Seerah (51): Background of the wives of the Prophet (s) In our last class we had covered the incidents

of Mau'na and Raji'. In this lesson we catch up with his personal life and his marriages. In the personal life of the Prophet (s) after the death of Khadijah (Khadijah (as) was talked about in a lecture by Sh Yasir Qadhi which can be found on youtube) it is said that after she died for many months he was not seen smiling. Eventually Khawala bint Hakeem suggested to the Prophet (s) to marry somoene and so he asked for her suggestion. So she gave the options for an elderly lady, that being Sowdah, and a younger lady, that being Aisha. And so the Prophet (s) married the both of them within a month of each other but the marriage with Aisha was not consumated for 3.5 years after. Thus the next wife of the Prophet (s) after Khadijah was Sowdah bint Zam'A ibn Qays ibn AbdisShams. Her previous husband was Sukraan ibn Amr (the brother of Suhail ibn Amr) and he had migrated to Abysinia and he either died there or right after his return. He is one of the few sahaba that died in the Makkan era. And when she converted in Makkah her family had disowned her and she had no one else so the Prophet (s) had married her in compassion, likely in Shawwal 10 A.H. She was also the eldest of the wives of the Prophet (s). We also know that she was a large lady who would walk slowly. She herself narrates that, "in the farewell Hajj I asked permission from the Prophet (s) to leave Muzdalifah early (as she was large and walked slowly and wanted permission to avoid the crowds and get to makkah before the rest of crowds)" and so Ibn Abbas was sent with her so she could arrive early. And from this we derive the fiqh position that from the night of Muzdalifah anyone who has any need can leave early. In the Madinan era, around 6-7 A.H., she began to feel like the Prophet (s) may divorce her and so she negotiated at her own will with the Prophet (s) and siad, "oh Messnger of Allah I have no jealousy of your other wives (meaning she was old) and I want to be with you in the Hereafter so take my night and give it to Aisha." And so she gave up her night and voluntarily donated it to Aisha knowing that the Prophet (s) would welcome this. And it is said that when she did this Allah revealed Surah nisa, verse 128, where He says:

4:128 If a wife fears cruelty or desertion on her husband's part, there is no blame on them if they arrange an amicable settlement between themselves; and such settlement is best; even though men's souls are swayed by greed. But if ye do good and practise self-restraint, Allah is wellacquainted with all that ye do. Thus if a woman fears that her husband would leave her or not treat her properly the two can agree to any conditions between them. This too is a blessing from Allah in that Aisha was the favorite wife of the Prophet (s) and he wanted to spend more time with her but he could not out of fairness to his wives. But Allah gifted him such a lady who was older and did not jealousy and thus she gifted her night to Aisha. And Sowdah died early at the time of Ummar bin Khattab and she is buried at Baqi' Al-Gharqad. The next wife was Aisha (ra). She was the one who the Prophet (s) said he saw in a dream an angel carrying a lady covered to him and the angel said that this would be his wife. And he uncovered her face to see it was Aisha and he said if this is meant to be by Allan it will happen and indeed it did. He married her in Makkah and the marriage was consummated later in Madinah in the second year of the Hijrah. She will be covered in detail in another lecture. To summarize the wives: 1. Khadija (ra) Khadijah is buried in Hajuun in Makkah.

