Part 97

1Polygamy is not confined to the Prophet (pbuh) but it also applies to most earlier Prophets.

2The rationale behind the many wives of the Prophet (pbuh).

Earlier Prophets And Polygamy

We have mentioned before that polygamy was common before Islam in general. But what we are dealing with now is the Prophets who made polygamy from among Israelites.

Ibrahim (pbuh) had three wives as stated in Torah and Gospel:

(a) Hajar, the mother of Isma’ il (pbuh) who is mentioned in Torah: "Hajar gave birth to a son of Ibrahim. Ibrahim called him Islami."

(b) Sara, the mother of Ishaq (pbuh) who is mentioned in Torah:

“Allah said to Ibrahim do not call your wife Saray but Sara. She will give birth to a boy who will be called Ishaq.”

(c) Qutura, the mother of Zamran, Baqshan, Mudan, Mudyan, Bashbaq and shuha, who is mentioned in Torah:

"Then Ibrahim returned and took Qurtura in marriage who gave birth to Zamran, Baqshan, Muddan, Mudyah, Bashbaq and Shuh." (2) Ya’qeub and his many wives (pbuh): Ya qub (pbuh) had four wives:

(a) Lay‘ah, who gave birth to five sons and a daughter. They were: Ra ubin, Sham*un, Lawi Yahudha, Zabulun and Dina.

(b) Rahil, who give birth to two sons: Danan and Yusuf (pbuh). It is stated in Torah: “Allah mentioned Rahil, listened to her and opened her womb. Then she

became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She said, Allah removed my shame. She called him Yusuf and asked Allah for another son. Dana is

the name of Yusuf's brother, Benyamin.

(c) Zilfah was the mother of Jada and Ashir as stated in the following text of Torah:

"When Lay'ah realized that she could give birth any more, she gave Zilfah, her maid to Ya‘qub in marriage. Then the latter gave birth to Jada and Ashir."

(d) Balihad was the mother of Naftali, Rahil's maid, who was given to Ya'cub in marriage by Rahil as stated in Torah, "Then she (Rahil) then Ya'qub married her. After she had become pregnant, she gave birth to Naftali."

(3) Moses (pbuh) Moses (pbuh) had three wives:

(a) Safurah was one of the girls whose flocks Moses watered for them. Then he married her and she give birth to Jarshum.

(b) The Kushian woman as stated in Torah:

"Maryam and Harun talked with each other abont the Kushian woman whom Moses got married."

(c) The daughter of al-Qeeny, it was mentioned in Torah that Moses got married to one of the Qeeny tribe.

(4) David's wives (pbuh) David (pbuh) had nine wives, we are going to refer to some of them:

(a) Mikal, the daughter of Shawul. It was stated in Torah that Shawul gave David his daughter, Mikal in marriage.

(b) Abijah was Nabal's wife. When her husband died, David sent for marrying her. She at once rode on her donkey accompanied by five maids and followed David's messengers. She became David's wife.

(c) Akhinu'am al-Bazra ‘iliyyah: It was stated in Troah:

"David spent with his two wives: Akhinu’am al-Barza‘illiyyah and Abijal al-Karbaliyyah, Nabal's wife in Akheesh house."

(d) Ma‘kah, the daughter of Tilmey (e) ajeeth. (Q Abital. (g) Aglah

(e) After David (pbuh) had come from Habrun and become the king of Israel, he adopted a number of maids and wives from Jerusalem as

"David also adopted some maids and wives, from Jerusalem after he had come from Habrun. There, he was blessed by sons and daughters. The names of his sons and daughters who where born in Jerusalem were:

"Shamsnaw, Shubab, Nathan, Sulaiman, Yajar, El-Yashuw', Natig, Yafee' Al-Yasham', AI-Bida' and AI-Yaflut."

(5) Solomon's wives (pbuh)

As for Solomon, Allah's Prophet (pbuh), it was stated in Torah that he had got seven hundred wives and three hundred maids:

"Solomon had got seven hundred wives and three hundred maids."

All Muslims Christians and Jews believe that Jesus’ (pbuh) Messengership confirmed Moses’. It did not contradict Moses' mission as stated in the gospel of Mathew:

"Do not think that I was sent to demolish the revelation or the prophets. I just came to complete not to demolish."

We can understand that Juesus confirmed the former legislation including polygamy. There is not any prohibiting statement for polygamy in all gospels. Furthermore, it is stated in the Epistles of Mathew that polygamy is permissible. When Polus was asked about the credibility conditions of the bishops and priests, he said, "A bishop should have only one woman in marriage." It is apparent that other than clergymen may marry whatever number of women they like. Therefore, many earlier Christians married more than one woman. Relying on such a concept, Napoleon the king of France got married to another woman in the presence of the Pope who did not reject him.

Eventually, we can conclude that all prophets made polygamy without vitiating the duties or purposes of their Prophethood. Amazingly, we may find some Jewish or Christian orientalists who criticize and accuse the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) for making polygamy and neglect that polygamy is also the tradition of the prophets whom they follow.

Let us now discuss the rationale behind the multiplying of the wives of the Prophet. But first of all, we would like to draw the attention of the reader that what we are going to discuss is completely different from what we have mentioned at the beginning of the book. Initially, we dicussed the stories of the Prophet's wives to follow their examples. We are now going to indicate the reasons and rationale behind adopting such number of wives.

