Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi' (ra)
The Prophet's ﷺ loyal son-in-law, husband of Zaynab bint Muhammad.
The Prophet’s ﷺ son-in-law — husband of his eldest daughter Zaynab bint Muhammad — a loyal, truthful pagan whose long story ends in a much-praised conversion.
Identity & lineage
A Qurayshi of Banu Abd Shams; his mother Hala was the older sister of Khadijah, so he was Zaynab’s cousin. Khadijah asked the Prophet ﷺ to marry Zaynab to him — “and the Prophet ﷺ never refused Khadijah anything.” When Islam came, he refused to divorce Zaynab despite Quraysh pressure and bribes.
Twice a captive (EP 062)
- At Badr he fought (unwillingly) on the Quraysh side and was captured; Zaynab sent her ransom — Khadijah’s necklace — which so moved the Prophet ﷺ that he asked his captor to free him. He was released on a promise to send Zaynab to Madinah, which he kept: “He spoke to me and told the truth; he promised me and fulfilled his promise” (Bukhari).
- On Zayd’s raid at al-Is, years later, he was captured again. At Fajr, Zaynab called out from the women’s rows granting him her protection (Aman (Protection / Safe-Conduct)); the Prophet ﷺ — surprised — honoured it, establishing that “the least of the Muslims may grant protection.” Offered his money back if he embraced Islam, he refused (“what an evil suggestion — to be treacherous”), and only after returning every entrusted coin to Makkah did he publicly accept Islam and rejoin Zaynab.
Fiqh significance
His case anchors the ruling on a wife who converts before her husband: since Zaynab had not married another in the interim, the Prophet ﷺ returned her to him without a new nikah or mahr (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, al-Nasa’i) — the position championed by Ibn Taymiyyah.
Cross-references
Expeditions Between Khandaq and Hudaybiyyah · Zayd ibn Harithah (ra) · Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (rha) · Aman (Protection / Safe-Conduct) · The Battle of Badr · Muhammad ﷺ · Seerah Timeline
Sources
- S009 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 062. The Badr ransom and “he told the truth” in Sahih Bukhari; the al-Is capture, Zaynab’s protection, and the no-new-mahr ruling in Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi & al-Nasa’i with Ibn Ishaq/Ibn Sa’d.