We will discuss the difficult story of Zainab bint Jahsh. Who is she?

And when d
id she marry the prophet PBUH? Zainab was not born Zainab, she was born Bara. Sh
e is Qurayshi but not of the Banu Hashim tribe, she was of the Banu Kuzayma. Her
mother was Umayma bint Abdul Muttalib, so she is the sister of Abdullah. So she
is a first cousin of the prophet PBUH. And she was around 15 years younger than
the prophet PBUH. Most likely she was 35 when she married the prophet PBUH. Now
she had been previously married in Mecca but became divorced. And she migrated
with her brother to Madinah and the prophet PBUH sent a proposal on behalf of hi
s 'adopted son' Zaid. He was called 'Zaid ibn Muhammad' until now. And she said
"I am the widow of a Qurayshi and you want me to marry Zaid?" She felt from the
beginning Zaid isn't of her calibre. And its human nature a woman wants a man sh
e can look up to and respect. So Zainab felt Zaid is beneath her and so she kind
of said "it's not appropiate". But the prophet PBUH insisted, and according to
one interpretation Surah Ahzab verse 36 was revealed because of this: "it is not
appropiate for any man or women, once Allah and His messenger decree something
they then follow their own opinion about this issue". In the early seerah books
the scholars said this verse was revealed for this issue. So both her and her br
other said "Zaid isn't worthy enough for our family". So when the ayat was revea
led both of them agreed.
Its well known Zainab was the only competition Aisha RA had in terms of love the
prophet PBUH had. The wives of the prophet PBUH were divided into two camps: th
e camp of Zainab and the camp of Aisha. And regarding the verse where Allah says
"Oh prophet do not make haraam what is halal", the scholars say this was reveal
ed because the prophet PBUH overstayed in Zainabs house. So Aisha and Hafsah con
cucted a plan that "when he enters in ask him 'what is that bad smell?'" So the
both of them said "there is some bad smell coming from you" so the prophet PBUH
said "I won't eat from Zainab again" but then Allah revealed the verse that "do
not make haraam what is halal". The point is Aisha RA said "Zainab was the only
lady who was a genuine competition for me in status." Despite this jealousy, Ais
ha has a lot of praise for Zainab. And similarly Zainab said "I know nothing but
good from her" regarding Aisha during the slander incident. Zainabs own sister
spread the rumours out of love for Zainab, but Zainab herself did not. Her Islam
prevented her from doing it. And Aisha RA herself said "I have never seen any w
omen more righteous in women that her; and more fearful of Allah; and more truth
ful in speech; and more caring with her family; and more generous in charity; an
d more energising in her efforts to come closer to Allah, except she had a quick
temper that would then go away". This is a beautiful hadith where Aisha RA prai
ses Zainab. And she was one who regularly fasted and prayed, and she was well kn
own to being the most generous of all the wives of the prophet PBUH. And she was
called the 'mother of the orphans' and 'mother of the poor'. And in the famous
hadith when the wives discussed "who will be the first wife to pass away after t
he prophet PBUH?" The prophet PBUH said "the one amongst you with the longest ha
nd will be the first to meet me". So for the next few years they would line up a
gainst the wall and measure each others hand lengths. Eventually Zainab was the
first to die and they understood what the prophet PBUH meant when he said 'longe
st hand'. It was the one who spends the most.
When did he marry Zainab? Lots of reports but the strongest opinion is that it t
ook place in Dhul Qa'da in the 5th year of the Hijrah. Most importantly because
the verses of hijab was revealed on the night of the wedding of the prophet PBUH
and Zainab. And we know this in other reports so this is the strongest opinion.
We also know for a fact the marriage took place before the slander of Aisha RA.
Therefore it fits in with the seerah. We also know that Zainabs walima was the
most luxurious out all of the wives of the prophet PBUH. The best walima the pro
phet PBUH gave to any of his wives was Zainabs. And what was the walima? Anas RA
said "meat and bread until all the people were filled". Note the prophet PBUH n
ever ate rice in his life. The luxury was bread and meat. So he had all the meat
and bread which is the walima to this day. For most of the other wives, they di
d not have the capacity to sacrifice an animal. But for Zainab the prophet PBUH

invited everyone - he gave a whole long list to Anas ibn Malik RA. And then he s
aid "go to the people of the Suffa, go in the hallways, anyone you meet call him
". So they all ate from a small dish. And Anas RA said "I thought it would only
feed 2 or 3, but over 70 ate and when they all finished it was still the same am
ount as it was at the start". And therefore the story of the marriage of Zainab
is well known.
