# Did the Prophet fall in love with Zaynab bint Jahsh? *The Zaynab love story was never the normative account: Mufti Abu Layth's reply* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/s/34/ - Date: 2021-01-05 Β· Kind: lesson Β· Transcript tier: machine Β· Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #196 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! πŸ˜‰ | Mufti Abu Layth (2:38:27–2:45:27) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo90sV4JVHo&t=9507s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/ **Topics:** The wives of the Prophet; Replies to attacks on the Prophet; Exchanges with Yasir Qadhi **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** No: he says the early hadith collections do not carry the love story, and it makes no sense given the Prophet had known Zaynab all his life. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that many of the major early muhaddithun, including Malik, do not transmit the love story of the Prophet and Zaynab. **Evidence, his words at 2:39:05:** β€œIn fact many of the major major early Muhadin do not transmit it. Malik doesn't transmit it.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo90sV4JVHo&t=9545s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth says the clips show Qadhi knows the answers, having given them a decade ago, yet in 2020 says the love story may have some validity and was the standard version later sanitised. He says that was not the case: major early muhaddithun, Malik and Bukhari among them, do not transmit it and what they transmit is quite different; he grants its source was a scholar quoted by al-Shafi'i, but with strange views. He argues that the Prophet grew up with Zaynab, a relative from his clan, arranged her marriage to Zayd, and could easily have proposed to her had he wished, and that she was not famed for beauty as some other wives were. He says such public statements feed Islamophobes, ex-Muslims and Christian polemicists, and contrasts Qadhi's daring here with his refusal to challenge the narrations on Aisha's age. ## Sources and names cited - Yasir Qadhi - Zaynab bint Jahsh - Zayd ibn Haritha - Imam Malik - al-Bukhari - al-Shafi'i - Aisha ## Transcript (machine tier, 2:38:27–2:45:27) [2:37:50] What we see here and I find it problematic very clearly I find it problematic. What we see is that this is his recent some incidents as Islamic history evolved the story was sanitized and made easier and more palatable for the mass. So he's trying to say they removed the the dodgy part. Now this this thing was done by as you can see okay the transformation was done by Gangutilli but the story was sanitized and made easier and more palatable for the masses to deal with. [2:38:27] Right. So what you saw basically is Yaser Khadis. And the reason why I thought it's important to show the old clip and the new clips uh to you is that it's not a matter of information because he knows the answers to these questions. He's already answered them over a decade ago. So his recent position and this is from this year just gone 2020 is to say that look this kind of love story so to speak may have some validity and he feels that what's happened is it [2:39:05] was the standard version but later Muslims started to wash it clean and sanitize it and remove parts and redact it but the honest but the the fact of the matter is That was not the case. I mean that was not the case. In fact many of the major major early Muhadin do not transmit it. Malik doesn't transmit it. The other people Bkari he mentions doesn't transmit and what they do transmit is absolutely different. [2:39:33] Um the other books of hadith now he mentions look it is inbil fair enough. Uh he says that that's not even he wasn't even a scholar. I I would say look he was a scholar. Imam Shafi does quote him as well but they do see him having certain strange views. Um and fine I'm not saying that nobody hadn't transmitted this source but to say this was the normative transmission that everybody thought yes that the prophet went and he somehow you know found Zanab to be irresistibly beautiful that he just in his heart he coveted that oh I wish I could marry [2:40:12] her. This is absurd because look, just put this incident aside. The prophet grew up with with Zanab. They both grew up in Makkah. They grew up together. He knew her. She was younger than the prophet, but she wasn't uh I mean at that time she would have been I think when she married the prophet, she would have been in her late 30s, I think. Um so, so this isn't some somebody that the prophet didn't know. [2:40:41] He knew her. He she had grown up in front of him. She was a relative of the prophet. She was from his clan. There was no long before they even migrated to Medina. She the prophet knew her. He knew her whole family. They were very close. Like I mentioned the actual I go through the the relation the aunt and so on in my video. Do watch it. But the this thought that this woman who the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam knew she's related to him he grows up she accepts the dawa amongst many others and even when the prophet moves to Medina she [2:41:19] migrates and and he marries her he arranges for her to marry uh Z that somehow someday the prophet becomes obsessed with her beauty is ridiculous. I mean, if the prophet was, let's just say that she was so beautiful that she was irresistible. And I'm not saying she wasn't beautiful, but the truth is that she wasn't known like I mean, I'm sure she was very pretty, but she wasn't. [2:41:47] there weren't these kind of rumors that she was the most beautiful woman in in that state or in that city or even from the wives of the prophet that people did speak about other wives like Jeria and so on being like so incredibly beautiful but and that's not to detract from her. I'm just saying if this was the case, the prophet could have easily proposed to her and she would have accepted. There's there's no you know why this makes zero sense like just from a rational perspective just to think about it and I am genuinely surprised by what I don't know you know somebody asked me [2:42:27] what do you make of yasadi what is he why is he doing this stuff in public like he knows by him doing this all it does is it gives more to Islamophobes that then confuse the masses is like now, you know, he did this holes in the narrative. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we've got holes in the narrative and now there's this, you know, my YouTube algorithms every day show me a video on the holes on the narrative because of, you know, you know, he's done such a big hole to this thing. [2:43:02] And now this thing, you know, you've got other people jumping on this. Um, some ex-Muslims, some Christian fanatics, basically certain Islamophobes who say, "Look, even your own scholars, Yaser Khaldi, the renowned Yaser Kaldi is admitting these things and saying this about your prophet." And I, you know what I find embarrassing? Not sorry, not embarrassing, what I find shocking. Yeah. Okay. This is somebody could say, "Muty, look what's your problem? [2:43:31] He's just being academically, you know, he's having academic integrity. You know, he he can have a radical opinion. He can be different to his mash and he can be and I'll say fine, you know, I'm I'm somebody that's always having, you know, odd opinions and out of the box opinions. But tell me when it comes to the age of Aisha you can't accept those narrations that that we've explained you can't accept the problems there you with that narrative you can't you know that where's the academic integrity there just because your mash have said no [2:44:11] you're fine with it you know you're not prepared to challenge it just because the scholars from Saudi and these scholars don't allow you to challenge that narrative and The narratives you do dare challenge are ridiculous ones like this. Like, oh yeah, maybe the prophet was like, you know, beguiled by the beauty of Zade's wife. Like, what the hell? [2:44:36] Where is this even coming from? I don't even So, I I'm genuinely bewildered by what Yas said. I I don't know. Or is this is this just out of clumsiness? He's just not thinking it. Or is this too well thought through? Is this a little D or a big D? This is the Jal with a small D. [2:45:02] Small D. This is the Or we can say mini. No problem. Dal. Is this the But there is one with a big D. Okay. Rhythm correct. Rhythm correct. [Music] [Laughter] So this I don't know I I just want to you know somebody had asked me I thought I'd share my thoughts on it. ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment eo90sV4JVHo/s/34. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/s/34/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.