Saying · After the death of Khadija RA
If you want an elderly lady, then Sawda; if you want a younger lady, then Aisha.
Suggested to the Prophet ﷺ in the months after Khadija RA's death, when he had not been seen to smile and had no wife.
~Shawwal, 10th year of the dawah (c. 620 CE) · 2 BH
After the death of Khadija bint Khuwaylid RA, the Prophet ﷺ was not seen smiling for many months. Eventually Khawlah bint Hakim RA suggested that he marry again. She said that if he wanted an older woman there was Sawda bint Zam'a RA, and if he wanted a younger one there was Aisha bint Abi Bakr RA. He married both of them within a month of each other.
Sawda RA had lost her husband, al-Sukran ibn Amr, who died very early. Her family had disowned her when she became Muslim, so she had no one to look after her. The Prophet ﷺ married her out of compassion, probably in Shawwal of the 10th year of the dawah, about six months after Khadija RA died. She was the eldest of all his wives.
Sawda RA became the second wife of the Prophet ﷺ, following Khadija RA.
Other events recorded in 2 BH. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
If you want an elderly lady, then Sawda; if you want a younger lady, then Aisha.
Suggested to the Prophet ﷺ in the months after Khadija RA's death, when he had not been seen to smile and had no wife.