3 of 4 · The Madinah years · Madinah
Hafsah bint 'Umar رضي الله عنها
She Fasts, and She Prays
Life in the Prophet's ﷺ household was not without strain, and Hafsah was part of it; the Qur'an alludes to a confidence one wife passed on to another (66:3), and 'Umar later confirmed that the two wives meant were Hafsah and 'A'ishah (Sahih al-Bukhari 4913). It is authentically reported that at one point the Prophet ﷺ divorced her once, and then took her back.
Reports in Ibn Sa'd and al-Hakim add that Jibril came to him and said of her: she fasts much and stands much in prayer, and she is your wife in Paradise. Whatever the tensions of daily life, this was the measure of her.
People are not defined by their worst moment at home, but by their worship and the whole of their lives.
Is there someone you judge by a single moment, who deserves to be seen by the whole of their life?
- Sunan Abi Dawud, Kitab al-TalaqGrade not recorded here
- al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak 'ala al-SahihaynHistorical report
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- Qur'an 66:3
- Sahih al-Bukhari 4913 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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