‘Alqamah said “I was going with ‘Abd Allaah bin Mas’ud at Mina where ‘Uthman met him and desired to have a talk with him in privacy”. When ‘Abd Allaah (bin Mas’ud) thought there was no need of privacy, he said to me “Come, ‘Alqamah So I came (to him)”. Then ‘Uthman said to him “Should we not marry you, Abu ‘Abd Al Rahman to a virgin girl, so that the power you have lost may return to you?” ‘Abd Allaah (bin Mas’ud) said “If you say that, I heard the Apostle of Allaah(ﷺ) say “ Those of you who can support a wife, should marry, for it keeps you from looking at strange women and preserve from unlawful intercourse, but those who cannot should devote themselves to fasting, for it is a means of suppressing sexual desire.

for her property, her ranks, her beauty and her religiosity. So get the one who is religious and prosper (lit. may your hands cleave to the dust).”

Jabir bin ‘Abd Allah said “The Apostle of Allaah(ﷺ) said to me “Did you marry?” I said “Yes”. He again said “Virgin or Non Virgin (woman previously married)?” I said “Non Virgin”. He said “Why (did you) not (marry) a virgin with whom you could sport and she could sport with you.

A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ), and said: My wife does not prevent the hand of a man who touches her. He said: Divorce her. He then said: I am afraid my inner self may covet her. He said: Then enjoy her.

A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: I have found a woman of rank and beauty, but she does not give birth to children. Should I marry her? He said: No. He came again to him, but he prohibited him. He came to him third time, and he (the Prophet) said: Marry women who are loving and very prolific, for I shall outnumber the peoples by you.

Marthad ibn AbuMarthad al-Ghanawi used to take prisoners (of war) from Mecca (to Medina). At Mecca there was a prostitute called Inaq who had illicit relations with him. (Marthad said:) I came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said to him: May I marry Inaq, Messenger of Allah? The narrator said: He kept silence towards me. Then the verse was revealed:"....and the adulteress none shall marry save and adulterer or an idolater." He called me and recited this (verse) to me, and said: Do not marry her.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The adulterer who has been flogged shall not marry save the one like him. AbuMa'mar said: Habib al-Mu'allim narrated (this tradition) to us on the authority of Amr ibn Shu'ayb.

Abu Dawud reported the Apostle of Allaah(ﷺ) as saying “Anyone who sets his slave girl free and then marries her, will have a double reward.”

Anas bin ‘Malik said “The Prophet(ﷺ) manumitted Safiyyah and made her manumission her dower.”

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: What is unlawful by reason of consanguinity is unlawful by reason of fosterage.

Umm Salamah reported Umm Habibah said “Are you interested in my sister, Apostle of Allaah(ﷺ)?” He said “What should I do?” She said “You marry her” He said “Your sister?” She said “Yes”. He said “Do you like that?” she said “I am not alone with you of those who share me in this good, my sister is most to my liking. He said “She is not lawful for me.” She said “By Allaah, I was told that you were going to betroth with you Darrah to Durrah, the narrator Zuhair doubted the daughter of Abu Salamah. He said “The daughter of Umm Salamah? She said “Yes”. He said “(She is my step daughter). Even if she had not been my step daughter under my protection, she would not have been lawful for me. She is my foster niece (daughter of my brother by fosterage). Thuwaibah suckled me as well as his father (Abu Salamah). So do not present to me your daughters and your sisters.

Aflah ibn AbulQu'ays entered upon me. I hid myself from him. He said: You are hiding yourself from me while I am your paternal uncle. She said: I said: From where? He said: The wife of my brother suckled you. She said: The woman suckled me and not the man. Thereafter the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) entered upon me and I told him this matter. He said: He is your paternal uncle; he may enter upon you.

A’ishah said the Apostle of Allaah(ﷺ) visited her when a man was with her. The narrator Hafs said “this grieved him and he frowned”. The agreed version then goes, She said “He is my foster brother Apostle of Allaah(ﷺ)”. He said “Consider, who are you brethren, for fosterage is consequent on hunger.”

‘Abd Allaah bin Mas’ud said “Fosterage is not valid except by what strengthens love and grows flesh.” Abu Musa said “Do not ask us so long as this learned man is among us”

The aforesaid tradition has also been narrated by Ibn Mas’ud through a different chain of narrators and to the same effect from the Prophet (ﷺ). This version has the words anshaz al-‘azma meaning which nourishes bones and makes them sturdy and vigorous.

A’ishah wife of the Prophet(ﷺ) and Umm Salamah said “Abu Hudaifah bin ‘Utbah bin Rabi’ah bin ‘Abd Shams adopted Salim as his son and married him to his niece Hind, daughter of Al Walid bin ‘Utbah bin Rabi’ah. He (Salim) was the freed slave of a woman from the Ansar (the Helpers) as the Apostle of Allaah(ﷺ) adopted Zaid as his son. In pre Islamic days when anyone adopted a man as his son, the people called him by his name and he was given a share from his inheritance. Allaah, the Exalted, revealed about this matter “Call them by (the name of) their fathers, that is juster in the sight of Allaah. And if ye know not their fathers, then (they are) your brethren in the faith and your clients. They were then called by their names of their fathers. A man, whose father was not known, remained under the protection of someone and considered brother in faith. Sahlah daughter of Suhail bin Amr Al Quraishi then came and said Apostle of Allaah(ﷺ), we used to consider Salim(our) son. He dwelled with me and Abu Hudhaifah in the same house, and he saw me in the short clothes, but Allaah the Exalted, has revealed about them what you know, then what is your opinion about him? The Prophet (ﷺ) said give him your breast feed. She gave him five breast feeds. He then became like her foster son. Hence, A’ishah(may Allaah be pleased with her) used to ask the daughters of her sisters and the daughters of her brethren to give him breast feed five times, whom A’ishah wanted to see and who wanted to visit her. Though he might be of age; he then visited her. But Umm Salamah and all other wives of the Prophet (ﷺ) refused to allow anyone to visit them on the basis of such breast feeding unless one was given breast feed during infancy. They told A’ishah by Allaah we do not know whether that was a special concession granted by the Prophet (ﷺ) to Salim exclusive of the people.

A’ishah said “In what was sent down in the Qu’ran ten suckling’s made marriage unlawful, but they were abrogated by five known ones and when the Prophet (ﷺ) dies, these words were among what was recited in the Qur’an.”

A’ishah reported “The Apostle of Allaah(ﷺ) as saying One or two sucks does not make marriage unlawful”.

I asked: Messenger of Allah, what will remove from me the obligation due for fostering a child? He said: A slave or a slave-woman.