Hence, it was necessary that he should uproot, as early as...

Hence, it was necessary that he should uproot, as early as possible, the old despicable customs of the Arabs (that the daughters of the nobility should not be married to indigent people) and nothing could be better than that he should commence this programme from his own family and should marry his cousin Zaynab, the grand-daughter of Abdul Muttalib, to his former slave, who had since been set free, so that people should know that these imaginary barriers should be removed as early as possible and they should also know that when the Prophet says: "The criterion of superiority is piety and a Muslim woman is equal to a Muslim man" he himself was the first to enforce this law and the first to act upon it.

In order to do away with this wrong custom the Prophet went to Zaynab's house personally and formally asked for her consent to marry Zayd. In the first instance she and her brother were not inclined to accept the proposal, because the ideas of the Days of Ignorance had not yet been completely wiped out from their minds.

Hence, notwithstanding the fact that it was an unpleasant task for them to refuse to comply with the Prophet's orders, they excused themselves on the plea of Zayd having been a slave in the past. Soon afterwards Divine revelation condemned the action of Zaynab and her brother in these words: The believing men and women must not feel free to do something in their affairs other than ***that which has been already decided for them by Allah and his Messenger.

One who disobeys Allah and His Messenger is in plain error. (*** Surah al-Ahzab, 33:36) The Prophet immediately recited the verse to them. The pure and perfect faith of Zaynab and her brother Abdullah in the Prophet and his sublime ideals was instrumental in the daughter of Jahash giving her consent without any delay and as a result, a lady of noble birth was married to a freed slave of Muhammad.

In this manner, therefore, a part of the invigorative programme of Islam was implemented and a wrong custom was dispensed with in a practical way. Zayd Separates From His Wife Eventually, for certain reasons, this marriage culminated in divorce.

Some say that the reason for this separation was the mentality of Zayd's wife, as she mentioned the lowness of her husband's descent to his very face and prided herself on account of the greatness of her own family and had thus made his life bitter for him.