBUH was clearly irritated at these idols. He said, "Will you not get rid of Dhu 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 cities: And this is what Allah reveals in the Quran in Surah al-Tawba which is going to be sent down in a few months, that basically from now on no mushriks should be in the Arab lands.

 

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Conversion of Adi ibn Hatim

The Prophet PBUH also sent Ali ibn Ali Talib to the tribe of al-Tayy, which is now in the city of Ha'il in Saudi Arabia. The famous person of al-Tayy is Hatim al-Ta'i, and he is well known in pre-Islam of being the most generous person. He is considered to be the pinnacle of generosity. His son, Adi ibn Hatim, is to become a famous sahabi. So Hatim was known by every single Arab - he's a legend and fable. It's said that 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 trace 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. This is exactly what happened: He is the chieftain so he stationed various people to keep watch. When he was told the Muslims were coming, he literally abandoned his people. And he flees with his wife, children and wealth and he fled to northern Arabia close to the Roman empire. Adi ibn Hatim had already converted to Christianity so he has a good relationship with the Roman emperor. So he flees with his family there, and he's living a comfortable life for a while.

Now Ali ibn Abi Talib with sahaba arrives in al-Tayy, destroys the massive idol and conquers the tribe. They bring back some prisoners of war and lo and behold one of the women begins to shout and 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. So she starts saying, "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 is 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 that 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 - 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 respect a handful of sahaba, Adi being one of them. As for us we respect all the sahaba.

So Adi narrates his own story in the first person: "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 speak to 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 the end of the 8th year, some say beginning of 9th. When he arrived in Madinah some of the guys recognize 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 so 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. So the Prophet PBUH said to him, "Ya Adi, accept Islam you shall be safe." And Adi said, "I already have a good religion." At the time both the Jews and Christians felt superior to the pagans - so it's as if he's saying, "Why would I want to embrace your faith, I already have a religion and civilization." So the Prophet PBUH repeated, "Ya 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, "Ya Adi, I know your religion better than you know your religion." Meaning, "I know Christianity - I know the message of Jesus better than you, to demonstrate this, are you not the leader of your people?" Adi said, "Yes." The Prophet PBUH said, "Do you not take 1/4 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 which shows the knowledge of the Prophet PBUH. He is showing, "You aren't even following what you know to be Christianity." So Adi says, "I became embarrassed, and I knew he was a prophet" and the Prophet PBUH then held him by his hand and took him to his house. And Adi is narrating this. On the way to the Prophet's PBUH house an old lady 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 his 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?' Adi said, 'No.' So the Prophet PBUH said, 'Do you know any more mighty than Allah?' Adi said, 'No.' Then the Prophet PBUH said, 'Verily the Jews are arrogant and the Christians are misguided.' Then he said, 'Perhaps you aren't accepting Islam because of the state of the people around me.'" - meaning poverty, political weakness, etc. 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 al-Hira? Verily it's only a matter of time before a lady will leave al-Hira, wanting to do tawaf in Makkah, and not having any company to protect her, and she'll only be scared of wolves or flock. 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 (Khosrow the son of Hormizd), the Emperor of the Persians?" 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."

Adi is narrating this hadith and he says, "Wallahi I have seen two of these things." What has he seen? The peace and security of the Muslims i.e. from Yemen, the furthest city down south, a woman could go all the way to Makkah with NO fear. Second, the wealth of the ummah. And Adi says, "I was of those who participated in the battle against al-Mada'in (Ctesiphon)" i.e. the battle against the Persians. To this day if you go to Ctesiphon, you see huge pillars which were the palaces of the Kisra. As for the third, it happened in the time of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz - he secured the entire financial affairs of the dynasty to such an extent that there were no poor people to accept sadaqa and zakat. This happened once but it's an ideal to demonstrate it is indeed possible. And it 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 hand 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) Look at Adi's mindset: He's an intelligent man, so he knows that this person is either a king or a true prophet. He's conquered Arabia so he's either after political power or he's correct in what he is saying. Being with the Prophet PBUH for 5 minutes and seeing how the Prophet PBUH lives, etc. Adi rules out instantly 'this man is not a king.'

