The Prophet ﷺ said to his wives, "The one with the longest hand among you will be the first to follow me."Ayesha said, "After the Prophet's ﷺ death, whenever we gathered at one of our houses, we would stretch our hands against the wall to compare them. We kept doing this until Zaynab bint Jahsh bin Riab, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, passed away. She was a short woman, may Allah have mercy on her, and her hand was not the longest among us. Only then did we realize that what the Prophet ﷺ had meant was charity."She added, "Zaynab was a woman skilled with her hands. She would tan leather, sew, and give the proceeds in charity for the sake of Allah ."
قال النبي عليه السلام لأزواجه: يتبعني أطولكن يدا. قال: قالت عائشة: فكنا إذا اجتمعنا في بيت إحدانا بعد وفاة النبي عليه السلام نمد أيدينا في الجدار نتطاول، فلا نزال نفعل ذلك حتى توفيت زينب بنت جحش بن رئاب زوج النبي عليه السلام، وكانت امرأة قصيرة يرحمها الله، ولم تكن أطولنا يدا، فعرفنا حينئذ أن ما أراد النبي عليه السلام الصدقة، قالت: وكانت زينب امرأة صناعة اليد، تدبغ، وتخرز، وتصدق به في سبيل الله عز وجل.
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Tahawi narrated it in Sharh Mushkil (210), and Hakim (4/25), both through the route of Ismail bin Abu Uways, from his father, from Yahya bin Saeed, from Amra, from Ayesha, and he mentioned it. Hakim said, "Sahih according to the criterion of Muslim, though the two of them did not narrate it."