When I got married, Allah's Apostle said to me, "What type of lady have you married?" I replied, "I have married a matron' He said, "Why, don't you have a liking for the virgins and for fondling them?" Jabir also said: Allah's Apostle said, "Why didn't you marry a young girl so that you might play with her and she with you?'

My father died and left seven or nine girls and I married a matron. Allah's Apostle said to me, "O Jabir! Have you married?" I said, "Yes." He said, "A virgin or a matron?" I replied, "A matron." he said, "Why not a virgin, so that you might play with her and she with you, and you might amuse her and she amuse you." I said, " `Abdullah (my father) died and left girls, and I dislike to marry a girl like them, so I married a lady (matron) so that she may look after them." On that he said, "May Allah bless you," or "That is good."

My father died and left behind seven or nine daughters, and I married a woman. The Prophet said, "Did you get married, O Jabir?" I replied, "Yes." He asked, "Is she a virgin or a matron?" I replied, "She is a matron." He said, "Why didn't you marry a virgin girl so that you might play with her and she with you (or, you might make her laugh and she make you laugh)?" I said, "My father died, leaving seven or nine girls (orphans) and I did not like to bring a young girl like them, so I married a woman who can look after them." He said, "May Allah bestow His Blessing on you."

"Allah's Apostle said to me, "Have you got married O Jabir?" I replied, "Yes." He asked "What, a virgin or a matron?" I replied, "Not a virgin but a matron." He said, "Why did you not marry a young girl who would have fondled with you?" I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! My father was martyred on the day of Uhud and left nine (orphan) daughters who are my nine sisters; so I disliked to have another young girl of their age, but (I sought) an (elderly) woman who could comb their hair and look after them." The Prophet said, "You have done the right thing."

I was with Allah's Apostle in a Ghazwa, and when we returned, I wanted to hurry, while riding a slow camel. A rider came behind me. I looked back and saw that the rider was Allah's Apostle . He said (to me), "What makes you in such a hurry?" I replied, "I am newly married." He said, "Did you marry a virgin or a matron?" I replied, "(Not a virgin but) a matron." He said, "Why didn't you marry a young girl with whom you could play and who could play with you?" Then when we approached (Medina) and were going to enter (it), the Prophet said, "Wait till you enter (your homes) at night (in the first part of the night) so that the ladies with unkempt hair may comb their hair, and those whose husbands have been absent (for a long time) may shave their pubic hair." (The sub-narrator, Hashim said: A reliable narrator told me that the Prophet added in this Hadith: "(Seek to beget) children! Children, O Jabir!")

We were with the Prophet in Ghazwa, and when we returned and approached Medina, I wanted to hurry while riding a slow camel. A rider overtook me and pricked my camel with a spear which he had, whereupon my camel started running as fast as any other fast camel you may see. I looked back, and behold, the rider was Allah's Apostle . I said, "O Allah's Apostle! I am newly married " He asked, "Have you got married?" I replied, "Yes." He said, "A virgin or a matron?" I replied, "(Not a virgin) but a matron" He said, "Why didn't you marry a young girl so that you could play with her and she with you?" When we reached (near Medina) and were going to enter it, the Prophet said, "Wait till you enter your home early in the night so that the lady whose hair is unkempt may comb her hair and that the lady whose husband has been away may shave her pubic hair."

The Prophet said, "A virgin should not be married till she is asked for her consent; and the matron should not be married till she is asked whether she agrees to marry or not." It was asked, "O Allah's Apostle! How will she (the virgin) express her consent?" He said, "By keeping silent." Some people said that if a virgin is not asked for her consent and she is not married, and then a man, by playing a trick presents two false witnesses that he has married her with her consent and the judge confirms his marriage as a true one, and the husband knows that the witnesses were false ones, then there is no harm for him to consummate his marriage with her and the marriage is regarded as valid.

