The interrupted vow: Juwayriya and the ransom pact

Al-Bukhari said: Qutayba ibn Said narrated to us: Isma’il ibn Ja’far informed me, from Rabi’a ibn Abi Abd ar-Rahman, from Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Hibban, from Ibn Muhayriz, who said: I entered the mosque and saw Abu Sa’id al-Khudri and sat beside him and asked him about withdrawal, and Abu Sa’id said: we went out with the Messenger of Allah on the campaign of the Banu al-Mustaliq and took captives of the Arabs’ captives, and desired the women, and celibacy became hard upon us, and we loved withdrawal and said: shall we withdraw while the Messenger of Allah is among us, before asking him? So we asked him about that and he said: ’nothing upon you that you do not do it; there is no soul that shall be created until the Day of Resurrection but it shall be created.’ Muslim reported it likewise.

Ibn Ishaq said: among those taken of the captives that day was Juwayriya bint al-Harith ibn Abi Dirar, and Muhammad ibn Ja’far ibn az-Zubayr related to me, from Urwa, from Aisha, who said: when the Messenger of Allah divided the captives of the Banu al-Mustaliq, Juwayriya bint al-Harith fell to the lot of Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shamm’as, or a cousin of his, and she made a ransom pact with him for herself, and she was a sweet and comely woman whom none saw but he was captivated. She came to the Messenger of Allah to seek his help in her ransom pact. She said:

by Allah, I had only seen her at the door of my cell and disliked her, and knew he would see of her what I saw. She entered upon him and said: O Messenger of Allah, I am Juwayriya bint al-Harith ibn Abi Dirar, chief of his people, and I have been struck by a calamity you know not hidden from you; I fell to the lot of Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shamm’as, or a cousin of his, and made a ransom pact with him for myself, and I come to you seeking your help against my pact. He said: ’have you better than that?’ She said: and what is it, O Messenger of Allah? He said: ’I discharge your pact for you and marry you.’ She said: yes, O Messenger of Allah.

He said: ’it is done.’ She said: the news went out among the people that the Messenger of Allah had married Juwayriya bint al-Harith, and the people said: we are the in-laws of the Messenger of Allah, and they sent forth what was in their hands, releasing them. She said: by his marrying her a hundred households of the Banu al-Mustaliq were freed, and I know no woman who was a greater blessing upon her people than she. Then Ibn Ishaq mentioned the story of the lie in full in this campaign, and so did al-Bukhari and more than one of the people of knowledge, and I have established all its routes in the tafsir of the chapter of Light; so let it be annexed in full to here, and the help sought is from Allah.

Al-Waqidi said: Haram narrated to us, from Hisham ibn Urwa, from his father, that Juwayriya bint al-Harith said: three nights before the Prophet came I saw as it were the moon traveling from Yathrib until it fell into my lap, and I disliked to tell anyone of the people until the Messenger of Allah came; and when we were captured I hoped in the dream. She said: the Messenger of Allah freed me and married me, and by Allah I never spoke to him about my people until the Muslims were the ones who released them, and I only sensed a maidservant of my cousins informing me the news, and I praised Allah the Most High. Al-Waqidi said: it is said the Messenger of Allah made her dowry the freeing of every captive of the Banu al-Mustaliq; and it is said he made her dowry the freeing of forty of the Banu al-Mustaliq; and Musa ibn Uqba mentioned that the Banu al-Mustaliq’s, her father sought her and ransomed her, then the Messenger of Allah asked her of him and he married her to him.