Following the citation of the hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās above at nos. (2238) and (2239): I heard Yazīd ibn Hārūn mention, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, this hadith and the hadith of al-Ḥajjāj, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather: that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, returned his daughter Zaynab to Abū al-ʿĀṣ with a new dowry and a new marriage.

Yazīd ibn Hārūn said: The hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās (meaning this hadith) has a sounder chain of transmission. We say: Imām Aḥmad likewise declared it authentic in his Musnad, following his citation of the hadith of ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb (no. 6938). And al-Tirmidhī transmitted in al-ʿIlal al-Kabīr 1/452, on the authority of al-Bukhārī, his statement: The hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās is sounder in this chapter than the hadith of ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather. Yazīd: he is Ibn Hārūn al-Sulamī.

It was also cited by Ibn Mājah (2009) and al-Tirmidhī (1175) via the chain of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, with this same chain of transmission. Al-Tirmidhī said: This is a hadith whose chain of transmission has no problem. The narration of Ibn Mājah mentions two years, while al-Tirmidhī's says: after six years.

It is also in the Musnad of Aḥmad (1876) and (2366).

It has a sound supporting witness from the mursal report of Qatādah ibn Diʿāmah, found in Ibn Saʿd 8/32. Its wording: Zaynab, daughter of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was the wife of Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ. She emigrated with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. Then her husband embraced Islam and emigrated to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and he returned her to him.

Qatādah said: Then Sūrat Barāʾah was revealed after that, and if a woman embraces Islam before her husband, he has no claim upon her except through a marriage proposal, and her embracing Islam constitutes a final divorce.

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr transmitted in al-Istidhkār 16/327, on the authority of Qatādah, his statement: This was before the revelation of Sūrat Barāʾah concerning the severing of covenants between Muslims and polytheists.

And al-Zuhrī said: This was before the revelation of the inheritance ordinances.

Another supporting witness, from the mursal report of al-Shaʿbī, which is also sound, found in ʿAbd al-Razzāq (12640), Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr (2107), Ibn Saʿd 8/32, and al-Ṭaḥāwī in Sharḥ Maʿānī al-Āthār 3/256: that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, returned his daughter Zaynab to Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ when he embraced Islam after Zaynab's embracing Islam, and he returned her on the basis of the first marriage.

And a third, from the mursal report of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, which is also sound, found in ʿAbd al-Razzāq (12643) and Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr (2108), its wording: Zaynab, daughter of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was the wife of Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ. She embraced Islam before him, and he was taken captive. He was brought as a prisoner bound in ropes, then he embraced Islam, and they remained upon their marriage.