Habiba bint Sahl was married to Thabit bin Qays bin Shammas. He struck her and broke one of her limbs. After the dawn prayer, she went to the Prophet ﷺ and complained to him about her husband. The Prophet ﷺ summoned Thabit and said, "Take back some of her property and separate from her."Thabit asked, "Is that permissible, Messenger of Allah?"He replied, "Yes."Thabit said, "I gave her two gardens as her dowry, and they are now in her possession."The Prophet ﷺ said, "Take them back and separate from her." So he did.
أن حبيبة بنت سهل كانت عند ثابت بن قيس بن شماس، فضربها، فكسر بعضها، فأتت النبي ﷺ بعد الصبح، فاشتكته إليه. فدعا النبي ﷺ ثابتا فقال: خذ بعض مالها وفارقها، فقال: ويصلح ذلك يا رسول الله؟ قال: نعم، قال: فإني أصدقتها حديقتين وهما بيدها. فقال النبي ﷺ: خذهما وفارقها ففعل.
Abu Dawud (2228) narrated it from Muhammad bin Muamar, who said, Abu Amir Abdul-Malik bin Amr narrated to us, who said, Abu Amr Sadusi Madini narrated to us, from Abdullah bin Abu Bakr bin Muhammad bin Amr bin Hazm, from Amra, from Ayesha, and he related it.But Bayhaqi (7/315) narrated it by another route, from Saeed bin Salama bin Abu Hisam, from Abdullah bin Abu Bakr, and in it, he took one of the two gardens and separated from her, then Ubayy bin Kaab married her afterward, and he took her with him to Syria, where she died there. Its isnad is sahih. Both hadiths are sahih. Amra bint Abdul-Rahman heard this hadith first from Ayesha, then it became possible for her to hear it from Habiba bint Sahl, the woman involved in the story.In his saying, "Take both of them and separate from her," there is evidence that a man may take back everything he gave her. But in the second narration, he took only one of the two, so perhaps he took both at first and then returned one of them out of scrupulousness on his part.Along similar lines is what has been related from Amr bin Shuayb, from his father, from his grandfather, who said, Habiba bint Sahl was married to Thabit bin Qays bin Shammas. He was an unattractive man, and she said, "Messenger of Allah, by Allah, were it not for my fear of Allah, when he comes in to me I would spit in his face." The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Will you return his garden to him?" She said, "Yes." So she returned his garden to him, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ separated them.Ibn Majah (2057) narrated it from Abu Kurayb, who said, Abu Khalid Ahmar narrated to us, from Hajjaj, from Amr bin Shuayb, from his father, from his grandfather, and he related it. Hajjaj here is Ibn Artah, a well-known mudallis, and he has also been graded daif apart from tadlis. Imam Ahmad (16095) narrated it by two routes, one of them through Hajjaj with the same isnad mentioned above, and the second through Hajjaj, from Muhammad bin Sulayman bin Abu Hathma, from his uncle Sahl bin Abu Hathma, who said, Habiba bint Sahl was married to Thabit bin Qays bin Shammas Ansari, and he related it in the same way. And he said at the end of it, "That was the first khula in Islam." In both routes is Hajjaj bin Artah.