We will discuss this story in the order as follows: what the Quran says, then wh
at the books of hadith says, then what the books of seerah say, then what the bo
oks of tafsir say.
As for the Quran, Allah says in Ahzab verse 37:
And [remember, O Muhammad], when you said to the one on whom Allah bestowed favo
r and you bestowed favor, "Keep your wife and fear Allah ," while you concealed
within yourself that which Allah is to disclose. And you feared the people, whil
e Allah has more right that you fear Him. So when Zayd had no longer any need fo
r her, We married her to you in order that there not be upon the believers any d
iscomfort concerning the wives of their adopted sons when they no longer have ne
ed of them. And ever is the command of Allah accomplished.
So the prophet PBUH told Zaid "keep your wife, fear Allah and do not divorce her
". But as he said this, Allah says there was something in the prophet PBUHs hear
t he was hiding. That which he was hiding, Allah would make it known to the peop
le. And Allah says why did the prophet PBUH hide it? He was fearful of the peopl
e - but this is wrong. It's a minor rebuke for the prophet PBUH, that why was he
scared of the people? He should have been afraid of Allah alone. Then Allah men
tions Zaid by NAME in the Quran. No other sahabi had this honour. It was the sin
gle biggest blessing that Allah has given Zayd ibn Harithah. Allah mentions his
by his NAME. Even Abu Bukr RA is only referenced as 'saheb'. And it is narrated
when the prophet PBUH died, one of the sahaba remarked "had Zayd been alive we w
ould never have chosen Abu Bukr over him". That Zaid was an obvious choice. So Z
aids miqaam and status is so high, but its unfortunately not known amongst the m
uslims. He died in 8H. So Allah continues: "when Zaid finishes off" i.e. divorce
takes place, "We married her to you" meaning the prophet PBUH married Zainab. W
hy? To prove there is no problem for any believer to marry the wives of their ad
opted sons. This is one of the wisdoms of the incident. The adopted sons wife is
not a mahram for the parents.
And note the next page is full of praise of the prophet PBUH. That "Muhammad is
not the father of any of your men, rather he is the seal of the prophets" and Al
lah only mentions his name four times in the Quran - this is once. And Allah say
s "Allah sends his salaam to you (oh Muhammad)". So this entire page and a half
is full of praise for the prophet PBUH. And Allah says "there is never difficult
y for what Allah has decreed for his prophet". So from the Quran we learn the pr
ophet PBUH told Zaid not to divcorce Zainab but he hid something in his heart wh
ich Allah revealed. We also learn Allah married Zainab to the prophet PBUH direc
tly. Allah revealed the nikah contract in the Quran!
Let us turn to the books of hadith. In Bhukari and Tirmidhi, Anas ibn Malik said
Zaid came to the prophet PBUH complaining about Zainab but the prophet PBUH kep
t on saying "keep your wife don't divorce her". Anas said "if the prophet PBUH w
ere to have hidden anything from the wahi, he would have hidden this verse". Not
ice this version of Bhukari does not give us ANY details. It only says Zaid came
to the prophet PBUH complaining, and the prophet PBUH said "keep your wife". Wh
at was Zaid complaining about? What was the prophet PBUH hiding etc? Its not men
tioned at all. So Bhukari and Muslim don't have anything explicit any details. O
ther reports mention details that are interesting. In Bhukari Anas RA said "the
verse of hijab were revealed regarding Zainabs marriage (i.e. on the night). And
Zainab would boast to the other wives 'Allah has married me from above the seav

en heaven'." In another version she would say "as for you, your fathers and brot
hers married you off to the prophet PBUH, as for me Allah married me to the prop
het PBUH". So its expected that Zainab is happy and proud and boasting which is
all halal between co wives. In Tirmidhi Aisha RA says the same thing that "if th
e prophet PBUH were to hidden any ayat from the Quran he would have hidden this
ayat". Which means what? It is painful. And the prophet PBUH is being criticised
in an unprecentended way. But of course he is honest and truthful he revealed e
verything Allah said.
