Lady Fatimah bint Qays (may Allah be pleased with her), who was the sister of Sayyiduna Dihhak bin Qays (may Allah be pleased with him), narrates: I was married to Sayyiduna Abu Amr bin Hafs bin Mughira. He had already divorced me twice. Then, when the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) to Yemen, my husband also went with him to Yemen. From there, he sent the third divorce. In Medina, his agent was ‘Ayyash bin Abi Rabi‘ah. I demanded my maintenance and residence from him. He said to me: We are not responsible for any maintenance or residence for you; however, out of kindness, we can give you something from ourselves, but we are not bound. Lady Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) says: I said, if you are not responsible for anything, then I have no need for your favor. I went straight to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and presented my case, and also told him what ‘Ayyash had said. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Ayyash has spoken correctly. There is neither maintenance nor residence due to you from them, nor can you return to them, because three divorces have been completed. Now, you must observe your waiting period (‘iddah), so move to the house of your paternal cousin, Umm Sharik, and stay there until the end of your ‘iddah. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: No, no, do not go there. Because of her kindness, many Muslim brothers frequently visit her house. Go to your paternal cousin Ibn Umm Maktum; he is blind, so there will be no difficulty there. Complete your ‘iddah there and do not take any step without informing me. Lady Fatimah says: By Allah! I understood from this that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) himself intended to marry me, perhaps that is why he said this. Anyway, when I completed my ‘iddah, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) arranged my engagement with Sayyiduna Usamah (may Allah be pleased with him) and married me to him. Abu Salamah, the narrator, says: Lady Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) herself dictated this hadith to me, and I wrote it down with my own hand.

(Sec­ond chain) A similar hadith is narrated, except that in this one it is stated: Sayyida Fatima says: When I completed my waiting period (‘iddah), Sayyiduna Muawiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Abu Jahm bin Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) sent me proposals of marriage, but the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding these individuals: Muawiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) is poor, he has no wealth, and Abu Jahm (may Allah be pleased with him) always carries a stick on his shoulder. Why don’t you marry Usama bin Zayd (may Allah be pleased with them both)? The family of Sayyida Fatima did not like this, but Sayyida Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) said: I will only marry the one whom the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has suggested for marriage, so I married Sayyiduna Usama (may Allah be pleased with him).

. (Third chain) Sayyida Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) says: Abu Amr bin Hafs gave me an irrevocable divorce and he himself was not present here. Then she mentioned a hadith similar in meaning to the above hadith, and then said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Marry Usama. I disliked it, but the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) again said: Just marry Usama bin Zaid. So I married him on your command, and Allah Almighty created much goodness in it.

Abu Bakr bin Abu Juham says: I and Abu Salamah both went to Lady Fatimah bint Qais (may Allah be pleased with her). She said: My husband divorced me and did not provide residence or maintenance, he only gave ten saa‘, five of barley and five of dates, and sent me through his cousin. I came to the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and told him the whole detail. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He has done correctly. He is not responsible for your residence and maintenance. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered me to spend my ‘iddah in the house of so-and-so, i.e., Ibn Umm Maktum. The narrator says her husband had given her an irrevocable divorce.

It is narrated from Sayyida Fatima bint Qais (may Allah be pleased with her) that her husband had given her three divorces, so she went to the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and began to complain about her husband, saying that he had neither provided her with residence nor maintenance. But in response to Sayyida Fatima, Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We will not abandon the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) on the word of a woman; it is possible that she has forgotten. Amir Sha’bi says: Sayyida Fatima had narrated to me that the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had ordered her to spend her waiting period (‘iddah) in the house of Ibn Umm Maktum.