The tradition, (of the Prophet) is that if someone marries a virgin and he has already a matron wife (with him), then he should stay with the virgin for seven days; and if someone marries a matron (and he has already a virgin wife with him) then he should stay with her for three days.

Allah's Apostle said, "It is essential to have the consent of a virgin (for the marriage). I said, "A virgin feels shy." The Prophet; said, "Her silence means her consent." Some people said, "If a man falls in love with an orphan slave girl or a virgin and she refuses (him) and then he makes a trick by bringing two false witnesses to testify that he has married her, and then she attains the age of puberty and agrees to marry him and the judge accepts the false witness and the husband knows that the witnesses were false ones, he may consummate his marriage."

It is the Prophet's tradition that if someone marries a virgin and he has already a matron wife then he should stay for seven days with her (the virgin) and then by turns; and if someone marries a matron and he has already a virgin wife then he should stay with her (the matron) for three days, and then by turns.

While we were returning from a Ghazwa (Holy Battle) with the Prophet, I started driving my camel fast, as it was a lazy camel A rider came behind me and pricked my camel with a spear he had with him, and then my camel started running as fast as the best camel you may see. Behold! The rider was the Prophet himself. He said, 'What makes you in such a hurry?" I replied, I am newly married " He said, "Did you marry a virgin or a matron? I replied, "A matron." He said, "Why didn't you marry a young girl so that you may play with her and she with you?" When we were about to enter (Medina), the Prophet said, "Wait so that you may enter (Medina) at night so that the lady of unkempt hair may comb her hair and the one whose husband has been absent may shave her pubic region.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that al-Qasim ibn Muhammad and Salim ibn Abdullah were marrying off their daughters and they did not consult them.

Malik said, "That is what is done among us about the marriage of virgins."

Malik said, "A virgin has no right to her property until she enters her house and her state (competence, maturity etc.) is known for sure."

I was with the Prophet in a Ghazwa (Military Expedition) and my camel was slow and exhausted. The Prophet came up to me and said, "O Jabir." I replied, "Yes?" He said, "What is the matter with you?" I replied, "My camel is slow and tired, so I am left behind." So, he got down and poked the camel with his stick and then ordered me to ride. I rode the camel and it became so fast that I had to hold it from going ahead of Allah's Apostle . He then asked me, have you got married?" I replied in the affirmative. He asked, "A virgin or a matron?" I replied, "I married a matron." The Prophet said, "Why have you not married a virgin, so that you may play with her and she may play with you?" Jabir replied, "I have sisters (young in age) so I liked to marry a matron who could collect them all and comb their hair and look after them." The Prophet said, "You will reach, so when you have arrived (at home), I advise you to associate with your wife (that you may have an intelligent son)." Then he asked me, "Would you like to sell your camel?" I replied in the affirmative and the Prophet purchased it for one Uqiya of gold. Allah's Apostle reached before me and I reached in the morning, and when I went to the mosque, I found him at the door of the mosque. He asked me, "Have you arrived just now?" I replied in the affirmative. He said, "Leave your camel and come into (the mosque) and pray two rak`at." I entered and offered the prayer. He told Bilal to weigh and give me one Uqiya of gold. So Bilal weighed for me fairly and I went away. The Prophet sent for me and I thought that he would return to me my camel which I hated more than anything else. But the Prophet said to me, "Take your camel as well as its price."