There is only one hadith that gives us details in Musnan Imam Ahmed. As expected
there is conflict as to its authenticity. From Imam Ahmeds teacher Muamal ibn I
smail from Hamad from Thabit from Anas its narrated that the prophet PBUH came t
o the house of Zaid ibn Harithah. So he saw Zaids wife Zainab in the house. Now
Muamal says "I do not know whether Anas said the next statement or whether it wa
s interpolated by my teacher Hamad". And that next statement is: "... so somethi
ng entered the heart of the prophet PBUH. So Zaid came complaining to her about
him, but the prophet PBUH said 'hold onto your wife and fear Allah'". Note event
ually Zaid does end up divorcing Zainab. The prophet PBUH never told him to, he
does it anyway. And the prophet PBUH then tells Zaid "go to Zainab and mention m
y name". In the version of Ibn Sa'ad the prophet PBUH said to Zaid "I don't trus
t anyone but you" and again this is before hijab has been revealed. And so Zaid
goes to Zainab and he finds her getting the barley ready, and Zaid says "when I
saw her, I felt shyness that the prophet PBUH had mentioned her name. So I turne
d around so I don't see her, and I spoke to her with my back to her". So because
the prophet PBUH wants to marry her, he feels shy. So he says "Oh Zainab the pr
ophet PBUH has mentioned you and sent to you". So Zainab said "I will not respon
d until I see Allahs assistance (istikhara)". And at that point in time Allah re
vealed the verse of Ahzab; the sahaba could physically see him in wahi with his
eyes closed. He then recited the verse and sent a message to Zaid regarding it.
And Aisha RA says "when I heard this verse I became struck with jealousy from ev
ery angle because of what I knew of her beauty, and worse than this the manner i
n which the Quran took place". SubhanAllah. So the Quran was been revealed after
the idaat of Zaid - Zaid went to Zainab, and before she finishes praying istika
ara the Quran comes down as the answer. Therefore the prophet PBUH entered into
the house of Zainab without any other marriage contract or witness, without any
wali being present because Allah was the wali! Without any nikah or witness, it
is in the Quran "We married you to her" so that is enough - end of story.
Let's look at the books of seerah. One of the biggest criticisms of Ibn Ishaaq i
s that he for the most part ignored the wives of the prophet PBUH - he dosen't h
ave a seperate section for them. Therefore there isn't anything narrated regardi
ng this incident. Ibn Sa'ad is the next authority and he dies 230H. And he gives
us a very detailed version which we will call VERSION A. And this is the proble
matic version. It is found in alot of detail in many books. We here it from Ibn
Sa'ad now - but it's mentioned in several books. Ibn Sa'ad says (230H) "the prop
het PBUH went to visit Zaid but he was not home. And Zainab came to answer his k
nock. So she came wearing her regular dress (nothing extra). And said 'he is not
here oh messenger of Allah but come on in'. But he turned away and he muttered
'Glory be to Allah the one who changes the hearts'. Zaid comes back and Zainab t
ells him the prophet PBUH visited. He said 'why didn't you invite him in?' She s
aid 'I did'. He said 'what did he say?' She said 'I don't know but all I could h
ere was 'All Praise to Allah the one who changes the hearts' so Zaid understood
that perhaps the prophet PBUH was inclined towards her. And he went to the proph
et PBUH and offered to divorce Zainab but the prophet PBUH said 'keep your wife
and fear Allah' (in the Quran)." But after this incident, all that was remaining
in Zaids heart left. And he kept on insiting he wanted to divorce saying she ha
d a sharp tounge, that she put him down etc. And so Zaid did not want to persist
in the marriage but the prophet PBUH repeated 'keep your wife'. But eventually
he divorced and then when the prophet PBUH was sitting with Aisha RA, the wahi c
ame upon him and he recited the verse in Surah Ahzab. This is ibn Sa'ads version

- VERSION A. It is understood the problem here is the emotions of the prophet P

BUH.
Let us look to the books of tafseer and they obviously concentrate on this verse
because its directly in the Quran. One of the earliest tafseer is that of Mukaa
tir ibn Sulayman. He died 150H and its one of the earliest we have in print toda
y. So ibn Sulayman is not considered to be academically reliable, he is moreso a
story teller. We don't turn to his tafseer for reliablity, we just look at his
tafseer to see what people were saying. His tafseer mentions Version A in vivid
detail. If Mukaatir was the only person who mentioned this version it would be f
ine. But he isn't - we just had ibn Sa'ad mentioning it. Now we turn to At-Thaba
ri who died 310H. He is the most orthodox and authentic tafseer of sunni Islam.
All tafseers come from At-Thabari. He is the polymath: the historian, the tafase
er, muhadith etc. At Thabari mentions Version A as basically the only and standa
rd version. And he mentions reports from ibn Zaid, Qitada and other authorities.
