Salaams,
I have been reading the biography of the holy prophet (saw) (by Ibn kathir) .
I believe I’ve sent this question before, but I do not know why it is being ignored. Please don’t ignore again.
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Question 1:
The prophet (saw) had 2 slave girls maariya and rayhaana, it is mentioned that they were both very beautiful and the prophet (saw) desired for them to be Muslims …..
How is it that the prophet (saw) could have known of their beauty ?
Answer 1:
First, I don’t ignore questions. I get so many questions that I sometimes find it hard to go through all of them, especially with the limited time that I have. Please forgive me that you had this feeling of being ignored. We have checked but could not see your questions come before.
There are plenty of ways of finding out the beauty of someone. Maybe by someone explaining it, also purdah was for the free women; the ‘baandis’ (slave girls) did not do purdah. So maybe their faces were open.
In another hadith He Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam intended to marry a lady. He told Umme Sulaym (ra) to go and see her. He specifically said ‘look closely at her ears’ so maybe he was told by someone who was his mahram and had seen them.
In the case of Saffiyyah (RadhiAllahu anha), the Sahabah (ra) told him that, ‘Ya Rasulallah why did you give Saffiyyah to Dihya? It is only you who deserves her.’ So he called her over and when he saw that what they were saying is true, he took her in his custody, freed her and married her.