Zaynab bint Jahsh

Zaynab bint Jahsh (Arabic: زينب بنت جحش ) was a wife of prophet Muhammad. She was a cousin of Muhammad, and her previous marriage, which was arranged by Muhammad himself, ended in a divorce. Her mother, Umayma, was the daughter of Muhammad's grandfather, Abdul Muttalib.

According to Ibn Kathir, Zaynab came from a noble Arab family and she wanted to marry a man with high social status. However, Muhammad wanted her to marry Zayd ibn Harith, a former slave that Muhammad had adopted as son. Zaynab was unhappy marrying a former slave and refused to marry him. This Qur'anic verse relates to the event,

It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision: if any one disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path. (Qur'an 33:36)

Muhammad provided dowry for Zaynab on Zayd's behalf, but the marriage, however, was not a success. According to Ibn Kathir (translated by Muhammad Gemeiah),

Zayd asked the Prophet's permission to divorce Zaynab more than once, and although he was counseled to hold onto his wife and to fear Allah, in the end the divorce took place. The Prophet then was ordered by Allah to marry Zaynab bint Jahsh, which he did in 5 AH, when he was fifty-eight years old, and she was thirty-five years old.

Some critics have objected Muhammad marrying the divorced wife of his adopted son. Muslims reply is that according to Qur'an, this divorce was done to establish a principle that an adopted son is not like the real son, and therefore, the father can marry a woman whom had been married to his adopted son.