Zaynab’s lineage is as follows: Zaynab bint Jahsh b. Riab b. Yaʿmar b. Sabra b. Murra b. Kabir b. Ghanin b. Dudān b. Asad b. Khuzayma al-Asadiyya. Zaynab’s mother’s name was Ummayma bint ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. Ummayma was the paternal aunt of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). Zaynab had previously been the wife of Zayd b. Ḥāritha (may Allah be pleased with him), the freedman of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
Qatāda, al-Wāqidī, and some people of Medina said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) married Zaynab in the fifth year of the Hijra. Others stated that the marriage took place in the month of Dhū al-Qaʿda of that year. According to Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī, the Prophet married her after the expedition of Banū Qurayẓa. According to Khalīfa b. Khayyāṭ, Abū ʿUbayda Maʿmar b. al-Muthannā, and Ibn Mandah, this marriage occurred in the third year of the Hijra. The first opinion is more well-known. Ibn Jarīr and several other historians also hold this view. Concerning this marriage, the Exalted Allah has revealed in His noble Book:
“O Muhammad! [Remember] when you said to the one on whom Allah bestowed favor 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, while Allah has more right that you fear Him. So when Zayd had no longer any need for her, We married her to you so that there would not be upon the believers any discomfort concerning the wives of their adopted sons when they no longer have need of them. And ever is the command of Allah accomplished.”
“There is not to be upon the Prophet any discomfort concerning that which Allah has imposed upon him. [This is] the established way of Allah with those [prophets] who have passed on before. And ever is the command of Allah a destiny decreed.” (al-Aḥzāb 33:37–38)
We have provided sufficient explanation on this matter in our tafsir (Qur’anic exegesis) (Ibn Kathīr).
In the noble verse, the phrase “the one on whom Allah bestowed favor” refers to Zayd b. Ḥāritha, the freedman of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). Allah granted him the blessing of Islam. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) freed him and bestowed further favor by marrying him to his aunt’s daughter, Zaynab bint Jahsh.
Muqātil b. Ḥibbān said: When Zayd married Zaynab, he gave her as mahr (bridal gift) ten dinars and sixty dirhams, a headscarf, a blanket, a coat of mail, fifty measures of wheat, and ten measures of dates. Zaynab stayed with him for a year or a little more. Then a disagreement arose between them, and Zayd came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) to complain about Zaynab. The Messenger of God told him, “Keep your wife and fear Allah.” The Exalted Allah then addressed His Prophet: “You concealed within yourself that which Allah is to disclose.”
ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn and al-Suddī said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) knew that Zaynab would become one of his wives; this was what he concealed within himself.
Many of the early scholars have narrated unusual reports on this matter, some of which are disputed. For this reason, we have not included them here.
The Exalted Allah said:
“So when Zayd had no longer any need for her, We married her to you.” Because Zayd divorced his wife Zaynab. When Zaynab’s waiting period (ʿidda) was completed, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent her a message expressing his wish to marry her, and then he married her. The one who married the Messenger of God to Zaynab was the Lord of the worlds, the Exalted and Blessed Allah. As narrated in al-Bukhārī’s ‘Ṣaḥīḥ’ from Anas b. Mālik: Zaynab bint Jahsh used to boast to the other wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
“Your families married you to the Messenger of God, but I was married to him by Allah from above the seven heavens.”
According to a narration from Anas through the route of ʿĪsā b. Ṭahmān, Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Zaynab used to boast to the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “Allah married me to the Messenger of God in the heavens.” On this occasion, the verse of ḥijāb (veiling) was revealed.
“O you who have believed, do not enter the houses of the Prophet except when you are permitted for a meal, without awaiting its readiness.” (al-Aḥzāb 33:53)
Al-Bayhaqī narrated from Anas that Zayd came to the Messenger of God to complain about Zaynab. The Messenger of God told him: “Keep your wife and fear Allah.”
Anas said: If the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) were to have concealed anything, he would have concealed this matter. Zaynab used to boast to the other wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
“Your families married you to the Messenger of God, but I was married to him by Allah from above the seven heavens.”
Al-Bayhaqī further narrated through the route of ʿAffān from Anas that Zayd came to the Messenger of God and complained about Zaynab bint Jahsh. The Messenger of God told him: “Keep her with you.” Then the following verse was revealed:
“You concealed within yourself that which Allah is to disclose.”
Al-Bukhārī narrated through the route of Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥīm from al-Shaʿbī, who said:
Zaynab used to say to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “Indeed, I can present three arguments to you that none of your other wives can present: Our grandfathers are the same, namely ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (for the Prophet’s father’s father and Zaynab’s mother’s father were both ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib).
The Exalted and Mighty Allah married me to you from the heavens.
The messenger was Jibrīl (peace be upon him).”
Imam Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated through the route of Hāshim b. Qāsim from Anas that: “When Zaynab’s waiting period after her divorce from Zayd was completed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Zayd: ‘Go and ask for Zaynab for me.’ Zayd went and told Zaynab. At that time, Zaynab was kneading dough. Zayd said: When I saw her, I could not look at her. It was very hard for me. I could not bring myself to tell her that the Messenger of God was proposing to her. As I turned to leave, I said to her:
‘O Zaynab, rejoice! The Messenger of God has sent me to you. He wishes to marry you.’
Zaynab replied:
‘I can do nothing until my Lord, the Exalted and Mighty, commands me.’ Then she went to her prayer place. A Qur’anic verse was revealed. Thereupon, the Messenger of God came and consummated the marriage with her without seeking her permission.
Anas said: When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) consummated the marriage with her, he served us meat and bread as a wedding feast. Some of the men in his house left, while others remained and began to converse after eating. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) went out. I followed him. He visited the rooms of his wives, greeting them. They asked him, ‘O Messenger of God, how did you find your new wife?’ I do not know whether I or someone else informed him that the guests had left. Eventually, the Messenger of God returned to the bridal chamber. When I tried to enter with him, he let down the curtain and prevented me from entering. Then the verse of ḥijāb (veiling) was revealed. People took heed accordingly:
“O you who have believed, do not enter the houses of the Prophet except when you are permitted.”