He goes back with his isnaads to Qitada, the student of ibn Abbass. He is the m
ain mufasir of the tabioon. So Qitada says what the prophet PBUH hid in his hear
t was the desire Zaid divorced Zainab. And a similar report is mentioned in ibn
Zaid. And this is in At-Thabari, and he is frankly the greatest scholar of tafse
er of the early generation. Going next in order, another tafseer written by a pe
rsion hanafi scholar who died 375H, he mentions the same version A. The next sch
olar who dies 427H writes the same version. The next who died 538H mentions the
same version. Ar Razi dies 610H and he also has version A. So all of the mufasir
oon mention version A as the standard version.
What is version B? Its not actually a specific incident, it's an interpretation
of the verse. This version is mentioned first in Al Bayhaqees Dala'il an Nubuwa
(who died in 458H) - there isn't an earlier printed book that contains this vers
ion but it is referenced in earlier books (without this explicitness). So versio
n B is the following. Ali Zaid al-Abideen, Husayns son, asks one of his students
"what does Hasan al Basari say about this verse?" So this narrator says "I told
him what Hasan says about the verse". And from other reports this narrator tell
s Ali version A. Ali Zaid al Abideen says "No - rather Allah had informed the pr
ophet PBUH that Zainab would become his wife". This is version B. This changes t
he whole dynamics. Version A - what was he hidding in his heart? His inclination
to marry Zainab. He wants Zaid to divorce but he won't say it because the peopl
e will say "oh he caused Zaid to divorce and then married Zainab". Version B say
s the following, that Allah had told the prophet PBUH Zainab will become his wif
e. So Zaid comes to him and says "I want to marry Zainab". But the prophet PBUH
knows eventually Zainab will be his wife. Knowing this he tells Zaid don't divor
ce her. Why? Because he was scared. What was he scared of? That the people will
say "he married the wife of his adopted son" which is a big jaheleya no. Every d
ifferent phrase has a different linkage. In version A what he "HID" was his desi
re and inclination to marry Zainab. In version B he "HID" the fact that he knew
he would eventually marry Zainab. In version A he was scared people would spread
rumours. In version B he was scared of doing the jaheleya practice of marrying
his adopted sons ex-wife. It was a jaheleya criticism. These are versions A and
B.
Version B chronoligically appears to come after Version A. But interestingly som
e early tafseers mention both together. Most notably ibn Athiya who died 540H me
ntions all of version A and follows up by mentioning Version B. Al Bagawee, a ve
ry famous scholar of tafseer who died 516H, he mentions the same version A in gr
eat detail. And he actually quotes ibn Abbass as saying "what the prophet PBUH h
id was a love for Zainab". And he mentions that Qitada says "the prophet PBUH hi
d was the hope Zaid would divorce her". But then al Bagawee brings he in version
B. And he quotes from Ali Zaid al Abideen, and then says "and this is more befi
tting and more appropiate for the miqaam of the prophets". So he is the first au
thor to say version A is problematic. All of the other scholars, At Thabari, ibn
Sa'ad etc all quote version A without mentioning anything. No big deal. Al Baga

wee 516H says "some have said version B is better because it is more appropiate
to the status of a prophet". Notice he chose version B simply because in content
it makes more sense the prophet PBUH should do version B and not version A. The
n he says "even if the first story is correct, the other interpretation which is
that he hid for her a love and desire to marry her, is not something that tarni
shes the reputation of a prophet". So he is saying version B is better, but even
if you insist on version A, it's not something that affects the reputation of a
prophet. Why? Because "a servant is not criticised for a desire that comes to t
he heart, as long as he does not intend something evil. Indeed love and inclinat
ion is not something in the control of men."
So we find a shift that version B is getting traction, and then as we go on and
on version B takes more and more role, until version A is eventually ignored, co
mpletley set aside and castigated, criticised and many things are said about it.
The next tafseer is that of ibn Al Jawzi who died 597H. And he says "there are
four opinions about what the prophet PBUH hid:
1) His love for Zainab (narrated by ibn Abbass).
2) A promise from Allah he would marry her (as narrated Zaid al Abideen).
3) A wish that Zaid would divorce her (what Qitaada said)
4) The intention that if Zaid divorced her then he would marry her (reported by
ibn Zaid)"
So out of these four opinions: 1, 3 and 4 are version A and only 2 is version B.
He then says "some scholars have said it is not possible the prophet PBUH was i
nclined towards her, and wanted Zaid to divorce her". This is ibn al Jawzi speak
ing, a very famous scholar of tafseer and hadith and fiqh of the Hanbali madhab.
