After nearly a year and a half of research, I have completed a partial and tentative list of the various intermarriages which occurred between the Family of the Prophet Muhammad (Ahl al-Bayt) and his Companions during the first Islamic century. My methodology involved cross-checking various sources (mainly Sunni and Shi’i works of history, genealogy, hadith, biography) to ensure agreement between the various links and names which I have included. Most of the sources are in general agreement about the final chart which I have below. I have included a full list of sources below, for those wishing to learn more. Unfortunately, there are very few sources that have been translated into English for this topic, which is why I have undertaken the project in the first place.
Understanding the extent of familial links between the Ahl al-Bayt and the Companions of the Prophet is quite important in light of various narratives which seek to paint the first century of Islam (632-750) as one of unceasing warfare and animosity between one faction or another. As this chart seeks to show, although many of the figures listed here belonged to various competing factions and groups during the civil wars (656-661 and 680-692), this did not prevent them from marrying into one another’s families and even naming their children after each other. It would be an oversimplification to assert that there was a loving bond between the various individuals, but it is nevertheless true that the tendency of these major figures to intermarry is quite significant. It shows that, despite the destructive conflict which arose, they still perceived each other as belonging to a broader family. Many scholars have often characterized the early Islamic civil wars as constituting a “major family feud”. A quick glance at this chart will show that this assessment is more or less accurate. The vast majority of the political actors were related either directly by blood or through marriage. When reading this chart, it is important to note that these relationships occurred centuries before the codification of anything resembling Shi’ite or Sunni doctrine and, therefore, may be more indicative of historical reality than chronicles written centuries later through a sectarian lens. Admittedly, there is a major methodological quandary in this regard since much of this information is itself derived from authors and chroniclers who themselves had sectarian or partisan leanings and were interested in representing events during the 7th century in a particular way. However, it is nevertheless interesting that the information provided below can be found in the major works of the various competing interpretations of Islam (Sunni, Shi’i, Ibadi).
This is simply a list of the various marriages that took place according to the classical Islamic tradition. I have also indicated where there has been disagreement among the historians about whether a specific marriage occurred, . For a comprehensive study which places them in the context of the first Islamic century and which discusses their social and political ramifications, see the excellent study by Asad Q. Ahmed: The Religious Elite of the Early Islamic Hijaz: Five Prosopographical Case Studies (Prosopographica et Genealogica, 2011).
Children of the Prophet Muhammad, d. 632
By Khadīja bint Khuwaylid, d. 620
–Fāṭima (married to ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib), d. 632. Mother of al-Ḥasan (d. 670), al-Ḥusayn (d. 680), Zaynab (d. 680), and Umm Kulthūm (d. 680)
–Umm Kulthūm (married to ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affan), d. 631
–Ruqayya (married to ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān), d. 624. One child: ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Uthmān, d. 631
–‘Abd Allāh, died prior to 610
–Zaynab (married to Abū al-‘Āṣ ibn Rabī‘), d. 630
–al-Qāsim, died prior to 610
By Mariya al-Qibṭīyya, d. 638
–Ibrahīm, d. 631
Children of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, d. 644
–Muhammad, d. 658. Father of al-Qāsim (d. 731) who was the father of Umm Farwa (the mother of Imām Ja‘far al-Ṣādiq, d. 765)
–‘Abd al-Raḥmān, d. 666. Father of Muhammad, Asmā’ and Ḥafṣa, who was married to al-Ḥasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, d. 670
–‘Ā’ishah, d. 678 (married to the Prophet Muhammad)
–Asmā’, d. 693. Married to al-Zubayr ibn ‘Awwām, d. 656. Mother of ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr (d. 692)
–Umm Kulthūm, d. 680s (?). Married to Ṭalḥa ibn ‘Ubayd Allāh, d. 656.
–‘Abd Allāh, d. 630.
Children of ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, d. 644
–Hafṣa, d. 665 (married to the Prophet Muhammad)
–‘Āṣim, d. 689. He was the father of Layla, the mother of the caliph ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz, d. 720
–‘Abd Allāh, d.693
–‘Ubayd Allāh, d. 657
–Zayd, d. 667. His mother was Umm Kulthūm (d. 680), the daughter of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, d. 661
–Ruqayya, d. 670s. Her mother was Umm Kulthūm (d. 680), the daughter of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, d. 661
Children of ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān, d. 656
–Abān, d. 723. Married to Umm Kulthūm, the daughter of ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ja‘far ibn Abī Ṭālib, d. 680.