I was accompanying the Prophet on a journey and was riding a slow camel that was lagging behind the others. The Prophet passed by me and asked, "Who is this?" I replied, "Jabir bin `Abdullah." He asked, "What is the matter, (why are you late)?" I replied, "I am riding a slow camel." He asked, "Do you have a stick?" I replied in the affirmative. He said, "Give it to me." When I gave it to him, he beat the camel and rebuked it. Then that camel surpassed the others thenceforth. The Prophet said, "Sell it to me." I replied, "It is (a gift) for you, O Allah's Apostle." He said, "Sell it to me. I have bought it for four Dinars (gold pieces) and you can keep on riding it till Medina." When we approached Medina, I started going (towards my house). The Prophet said, "Where are you going?" I Sa`d, "I have married a widow." He said, "Why have you not married a virgin to fondle with each other?" I said, "My father died and left daughters, so I decided to marry a widow (an experienced woman) (to look after them)." He said, "Well done." When we reached Medina, Allah's Apostle said, "O Bilal, pay him (the price of the camel) and give him extra money." Bilal gave me four Dinars and one Qirat extra. (A sub-narrator said): Jabir added, "The extra Qirat of Allah's Apostle never parted from me." The Qirat was always in Jabir bin `Abdullah's purse.

Abu Salamah narrated that Abu Hurairah (...) told him that whilst ‘Umar was delivering the khutbah... and he narrated a similar report.

A virgin came to the Prophet (saws) and mentioned that her father had married her against her will, so the Prophet (saws) allowed her to exercise her choice.

The Prophet (saws) said: A guardian has no concern with a woman previously married and has no husband, and an orphan girl (i.e. virgin) must be consulted, her silence being her acceptance.

The Prophet said, "A matron should not be given in marriage except after consulting her; and a virgin should not be given in marriage except after her permission." The people asked, "O Allah's Apostle! How can we know her permission?" He said, "Her silence (indicates her permission).

I participated in a Ghazwa along with Allah's Apostle The Prophet met me (on the way) while I was riding a camel of ours used for irrigation and it had got so tired that it could hardly walk. The Prophet asked me, "What is wrong with the camel?" I replied, "It has got tired." So. Allah's Apostle came from behind it and rebuked it and prayed for it so it started surpassing the other camels and going ahead of them. Then he asked me, "How do you find your camel (now)?" I replied, "I find it quite well, now as it has received your blessings." He said, "Will you sell it to me?" I felt shy (to refuse his offer) though it was the only camel for irrigation we had. So, I said, "Yes." He said, "Sell it to me then." I sold it to him on the condition that I should keep on riding it till I reached Medina. Then I said, "O Allah's Apostle! I am a bridegroom," and requested him to allow me to go home. He allowed me, and I set out for Medina before the people till I reached Medina, where I met my uncle, who asked me about the camel and I informed him all about it and he blamed me for that. When I took the permission of Allah's Apostle he asked me whether I had married a virgin or a matron and I replied that I had married a matron. He said, "Why hadn't you married a virgin who would have played with you, and you would have played with her?" I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! My father died (or was martyred) and I have some young sisters, so I felt it not proper that I should marry a young girl like them who would neither teach them manners nor serve them. So, I have married a matron so that she may serve them and teach them manners." When Allah's Apostle arrived in Medina, I took the camel to him the next morning and he gave me its price and gave me the camel itself as well.

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that al-Qasim ibn Muhammad and Salim ibn Abdullah and Sulayman ibn Yasar said about the virgin given by her father in marriage without her permission, "That is binding on her."

I asked the Prophet, "O Allah's Apostle! Should the women be asked for their consent to their marriage?" He said, "Yes." I said, "A virgin, if asked, feels shy and keeps quiet." He said, "Her silence means her consent."

I said, "O Allah's Apostle! Suppose you landed in a valley where there is a tree of which something has been eaten and then you found trees of which nothing has been eaten, of which tree would you let your camel graze?" He said, "(I will let my camel graze) of the one of which nothing has been eaten before." (The sub-narrator added: `Aisha meant that Allah's Apostle had not married a virgin besides herself .)

While I was with `Abdullah, `Uthman met him at Mina and said, "O Abu `Abdur-Rahman ! I have something to say to you." So both of them went aside and `Uthman said, "O Abu `Abdur-Rah. man! Shall we marry you to a virgin who will make you remember your past days?" When `Abdullah felt that he was not in need of that, he beckoned me (to join him) saying, "O 'Alqama!" Then I heard him saying (in reply to `Uthman), "As you have said that, (I tell you that) the Prophet once said to us, 'O young people! Whoever among you is able to marry, should marry, and whoever is not able to marry, is recommended to fast, as fasting diminishes his sexual power.