The Rational behind the Multiplying of the Prophet's Wives

In the very beginning we should bear in mind that polygamy was common before Islam. In addition to that, the Prophet (pbuh) had more than one wife is Madina when he became old. Having mentioned these two facts let us shed the light on the rationale of polygamy in the Prophet's life (pbuh) and the circumstances, which had led to that.

(1) Khadija bint Khuwailid

She was the first of the Prophet's wives. The Prophet (pbuh) was twenty-five when he married Khadija who was forty by then. She was widow when he married her and they lived twenty-five years together. The Prophet did not marry any other women during her life.

Hence we can conclude that the Prophet's marriage was void of any lust or desire. He was famous of good and noble character. Had he wanted to marry any beautiful and virgin woman, she would have accepted him, However, all what he wanted was purity and chastity.

(2) Sawdah bint Zam‘ ah

Shortly after Khadija's death, Abu Talib, the Prophet's uncle died. The Prophet, therefore, became alone without company. He needed someone with whom he can find repose. Thereby, he got married to Sawdah bint Zam‘ah (may Allah be pleased with her). She was among the emigrant believers.

When Sawda's husband, as-Sakran died, she feared to return to her family lest they put her in torture and convert her. Being informed about her case, the Prophet (pbuh) offered to marry her in order to defend her. Moreover, he wanted to honor her and her husband for their strong faith and their immigration in the cause of Allah. She was fiftyfive by then. All people admired and were amazed by this marriage. The Prophet married this solitary and poor widow to be an example before all people to put before their eyes the noble goals behind marriage.

‘Aisha bint Abu Bakr

She was the only virgin woman whom the Prophet married. She \* mine years old when the Prophet (pbuh) married her. By such a matt age, the Prophet (pbuh) consolidated the bonds of friendship with \bu Bakr. He abolished the Pre-Islamic system of brotherhood. In the pr--lslamic period, the people were accustomed to befriending one another to the extent that they behaved like brothers by blood. Therefore, they could not marry the daughters of whom they befriended and took as brothers. Thus, when Khawla went to Abu Bakr and betrothed ‘Aisha to the Prophet (pbuh), he wondered, "Could * Aisha be lawful to him while she was his brother's daughter? Then Khawlah went back to the Prophet (pbuh) and told him what had happened. Accordingly, the Prophet (pbuh) said,

"Tell him, "You are my brother in Islam and your daughter is lawful to me."

By such marriage, ‘Aisha became the most knowledgeable of Muslim women in Sacred Law, religion, and Islamic Behavior, having married the Prophet (pbuh) in the second year after the Hijra, becoming the dearest of his wives to him in Medina. She related 2,210 hadiths from Prophet (pbuh), and after his death, leading figures of the companions would come and ask her for legal opinions, which she would supply. What a great rationale behind such marriage!

(4) Hafsa bin ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab

Hafsa was the widow of Khanis Ibn Hudhafah. he was among the early immigrants to Abyssinia and fought in the battle of Badr. He died in Madina due to wounds he received in the Battle of Uhud. Then ‘Umar offered to Abu Bakr and ‘Uthman to marry his daughter, Hafsa, but they apologized. Accordingly, ‘Umar complained to the Prophet (pbuh) and he (pbuh) said,

"Hafsa will get married to someone who is better

than Uthman, and Uthman will get married to

someone who is better than Hafsa."

Then, the Prophet (pbuh) married Hafsa to give equal honour to

both Abu Bakr and ‘Umar. Nothing might be more desirable on the part of the Prophet (pbuh) to offer Abu Bakr and ‘Umar as a reward for their

truthful sincerity and their sacrifices for the sake of Islam more than marriying their dearest daughters. How noble was the Prophet's attitude towards ‘Umar, whoever thinks of the Prophet's marriage to Hafsa will realize that this marriage was not out of lust or desire.

(5) Zainab bint Khuzaimah

She was the widow of Ubaidah Ibn al-Harith (may Allah be pleased with him), who was martyred at the battle of Badr. She was sixty when her husband died. Thus she needed some kind of care. Accordingly, the Prophet, after he came to know about her condition, married her to join her to the other mothers of believers. But she died shortly after the Prophet (pbuh) had married her. It is said that she stayed two years or two months with him. It is said also that the period, which she lived with the Prophet, was just eight or three months. As a whole, she was the only wife of the Prophet (pbuh) who died during the Prophet's lifetime but after Khadiya.

She was the first Muslim woman to immigrate to Abyssinia. She had been marred to ‘Abdullha Ibn “Abd al-Asad who was martyered the battle of Uhud. When he died, Umm Salama was sixty-five by then. She had two boys and two girls. There was none who would suffice her after the death of her husband. Therefore, the Prophet (pbuh) betrothed her for himself. She first apologized to the Prophet (pbuh) because of her old age, her orphans and the jealousy she had. But the Prophet (pbuh) said "I am older than you and as for jealousy I will supplicate Allah to remove it from you and the orphans will be to Allah and His Messenger (pbuh). This is the wisdom behind such marriage: to looke after a widow and her orphan kids.