Maymūnah and the Daughter of Ḥamzah

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sent one of the Companions to arrange the engagement: he wanted to marry Maymūnah bint al-Ḥārith. Maymūnah agreed, and she said that her walī to sign the contract would be al-ʿAbbās; al-ʿAbbās was married to her sister, Umm al-Faḍl. And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wanted to hold the walīmah in Makkah. But the three days were over, so Ḥuwayṭib ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and said: nanshuduka Allāha wa al-ʿahda alladhī baynanā — we ask you, in the name of Allah and the contract between us, to leave. They had this hatred for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him); they could not stand the Muslims; they were waiting for the three days to finish, and they immediately came asking the Muslims to leave.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told them: I have married a woman from among you; it will not harm you if I finish my wedding to her and we prepare a feast, and you can join us — you are welcome to come and join this walīmah. They said: we ask you in the name of Allah to leave. Now when they came to him, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was sitting with some of the Anṣār, Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah and other Anṣār, and they said: we want you to leave our land. So Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah angrily responded and said: this is not your land, nor the land of your fathers. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) calmed him down and said: we will leave. And they left. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) held whatever remained of the celebration of his wedding outside Makkah, in a place called Sarif. And, subḥān Allāh, Maymūnah would later end up dying in the same place where she married the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was leaving Makkah, the daughter of Ḥamzah, a young girl, came running, saying: yā ʿamm, yā ʿamm, yā ʿamm — O uncle, O uncle, O uncle. So ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib took her and handed her over to Fāṭimah and said: take care of your cousin — to take her back to Madīnah. Jaʿfar said: no, I am going to take her. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib said: I am her cousin. Jaʿfar said: I am her cousin too. And then Zayd came in and said: she is the daughter of my brother. So they had a conflict among them, their voices were raised: who would take care of the daughter of Ḥamzah? So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) came to judge between them because of this conflict, and he handed her over to Jaʿfar, because Jaʿfar was married to her aunt — to the aunt of the daughter of Ḥamzah.

Zayd actually said: she is the daughter of my uncle^* — because Zayd was the adopted son of Muḥammad (peace be upon him), and Ḥamzah is the uncle of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). But Ḥamzah is also the brother of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) through breastfeeding: the same woman breastfed both Muḥammad (peace be upon him) and Ḥamzah. So Ḥamzah is the uncle of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and his brother in raḍāʿah; so that makes the daughter of Ḥamzah the cousin of Zayd. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) handed her over to Jaʿfar, and then he told ʿAlī: anta minnī wa ana minka — you are from me and I am from you. And he told Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib: ashbahta khalqī wa khuluqī — you resemble me in looks and in manners. And he told Zayd ibn Ḥārithah: anta akhūnā wa mawlānā — you are our brother and our companion. And then ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib said to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): will you not marry Ḥamzah's daughter? The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: she is the daughter of my brother through breastfeeding (al-Bukhārī 2645) — which makes her a maḥram for him; he therefore cannot marry her.