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Zaynab bint Jahsh

Zaynab bint Jahsh
تخطيط كلمة زينب بنت جحش.png
Born c.590
Died 641 (aged 53 lunar years)
Medina, Saudi Arabia
Known for Wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Mother of the Believers
Spouse(s) Unknown first husband (had died by 622)
Zayd ibn Harithah (divorced)
Muhammad
Parent(s) Jahsh ibn Riyab
Umama bint Abdul Muttalib
Relatives Abdullah ibn Jahsh, Ubaydullah ibn Jahsh, Abu Ahmad ibn Jahsh, Habiba bint Jahsh and Hammanah bint Jahsh (siblings)

Zaynab bint Jahsh (Arabic: زينب بنت جحش‎‎; c. 590–641) was a cousin and wife of Muhammad and therefore a Mother of the Believers.

Zaynab's father was Jahsh ibn Riyab, an immigrant from the Asad ibn Khuzayma tribe who had settled in Mecca under the protection of the Umayya clan. Her mother was Umama bint Abdulmuttalib, a member of the Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe and a sister of Muhammad's father. Hence Zaynab and her five siblings were the first cousins of Muhammad.

Zaynab is described as "a perfect-looking woman," fair-skinned and shapely, and of diminutive size. It was said that she was quick to lose her temper but also quick to calm down. She was a skilled tanner and leather-worker. She continued with this line of work throughout her life, even after she no longer needed the money.

The name of her first husband is not known, but he had died by 622. At that time Zaynab, who had become a Muslim, was among those who accompanied her brother Abdullah on the Hijra to Medina.

Around 625 Muhammad proposed to Zaynab that she marry his adopted son, Zayd ibn Harithah. Zayd had been born into the Kalb tribe but as a child he had been kidnapped by slave-traders. He had been sold to a nephew of Khadija bint Khuwaylid, who in her turn had given him as a wedding present to her husband Muhammad. After some years, Muhammad had manumitted Zayd and had adopted him as his son.

Zaynab, supported by her brother Abdullah, at first refused the proposal on the grounds that, "I am the widow of a Quraysh." They presumably meant that Zaynab's social status was too high to allow her to marry an ex-slave. It has been asserted that these social differences were precisely the reason why Muhammad wanted to arrange the marriage:


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