wives of the prophet (ِafter design)

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All the Prophets were PolygamousWHY PROPHET MUHAMMAD MARRIED NINE

LADIES?


Let’s first ask ourselves, how many wives did the Prophet marry?


The total number the prophet married was twelve, two of them died in his life, so he left ten when he

died


The names of the ladies whom the prophet married, also known as the mothers of the believers.

In the fo llo wing s lid e s a re the ir na m e s :


They are:

Khadijah Bint KhuwaylidSawdah Bint ZamaahAaishah Bint Abi Bakr

Hafsah Bint OmarZainab Bint Khuzaymah

Om-salamah , Hind Bint OtbahZainab Bint Jahsh

Juwayriyah Bint AlharithSafiyah Bint Huyay Ibn Akhtab

Ommo Habibah Ramlah Bint Abi SofianMaria Bint Shamoun, the Egyptian

Maymonah Bint Alharith


Were they all virgins? www.knowmuhammad.org

O NLY O NE (Aaishah)

all the rest were either widows or divorced.


Were they all Arabs?


All, except for (Ma riya ), who was from Egypt.


Where they all

Muslims?


All but two; (Safiya) who was a Jew , and (Mariya) who was a Christian.


Now, let’s answer the main and very important question: Wa s it lus t that c a us e d the prophet to

have s o m a ny m a rria g e s ?


To answer the question we have to mention the following facts:


1- The Prophet married for the first time when he was 25 years old.


2- The first woman he married , Khadijah was 40 years old , already married twice before him and had children.

Never had he thought of marrying her or any women but it was upon her plan , after seeing his honesty and integrity, that he accepted to marry her.

He remained married to her alone for 25 years until she died. He didn’t marry any women other than her. He remained single after her death for two years He was then 52 years old.


• Only after her death, and upon a persistent advice did the prophet marry the next lady.

• She was an old widow who, according to the Islamic sources was not beautiful. He married her to give her care as she was old poor widow.

• Now, it is obvious that if the prophet was after physical pleasure he did not have to wait until he was more than fifty years old to start marrying more wives. He lived in a society in which it was quite acceptable to have many wives. But the prophet remained devoted to his only wife for twenty-five years. When she died she was sixty-five years old.


3- From 52 till 60, he married several times for political and social reasons.After two years of living single, he married Sawdah, an 80 year old widow in order to honor her because she was the first widow in Islam. Not an act of a lustful man after a long period of single life.


It’s not logical to say that lust had appeared suddenly at the Prophet’s life at 52, and at the middle of the fierce physical and

psychological struggle to spread Islam


There is only one conclusion we can extract from the above:

1- Mohammad (pbuh) - the m an married Khadijah (ra(2- Mohammad (pbuh) - the Pro phe t married the re s t o f

his wive s.


But, was Mohammad (pbuh) the only Prophet to have multiple wives?

Or polygamy was taken by other Prophets as well?


The answer is : NO. Polygamy was the norm at the times of

Ibra him , Da wo ud , a nd So la ym a n all known in the Bible to have been polygamists.


Now, let’s mention the p o litic a l, s o c ia l a nd re lig io us re a s o ns why did the prophet had

these marriages.


First: To spread the culture through eyewitnesses with all the details known only to intimate people.

Aais hah (ra ), being so young, was able to te ll a ll tho s e d e ta ils to the Mus lim s for more than 42 y e a rs .

She ha d s e e n a nd le a rne d s o m uch fro m him.Her young age was a great advantage in this respect. She could tell what the Prophet used to do or say in

all aspects of life, so that people do and say the same in the same situations


Aais hah, was the most knowledgeable person when it comes to the da ily life o f the Mus lim and how it

should go a s wa s live d by the Pro phe t him s e lf .

But how come he married her when she

was only nine years old?The desert climate answers to that . In such environment Girls reached menstruation very young. Not only in Arabia, but

also in Roma and Persia, girls were married that young


Second: To strengthen the relationships with his companions, Prophet m a rrie d Abu Ba kr’s (ra ) d a ug hte r a nd O m a r's (ra ) d a ug hte r.

Prophet m a rrie d his da ug hte rs to O thm a n a nd Ali, May God be pleased with them all.


Third: out of m e rc y a nd re wa rd ing to the early Muslim widows and divorcees he g a ve the m the ho no r o f m a rry ing the m himself (Husbands either died in battles or were non Muslims who

divorced them.(.

Sawda h, O m -s a lam a a nd Habe e bah were widows.


Fourth: The Prophet was being a ro le m o d e l for the Muslims being kind to the widows and to the p e o p le o f the bo o k who ne wly

e m bra c e d Is la m.He married Sa fiy a h after her father , a Je w , embraced Islam , so

giving him and his daughter the honor among his people


Fifth: He wanted to have tie s a nd links with the d iffe re nt na tio ns of the world.

When he married Ma riya , all Eg yp tia ns we re o n his s id e , and when he married G o wa yriyah, all her people (they were called the Bani

Almustalaq and were captured by the Muslims after a battle), they all embraced Islam


• Jo hn L. Es p o s ito , Pro fe s s o r o f Re lig io n a nd Dire c to r o f the Ce ntre fo r Inte rna tio na l Stud ie s a t the Co lle g e o f the Ho ly Cro s s , says that most of these marriages had “p o litic a l a nd s o c ia l m o tive s ” (Islam: The Straight Path, Oxford University Press, 1988, p. 19).

