Zainab bint jahsh

Zainab bint Jahsch (* 592 ; † 641 ) ( Arabic زينب بنت جحش, DMG Zaynab bint Ǧaḥš ) was a wife of Muhammad and is therefore regarded by Muslims as one of the “mothers of the believers”. She was previously married to Mohammad's adopted son Zaid ibn Hāritha .

In the Christian Middle Ages, the circumstances of Zainab's marriage to the Prophet and her separation from Zaid served anti-Islamic propaganda. Because of this, modern Muslim apologists and biographers are trying to portray Mohammed in a more favorable light.

Marriage and divorce with Zaid

Zainab was the daughter of Umayma bint Abd al-Muttalib and thus a cousin of Mohammad. She came from a wealthy family. Zaid was born into the Kalb tribe but was kidnapped by slave traders as a child. He is said to have been transferred as a slave to Khadijah bint Chuwailid and from then on lived in the household of Khadija and Mohammad. They later released him and adopted him as an adopted son. As a former slave, Zaid had a low social status in Arab society at the time. Zainab was one of the first emigrants ( Muhādschirūn ). After the emigration ( Hijra ), Mohammad brokered a marriage between Zainab and Zaid, who wanted to help overcome class differences and establish the right to equal treatment for adopted people.

The marriage lasted two years. One illustration of how the divorce should have come about is that one day Mohammed saw Zainab alone in her house and he fell in love with her. Zaid noticed this and then separated from her. However, most classical as well as modern Islamic scholars reject this presentation due to a weak or missing chain of hadith tradition, and the reason for the divorce of Zainab bint Jahsch and Zaid ibn Hāritha is based on the fact that both were unhappy (due to the difference in status).

Marriage to Mohammad

Marriage

After the divorce, Mohammad received the revelation about marrying Zainab (Quran 33: 37-38). He expected criticism if he married Zainab. In pre-Islamic Arab society, adoptive sons had the same kinship status as biological sons, and marriage with the ex-wife of one's own son is forbidden according to the Koran. The society therefore frowned on a marriage with the ex-wife of their own adopted son. The Quran describes these circumstances as follows:

"And (at that time) when you said to the one whom both God and you had shown grace (Said ibn Haritha, the freed Muhammad), said: 'Keep your wife to yourself and fear God!' And kept secret within you, what God (after all) would make manifest, and were afraid of people, while you should rather be afraid of God! When Said had done his business with her (that is, divorced her), we gave her to you to be your wife, so that the believers would (in future) get married because of (the marriage) of the wives of their nominal sons, if these (w. She) are hers Having done business with them shouldn't feel depressed. What God orders is (inevitably) carried out. And the prophet does not need to feel oppressed because of what God has ordained for him ... "

- 33: 37-38 after Paret

By marrying Zainab, Mohammed appears to have intended to demonstrate a break with pre-Islamic practices. It clearly shows that an adopted son does not have the same legal kinship status as that of a biological son and that marriage with his former wife is legitimate. This is also made clear in the following revelation:

“God didn't make a man two hearts inside him… And He didn't really make your adoptive sons your sons. That is your speech from your mouth ... "

- 33: 4 to Khoury

In addition, as in the majority of the Prophet's marriages, political reasons may have played a role.

Zainab married Mohammad in AD 627. The so-called veil verse ( Ayat al-Hijab ; see 33:53), which obliged the wives of the Prophet to wear the veil , is said to have been revealed on the wedding night with Zainab.

Life in Medina

According to some traditions, Aisha and other wives of Mohammad were jealous of Zainab because she was the only wife married to Mohammad based on a revelation in the Koran. Aischa, Hafsa , Sauda and Safiya decided together to accuse Mohammad of bad breath when he ate honey at Zainab's. They did so and thereupon Mohammad decided not to eat honey at Zainab's anymore. He urged all wives involved to not inform Zainab of his abstention from their honey. However, Aisha did not adhere to it. As a result, verse 66: 1 was revealed that ultimately blames the wives for their conspiracy.

death

Zainab died in AD 641 during the Umar ibn al-Khattab caliphate . She is said to have been so generous to the poor that when she died she owned nothing because she had already given everything to the poor.

See also

Family of Muhammad

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Brill, suffering. Vol. 11, p. 484 and literature cited there
2. ^ Thomson, A. (2012). The Wives of the Prophet Muhammad , pp. 61-62. London: Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd.
3. ^ Caesar E. Farah, Islam: Beliefs and Observances , p. 69
4. ↑ Gustav Weil: Mohammed the Prophet, his life and his teaching. Verlag der JB Metzler'schen Buchhandlung, 1843, Stuttgart, pp. 145 f.
5. ↑ Ibn Al-'Arabi, Ahkam Al-Quran (3/1543) .
6. ↑ Sirat-Un-Nabi, Allama Shibli Nu'Mani .
7. ↑ Mohammad Asad: The Message of the Koran, Sura 33:37, Commentaries 44, 45, 46 & 47 .
8. ↑ Yusuf Ali: The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary, Sura 33:37, Comments 3722, 3723, 3724, 3725, 3726 & 3727 .
9. ↑ Diyanet İşleri / Presidium for Religious Affairs: Diyanet İşleri Meali (Yeni) Sura 33:37. Ayet Açıklaması / Translation of the Bureau for Religious Affairs (Republic of Turkey), Sura 33:37 Verse Commentary . “Ancak aralarında başlayan geçimsizlik sebebiyle Zeyd, Hz. Peygamber'e gelerek eşini boşamak istediğini söylüyordu. / Because of the disputes that took place between the two (note: Zayd ibn Harithah & Zainab bint Jahsch), Zayd went to the Prophet Mohammed and asked for a divorce from his wife. "
10. ^ W. Montgomery Watt: Muhammad at Medina . Oxford University Press, 1956. p. 330
11. ↑ See Sura 4, verse 23
12. ^ W. Montgomery Watt: Muhammad at Medina . Oxford University Press, 1956. pp. 287 f.
13. ^ W. Montgomery Watt: Muhammad. Prophet and Statesman . Oxford University Press, 1961. pp. 102 f.
14. ^ W. Montgomery Watt: Muhammad at Medina . Oxford University Press, 1956. pp. 330 f.
15. ↑ ^{a b} The Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Brill, suffering. Vol. 11, p. 484 ( Zaynab bt.Djahsh b.Riʾāb al-Asadiyya )

literature

• The Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Brill, suffering. Vol. 11, p. 484 (Zaynab bt.Djahsh b.Riʾāb al-Asadiyya)
• W. Montgomery Watt: Muhammad at Medina . Oxford University Press, 1956. pp. 186, 282, 285-288, 325, 327, 329-331, 396. ( Available online )