–‘Umar, d. 670s. Father of ‘Abd Allāh, the husband of Sakīna bint al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī, d. 736
–‘Amr, d. 670s. Father of Zayd, the husband of Fātima bint al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī, d. early 700s
–Sa‘īd
–al-Walīd
Children of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, d. 661
By Fāṭima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad
–al-Ḥasan, d. 670
–al-Ḥusayn, d. 680
–Umm Kulthūm, d. 680. Married to ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, d. 644 (*it is significant to note that while several Shi’i sources, in particular Shaykh al-Mufid question the veracity of this marriage, other Shi’i sources (including al-Kulayni and Sharif al-Murtadha) affirm it*)
–Zaynab, d. 680. Married to ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ja‘far ibn Abī Ṭālib, d. 680. Mother of Mu‘āwiyah, the father of ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mu‘āwiyah, d. 747
By other wives
–Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyya, d. 700. Father of ‘Abd Allāh (known as Abū Hāshim) and ‘Umar
–Ramla, d. 700s. Married to Mu‘āwiyah ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam
–‘Uthmān, d. 680
–‘Umar, d. 680
–Abū Bakr, d. 680
–al-‘Abbās, d. 680
–‘Abd Allāh, d.680
–Ja‘far, d. 680
–‘Awn, d. 680
Children of al-Ḥasan ibn ‘Alī, d. 670
–al-Ḥasan al-Muthanna, d. 715. Father of Zaynab, the wife of the Umayyad caliph al-Walīd ibn ‘Abd al-Mālik ibn Marwān (d. 715), and Umm Qāsim, the wife of Marwān ibn Abān ibn ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān
–Fāṭima al-Ṣiddīqa. Married to Imam ‘Alī ibn al-Ḥusayn, d. 712. She was the mother of Imam Muḥammad al-Bāqir, d. 732
–Ṭalḥa, d. 700s. His mother was Umm Isḥāq bint Ṭalḥa ibn ‘Ubayd Allāh
–‘Umar, d. 680
–‘Abd Allāh (known as Abū Bakr), d. 680
–al-Qāsim, d. 680
Children of al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, d. 680
–Zayn al-‘Ābidīn ‘Alī ibn al-Ḥusayn, d. 712. He was the father of Imam Muḥammad al-Bāqir, d. 732
–Sukayna, d. 680.
–‘Alī al-Akbar, d. 680
–‘Alī al-Asghar, d. 680
–Fāṭima, d. 736. Married to ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr ibn ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān
Sources
1) Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 1022), Kitāb al-Irshād
2) Abū al-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī (d. 967), Maqātil al-Ṭalibiyyīn
3) Abū al-‘Abbās Aḥmad al-Ya‘qūbī (d. 897), Tārīkh al-Ya‘qūbī
4) Ibn Sa‘d (d. 845), al-Tabaqāt al-Kubra
5) Abu Ja‘far al-Ṭabarī (d. 923), Tārīkh al-Rusul wal Mulūk
6) al-Balādhurī (d. 892), Ansāb al-Ashrāf
7) Ibn Isḥāq/Ibn Hishām (d. 833), Sīrat Rasūl Allāh
8) Ibn Ḥazm (d. 1064), Jamharat Ansāb al-‘Arab
9) Ibn al-Athīr (d. 1223), al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh
10) Muhammad ibn Ya‘qūb al-Kulaynī (d. 941), Uṣūl al-Kāfī and Furū‘ al-Kāfī
11) Muḥammad Bāqir al-Majlisī (d. 1698), Jilā’ al-‘Uyūn and Biḥār al-Anwār
12) Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī al-Mas‘ūdī (d. 956), Murūj al-Dhahab
13) Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Alī al-Rāzī (d. 1054), Kitāb al-Muwāfaqa bayna Ahl al-Bayt wa al-Ṣaḥāba
14) Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī (d. 1348), Siyār A‘lām al-Nubalā’
15) Abū Nu‘aym al-Iṣfahānī (d. 1038), Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’
16) Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī (d. 1201), al-Muntaẓam fī Tārīkh al-Mulūk wa al-Umam
17) Muhammad Abu Zahra (d. 1974), al-Imām al-Ṣādiq
18) ‘Alā’ al-Dīn al-Muddaris, al-Nasab wa al-Muṣāhara bayna Ahl al-Bayt wa al-Ṣaḥāba
19) Asad Q. Ahmed. The Religious Elite of the Early Islamic Hijaz: Five Prosopographical Case Studies. Prosopographica et Genealogica, 2011.
The following is the chart that I made based on my research. It is far from a final one, and my research is still ongoing.
Ballandalus 