Abu Sa'id al-Khudri said: At the battle of Hunain God’s Messenger sent an army to Autas, and they met an enemy and fought with them. . Having prevailed over them and taken captives the Prophet’s companions seemed to hold back from having intercourse with them because of their husbands among the polytheists. Then God most high sent down regarding that, “And women already married, except those whom your right hands possess” (Al-Qur’an 4:24). That means that they were lawful for them when their ‘idda* period came to an end. * The period which a widow or divorced woman must observe before remarriage. See Ch. 26. Muslim transmitted it.

Naufal b. Mu’awiya said: When I accepted Islam I had five wives, so I consulted the Prophet (ﷺ) and he said, “Separate from one and keep four.” I therefore decided on the one who had been longest with me and had been barren for sixty years,* and separated from her. * This statement may seem strange when one considers that Naufal is said to have died in the Caliphate of Yazid b. Mu'awiya (60-64 A.H.). Some say he lived 60 years in the pre-Islamic period and 60 years in Islam. Others says he died aged 100. He is said to have accepted Islam at the Conquest of Mecca. The tradition cannot mean that he had been married to this woman for 60 years; it probably indicates that she was both barren and much older than he. She was possibly his first wife. Cf. Ibn Abu Hatim, al-Jarh wat-ta’dil, IV, i, 487 i.; Isti'ab, p. 293 ; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, x, 492; Isaba, iii, 1191. It is transmitted in Sharh as-sunna.

Ibn ‘Abbas told that a woman who had accepted Islam married, and her husband (i.e. the one she had left to marry another when she became a Muslim) went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, "Messenger of God, I have accepted Islam and she knew that I had done so.” So God’s Messenger took her away from her second husband and restored her to her first. In a version he said, “She accepted Islam along with me,” so he restored her to him. Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Ibn ‘Abbas said: Seven classes of women are prohibited by reason of consanguinity and seven by reason of relationship by marriage. He then recited, "Prohibited to you are your mothers ...” (Al-Qur’an 4:23). Bukhari transmitted it.

Jabir declared that the Jews used to say: “When a man has intercourse with his wife through the vagina, but being on her back, the child will have a squint,” so the verse came down, “Your wives are a tilth to you, so come to your tilth however you will” (Al-Qur’an 2:223). (Bukhari and Muslim.)

He said that in the period when the Qur'an was coming down they used to withdraw the penis.* * i.e. before emission of semen, to avoid conception. (Bukhari and Muslim.) Muslim added that the Prophet (ﷺ) heard of that and did not prohibit it.

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri said: We went out with God’s Messenger on the expedition to the B. al-Mustaliq (an expedition in 6 A.H) and took some Arab women captive, and we desired the women, for we were suffering from the absence of our wives. We liked withdrawing the penis and wanted to do so, but we asked ourselves whether we could do it when God’s Messenger was among us before asking him. So we asked him about that and he replied, “It does not matter if you do not do it, for every soul that is to be born up to the day of resurrection will be born.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Judama daughter of Wahb said: I was with God’s Messenger along with some people when he was saying, “I intended to prohibit suckling during pregnancy* but I considered the Greeks and the Persians and saw that they suckled their children during pregnancy without any injury being caused to their children thereby.” Then they asked him about withdrawing the penis and God’s Messenger replied, “That is the secret burying alive” and reference is made to it in the words, “When the girl buried alive will be asked (Al-Qur’an 81:8).” *(Ghila. It means either suckling during pregnancy, or intercourse with a woman while she is suckling a child. Muslim transmitted it.

Ibn ‘Abbas said: God’s Messenger received the revelation, “Your wives are a tilth to you, so come to your tilth . . .” (Al-Qur’an 2:223) that means from in front or behind, but avoid the anus and intercourse during menstruation. Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah transmitted it.

'Urwa told on' A’isha’s authority that God’s Messenger said to her concerning Barira, “Take her and set her free.” Now her husband was a slave, so God’s Messenger gave her her choice and she chose to separate from him; but if he had been free he would not have given her her choice. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Sahl b. Sa'd told of a woman who came to God’s Messenger and offered herself to him. When she had stood for a long time (i.e. without receiving an answer) a man got up and said, “Messenger of God, marry her to me if you have no need of her.” He asked him if he had anything to give her as dower, and when he replied that he had nothing but the lower garment he was wearing, he said, “Look for something, even though it should be an iron ring.” Then when the man had sought and found nothing God’s Messenger asked whether he knew any of the Qur'an, and when he replied that he knew surah so and so and surah so and so, he said, “I have given you her in marriage for the part of the Qur’an which you know.” In a version he said, “Go away, for I have given you her in marriage; and teach her some of the Qur'an." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Umm Habiba said she was married to ‘Abdallah b. Jahsh who died in Abyssinia, so the Negus married her to the Prophet, giving her on his behalf a dower of four thousand. (A version has four thousand dirhams.) He sent her to God’s Messenger with Shurahbil b. Hasana. Abu Dawud and Nasa’i transmitted it.

Anas said the Prophet (ﷺ) saw the trace of yellow on ‘Abd ar-Rahman b. ‘Auf and asked what that was. He replied, “I have married a woman for a nawat* weight of gold.” He said, “God bless you! Hold a wedding- feast, even if only with a sheep.” *a weight of five dirhams. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

He said that God's Messenger did not hold such a wedding-feast for any of his wives as he did for Zainab. He held a wedding-feast with a sheep. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

He said that God’s Messenger set Safiya free and married her, making her freedom her dower, and he held a wedding-feast for her with hais (A dish made of dates mixed with clarified butter and dried curd, kneaded and rubbed together. Sometimes flour was added.) (Bukhari and Muslim.)

‘Abdallah b. ‘Umar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “When one of you is invited to a wedding-feast he must attend it.” In a version by Muslim he said, “He must accept, whether it is a wedding-feast or something of that nature.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, “The worst kind of food is that at a wedding-feast to which the rich are invited and from which the poor are left out. If anyone rejects an invitation he has disobeyed God and His Messenger.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Mas'ud al-Ansari said: One of the Ansar whose kunya was Abu Shu'aib had a servant who sold meat. He said, “Prepare for me food which will be enough for five; perhaps I shall invite the Prophet (ﷺ) along with other four.” He prepared a small meal for him, and then he went and invited him. A man followed them, and the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “A man has followed us, Abu Shu'aib, so if you wish you may let him join us, but if you wish you may leave him outside.” He replied, “No, I shall let him join us.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ibn Mas'ud reported God’s Messenger as saying, “The food on the first day is a duty, that on the second is a sunna, but that on the third day is to make men hear of it; and if anyone makes men hear of what he does God will make him heard of” (i.e. will publish his hypocrisy on the day of resurrection). Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Ibn ‘Abbas said that when God’s Messenger died he left nine wives, eight of whom he used to visit equally. (The next tradition explains this) (Bukhari and Muslim.)