2. Sowdah (ra) 3. Aisha (ra) The fourth was Hafsa bint Ummar (ra) who was married right at this time in our Seerah. Chronologically this is the marriage that we should be speaking about now. She was likely born around 5 years before the revelation began and she was married at a very young age, likely 1112, to one of the early converts Khunais ibn Hudhafa. She migrated to Abyssinia with her husband Khunais and we do not know much about him as he died an early death. All we know is that he participated in both Uhud and Badr and only a handful (70) of Muhajiroon had this honor. At Uhud he was severely wounded and carried back to Madinah and he passed away a few days later. Hafsa was extremely traumatized as she had just lost her husband and she was likely 19 at the time. She had no children. Ummar wanted to help her out and so after her 'iddah was over he went to Uthman and asked what he thought about her (and this was understood that this was a marriage proposal and this was the custom of the time). And Uthman himself had lost his first wife at Badr (the daughter of the Prophet (s) and he was still single being the shy person that he was. And when Ummar offered Hafsa to Uthman and at this he stayed quiet and asked for a few days after which he rejected Ummar's proposal. Truth was that there was a secret Uthman knew which he could not tell Ummar. This was very hurtful for Ummar because Uthman was rich, wealth and had good character and that he had rejected Hafsah meant that Uthman thought she was not good enough for him. Ummar swallowed his pride and than went to Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr was married at the time but Ummar wanted a noble son in law even if this means the man would be previously married. And at the proposal Abu Bakr was silent as well, asking some time. But unlike Uthman he did not return at all for days. And this was even more hurtful to Ummar as he narrated. And according to some books of narrators, Ummar even went to complain to the Prophet (s) about Uthman and Abu Bakr of them rejecting Hafsah. And the Prophet (s) said Hafsah will marry someone better than Uthman and Uthman will marry someone better than Hafsah. And Ummar did not get it until finally the proposal came from the Prophet (s) and as for Uthman, he married the daughter of the Prophet (s). Afterwards Abu Bakr came and excused himself to Ummar. And he said, "the Prophet (s) had mentioned Hafsah to us, and I could not inform you of his secret and I didnt know what to tell you so this is why I acted this way. This shows us that despite who he was the Prophet (s) was seeking advice from others in asking Hafsa as a wife from him. And he asked Uthman and Abu Bakr both and they both did not know what to say to Ummar and had the Prophet (s) not proposed for her they would have accepted Ummar's invitation. And Aisha said that Hafsa was her main competition amongst the other wives and this was similar to how their fathers Ummar and Abu Bakr were always competing. Hafsa was also young and 1920 when married. She also had the same tongue and wit as her father. It is even reported that some issues developed between the Prophet (s) and Hafsa where he thought of divorcing her or gave her one Talaaq. Jibreel than came to him and said about her that, "she is one who fasts all the time and prays all the time and she wil be your wife in Jannah." And so the Prophet (s) took her back. Allah thus intervened in this dispute and Jibreel came down and asked that she be taken back. This shows us that for the rest of, those that do have issues with our wives, emaan and Taqwa are very important - see how Jibreel described Hafsa as always fasting and always praying - and her righteousness saved Hafsa's marriage. She was so righteous that Allah sent Jibreel down to defend her. This is a great honor for Hafsa to have. It is narrated that another dispute happened between the two and Ummar found Hafsa crying, and Ummar instead of defending his daughter told her, it seems you have had another argument. If he divorces you than I will not speak to you for the rest of my life. Hafsa was one of the few ladies who learned how to read and write and when Ummar died and he commissioned the next 6 people to be the next khalifa. Ummar had taken the grand mushaf from Abu Bakr that was being transcribed - the first mushaf of Islam - and when he died than the next Khalifa had not been chosen so she was inherited the mushaf and she kept it with her til she died. And when Uthman wanted to copy the mushaf he had to get it from her. She died in 41 or 45 Hijrah. If died at 45, Marwan ibn-al Hakam, the governor at the time, prayed over her. She was

