Benefits of the Hadith: (… She said, “When I grew old, I gave my day with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to Aisha. She said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I have given my day with you to Aisha.’”)

The Shaykh : In this is evidence, as the commentator stated, for the permissibility of a woman giving her day to one of her co-wives. The evidence is clear, and the aspect of the indication is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved of Sawdah’s action and did not say that this is not permissible, or that if you relinquish your day, I will give it to whom I wish or distribute it among my wives. For example, if I were dividing among four, I would now divide among three, so it is permissible. But here is an issue: if the day of the one giving it does not follow the day of the one receiving it, is it permissible for him to make the two days consecutive? That is, for example, if there is one day with the giver and three days with the receiver, is it permissible for him to move hers to the second day so that there are two consecutive days? Yes? It is possible, but with their consent, there is no harm. With their consent, there is no harm. Without consent, it is possible that we say he may move her day to the day of the receiver so that the two days are consecutive. It may be said with detail: if we know that the wives’ refusal to move the day to the following day is for the purpose of causing harm, then their refusal is not considered. And if we know that it is for a valid purpose, then there is no harm. This detail is the truth. If we know that their refusal to move the day to the following day is to cause harm to the one who was given it, we say that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said But if we know that it is for a valid purpose, and purposes differ, and for every situation there is a specific ruling, then here we say the days and nights must remain as they are. Now, is it permissible for him to return the gift, meaning to say, “I do not accept the gift; if you relinquish your day, I will make the division for three instead of four”? Is that permissible for him? We say yes, it is permissible for him. It is permissible for him. If she says, “I do not accept it unless you give it to so-and-so,” she has the right, if she sees that the husband has decided to divide among three, to return it. She has the right to stipulate and say, “If you give it to so-and-so, I am relinquishing it; otherwise, I am keeping my right.” She has that right. And among the benefits of this hadith is the jurisprudence of Sawdah (may Allah be pleased with her). How knowledgeable the women of the Companions were (may Allah be pleased with them)! The aspect of this is that she wanted to remain a wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) so that she would be his wife in the Hereafter, because if he divorced her, she would not be his wife in the Hereafter. And among the benefits of this hadith is acting on circumstantial evidence, because Sawdah must have feared that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would divorce her. Do not ever think that she wanted to prefer others over her share with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him); that is impossible. But she feared that he would divorce her, so she saw that the interest required her to give her day to Aisha. And among the benefits of this hadith is that it is recommended for a woman who wants to give her day to her husband to look at which of the women is most beloved to him, because it is known to everyone that the most beloved of the women of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to him was Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). Look at the explanation of the first hadith, “I have not seen a woman…”