Allah's Apostle said, "A lady slave should not be given in marriage until she is consulted, and a virgin should not be given in marriage until her permission is granted." The people said, "How will she express her permission?" The Prophet said, "By keeping silent (when asked her consent)." Some people said, "If a man, by playing a trick, presents two false witnesses before the judge to testify that he has married a matron with her consent and the judge confirms his marriage, and the husband is sure that he has never married her (before), then such a marriage will be considered as a legal one and he may live with her as husband."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard Ibn Shihab say, "When a man who is terminally ill divorces his wife three times, she inherits from him."

Malik said, "If he divorces her while he is terminally ill before he has consummated the marriage, she has half of the bride-price and inherits, and she does not have to do an idda. If he consummated the marriage, she has all the dowry and inherits. The virgin and the previously married woman are the same in this situation according to us."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Humayd at-Tawil that Anas ibn Malik said, "A virgin has seven nights, and a woman who has been previously married has three nights."

Malik affirmed, "That is what is done among us."

Malik added, "If the man has another wife, he divides his time equally between them after the wedding nights. He does not count the wedding nights against the one he has just married."

Malik related to me from Abdullah ibn al-Fadl from Nafi ibn Jubayr ibn Mutim from Abdullah ibn Abbas that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "A woman who has been previously married is more entitled to her person than her guardian, and a virgin must be asked for her consent for herself, and her consent is her silence "

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz during his khalifate, wrote to one of his governors, "Whatever a father, or guardian, who gives someone in marriage, makes a condition in the way of unreturnable gift or of favour, belongs to the woman if she wants it."

Malik spoke about a woman whose father gave her in marriage and made an unreturnable gift a condition of the bride-price which was to be given. He said, "Whatever is given as a condition by which marriage occurs belongs to the woman if she wants it. If the husband parts from her before the marriage is consummated, the husband has half of the unreturnable gift by which the marriage occurred."

Malik said about a man who married off his young son and the son had no wealth at all, that the bride- price was obliged of the father if the young man had no property on the day of marriage. If the young man did have property the bride- price was taken from his property unless the father stipulated that he would pay the bride-price. The marriage was affirmed for the son if he was a minor only if he was under the guardianship of his father.

Malik said that if a man divorced his wife before he had consummated the marriage and she was a virgin, her father returned half of the bride-price to him. That half was permitted to the husband from the father to compensate him for his expenses.

Malik said that that was because Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, said in His Book, "Unless they (women with whom he had not consummated marriage) make remission or he makes remission to him in whose hand is the knot of marriage." (Sura 2 ayat 237). (He being the father of a virgin daughter or the master of a female slave.)

Malik said, "That is what I have heard about the matter, and that is how things are done among us."

Malik said that a jewish or christian woman who was married to a jew or christian and then became muslim before the marriage had been consummated, did not keep anything from the bride-price.

Malik said, "I do not think that women should be married for less than a quarter of a dinar. That is the lowest amount for which cutting off the hand is obliged ."

(On `Id) We used to forbid our virgins to go out (for `Id prayer). A lady came and stayed at the fortress of Bani Khalaf. She mentioned that her sister was married to one of the companions of Allah's Apostle who participated in twelve Ghazawats along with Allah's Apostle and her sister was with him in six of them. She said, "We used to dress the wounded and look after the patients." She (her sister) asked Allah's Apostle , "Is there any harm for a woman to stay at home if she doesn't have a veil?" He said, "She should cover herself with the veil of her companion and she should take part in the good deeds and in the religious gatherings of the believers." When Um 'Atiyya came, I asked her. "Did you hear anything about that?" Um 'Atiyya said, "Bi Abi" and she never mentioned the name of Allah's Apostle without saying "Bi Abi" (i.e. 'Let my father be sacrificed for you'). We asked her, "Have you heard Allah's Apostle saying so and so (about women)?" She replied in the affirmative and said, "Let my father be sacrificed for him. He told us that unmarried mature virgins who stay often screened or unmarried young virgins and mature girls who stay often screened should come out and take part in the good deeds and in the religious gatherings of the believers. But the menstruating women should keep away from the Musalla (praying place)." I asked her, "The menstruating women?" She replied, "Don't they present themselves at `Arafat and at such and such places?"

