The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 418
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 418 presume that prior to this the Holy Prophet sa had not seen Zainab ra and it was only then that he coincidentally happened to catch sight of her, and then fell for her, possesses no more value than a clear and blatant lie. Indeed, prior to that time, the Holy Prophet sa probably would have seen Zainab ra thousands of times and the beauty and flaws of her body were apparent to him. Although there is no difference in seeing her with or without a shawl, when their relation was so close, the tradition of Pardah was not prevalent and there was constant interaction, it is most probable that the Holy Prophet sa would have had the opportunity to see her many times without a shawl. Furthermore, the fact that Zainab ra invited the Holy Prophet sa inside, proves that she was at least wearing enough clothing to be able to present herself before the Holy Prophet sa. Hence, irrespective of the angle from which this tale is analysed, it proves to be absolutely false and forged, which possesses no truth whatsoever. Along with these arguments, if the impeccably pure and holy life of the Holy Prophet sa is taken into consideration, which was evident from his every movement, nothing at all remains of this absurd and ridiculous tale. It is for this very reason that research scholars have categorically declared this tale to be fabricated and false. For example, ‘Allāmah Ibni Ḥajar in his Fatḥul-Bārī, ‘Allāmah Ibni Kathīr in his commentary, and ‘Allāmah Zarqānī in his Sharḥ Mawāhib have explicitly stated that this narration is absolutely false, and have considered it to be a disgrace of the truth to even allude to it. So too is the case with other research scholars as well. This is not limited to research scholars alone, rather, every such individual who has not been blinded by prejudice, would give precedence to the viewpoint we have presented before our readers on the foundation of the Holy Qur’ān and authentic Aḥādīth, in comparison to this meaningless and loathsome tale, which has been forged and related by certain hypocrites. The Muslim historians, whose only task was to gather all kinds of narrations, included this tale in their works without any investigation, and then blinded by religious prejudice, non-Muslim historians have made this tale the highlight of their books. In the context of this fabricated tale, it should especially be remembered that this time was an era in the Islāmic history when the hypocrites of Madīnah were at full force. A full-fledged conspiracy to defame Islām and the founder of Islām was being hatched under the leadership of ‘Abdullāh bin Ubayy bin Sulūl. It was their custom to concoct false and fabricated tales and propagate them in secret; or if the actual case was