buried at Baqi al-Gharqad. 5. Zaynab bint Khuzayma al Halaleah (ra) We have few details about her as she is the only wife that died in Madinah. The only two wives that died in the life of the Prophet (s) was Khadija and Zaynab bint Ghuzaymah. Remember that Zaynab bint Jahsh is also the Prophet's wife and she was Qurayshi. The Prophet (s) married two Zaynabs. Zaynab bint Khuzayman was from Banu Helal in Najd. She was married to the Prophet (s) for less than a year - the narrations say 3 or 5 or 8 months - so we do not know much about her. And she did not have any ancestors in Makkah or Madinah. What we do know is that in Jahiliyyah she was married to Tufayl bin Hareth in Makkah. And when he divorced her Ubeidah ibn Hareth married her. He was one of the three that fought at the mubaraza at Badr and he was the oldest of the three and killed after he was wounded. She had no family whatsoeveer in Makkah or Madinah and she was known as Umm al-Masakeen as she would take care of the orphans and the poor. She was generous and known even in the days of Jahiliyyah as Umm al-Masakeen. Thus when her husband died the Prophet (s) married her in the 3rd year of Hijrah, She passed away in Rabi' al-awwal in the 4th year of Hijrah. She was also the first of the wives to be buried in Baqi' al-Gharqad. It is said in some books of history that Zaynab's mother was the most noble mother in law in the history of mankind. She has 5 daughters and all 5 married luminaries even though she herself was not a Muslim. 2 became Ummahat ul Momineen. Her half sister also later married the Prophet (s) and this is Maymuna bint al-Hareth (they had the same father not the same mother). The third daughter after Zaynab and Maymuna was Umm-al Fadl bint Al-Hareth, the wife of Abbas. And she gave birth to Al-Fadl and Abdullah ibn Abbass. These were two famous sahaba. She had a younger sister Lubaba tis Sughra married Waleed ibn Mugheera, the chieftain of Banu Maghzoom and his son was Khalid ibn Waleed. This shows us that Khalid and Abdullah ibn Abbas were cousins and their aunt (khalah) is Maymunah. The other daughter she had was another famous sahabiyyah by the name of Asma bint Umays. Asma was married to Jaffer ibn Abi Talib and she became a widow at his death. She was the one who the Prophet (s) visited and consoled her and he took care of her children. The Prophet (s) called Jaffer his brother and promised to take care of the children. She remained single in the life of the Prophet (s) and in Abu Bakr's caliphate he proposed and married her a few months before he passed away. In these few months though Asma became pregnant with his son and gave birth to Abu Bakr's son after he died. This was Mohammed ibn Abi Bakr. After Abu Bakr's death she Asma married Ali and gave sons to her as well. She had many noble husbands thus: Jaafir, Abu Bakr and Ali. And she gave all of them sons. And the final daugther was Salmah bint Umays who was married to Hamzah. Their daughter was Umaarah bint Hamza. After Hudaybiyyah the Prophet (s) went for 'Umrah and after this Umaarah ran to the Muslims, wanting to be with them. And Ali, Jaffer, Zaid and others all began to argue who would take care of her. They all had to approach the Prophet (s) about who would take care of her. And he consoled them all but gave her to Jaffer (her older sister was, Asma bint Umays was married to Jaffer and thus Asma was Umaarah's khala), saying, "the khala is like the mother" and thus Jaffer had a higher right to take care of her. 6. Umm Salamah Hind bint Ummayah al Makhzoomiyyah (ra) She was also Qurayshi and the daugther of Abu Ummayah. Her lineage was very high in the Banu Makhzoom clan, who themselves were one of the elites of Quraysh. That the Prophet (s) married her shows that islamically there is nothing wrong with seeking high lineage as long as it is not the only factor. It is something to add to the overall iman and Taqwa. Umm Salamah was well known amongst the wives of the Prophet (s). At Uhud she is married to her husband Abu Salamah, Abdullah ibn Asad. He was the cousin of the Prophet (s) from the mother's side. Umm Salamah had also emmigrated both emmigrations. Emmigrating both hijrahs is very rare for women they many of the wives of the Prophet (s) did this and we thus see that they had a high amount of emaan. She was also the first lady to go to Madinah. Abu Salamah was known for his gentle manners and his character and they had a very strong relationship. At Uhud Abu Salamah he was also wounded severely and he passed away a few months after. On his death bed she

came to him (and this shows the love between the two), saying, "I had heard that if a man of Jannah dies and his wife never remarries than she will automatically go to Jannah with him" and just to console him she said the opposite as well, "and if the woman dies and the man does not marry than they are automatically together in Jannah." And so she said, "lets make a promise to each other that we will not marry after one of us dies." She shows amazing manners thus even though he is the one passing and she will have to uphold these words. And Abu Salamah asks for her obedience and she affirms this. And so he tells her to marry someone after he dies, that she should not remain single. And Abu Salamah made du'a in his death bed to bless her with a husband better than him who would take care of her and not irritate her. He shows how he was an amazing husband thus. And Umm Salamah is the one who said once her husband came home very happy one day and narrated a hadith of the Prophet (s), "never does a calamity strike anyone and he is patient at that and he says, in-na nil-lahi wa in-na ilayhi raji'oon (to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return), allahuma ajurnee fi museebati, wakhlufnee khayran minh (oh Allah reward me for this hardship and give me something better