The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) marrying Zaynab bint Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with her)

Umar bin Uthman al-Jahshi narrates from his father that he said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Madinah, and Sayyidah Zaynab bint Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with her) was among those who had emigrated with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). She was a beautiful woman. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) proposed to her on behalf of Sayyiduna Zayd bin Harithah (may Allah be pleased with him), and she said: O Messenger of Allah, I am not pleased with him for myself, while I am a noble widow of Quraysh. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I have been pleased with him for you." So Sayyiduna Zayd bin Harithah (may Allah be pleased with him) married her.

It is narrated from Muhammad bin Yahya bin Habban that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) went to the house of Sayyiduna Zayd bin Harithah (may Allah be pleased with him), who in those days was called "Zayd bin Muhammad". Often he (peace and blessings be upon him) would miss him and ask: "Where is Zayd?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) reached his house looking for him, but he was not there. Sayyidah Zaynab bint Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with her) got up and came forward in her household clothes, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) turned his gaze away from her. She said: "O Messenger of Allah, he is not here." So he (peace and blessings be upon him) turned back, murmuring something of which nothing could be made out except: 'Subhan Allahil-Azim, subhan Allahi musarrifil-qulub' (Glory be to Allah, the Magnificent; glory be to Allah, the Turner of hearts). When Zayd came home, his wife told him that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had come. Zayd asked: "Why did you not ask him to come in?" She said: "I did offer, but he declined." Zayd asked: "Did you hear him say anything?" She said: "As he was going back, he was saying something I could not understand, but I heard him saying: 'Subhan Allahil-Azim, subhan Allahi musarrifil-qulub' (Glory be to Allah, the Magnificent; glory be to Allah, the Turner of hearts)." So Zayd came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allah, I have learned that you came to my house. May my father and mother be sacrificed for you! Why did you not come in? Perhaps Zaynab has pleased you, so shall I divorce her?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Keep your wife to yourself." After that, living together with her became impossible for Zayd. He came again, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) again said: "Keep your wife to yourself." Zayd said: "O Messenger of Allah, shall I separate from her?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) again said: "Keep your wife to yourself." In the end Zayd divorced her, and she completed her waiting period. Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) says: One day the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting with me in conversation when the state of revelation came over him (peace and blessings be upon him). Then, when that state lifted, he (peace and blessings be upon him) was smiling and saying: "Who will go to Zaynab and give her the glad tidings that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has married her to me from the heaven?" And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) recited this whole verse: "And when you said to the one on whom Allah had bestowed favour and on whom you had bestowed favour." [Surah al-Ahzab: 37] Sayyidah Aishah says: Because of the talk of her beauty, and because of the great honour Allah had granted her in marrying her from the heaven, an intense feeling of jealousy came over me. Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) says: She used to take pride over us in this. Then Salma, the servant of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), hurried out and gave Sayyidah Zaynab (may Allah be pleased with her) this news, upon which she, in her joy, gave her some of her silver ornaments as a reward.

It is narrated from Muhammad bin Ibrahim bin al-Harith al-Taymi that Sayyidah Zaynab bint Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with her) left instructions that she be carried on the bier of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and that a funeral canopy (na'sh) be placed over it; before her, the bier of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) had also been carried on it. On a very hot day Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) passed by the grave-diggers who were preparing Sayyidah Zaynab's grave, and he said (for their comfort): "What if I were to pitch a tent over them (it would be better)." And this was the first tent put up over a grave in al-Baqi'.

It is narrated from Abdullah bin Abi Salit that he said: I saw Abu Ahmad bin Jahsh carrying the bier of Sayyidah Zaynab (may Allah be pleased with her); he was blind and was weeping. I heard Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) say: "O Abu Ahmad, move away from the bier so that the people do not hurt you," for there was a great crowd around her bier. Abu Ahmad said: "She is the one through whom we attained every good, and this cools the heat that I am feeling (from the grief of parting)." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Keep to it, keep to it (that is, stay with it)."