Qabeesah bin Dhuwaiyb narrates that Saeed bin Zaid’s daughter, Sayyidah Fatimah bint Qais (may Allah be pleased with her), who was her maternal aunt and was married to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr bin Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), he gave her three divorces at different times. Saeed’s daughter received a message from her aunt Fatimah bint Qais, who moved her to her own house, and at that time Marwan bin Hakam was the governor of Madinah. Qabeesah says: Marwan sent me to Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) to ask her why a woman had moved out of her house before her waiting period (‘iddah) was over. Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated her incident and said: I will argue with you by the Book of Allah. Allah Almighty says: {اِذَا طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَائَ فَطَلِّقُوْھُنَّ لِعِتَّدِہِنَّ وَاَحْصُو الْعِدَّۃَ وَاتَّقُوْا اللّٰہَ رَبَّکُمْ لَا تُخْرِجُوْھُنَّ مِنْ بُیُوْتِہِنَّ وَلَا یَخْرُجْنَ اِلَّا اَنْ یَاْتِیْنَ بِفَاحِشَۃٍ مُبَیِّنَۃٍ} to: {لَعَلَّ اللّٰہَ یُحْدِثُ بَعْدَ ذَالِکَ اَمْرًا} … When you divorce women, divorce them at the beginning of their waiting period and count the waiting period, and fear Allah, your Lord. Do not expel them from their houses, nor should they leave, unless they commit a clear indecency … Perhaps Allah will bring about a new matter after that. Then Allah Almighty said: … {فَاِذَا بَلَغْنَ اَجَلَہُنَّ فَاَمْسِکُوْھُنَّ بِمَعْرُوْفٍ اَوْ فَارِقُوْھُنَّ بِمَعْرُوْفٍ} When they have reached the end of their waiting period, then either retain them in a good manner or separate from them in a good manner. By Allah! After the third divorce, there is no mention of retaining, and along with this, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) also ordered me to observe the waiting period. The narrator says: I returned to Marwan and informed him of what Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) had said. Marwan said: It is the statement of a woman. Then Marwan ordered that woman to return to her house and remain there until her waiting period was over.

It is narrated from Ubaidullah bin Abdullah that Sayyiduna Abu Amr bin Hafs bin Mughira (may Allah be pleased with him) went towards Yemen with Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). He sent to Sayyida Fatima bint Qais (may Allah be pleased with her) the remaining divorce. Sayyiduna Abu Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) instructed Sayyiduna Harith bin Hisham (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Ayyash bin Abi Rabi’ah (may Allah be pleased with him) to give some maintenance to Fatima, but Sayyida Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) refused to take it and said: Give me proper maintenance, this is my right. Abu Amr said: By Allah! There is no maintenance due from me to you, yes, if you were pregnant, then you would have been entitled to maintenance until delivery. Sayyida Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) came to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and mentioned that Abu Amr is not giving her maintenance and says that if you were pregnant, then there would be maintenance, but now there is not. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He is correct. Due to necessity, she sought permission to move elsewhere for her waiting period (‘iddah), so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) granted her permission. She said: O Messenger of Allah! What is your opinion, where should I spend my ‘iddah? He said: Spend it in the house of Ibn Umm Maktum. He was a blind man, so even if the veil drops, it does not matter much, because he cannot see. When the ‘iddah was completed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) married her to Sayyiduna Usama bin Zaid (may Allah be pleased with them). Marwan sent Qabeesa bin Dhuwayb to Sayyida Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) to inquire about this hadith. When he returned and narrated it, Marwan said: We have heard this hadith from a woman; we follow the established method upon which we found the people. When Marwan’s statement reached Sayyida Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her), she said: The Qur’an itself will decide between me and you: Allah Almighty said: {اِذَا طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَائَ فَطَلِّقُوْھُنَّ لِعِتَّدِہِنَّ وَاَحْصُو الْعِدَّۃَ وَاتَّقُوْا اللّٰہَ رَبَّکُمْ لَا تُخْرِجُوْھُنَّ مِنْ بُیُوْتِہِنَّ وَلَا یَخْرُجْنَ اِلَّا اَنْ یَاْتِیْنَ بِفَاحِشَۃٍ مُبَیِّنَۃٍ} to: {لَعَلَّ اللّٰہَ یُحْدِثُ بَعْدَ ذَالِکَ اَمْرًا} … When you divorce women, divorce them at the beginning of their waiting period and count the waiting period, and fear Allah, your Lord. Do not expel them from their houses, nor should they leave, unless they commit a clear indecency … Perhaps Allah will bring about a new matter after that. Fatima said: This command of not expelling from the houses is for the one for whom the right of return (ruju‘) remains, so that she is given maintenance. Now that three divorces have occurred, what new matter will arise after that?

Sayyiduna Abu Salamah bin Abdur Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that Sayyidah Fatimah bint Qais (may Allah be pleased with her) informed him that she was married to Sayyiduna Abu Amr bin Hafs (may Allah be pleased with him), and he gave her the final and third divorce. She said that she went to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and sought a verdict from him regarding leaving her house. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered her to move to the house of Sayyiduna Ibn Umm Maktum (may Allah be pleased with him), who was a blind Companion. Marwan blamed Fatimah for saying that a divorced woman could leave her house. ‘Urwah believes that Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) also rejected the statement of Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both), he says: My maternal aunt was divorced, and she was still in her waiting period (‘iddah), but she wished to go and pick dates from her trees. A man forbade her from doing so and said that she should not go out. So she came to the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and asked him about it. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Why not, you may pick your dates; perhaps you may give charity from it or perform some act of goodness.