Sawdah bint Zam'ah

Sawdah bint Zamʿah ibn Qays was the Prophet's (ﷺ) second wife, married shortly after Khadījah's death, probably Shawwāl of the tenth year of the daʿwah, on the suggestion of Khawlah bint Ḥakīm. Her first husband, as-Sukrān ibn ʿAmr (brother of Suhayl ibn ʿAmr), had emigrated with her to Abyssinia and died shortly after their return, one of the few named Companions to die in the Meccan period. When she converted to Islam her own family disowned her, leaving her with no one else to turn to; the Prophet (ﷺ) married her, in part, out of compassion for her isolation.

She was the eldest of all the Prophet's (ﷺ) wives and of a large build with limited mobility in later life, she herself is the source for the report that at the Farewell Ḥajj she asked permission to leave Muzdalifah early, before the crowds, on account of her size and slow pace; the Prophet (ﷺ) granted it and sent Ibn ʿAbbās with her small group. This became the basis for the fiqh ruling that the elderly and the weak may leave Muzdalifah early on the night before Eid.

Later in Madinah, sensing that her age might eventually lead the Prophet (ﷺ) to divorce her, she voluntarily negotiated to give up her designated night with him and gift it to ʿĀʾishah, explaining that she felt no jealousy and simply wished to be resurrected among his wives on the Day of Judgment. Q 4:128, permitting spouses to negotiate and settle matters between themselves by mutual agreement, is understood to have been revealed in connection with this arrangement. Sawdah died in the reign of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and was buried in Baqīʿ al-Gharqad.