3) Notice as well the Prophet PBUH then opens up the theological angle. After demonstrating his mannerisms, the Prophet PBUH begins the theological debate. Simple and to the point:

i) Of them is 'I know your religion better than you' and we as Muslims can use this. Jesus was a practicing Jew; he lived his life according to the Torah. He never ate pig, alcohol, he was circumcised, he prayed, he fasted, etc. Who amongst humanity does this and believes in Jesus? Only us as Muslims.

ii) The Prophet PBUH wanted Adi to acknowledge the belief in one God and he did.

iii) After this, the Prophet PBUH criticized the theology of the other religions - the reason why he's doing this is because you have to prove the correctness of one faith by disproving the correctness of others. You cannot have a real theological debate except by refuting the theology of other faiths. This is a touchy matter in interfaith dialogue in our times. There's a trend now to say 'we are all good and right,' which is wrong. So we should not shy away from difficult controversies. Indeed, it doesn't make any sense to say, 'All religions are valid,' when they contradict each other. It is understood a Christian person would view us as being outside the right path, because for him his entire salvation rests on believing Jesus is his Lord and Savior, and that he died for our sins. When you engage you have to get to the awkward issue: That, 'Look, we accept and respect your position, but we don't believe in it morally or theologically.' So the Prophet PBUH is very explicit that he does not believe in the Jews and Christians.

iv) Once the Prophet PBUH realizes he understands him, he jumps to the core matter: Why is Adi not a Muslim? And he says, "Perhaps you are judging Islam by our social political status." This is so relevant today - how many are the people that know the theological premise of Islam is very logical, but they look all around them. Boko Haram, backwardness, third world education levels, etc. 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, etc." In our times as well, we see that there is nothing wrong with mentioning the realities of our history. Islam was the leading contenders in science and technology for 1400 years plus. Ultimately we have two extremes: One extreme considers science, algebra, alchemy, medicine, etc. to be the main emphasis of dawah. But this is not the main point of Islam - the main point is theology, and we should not have this inferiority complex that Islam is all about science. Another extreme is 'our dawah is only through tawhid.' But here's the Prophet PBUH doing dawah through social politics.

4) Also from the story of Adi, we also find out how culturally aware 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. He said, "Ya Rasulullah my father used to be good with his relatives, and be generous to his people, and do this and 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. Or prestige or love. And he got it to the level that 14 centuries later the Arab later knows of Hatim al-Ta'i to this DAY. He was generous and he wanted something, and he got it. This is an excellent hadith to use when people who are very beloved to mankind but do not do things for the sake of Allah, they die. Whether they are Nobel laureates, etc. - they did something for whatever reason, and they got what they desired. As for the akhira, it's given to those who don't want the fame in this world. Allah says, "Whoever wants the akhira and strives for it while he's a believer, that is the one his reward will be given to him." 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. 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 Islam and after; more than 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, birth, and death 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, 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 and there is an ikhtilaf about her name. 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." So the Prophet PBUH said, "You have sought refuge in one who was very great so go back to your family." So the Prophet PBUH married her, but the marriage was not consummated. Why did it occur? It is unclear - frankly you just do not record these personal things. Even in our own household, it's just not recorded. Why did she say this? There are multiple theories; Ibn Hajar suggests she was mentally unwell. Others say this was a plot some of her jealous relatives told her and she was jahil in this regard. But when she said, "I seek refuge in Allah," this was a very big thing, so the Prophet PBUH sent her back. Whatever the case might be, clearly Allah did not will she become one of our mothers. Later on she regretted this until she died.

It also shows us, it is allowed to divorce indirectly (kinaya). The Prophet PBUH did not use the word 'divorce,' he simply said, "Go back to your house/family" and that was divorce. Also 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 evil," "the two parties must be evil," etc., but this stigma has no basis in the Qur'an or Sunnah whatsoever. It is amazing that this stigma even exists. Don't they know that the majority of the Prophet's PBUH wives were in fact divorcees?

 

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 and said, 'Take her back,' 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 excellent 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 at the Hijrah, 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 died in the Prophet's PBUH life: Zaynab, Ruqayyah and Ummi Kulthum. Order of deaths was Ruqayyah, Zaynab and then Ummi Kulthum and Fatima died 6 months after the Prophet PBUH. Recall Zaynab's husband was Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi' and at Fajr Zaynab shouted out, "I have given him protection."

 

 

 

The Birth of Ibrahim ibn Muhammad RA

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

 085 - Miracles of Prophet Muhammad SAW