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said from Bukayr ibn Abdullah al-Ashajj from an-Numan ibn Abi Ayyash al Ansari from Ata ibn Yasar that a man came and asked Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As about a man who divorced his wife three times before he had had intercourse with her Ata said, "The divorce of the virgin is one. Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As said to me, 'You say one pronouncement separates her and three makes her haram until she has married another husband.' "

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that Bukayr ibn Abdullah al-Ashajj informed him that Muawiya ibn Abi Ayyash al- Ansari told him that he was sitting with Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr and Asim ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab when Muhammad ibn Iyas ibn al-Bukayr came up to them and said, "A man from the desert has divorced his wife three times before consummating the marriage, what do you think?" Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr said "This is something about which we have no statement. Go to Abdullah ibn Abbas and Abu Hurayra. I left them with A'isha. Ask them and then come and tell us." He went and asked them. Ibn Abbas said to Abu Hurayra, "Give an opinion, Abu Hurayra! A difficult one has come to you." Abu Hurayra said, "One pronouncement separates her and three makes her haram until she has married another husband." Ibn Abbas said the like of that.

Malik said, "That is what is done among us, and when a man marries a woman who has been married before, and he has not had intercourse with her, she is treated as a virgin - one pronouncement separates her and three make her haram until she has married another husband."

Malik said, "The position with us about a woman who is found to be pregnant and has no husband and she says, 'I was forced,' or she says, 'I was married,' is that it is not accepted from her and the hadd is inflicted on her unless she has a clear proof of what she claims about the marriage or that she was forced or she comes bleeding if she was a virgin or she calls out for help so that someone comes to her and she is in that state or what resembles it of the situation in which the violation occurred." He said, "If she does not produce any of those, the hadd is inflicted on her and what she claims of that is not accepted from her."

Malik said, "A raped woman cannot marry until she has restored herself by three menstrual periods."

He said, "If she doubts her periods, she does not marry until she has freed herself of that doubt."

Abu Dawud said: This tradition has been transmitted by Qatadah from Sa'd b. Yazid on the authority of Ibn al-Musayyab in a similar way. This tradition has been narrated by Yahya b. Abi Kathir from Yazid b. Nu'aim from Sa'id b. al-Musayyab, and 'Ata al-Khurasani narrated it from Sa'id b. al-Musayyab ; they all narrated this tradition from the Prophet (saws) omitting the link of the Companion (i.e. a mursal tradition). The version of Yahya b. Abi Kathir has: Basrah b. Aktham married a woman. The agreed version has: He made the child his servant.

(the wife of the Prophet) The wife of Rifa`a Al-Qurazi came to Allah's Apostle while I was sitting, and Abu Bakr was also there. She said, 'O Allah s Apostle! I was the wife of Rifa`a and he divorced me irrevocably. Then I married `AbdurRahman bin Az-Zubair who, by Allah, O Allah's Apostle, has only something like a fringe of a garment, Showing the fringe of her veil. Khalid bin Sa`id, who was standing at the door, for he had not been admitted, heard her statement and said, "O Abu Bakr! Why do you not stop this lady from saying such things openly before Allah's Apostle?" No, by Allah, Allah's Apostle did nothing but smiled. Then he said to the lady, "Perhaps you want to return to Rifa`a? That is impossible unless `Abdur-Rahman consummates his marriage with you." That became the tradition after him.