THE PROPHET’S MARRIAGE TO HAZRAT HAFSA

(3rd Year of the Migration, the month of Shaban)

It was two months before the Battle of Uhud.

The Prophet married Hazrat Hafsa, Hazrat Umar’s daughter.

Hazrat Hafsa, who had been born before the Messenger of God was given the duty of prophethood, had married Khu­nays b. Huza­fa. When Khunays died, Hazrat Hafsa became a widow.[1]

Hazrat Umar asked Hazrat Uthman politely to marry his daughter; when Uthman did not give a positive answer, he asked Hazrat Abu Bakr. However, he did not give a positive or negative answer.

Feeling sorry after those talks, Hazrat Umar went to the Messenger of God and told him what had happened. When the Prophet noticed the hearty wish of Hazrat Umar, he did not want to leave him sad and said, “Shall I tell you the name of a better son-in-law than Uthman for you and a better father-in-law than you for Uthman?” Hazrat Umar said, “Yes, O Messenger of God!” The Messenger of God said, “You marry your daughter Hafsa off to me and I will marry my daughter Umm Kulthum to Uthman!”[2]

Hazrat Umar was pleased by this offer very much and accepted it at once. Thus, the Prophet included Hazrat Hafsa among her clean wives and married his daughter Umm Kulthum off to Hazrat Uthman. Hazrat Uthman had been married to Ruqayya, the daughter of the Prophet that died later. When he married Umm Kulthum, he was given the nickname, “Dhun-Nurayn [The Owner of Two Lights]”.

THE PROPHET’S MARRIAGE TO HAZRAT ZAYNAB BINT KHUZAYMA

Ubayda b. Harith, the husband of Hazrat Zaynab b. Khuzayma had been wounded in the Battle of Badr and died in a place called Safra due to this wound. Therefore, Hazrat Zaynab became a widow.

The Messenger of God honored this woman, whose husband was martyred in the way of elevating the name of God, by marrying her in the 3^rd year of the the Migration in the month of Ramadan.

Hazrat Zaynab was known as “Ummu’l-Masakin [Mother of the Poor]” because she fed the poor and showed mercy to them.

Hazrat Zaynab died when she was thirty after living with the Prophet for about three months. The Prophet himself performed her janazah prayer. She was buried in the Cemetery of Baqi.[3]

HAZRAT HASAN’S BIRTH

In the 3^rd year of the the Migration, something that pleased the Messenger of God happened; Hazrat Hasan, his grandson, was born. Hazrat Hasan was the one that resembled the Prophet the most among the grandsons of the Prophet. Therefore, Fatima, her mother said, “My child who resembles the Prophet the most” when she caressed him.[4]

The Messenger of God loved his grandsons, Hazrat Hasan and Husayn, very much. He sometimes put them on his shoulders and carried them saying, “They are my two basils that I kiss and caress in this world.”[5]

He sometimes put Hazrat  Hasan on his shoulders, carried him and said, “O God! I love him. You love him and those who love him!”[6]