Mishkat al-Masabih
Mishkat al-Masabih 1875
عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا أَنَّ بَعْضُ أَزْوَاجِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قُلْنَ لِلنَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَيُّنَا أَسْرَعُ بِكَ لُحُوقًا؟ قَالَ: " أَطْوَلُكُنَّ يَدًا فَأَخَذُوا قَصَبَةً يَذْرَعُونَهَا فَكَانَت سَوْدَة أَطْوَلهنَّ يدا فَعلمنَا بعد أَنما كَانَت طُولُ يَدِهَا الصَّدَقَةَ وَكَانَتْ أَسْرَعَنَا لُحُوقًا بِهِ زَيْنَبُ وَكَانَتْ تُحِبُّ الصَّدَقَةَ. رَوَاهُ الْبُخَارِيُّ. وَفِي رِوَايَةِ مُسْلِمٍ قَالَتْ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسلم: «أَسْرَعكُنَّ لُحُوقا بَين أَطْوَلكُنَّ يَدًا» . قَالَتْ: فَكَانَتْ أَطْوَلَنَا يَدًا زَيْنَبُ؟ لِأَنَّهَا كَانَت تعْمل بِيَدِهَا وَتَتَصَدَّق
Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said: Some of the Prophet’s ﷺ wives asked him, ‘Which of us will be the first to join you?’ He said, ‘The one among you with the longest hand.’ They took a measuring rod and measured their hands. Sawda had the longest hand. Later we learned that ‘longest hand’ meant charity, and Zainab was the first of us to join him; she loved giving charity. Al-Bukhari transmitted it. In a version from Muslim, she said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘The first of you to join me is the one with the longest hand.’ She said: Zainab had the longest hand among us because she worked with her hands and gave charity.
Translation notes
The Arabic gives two versions: one says Sawda had the longest hand by measurement, then identifies Zainab as first to join the Prophet ﷺ and explains the phrase as charity; the other says Zainab had the longest hand because she worked and gave charity. The English witness’s biographical note is not in the Arabic source.