than what I am suffering), Allah will give them something better than what is taken away." It is absolutely amazing in fact that her husband taught her this hadith for she could have been taught this directly from the hands of the Prophet (s). She narrates that when her husband died she remembered this hadith so she said this immediately but said to herself who could possibly be better than her own husband Abu Salamah. And to show Abu Salamah's greatness, the next to propose to her was none other than Abu Bakr and she turned him down. After some time the Prophet (s) himself comes to her directly and proposes to her. And Umm Salamah was known for her high wisdom and she showed it here. Even to him she did not say yes to him. She answered, "I am extremely honored that you are interested in me, but there are three things you must know, firstly I am a woman who has much jealousy and you are a man with many wives already and I am worried that this jealousy would act up and displease you and thus displease Allah, secondly I am a woman coming on in age and I am not young (unlike Hafsah or Aisha she is likely in her mid-30s), thirdly I am a woman with 4 children already" and the Prophet (s) answered, "as for your jealousy I will make du'a to Allah and it will be removed from your heart. As for your age I am afflicted with the same calamity as you. And as for your family they are my family." What a beautiful proposal! Once this was clarified and discussed Umm Salamah married the Prophet (s) in the 4th year of Hijrah around the time of Ramadan or Shawwal. Much can be said about Umm Salamah but the most important story that we hear of her is after Hudaybiyyah when the sahaba were irritated at the treaty and the Prophet (s) was in a quandry on how to deal with them. Umm Salamah at this point told the Prophet (s) to not negotiate with them but rather that he should shave his head - shown the sahaba with his actions - and without saying anything further he called a barber and shaved his head off. And with this the sahaba raced and followed. She died in the year 59 A.H., living till her late eighties. And Abu Hurayra led her Janazah and she was one of the last to be married at Baqi'. Umm Salamah was thus the 6th wife but the 4th one at the time as Khadijah and Zaynab ibn Khuzayma had passed away. 7. Zaynab bint Jash (ra) At the marriage of Zaynab was when the laws of Hijab had revealed and this was around the end of the 4th year of Hijrah/beginning of the 5th year of Hijrah, and before this by about a year Khamr had become haraam. We see that the Shari'ah was being solidified at this time. Zakah and fasting had also been revealed before this time. Hajj was delayed until the very end. This shows how quickly all the laws came and the Hijab laws were revealed at this time. At the very last conversation of Uhud Abu Sufyaan had with the Prophet (s) at the battle of Uhud, he promised that the two armies would meet again a year after and the location would be at Badr. Uhud had taken place in the 3rd year of Hijrah in Shawwal. Thus at the month of Sha'baan in the 4th year of the Hijrah, the Prophet (s) left with 1500 sahaba and camped again at Badr. This was a convenient location for a war as it was a large plain. The Prophet (s) camped there for over a week, assigning Ali to be the flag bearer, waiting for an army to show and no Qurayshi army

showed up. What had happened was that the Makkans did gather a force of 2,000 but they were not fully into it, obviously not having the heart and bravery of the Muslims, and after marching out of Makkah with a lot of show they decided to just march back. They made many excuses, that the year was difficult in terms of drought and poverty and that they needed to tend to their families. And the Makkans thought that they would return another year. We see from this that the tides are shifting and the Quraysh are getting weaker while the Muslims are getting stronger. The main Ghazwah that took place was that of Dhaat-ur-Riqa'. This ghawah is important for 2-3 incidents that happened around the Ghazwa. There is a controversy of when it happened, Ibn Ishaac saying that this happened at the time. However people such as Bokhari and other great scholars have said it occured after Khayber. One of the evidences of it happening at this time was the story of Jaabir. In it he says that his father was married at Uhud and the Prophet (s) asked had he been married and when he affirmed the Prophet (s) asked if was a virgin or not and Jaabir said it was a virgin. It is known that Jaabir got married right after his father passed away and this occured at Uhud. Dhaat-ur-Riqa' took place against the tribe of Ghatafaan. This tribe was up north and they were a large bedouin tribe known for highway robbery and without general no morals. This tribe will come up often in the Seerah, as an example that they were the hired mercenaries that took part in the battle of the Trench. The Prophet (s) led an army of 700 men and they camped in front of Ghatafaan for 1-2 weeks without a battle. Ghatafaan decided to not engage in battle. Many things happened here. This was when Allah revealed the procedure of Salat-ul-Khouf. This is a type of Salah that is when the army is under threat. It involves praying in