Part 1 · Page 247
Zayd’s Lineage and Adoption
English rendering of the source section
Local English translation from the Arabic text; reports and editorial assessments are distinguished.
This local English rendering may condense the Arabic narration and editorial notes. It is not a complete published English edition. Consult the Arabic source for exact wording and context.
Read the corresponding Arabic sectionIbn Hisham gives Zayd’s full lineage through Kalb and records variant forms of one ancestor’s name. Hakim ibn Hizam returned from Syria with enslaved people, among them Zayd, then a young boy. Zayd’s mother, Su‘da bint Tha‘labah of Tayy’, had taken him to visit his family when horsemen from Banu al-Qayn ibn Jasr seized him and sold him at the Hubashah market. Khadijah, then married to the Messenger, visited her nephew Hakim. He invited her to choose one of the boys as a gift; she chose Zayd. The Messenger asked her to give Zayd to him, and she did. He freed Zayd and adopted him, before revelation began.
The copies differ over Zayd’s ancestor’s name. The editor explains that Zayd’s mother had taken him to visit his family when he was captured and sold; he was about eight years old. Hubashah was one of the Arabs’ marketplaces.