Volume 7, Book 72, Number 734:
Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas:
Volume 7 – 1304 / 1700
SAHIH BUKHARI VOLUME 7 > BOOK 72: DRESS
For one year I wanted to ask ‘Umar about the two women who helped each other against the
Prophet but I was afraid of him. One day he dismounted his riding animal and went among the trees
of Arak to answer the call of nature, and when he returned, I asked him and he said, “(They were)
‘Aisha and Hafsa.” Then he added, “We never used to give significance to ladies in the days of the Pre-
lslamic period of ignorance, but when Islam came and Allah mentioned their rights, we used to give
them their rights but did not allow them to interfere in our affairs. Once there was some dispute
between me and my wife and she answered me back in a loud voice. I said to her, ‘Strange! You can
retort in this way?’ She said, ‘Yes. Do you say this to me while your daughter troubles Allah’s
Apostle?’ So I went to Hafsa and said to her, ‘I warn you not to disobey Allah and His Apostle.’ I first
went to Hafsa and then to Um Salama and told her the same. She said to me, ‘O ‘Umar! It surprises
me that you interfere in our affairs so much that you would poke your nose even into the affairs of
Allah’s Apostle and his wives.’ So she rejected my advice. There was an Ansari man; whenever he was
absent from Allah’s Apostle and I was present there, I used to convey to him what had happened (on
that day), and when I was absent and he was present there, he used to convey to me what had
happened as regards news from Allah’s Apostle . During that time all the rulers of the nearby lands
had surrendered to Allah’s Apostle except the king of Ghassan in Sham, and we were afraid that he
might attack us. All of a sudden the Ansari came and said, ‘A great event has happened!’ I asked him,
‘What is it? Has the Ghassani (king) come?’ He said, ‘Greater than that! Allah’s Apostle has divorced
his wives! I went to them and found all of them weeping in their dwellings, and the Prophet had as –
cended to an upper room of his. At the door of the room there was a slave to whom I went and said,
“Ask the permission for me to enter.” He admitted me and I entered to see the Prophet lying on a mat
that had left its imprint on his side. Under his head there was a leather pillow stuffed with palm
fires. Behold! There were some hides hanging there and some grass for tanning. Then I mentioned
what I had said to Hafsa and Um Salama and what reply Um Salama had given me. Allah’s Apostle
smiled and stayed there for twenty nine days and then came down.” (See Hadith No. 648, Vol. 3 for
details)