• This he explained as follows: “As wa s c us to m a ry fo r Ara b chie fs , m a ny we re p o litic a l m a rria g e s to c e m e nt a llia nc e s . O the rs we re m a rria g e s to the wid o ws o f his c o m p a nio ns who ha d fa lle n in c o m ba t a nd we re in ne e d o f p ro te c tio n” (John L. Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path, pp. 19-20).


• Why did the prophet marry 9 a t a c e rta in p o int o f tim e ?• How come God gave Muslims the option to marry up to 4, yet the

prophet was married to 9 a nd ke p t the m a ll?• Why didn’t the prophet divorce 5 and stay within the Islamic law limit

of 4 (s a ving him s e lf a ll the a c c us a tio ns tha t wo uld c o m e a fte rwa rds )?• Was the prophet a womanizer, hence marrying Aisha (ra) at the age

of 7?

Why Prophet Mohammad had 9 Wives When the Rule Says 4 Only?



• Before Is la m (in m any c ulture s a nd re lig io ns ) it was normal for people to marry many women at the same time without any limitation whatsoever.

• Marrying more than one is n’t a n Is la m ic “ inve ntio n” . • When Islam came, it put the limitation of 4 (with c o nd itio ns ).


• In Ex o dus 2 1 : 1 0 , a man can marry an infinite amount of women without any limits to how many he can marry.

• In 2 Sam ue l 5 : 1 3 ; 1 Chro nic le s 3 : 1 -9 , 1 4: 3 , King David had six wives and numerous concubines.

• In 1 King s 1 1 : 3 , King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.• In 2 Chro nic le s 1 1 : 2 1 , King Solomon's son Rehoboam had 18 wives

and 60 concubines.

Polygamy In Christianity


Polygamy In Hinduism• "Now a Brahmin may take four wives in the direct order of the (four)

castes." — Vis nusm rti 24: 1 .• Lord Krishna ha d 1 6 , 0 0 0 wive s a nd 3 6 0 0 0 c o ncubine s• Lord Visnu & Brahma also had multiple consorts • Ksatriyas are recorded in the itiha s a s (Mahabharata, Ramayana, etc…)

as having as many as thousands of wives & thousands of progeny. • In the epic, the Mahabharata the five renowned Pandava brothers sharing

one wife Draup a d i


Polygamy in Islam

• When Is lam came, it put the lim ita tio n o f 4 (with c o nd itio ns ). • Qur’an is the only religious book on the face of the earth that says

‘marry only one’. • "Marry wo m e n o f y o ur cho ic e , two , o r thre e , o r fo ur; but if ye fear that

ye shall not be able to de a l jus tly (with them), the n o nly o ne ." [Al-Qur’an 4:3]

• "Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women...." [Al-Qur’an 4:129]

• Therefore polygamy is not a rule but an exception



• When the above Quranic verse was revealed, all muslims (whom had more than 4 wives) had to limit themselves to 4 or less (depending on the case). And so they did.

• Yet, at that time the prophet (PBUH) was married to 9 wives (before this order was revealed), and he didn’t divorce them.Why?


• Let it be know that in Islam, the Prophet’s wives a re o f s p e c ia l va lue a nd s ta nc e . They are not like any other women

• 33:32. O wives of the Prophet! Yo u a re no t like a ny o the r wo m e n. • What a lot of people don’t know, is that before the above verse

(limiting to 4 wives) was, another order (rule) was revealed a while back.

• 33:53.And it is not (right) for you that you should annoy Allah's Messenger, no r tha t y o u s ho uld e ve r m a rry his wive s a fte r him (his d e a th). Verily! With Allah that shall be an enormity.



• Before applying that ruling on the wives, they were provided a choice…either to stay his wives and stick to the ruling (never to remarry again) or for them to get divorced at that time… they all preferred to stay with him!

• The reasons for such a rule (his wives never to remarry)are obvious, it was to protect the prophet and his wives (whether while or after the prophet passed away) from any form of harm or mistreatment.

• This of course was important because the wives of the prophet have a very special stance in Islam (after all they are called “Mothers of all Muslims”).



• So, here is the situation:1- God said the prophet’s wives (9 of them at that time) are not to remarry after him.2- God ordered Muslims not to marry more than 4 at the same time.

• In other words, the prophet will have to divorce 5 out of the 9 he had as wives at that point. Those 5 will neither be his wives nor any one else's (unlike all other women who when divorced can remarry).



• Out of God’s mercy for the Prophet’s wives, Allah revealed this verses in quran.

• 33:52. It is not lawful for you (to marry other) women after this, nor to change them for other wives even though their beauty attracts you, except those (captives or slaves) whom your right hand possesses. And Allah is Ever a Watcher over all things.

• It is an order from God directed to the prophet (specifically) never to marry anymore women at all (keeping the 9 he already has).

• And that he (the prophet) does not have the right to replace his wives (divorce one or more and marry new ones while keeping his limit of wives at 9).



• And this rule (that applied to him only) was the answer for his situation (since he had 9 wives whom cannot remarry again).

• So, from that point on... neither could the prophet remarry nor could his wives!

• Special case, special reason and that was that.



wives of the prophet (ِafter design)

Spiritual

years old

polygamouswhy prophet

year old widow

old poor widow

khadijah ra2 mohammad

prophets life

long period of single

lustful man