shifts. Rather the imam prays the full Salah and the sahaba behind will take shifts in praying. And Allah explains this in the Qur'an: fal takum ta ita kum ma'aka Let one group pray with you, than they will take charge guarding and the other group will come and pray. So the two groups take shifts praying and the imam prays the full prayer. The imam would decide how large would the two groups be, they do not have to be equally divided The second incident in this Ghazwah of interest is one of the miracles in the Seerah. This was a hot summer day in the desert and the sunnah was to leave at Fajr until it was too hot and than stop (this was at around 11am). And when it became cooler they would move again. When the time came when the army entered the valley the sahaba all ran under a shade and they were all very tired so they fell asleep. And the Prophet (s) also fell asleep under one of the trees. It was here that one of the bedouins of Ghatafaan that was following the army so the opportunity. He had agreed to assasinate the Prophet (s) and his name was Ghowrath. The fact that they did not even hear him approaching shows how tired they would have been. He walked right through the camp and came infront of the Prophet (s) and took the Prophet's sword from the tree and unsheathed it and at this time the Prophet (s) woke up. He was a bedouin not a warrior and shook the sword, asking the Prophet (s), "are you scared of me?" and the Prophet (s) answered no. So Ghawrath tried to scare him, "are you not scared of me and I have a sword?" and the Prophet (s) again answered no. And in the process the man began to tremble out of fear that Allah put in his heart and the sword dropped. According to another version of the hadith the question Ghawrath asked was, "who will protect you from me?" and when the Prophet (s) answered, "Allah!" the sword dropped from his hand. And when it dropped the Prophet (s) picked it up, turned it around and asked the same question to him, "now who will save you from me?" and the man said, "be the better of the two who takes the sword" meaning have mercy even though he had not intended it on the Prophet when he had the sword. So the Prophet (s) asked, "will you testify to the shahadah?" and he testified only to never fight the Muslims again. And Jaabir narrates, as is the story in Bokhari, that they were woken up by the Prophet (s) calling them to come. They all came and found the sword of the Prophet (s) at the neck of Ghawrath and he told them the entire story. And Jaabir narrates that the Prophet (s) did not do anything and he forgave the man. The man promised to never attack again and he returned to his people saying, "I have returned from the best of all mankind." This shows us the forgiveness of the Prophet (s). The man wanted to kill but what leader would tolerate this? Another incident at Dhaat-ur-Riqa' is the famous incident of the two sahaba protecting the army at

night. Abaad ibn Bishar and Ammar ibn Yasir were assigned to guard over the caravan. Ghatafaan kept sending their spies to iritate the Muslims. Abaad was designated to guard first and Ammar went to sleep. Abaad than stood up in Salah and this was when a Mushrik of Ghatafaan fired a bow and arrow which went straight into Abaad's body. What did he do? He pulled it out and continued praying. Another arrow came in to Abaad's body, and he pulled this out as well. Finally when he thought he would faint from the wound he woke up Ammar, who promptly asked Abaad why he did not just break the Salah? But Abaad replied that he was reciting a Surah and did not want to break it. SubhanAllah, this was the respect and love for Salah. And it was said that this was Surah Yusuf. And the bedouin was far and Abaad didn't think he could be hit twice though the bedouin was a sharp shooter and in fact did. And Ammar fought the bedouin back with a bow and arrow. And he said to Ammar, "I swear by Allah if it were not for the duty of guarding that the Prophet (s) gave me I would not break the salah (i.e. die as a shaheed in salah)" And the final story is why it seems that Dhaat-ur-Riqa'took place at this time. This is the story of Jaabir ibn Abdullah and it is called the hadith of Jaabir. This is a very long hadith of which Ibn Hajar says that over 100 benefits can be extracted from it! This is a beautiful story that shows us the manners of the sahaba. Jaabir narrates this in first person, saying, "When we were returning from the ghazwah of Dhaat-ur-Riqa' my camel was the oldest and weakest camel and I was straggling behind the entire army. This made me very sad because my father had just died at Uhud and he had left a big loan. And I had 7 sisters without any brothers." So Jaabir had a huge debt, 7 sisters to take care of, he had just lost his father and to add his own camel was old and weak. So Jaabir narrates, ".. and all my worries were piling up on me and I was already straggling when I heard a voice, 'who is that in the back?' and the Prophet (s) had asked why he saw me so depressed so I told him the situation of my father dying, leaving a family and a loan and that all I had was this camel. And the Prophet (s) asked me if I was married and I was only 17 so he asked me if I married a virgin or widow (and in one version a