So he continues ".. even though this is what is commonly found in the books of
tafseer". So he admits version A is more common in the earlier books. Then he sa
ys "rather these scholars have said that he was criticised in this incident for
concealing the fact that eventually he would become his wife. And he felt out of
a concern for her, if Zaid would divorce her, he would marry her to fulfill the
ties of kinship since she was his cousin." In other words ibn al Jawzi removes
the love and inclination factor by saying the prophet PBUH wanted to marry Zaina
b to take care her of her since she was his cousin. But he dosen't quote an auth
ority. Same goes with al Qurtubi, the famous andaloosian scholar who died 671H:
he mentions version A in detail, but follows it up with version B. And then he s
ays "our scholars have said that this is the better interpretation of the verse,
and it is this interpretation the critical researchers have approved off".
So we notice here that in the first three/four centuries it is only version A th
at is predominant. Version B is found; in the 4th/5th century both versions A an
d B are mentioned but then some scholars begin to conclude version B is better.
Then in the 6th/7th/8th centuries, version A is basically never mentioned anymor
e. The best example for this is ibn Kathir himself. And after him ibn Hajar! Ibn
Kathir died 774H, ibn Hajar died 852H. So we see now an evolution taking place.
And they say regarding this verse "some of the earlier books have reports that
we would rather not mention". So they literally don't even mention version A. Th
ey just cross it out. What happened as a result of this was that, later scholars
began to say these other versions are fabrications. And modern scholars went ev
en more bizzare and said version A is a fabrication by evil orientalists that ha
ve corrupted our books, and have introduced it to bring doubts about the charact
er of the prophet PBUH. And frankly this type of theory we have to reject.
Ibn al Qiyyam one of the master of seerahs, in his book ad Daao wadawa, which is
a really interesting book: someone wrote him a letter, and its ambigious that h
e is suffering from a problem and he dosen't mention what is the problem. So ibn
al Qiyyam wrote the book ad Daao wadawa, which means "the disease and the cure"
- ad Dawoo is disease, dawa is cure. And the problem is actually ishq (love). S
o ibn al Qiyyam writes this beautiful book, and he has entire chapters dedicated

to ishq (love), and he has a full chapter regarding the dangers of love. Right
at the end of the book, he has the permisability of certain types of ishq (love)
. Some ishq is necessary! Ibn al Qiyyam mentions certain types are good, and he
mentions stories from the salaf and sahaba of halal ishq. And of what he mention
s is this very story. Very interesting. He mentions a sanatised version A. That
the prophet PBUH saw Zainab, Zaid divorced her and then Allah married Zainab to
the prophet PBUH. So it is interesting ibn al Qiyyam seems to find no problem wi
th version A, and the fact that the prophet PBUH felt ishq (love) for Zainab.
Let us summarise the pros and cons for version A and version B.
Version A
Pros
In terms of the text of the Quran, in terms of concealement, it makes more logic
al sense that what the prophet PBUH is hiding is not a sin but something embarra
sment. And notice Allah did not say "you made a mistake" but the context of the
verse suggests it is something embarrasing, but not sinful. Hence the reports fr
om Aisha, and Anas etc all said "if the prophet PBUH were to conceal an ayat, he
would have concealed this". So in this regard one can say version A makes sense
. In terms of the sheer quanitity of early authorities, At Thabari, ibn Sa'ad, Q
itada, ibn Abbass, it seems to have been the standard understanding of early Isl
am. Some say that these reports are weak in isnaad. This may be true, but the sh
eer quanitity of narrations found in various books make the story basically auth
entic. Secondly these same isnaads that go back to ibn Abbass, ibn Zaid etc. The
se are the same isnaads At Thabari uses throughout his tafseer for many events.
So if you want to picky, then you have rejected 80% of At Thabari. Also, version
B says that the prophet PBUH was hiding the fact that Allah told him he will ma
rry Zainab. If he knows this, why delay it? It dosen't make sense the prophet PB
UH is just going to say to Zaid "keep your wife". So it dosen't make logical sen
se that the prophet PBUH delays and delays - to what extent? In fact if we look
at the seerah of the prophet PBUH, he has the courage and bravery to do things i
mmediately i.e. tell the people of Isra wal Mi'raj. So version A the prophet PBU
H is embarrased about a human emotion - but version B is as if the prophet PBUH
is denying Allahs kudr. Version A is actually more acceptable; version B you are
trying to delay kudr.
