Zaynab bint Jahsh: Wives of the Prophet ﷺ

Tribe: Quraysh (Banu Asad); a cousin of the Prophet ﷺ
Married: About 5 AH (c. 627 CE); some say 3 or 4 AH
Before this marriage: Divorced from Zayd ibn Harithah, the Prophet's freed slave and adopted son
Children with the Prophet ﷺ: None
Died: 20 AH (c. 641 CE), the first of his wives to die after him
Buried: Al-Baqi', Madinah

Zaynab bint Jahsh belonged to the Prophet's own clan; the sirah books record that her mother Umaymah was a paternal aunt of the Prophet ﷺ. She was among the early emigrants. The Prophet ﷺ arranged her marriage to Zayd ibn Harithah, whom he had freed and whom people used to call 'the son of Muhammad'. The marriage was not a happy one, and Zayd came to the Prophet ﷺ to complain, but he kept telling him: 'Fear Allah and keep your wife' (Sahih al-Bukhari 7420).

The Quran then revealed: 'So when Zayd had no further need of her, We married her to you, so that there would be no blame on the believers regarding the wives of their adopted sons when they have no further need of them' (Quran 33:37). The marriage thus ended the pre-Islamic practice of treating an adopted son as a real son in matters of marriage. Aisha said that if the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were to conceal anything of the revelation, he would have concealed this verse (Sahih al-Bukhari 7420).

Zaynab used to take pride before the other wives, saying: 'Your families married you off, and Allah married me from above the seven heavens' (Sahih al-Bukhari 7420). The wedding feast, of bread and meat, is the occasion on which the verse of the hijab was revealed, with its etiquette for visiting the Prophet's homes (Sahih al-Bukhari 4793; Quran 33:53).

She was known for her charity. The Prophet ﷺ had told his wives, 'The quickest of you to join me is the longest of you in hand.' They would compare their hands, and Aisha said the longest of them was Zaynab, because she worked with her hands and gave in charity (Sahih Muslim 2452). The sirah books record that she died in 20 AH in the caliphate of Umar, the first of his wives to follow him in death.