Zaynab bint Khuzayma

Zainab bint Khuzaymah bin Al-Harith bin Abdullah bin Amr bin Abd Manaf bin Hilal bin Aamer bin Sa'sa'a Al-Hilaliyya was a wife of the Prophet ﷺ. She was known as Mother of the Poor because she frequently fed the poor and gave them alms. She was married to Abdullah bin Jahsh, who was killed at the Battle of Uhud while still her husband. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then married her. Another report states that she was married to Tufayl bin Al-Harith bin Al-Muttalib bin Abd Manaf, after whom his brother Ubaid bin Al-Harith married her. Abu Omar transmitted this from Ali bin Abdul Aziz Al-Jurjani. He also stated that she was the maternal half-sister of Maimunah, the Prophet ﷺ's wife, but noted that he found no other authority for this claim. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ married her after Hafsa. Abu Omar added that she remained with him for only two or three months before dying during his lifetime.

There is no dispute that she died during his lifetime. Ibn Mandah included under her entry the Prophet ﷺ's saying, "The quickest of you to join me will be the one with the longest hand." The wives of the Prophet ﷺ used to compare their hands to determine which was longest; when Zainab died, they understood "the longest hand" as a reference to charitable deeds. Abu Omar, however, regarded this attribution as an error: Zaynab bint Khuzaymah died before the Prophet ﷺ, whereas the saying referred to the first of his wives to die after him. He identified that wife as Zainab bint Jahsh, who was likewise renowned for giving generously from the work of her own hands and was the first of his wives to die after him. Allah knows best. The three compilers recorded this biography.