Did Hz. Hafsa, our mother, become a widow at a young age?

Hz. Hafsa was a widow. Was she old or young? Are there any resources showing whether she was old or young?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Hafsa bint Umar died in 41 H. / 661- 662 M. in Madinah. If it is assumed that she was thirty years old during the Migration, she probably died when she was seventy-one years old. 661- 71 = 590; she was born in the last years of the sixth century.   

Hz. Hafsa, who was Hz. Umar’s daughter, married Khunays bin Hudhafa. Khunays was one of the first muhajirs; he migrated to Abyssinia first and Madinah after that. He took part in the battles of Badr and Uhud; he was wounded in Uhud and was martyred in Madinah. (Bukhari, Maghazi, 12)

Acting upon the custom of marrying one’s daughter or sister off to a virtuous person, (Bukhari, Ni­kah, 33), Hz. Umar offered Hz. Uthman, who lost his wife (Ruqiyya, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah) to marry his daughter, Hafsa, who was a widow with no children.  

When Hz. Uthman said he did not want to marry, he offered Hz. Abu Bakr to marry her. 

Hz. Abu Bakr knew that the Messenger of Allah was thinking of marrying Hafsa but did not find it appropriate to tell this to Hz. Umar. When Hz. Abu Bakr kept silent, Hz. Umar felt offended and talked to the Messenger of Allah about it.

The Messenger of Allah told him that Hafsa would soon marry someone better than Uthman and that Uthman would marry someone better than Hafsa.

As a matter of fact, the Messenger of Allah married Hafsa in return for 400 dirhams in the third year of the Migration in the month of Shaban. (It is also stated that they married one year before this date.)

Hz. Uthman married Umm Kulthum, the other daughter of the Messenger of Allah. (see Tabaqat, 8/81-82; Usdul-Ghaba, 5/435; al-Isaba, 4/273)

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