Those he asked without concluding the marriage

Several women offered themselves or were asked without the marriage being concluded. Oum Hani Fakhita bint Abi Talib: he asked her, but she had small children and he let her be: "the best of women mounted on camels are the righteous women of Qoraych, who nurse their little one tenderly and keep for their husband what they possess." Abou Hourayra specifies she answered: O Messenger of Allah, I have grown old and have dependants. By the Tirmidhi’s version she excused herself and he excused her, and the sura of the Partitions came down after; the scholars draw from it that a believing woman was licit to him only if she had emigrated, Qatada reading "those who emigrated with you" as "those who believed with you."

Layla bint al-Khatim came to him, laid her hand on his shoulder and said: I am the daughter of the one who feeds the birds, blessed of the wind; I am Layla bint al-Khatim, come to offer myself to you: marry me. He answered: "it is done." Her tribe reproached her for offering herself to one surrounded by jealous wives, fearing his supplication against her: she returned asking to be repudiated, and he granted it; she married Mas’oud ibn Aouss. Doubaa bint Amir, tall and beautiful, widow of Salama son of Hicham ibn al-Moughira: he asked her from her son Salama, who went to ask her consent; she answered: my son, you seek permission from the Messenger of Allah? The son returned without answering, judging his mother too old, and the Prophet kept silence over her. Safiyya bint Bachama, stricken with leprosy, was given the choice: myself or your husband; she chose her husband, he sent her away, and the Banu Tamim cursed her.

Oum Charik, a woman of the Banu Amir ibn Louayy, gave herself to him and he did not accept her, and she never married until she died; another version makes her a woman of Dous named Ghaziyya bint Jabir. Jamra bint al-Harith al-Mouzaniyya: her father reported an ill omen in her, he withdrew, and she was struck with leprosy; she became the mother of Chabib ibn al-Barssa, the poet. And Oum Habiba bint al-Abbas: he asked her, but it was found she was his milk-sister, Thouwayba, freedwoman of Abou Lahab, having nursed them both. There were then three sorts of wives: those he married and died leaving, forbidden after him to all men by consensus and by the sura of the Partitions, their waiting ending with their lives; those he married then repudiated in his lifetime, on whom the scholars differ, the strong view resting on the sura of the Choice; and those repudiated before consummation, licit to others without disagreement. As for those asked without conclusion, their marriage remains licit, and more fitting.