Cons
The main con and problem of version A is that it creates a stigma of our prophet
PBUH and his inclinations. Many of us say, and this is what the majority of lat
er scholars felt, that this is a problem. As al Bagawee said "its not appropiate
for the standard of prophethood".
Version B
Pros
Those who support version B have solid evidences as well. It's not as if he's ne
ver seen Zainab before. It's not as if the prophet PBUH is seeing Zainab for the
first time. Thus version A dosen't make sense that instantly inclination begins
. Also, the prophet PBUH in fact proposed to her on behalf of Zaid! If the proph
et PBUH was interested he would have proposed directly from day one. Al Bagawee
further says "Allah says in the Quran 'you hid in your heart that which Allah wo
uld make open'". He says "what did Allah make open?" It was "We married you to h
er". So version B is supported by the text of the Quran. Allah never said "you w
ere inclined to her". Rather the very next verse that comes after "that which Al
lah makes open" is that the prophet PBUH has married Zainab. And so he says "thi
s shows us version B is more weighty".

Which version is correct? At the end of the day Allah knows best. But sheikh yas
ir qadhi agrees with al Bagawees final analysis. Even if version A is accepted,
there is no sin at all. A man is not accountable for his feelings. The story doe
s not have any sin at all and that is why even in the Quran there is no command
to repent or that he did a mistake. Both versions are there - but this claim tha
t version A is a fabrication etc is honestly wrong. Version A is clearly mention
ed by most if not all of the early scholars. Version B is also referenced, and e
ventually version B becomes the standard. So whoever says version A, let him fol
low ibn al Qiyyam and others. That the prophet PBUH did not do anything sinful.
And again is there any problem with viewing the prophet PBUH as a normal man wit
h normal inclinations? There are plenty of evidences in the seerah which show th
is. That in the marriage of Juwariyya, Aisha RA said "as soon as I saw her, I ha
ted her". Why? Because "I knew what the prophet PBUH would see in her what I see
and he would think exactly what I am thinking". This is what happened. When Juw
ariyya came and said "I am the daughter of chiefton of my people etc". And the p
rophet PBUH married her and freed all of her people. And indeed what is wrong wi
th a prophet that has male inclinations but never ever acted upon them? When you
make the prophet PBUH into an angel that has no inclinations, where is the role
model? And if you were to say version A, what is there that is problematic? And
it so happened Zaid never liked Zainab in the first place. And it was perfect f
or Zaid "Ya RasulAllah let me divorce her let me divorce her". Until finally wit
hout the prophet PBUH knowing Zaid divorces her. And after the iddat period is o
ver, the prophet PBUH sends over a marriage proposal, and Zainab prays isthikara
- as she is praying, Allah reveals in the Quran. And Aisha RA, ibn Abbass, Hasa
n al Basri etc all say "if the prophet PBUH would have hidden any verse in the Q
uran, he would have hid this one". Bottom line: version A whoever follows it tha
t is fine. And similar version B is fine.
Zainab continued to live a life of piety. She was called the mother of the orpha
ns and poor. And she was the first one to die after the prophet PBUH. Abu Bukr R
A would given an equal salary to everyone in Madinah. When Umar RA was khalifa h
e said no, and he made a whole list of people. And the highest category were the
wives fo the prophet PBUH. And then the earliest converts. And then the middle
converts. And so on until the last category was the converts after the conquest
of Mecca. So the wives of the prophet PBUH got the biggest amount. And that was
12,000 dirhams anually. That is a fortune. And Zainab was given the 12,000 and i
t was poured in front of her. And she kept on saying "la howla wa la quita". As
the money is in front of her, she gave an amount to her servant to send to the h
ouse of someone. And then she gave another and she kept on doing until not a sin
gle penny was left. She did not go to sleep until she had nothing left. Umar RA
heard of this and said "what a lady this is". And he said "I heard what you did
with the money, here is another 1000 for you". What did she do with that 1000? S
he gave it all away. And she made a dua to Allah "let me not see this again for
money is a fitnah". And indeed it is a fitnah. Imagine if someone gave you a mil
lion dollars right now, what would you do? We should thank Allah we are not test
ed with immense wealth. And subhanAllah she passed away the next year before the
salary came to her, in the 20th year of the Hijrah, the first wife of the proph
et PBUH to pass away. And Umar RA prayed her janaaza, and all of the major sahab
a walked to Bagee al Garkat. She was known as someone who was very pious. She de
served to be the wife of the prophet PBUH, and whatever story you follow, both v
ersions are valid.