younger or older girl) and so I told him that I married an older girl" the Prophet (s) is having a conversation with him that every young man would understand and trying to cheer him up. He than said, "why didn't you marry a young girl? You will play with her and she will play with you and you will make her laugh and she will make you laugh" and Jaabir replied, "I wanted to marry someone who would take care of my sisters and not add one to her age" and the Prophet (s) said, "you have done right." And this shows that marrying a virgin versus widow and old versus new depends on individual circumstance. In this case the fact that he marries somoene older and with experience was for his benefit. Than he said to Jaabir, "stop your camel" and so he stopped and dismounted. Notice that all the people are ahead and the Prophet (s) is having a conversation with someone not even well known, Jaabir was but 17 at the time. So the Prophet (s) rides the camel of Jaabir, saying, "Bismillah" and he hits the camel and Jaabir narrates it became the fastest camel he had ever seen! Racing ahead of him. He caught up to the Prophet (s) (as he was riding the camel of the Prophet (s)) and he was becoming very happy that now his camel was young. And just when Jaabir gets all excited and happy about his new camel, the Prophet (s) says, "sell it to me." And Jaabir out of care for his own sisters said, "No" to the Prophet (s). Imagine doing this, and the Prophet (s) again insisted, "sell it to me." And when Jaabir saw that the Prophet (s) really wanted this Jaabir offered that the Prophet (s) should just take it, but the Prophet (s) insisted that he wanted to buy it only. So Jaabir asked the price that the Prophet (s) would buy it for and the Prophet (s) said for one dirham, and Jaabir to this said, "No!." Imagine that the camel was the equivalent of a modern car and the Prophet (s) was offering to buy it for a dollar. And we can see the young age of Jaabir even here as they were going back and forth in their conversation. And when Jaabir denied selling the camel the Prophet (s) than offered 2 dirhams. So Jaabir narrates, "I kept increasing the price until I got it to a reasonable 40 dirhams (which is not a good but an ok price)." When the camel became fast Jaabir was than at the front of the army returning to his new wife with urgency. But the Prophet (s) told him to calm down and not barge into his wife, rather let the crier come to the city and the family be aware of his coming so she can prepare herself for him. From the lessons that we learn here is that the Prophet (s) is actually encouraging both of them to dress up for each other, and for her to be prepared so she can look beautiful for him. He advises Jaabir as a father thus, telling him these things that no one else would. And Jaabir narrates that the next morning he comes to the Prophet (s) who asks if he prayed 2 raka'at of which Jaabir denies having prayed so. So the Prophet (s) asks him to pray the 2 of walking into the masjid before

doing anything. And than the Prophet (s) told Bilal to weight the 40 dirhams and give him extra. And Jaabir had brought the camel, so he took the money and walked away. And as Jaabir was walking away the Prophet (s) called to him that he had left his camel - but Jaabir replied that he had sold the camel to the Prophet (s) - and what did the Prophet (s) say? "Oh Jaabir did you think that I would cheat you out of your camel? Go take your money and the camel!." The entire plot of the Prophet (s) was actually to give him the money without letting him think that it would be sadaqah. And this is why we understand that the Prophet (s) was joking with Jaabir as much as he was. From this we learn the humanity of the Prophet (s), playing literally a practical joke and teasing Jaabir so that Jaabir is given some money and he does not feel as if it has been charity. And there are many benefits of this hadith but some are that it shows the care of the Prophet (s), looking at even a 17 year old kid at the back of the army and than advising him of his new marriage the way a father would to a son. And to make him feel better he spoke to Jaabir about how he had made the right decision in his marriage. And he devises the entire plot just to basically get the money in the hands of Jaabir. There are many other benefits that we do not have time for but there are many other benefits of marriage, intimacy and romance which can be found online entitled, "marital benefits from the hadith of Jaabir." The encouragement that the Prophet (s) gave to Jaabir and his wife for healthy intimacy is absolutely astonishing. Many think that it is not allowed for scholars to speak of sexual intimacy but the Prophet (s) himself is speaking to Jaabir about this! Of the other Fiqh benefits is that this hadith is always mentioned in the fiqh of selling and buying for it's benefits, most imporatantly the fact that you can bargain and barter, that you can say no to someone elder or senior and that you shouldn't hold back out of shyness and that you are allowed to put conditions in the contract. When Jaabir agreed to the price he thought he had to hand over the camel as he told the Prophet (s) he would sell it to him for 40 dirhams but that he would ride it to Madinah.