No. 3330

Anas (Allaah be pleased with him) reported: When the 'Iddah of Zainab was over, Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said to Zaid to make a mention to her about him. Zaid went on until he came to her and she was fermenting her flour. He (Zaid) said: As I saw her I felt in my heart an idea of her greatness so much so that I could not see towards her (simply for the fact) that Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) had made a mention of her. So I turned my back towards her. and I turned upon my heels, and said: Zainab, Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) has sent (me) with a message to you. She said: I do not do anything until I solicit the will of my Lord. So she stood at her place of worship and the (verse of) the Qur'an (pertaining to her marriage) were revealed, and Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) came to her without permission. He (the narrator) said: I saw that Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) served us bread and meat until it was broad day light and the people went away, but some persons who were busy in con- versation stayed on in the house after the meal. Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) also went out and I also followed him, and he began to visit the apartments of his wives greeting them (with the words): As-Salamu 'alaikum, and they would say: Allaah's Messenger, how did you find your family (hadrat Zainab)? He (the narrator) stated: I do not know whether I had informed him that the people had gone out or he (the Prophet) informed me (about that). He moved on until he entered the apartment, and I also went and wanted to enter (the apartment) along with him, but he threw a curtain between me and him, as (the verfes pertaining to seclusion) had been revealed, and people were instructed in what they had been instructed. Ibn Rafii had made this addition in his narration:" O you who believe, enter not the houses of the Prophet unless permission is given to you for a meal, not waiting for its cooking being finished..." to the words"... Allaah forbears not from the truth."

No. 3331

Anas (Allaah be pleased with him) reported: I did not see Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) giving a wedding feast (on the marriage) of any one (of his wives) as he did in the case of (his marriage with) Zainab, for then he sacrificed a goat (on this occasion).

No. 3332

Anas b. Malik (Allaah be pleased with him) reported: Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) gave no better wedding feast than the one he did (on the occasion of his marriage with) Zainab. Thabit al-Bunani (one of the narrators) said: What did he serve in the wedding feast? He (Anas) said: He fed them bread and meat (so lavishly) that they (the guests) abandoned it (of their own accord after having taken them to their hearts' content).

No. 3333

Anas b. Malik (Allaah be pleased with him) reported: When Allaah's Prophet (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) married Zainab bint jahsh, he invited people (to the wedding feast) and they ate food. They then sat there and entered into conversation. He (the Prophet) made a stir as if he was preparing to stand up, but (the persons busy in talking) did not stand up. When he (the Prophet) saw it, he stood up and when he did so, some other persons stood up. 'Asim and Abd al-A'la in their narrations made this addition: Three (persons) sat there, and Allaah's Prophet (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) came there to enter (the apartment) but he found the people sitting there. Then they stood up and went away. He said: Then I came and informed Allaah's Prophet (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) that they had gone away. He (the Prophet) then came there until he entered (the apartment). I also went and was about to enter, when he hung a curtain between me and him (and it was on this occasion that) Allaah, the Exalted and Majestic, revealed this verse:" O you who believe, enter not the houses of the Prophet unless permission is given to you for a meal, not waiting for its cooking being finished to the (words)" Surely this is serious in the sight of Allaah" (xxxiii. 53).

No. 3334

Anas b. Malik (Allaah be pleased with him) reported: I was the best informed among the people pertaining to Hijab (veil and seclusion). Ubayy b. Ka'b used to ask me about it. Anas (Allaah be pleased with him) thus narrated: The Messenger of Allaah (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) got up in the morning as a bridegroom of Zainab bint jahsh (Allaah be pleased witt her) as he had married her at Medina. He invited people to the wedding feast after the day had well risen. There sat Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) and there kept sitting along with him some persons after the people had stood up (for departure) ; then Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) stood up and walked on and I also walked along with him until he reached the door of the apartment of 'A'isha (Allaah be pleased with her). He then thought that they (those who had been sitting there after meal) had gone away. So he returned and I also returned with him, but they were still sitting at their places. So he returned for the second time and I also returned until he reached the apartment of 'A'isha. He again returned and I also returned and they had (by that time) stood up, and he hung a curtain between me and him (at the door of the apartment of Hadrat Zainab, where he had to stay), and Allaah revealed the verse pertaining to veil.

No. 3335

Anas b. Malik (Allaah be pleased with him) reported: Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) contracted marriage and he went to his wife. My mother Umm Sulaim prepared hais and placed it in an earthen vessel and said: Anas, take it to Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) and say: My mother has sent that to you and she offers greetings to you, and says that it is a humble gift for you on our behalf, Messenger of Allaah. So I went along with it to Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) and said: My mother offers you salutations, and says that it is a humble gift for you on our behalf. He said: Place it here, and then said: Go and invite on my behalf so and so and anyone whom you meet, and he even named some persons. He (Anas) said: I invited whom he had named and whom I met. I (one of the narrators) said: I said to Anas: How many (persons) were there? He (Anas) said: They were about three hundred persons. Then Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) (said to me): Anas, bring that earthen vessel. They (the guests) then began to enter until the courtyard and the apartment were fully packed. Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: Make a circle of ten (guests), and every person should eat from that nearest to him. They began to eat, until they ate to their fill. A group went out (after eating the food), and another group came in until all of them had eaten. He (the Prophet) said to me: Anas, lift it (the earthen vessel), so I lifted it, but I could not assess whether it had more (food) when I placed it (before Allaah's Messenger) or when I lifted it (after the people had been served out of it). A group among them (the guests) began to talk in the house of Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) and the Messenger of Allaah (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) was sitting and his wife had been sitting with her face turned towards the wall. It was troublesome for Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam), so Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) went out and greeted his wives. He then returned. When they (the guests) saw that Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) had returned they thought that it (their overstay) was something troublesome for him. He (the narrator) said: They hastened towards the door and all of them went out. And there came Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) and he hung a curtain and went in, and I was sitting in his apartment and he did not stay but for a short while. He then came to me and these verses were revealed. Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) came out and recited them to the people:" O you who believe, enter not the houses of the Prophet unless permission is given to you for a meal, not waiting for its cooking being finished-but when you are invited, enter, and when you have taken food, disperse not seeking to listen to talk. Surely this gives the Prophet trouble", to the end of verse (xxxiii. 53). (Al-Ja'd said that Anas [b. Malik] stated: I am the first amongst the people to hear these verses), and henceforth the wives of the Prophet (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) began to observe seclusion (al-hijab).

No. 3336

Anas (Allaah be pleased with him) reported: When Allaah's Prophet (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) contracted marriage with Zainab (Allaah be pleased with bet), Umm Sulaim sent him hats in a vessel of stone as a gift. Anas stated that Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said to him: Go and invite on my behalf all the Muslims whom you meet. So I invited on his behalf everyone whom I met. They entered (his house) and they ate and went out. And Allaah's Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) had kept his hand on the food, and he invoked blessing on that, and said whatever Allaah wished him to say, and none whom I met was left uninvited. They ate to their fill and went out, but a group among them remained there and was engaged in lengthy discussion. Allaah's Prophet (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) felt shy of saying them anything. So he went out and left them in his house and Allaah the Great and Majestic revealed this verse:" 0 you who believe, enter not the houses of the Prophet unless permission is given to you for a meal, not waiting for its cooking being finished." Qatada (instead of using the word Ghaira Nazirina) used the word Ghaira Mutahayyinina (i. e. not waiting for the time of the food). But when you are invited, enter..." up to this verse. This is purer for your hearts and their hearts.