The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 2 of 4

348 THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD
Ibn Ishnq went on, "So she continued making plans and when she was ready
her husband's brother Kinma b. al-Rabi' brought a camel which she mounted
and he, taking his bow and his quiver, led her away, she riding in a howdah and
it being daytime. Some of the Quraysh men discussed this and followed after
her, catching up with her at Dha Tuwn. The first man to reach her was Habbar
b. al-Aswad b. al-MutMih b. Asad b. 'Ahd al-Wzz2 al-Fihri. He scared her with
his spear as she was there in the howdah and because, as they claim, she was
pregnant at the time, she suffered a miscarriage. Her brother-in-law then knelt
down and took the arrows from his quiver, saying, 'By God, if any man comes
near me, I'll put an arrow into him!' The men drew away from hi.
"Then Aba Sufym arrived with some other Quraysh leaders and said, 'Put
down your arrows so we can talk with you.' He did so and Aba Su@sn drew near
him and said, 'You have not done well. You came forth with a woman openly,
going over peoples' heads, even though you're aware of the injury and damage
done us by Muhammad. When you took away his daughter, openly and regardless
of anyone else, the people thought this was due to the humiliation we have undergone,
and that this reflected our weakness and incapacity. I swear we don't want
to keep her from her father and we're not after revenge, but you'd better return
with the woman until the talk dies down and everyone says we have brought her
back. Then you can secretly take her away to her father.' And so he did."
Ibn Ishaq related that Hind spoke the following verse criticizing those men
who brought Zaynab back to Mecca,
"In peacetime, they're wild young asses, fearless and
violent, but in war they're like women having periods!"
"She is also said to have spoken this line to those who returned from Badr after
some of their force had been killed."
Ibn Ishsq went on, "Zaynab stayed there for some days until the gossip had
subsided and then Kinana conducted her away by night and delivered her over
to Zayd b. Hnritha and his companion. They then took her by night to the
Messenger of God (SAAS)."
Al-Bayhaqi related in the DalZJzl (The SSig), giving a path of transmission
through Wmar b. 'Abd AUsh b. Wrwa b. al-Zubayr, from Wrwa, quoting
'A'isha, the story of Zaynab's departure from Mecca and being brought back and
having a miscarriage. His account relates that the Messenger of God (SAAS)
then sent Zayd b. Hwitha off with a ring of his that she could use to arrive to
him. Zayd then presented it to a shepherd from Mecca who gave the ring to
Zaynab. When she saw it she recognized it and asked him who had given it to
him, and he replied that it was someone on the outskirts of Mecca. Zaynab then
left Mecca by night and rode behind Zayd who brought her to Medina.
(The account states), "The Messenger of God (SAAS) used to say, 'She was
the best of my daughters who suffered on my account.'