Narrative on “Long Hands”

Dr Shehzad Saleem

حدثنا مُوسَي بن إِسْمَاعِيلَ حدثنا أبو عَوَانَةَ عن فِرَاسٍ عن الشَّعْبِيِّ عن مَسْرُوقٍ عن عَائِشَةَ رضي اللّٰه عنها اَنَّ بَعْضَ اَزْوَاجِ النبي  صلي اللّٰه عليه وسلم  قُلْنَ لِلنَّبِيِّ  صلي اللّٰه عليه وسلم  أَيُّنَا أَسْرَعُ بِكَ لُحُوقًا قال اَطْوَلُكُنَّ يَدًا فَاَخَذُوا قَصَبَةً يَذْرَعُونَهَا فَكَانَتْ سَوْدَةُ اَطْوَلَهُنَّ يَدًا فَعَلِمْنَا بَعْدُ اَنَّمَا كانت طُولَ يَدِهَا الصَّدَقَةُ وَكَانَتْ اَسْرَعَنَا لُحُوقًا بِهِ وَكَانَتْ تُحِبُّ الصَّدَقَةَ

Masruq reported from ‘A’ishah (rta) that one of the wives of the Prophet (sws) said to me: “Which of us would meet you first?” He replied: “One who has the longest hands.” The wives started to measure the hands with stick of sugar cane. They found that Sawdah had the longest hands. So we got to know later that the expression her long hands means referred to her being charitable and she was the first one who [died and] went to the Prophet (sws) the foremost and she was very fond of charity.1

Following is the schematic illustration of the variants of this narrative’s isnad:

It is factually wrong that Sawdah (rta) was the first among the wives of the Prophet (rta) to have died. It is evident from other sources that it was Zaynab bint Jahash (rta):

حدثنا حماد أبو أسامة قال حدثني عامر قال حدثني عبد الرحمن بن أبزى قال صليت مع عمر علي زينب وكانت أول نساء النبي  صلي الله عليه وسلم  ماتت بعد النبي  صلى الله عليه وسلم 

‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Abza stated: “I offered the funeral prayer of Zaynab with ‘Umar and she was the first of the Prophet’s wives who died after him.”2

Thus it is recorded that she died in 20 AH.3

Moreover, it is about her that sources specify that she was very charitable:

حدثنا مَحْمُودُ بن غَيْلَانَ أبو أَحْمَدَ حدثنا الْفَضْلُ بن مُوسَى السِّينَانِيُّ أخبرنا طَلْحَةُ بن يحيى بن طَلْحَةَ عن عَائِشَةَ بِنْتِ طَلْحَةَ عن عَائِشَةَ أُمِّ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ قالت قال رسول اللَّهِ  صلى الله عليه وسلم  اسرعكن لَحَاقًا بِي اطولكن يَدًا قالت فَكُنَّ يَتَطَاوَلْنَ أَيَّتُهُنَّ أَطْوَلُ يَدًا قالت فَكَانَتْ اطولنا يَدًا زَيْنَبُ لِأَنَّهَا كانت تَعْمَلُ بِيَدِهَا وَتَصَدَّقُ

‘A’ishah bint Tlhah reports from ‘A’ishah, mother of the faithful that she stated that the Prophet (sws) said: “The foremost among you to meet me is the one who has the longest hands.” At this she said that the wives started to measure their hands to know who had the longest ones and then said: “Zaynab had the longest hands among us because she used them and would give charity.”4

Though Ibn Abi Khaythamah says that Sawdah bint Zam‘ah (rta) died near the end of ‘Umar’s caliphate,5 al-Waqidi and Ibn Hibban say that she died in 55 AH.6

 The only person to report the name of Sawdah (rta) in this narrative from ‘A’ishah is Masruq ibn Ajda‘.

Moreover, besides ‘A’ishah bint Tlhah (as cited above by Muslim), ‘Amrah bint ‘Abd al-Rahman also reports from ‘A’ishah that the first to die after the Prophet (sws) was Zaynab:

أخبرنا إسماعيل بن عبد الله بن أبي أويس حدثني أبي عن يحيى بن سعيد عن عمرة بنت عبد الرحمن الأنصارية عن عائشة قالت قال النبي  صلى الله عليه وسلم  لأزواجه يتبعني أطولكن يدا قالت عائشة فكنا إذا اجتمعنا في بيت إحدانا بعد النبي  صلى الله عليه وسلم  نمد أيدينا في الجدار نتطاول فلم نزل نفعل ذلك حتى توفيت زينب بنت جحش وكانت امرأة قصيرة يرحمها الله ولم تكن أطولنا فعرفنا حينئذ أن النبي  صلى الله عليه وسلم  إنما أراد بطول اليد الصدقة قالت وكانت زينب امرأة صناع اليد فكانت تدبغ وتخرز وتتصدق في سبيل الله

‘A’ishah stated that the Prophet (sws) said to his wife: “The one to follow me would be the one who has the longest hands.” ‘A’ishah said: “Once we were gathered at the houses of one among us after the Prophet (sws) had passed away. We would spread our hands on the wall to find out which among us has the longest ones. We would continue to do this until Zaynab bint Jahash died and she was a woman of short hands. It is then we realized that by the length of hands the Prophet (sws) was actually referring to being charitable. Zaynab would work with her hands, bake hides and stitch them and spend in charity.”7

It seems that in the narrative cited earliest in this article, the error has been made by Abu ‘Awanah Waddah ibn ‘Umar al-Yashkuri about whom Abu Hatim says that he would make errors when he would narrate from his memory.8

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1. Al-Bukhari, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, vol. 2, 515, (no. 1354). See also: Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 8, 108, (no. 24943); Ibn Hibban, Sahih, vol. 8, 108, (no. 2215); Al-Bukhari, Al-Tarikh al-awsat, vol. 1, 50, (no. 179); Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 3, 112, (no. 1118).

2. Ibn Abi Shaybah, Musannaf, vol. 7, 249, (no. 35764).

3. Al-Rub‘i, Mawlid al-‘ulama’, vol. 1, 107; Ibn Hibban, Al-Thiqat, vol. 3, 144; Ibn Hajar, Taqrib, 747; Al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-kamal, 35, 184.

4. Muslim, Al-Jami‘ al-sahih, vol. 4, 1907, (no. 2542). See also: Ibn Hibban, Sahih, vol. 15, 50, (no. 2215); Ibid., vol. 8, 108, (no. 3314).

5. Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-tahdhib, vol. 12, 455.

6. Ibn Hibban, Al-Thiqat, vol. 3, 183; Ibn Hajar, Taqrib, 748.

7. Ibn Sa‘d, Al-Tabaqat al-kubra, vol. 8, 108. See also: al-Tahawi, Sharh mushkil al-athar, vol. 1, 202.

8. Al-Dhahabi, Mizan al-i‘tidal,