Wives & Children of the Apostle

The Prophet’s Children

Khadijah, the first wife of the Apostle, gave birth to his son Al-Qasim, after whose name the Prophet was called Abul Qasim, that its, father of Qasim. He died in infancy. Thereafter she bore the Apostle four daughters, Zaynab, Ruqaiyah, Umm Khulthum and Fatimah. One more son named Abdullah was also born to her. ‘Abdullah was surnamed as Tayyab and Tahir according Ibn al-Qayyim, but there are others who regard the three as separate sons of the Prophet, All these sons and daughters of the Apostle were born to Khadijah.1

Fatimah was held dearest by the Prophet amongst his children. The Apostle of God said about her: “She would be the leader of women in Paradise.”2 And “Fatimah is part me, and whose offends her offends me.”3 After the Prophet’s death, she was the first among his family members to bid farewell to this world.

Mariyah the Copt was the mother of Ibrahim, another son of the Prophet. He also dies in infancy. In this deep sorrow over the child’s death the Apostle of God said, “the eyes weep and the heart grieves, but we say nothing that displease our lord, and we are grieved over being separated from you, Ibrahim.”4

There was solar eclipse on the day Ibrahim died. Some of the companions attributed the eclipse to Ibrahim’s death. But the Apostle corrected them in a speech wherein he said, “the sun and the moon are two of the signs of God; they are not eclipsed on account of anyone’s death.”5

Zaynab was married to Abul ‘As B. Rabi, a nephew of Khadijah, and had two children, a son named ‘Ali and a daughter whose name was Umamah. Ruqaiyah, another daughter of the Apostle, was betrothed to Uthman who she bore a son named ‘Abdullah. Ruqaiyah died while the Apostle was at Badr and ‘Uthman was left behind to look after. Umm Khulthum, sister of Ruqaiyah, was then united in marriage with Uthman whence he came to be known as Dhum Nurayan, “The possessor of two lights.”

Fatimah was joined in wedlock with ‘Ali, the son of Abu Talib and a cousin of the Apostle. Their elder son was Hasan, by whose name ‘Ali acquired the title of Abul Hasan and the younger one was Hussein. Both of them were dearest to the Prophet’s hear and were praised by him in these words; “The two are my sweet-smelling blossom in the world.6 On another occasion he said about them, “These two would be the leaders of youth in Paradise.”7

God blessed Hassan and Hussein with a progeny numerous as star in the firmament and caused them to serve Islam and its followers. Great leaders and scholars and heavenly-minded saints were born amongst them who raised the banner of revolt against every corruption and iniquity and restored the health of the soul to the Muslims. ‘Ali and Fatimah had two more daughter, Zaynab and Umm Khulthum. The first was married to her cousin, Abdullah b J’afar, who was regarded as one of the most generous persons in Arabia. Zaynab bore two sons, ‘Ali and ‘Aun to ‘Abdullah. Umm Khulthum was given in marriage to ‘Umar B. al-Khattab whom he bore a son named Zayd.8

All the sons and daughters of the Apostle of God except Fatimah died during his lifetime. Fatimah yielded her breath six months after the demise of the Prophet.9

Footnotes:

1. Zad al-Ma’ad, Vol. I, pp. 25-26
2. Tirmidhi, Vol. II, p. 421
3. Bukhari and other authentic collections
4. Muslim, on the authority of Asma bint Yazid b. As-Salam
5. Muslim, Kitab ul Kasauf
6. Bukhari, Kitab ul Manaqib
7. Tirmidhi, Vol. II, p. 221
8. Ibn Hisham, Vol. IV, pp. 581-82
9. Zad al-Ma’ad, Vol, I. p. 26

The Prophet’s Marriages

Up to his twenty-fifth year the Apostle lived alone enjoying singe blessedness. In the flower of his youth, he posses all the qualities of the life’s morning march: he was good-natured, sound of mind and body and an specimen of Arab manliness. His well-molded, strong built frame, courage, generosity, skill in horsemanship and unpretentiousness – the qualities esteemed by the Arabs – came of the wild, barren desert where he had spent his childhood. All these physical and mental gifts are, according to psychologist and scholar of ethics, no less important in molding the character of a man.

The youthful days of the Apostle, before the beginning of revelation, were free every blemish; neither his worst enemies during his lifetime nor the mud-slinging critics of the later times have ever been able to find the slightest fault with the critical period of his life. His veracity, chastity, innocence and pureness of heart were proverbial for he never indulged in anything unbecoming of a true-souled youth like him.

He married Khadijah at the age of twenty-five. She was a widow who had been twice married, and also children from her earlier husbands. As most of the authorities agree, she was fifteen years older that the Apostle of God. His next marriage was contracted with Sauda bin Zama’a when he had already crossed his fiftieth year. She had migrated to Abyssinia with her husband who had died there. The Prophet never married any virgin save ‘Aisha – all his marriages were dedicated by consideration of kindliness, cementing the bonds of friendship with the alien tribes, setting some example of virtuous behavior for the Muslims, achieving some public good for forestalling some danger to the nascent community of Islam.

In the tribal society of Arabia, family and matrimonial relationships had a special significance unknown to any other part of the world. Ties of blood lent security, importance and dignity in the tribal society of Arabia. The marriages of the Apostle were, thus, invariably conducive to the dissemination of the message of Islam among pagan tribes and thus they were a means of strengthening the idealistic society of Medina to the extent the ties of blood created through these marriages were helpful in putting a check to unnecessary bloodshed – the perpetual sport of the nomads – and both of these were absolute necessary for the survival of Islamic society. Also, neither the Prophet nor his polygamous marriages. His was a life of exemplary continence and frugality, self-denial and temperance, a life so uniquely pure and chaste that not even the greatest puritan of any time or clime can be compared with him. We shall cite some examples of his simple and frugal living while describing the Apostle’s character and manners, but the testimony of God should be sufficient to convince every honest man about the absence of ease and comfort in the married life of the holy Prophet. “O Prophet! Say unto they wives: if they ye desire the world’s life and its adornment, come! I will content you and will release you with fair release.

“But if ye desire Allah and His messenger and the abode hereafter, then lo! Allah hath prepared for the good among you in and immense reward.” (Qur’an 33:28-29)

And said, “Lo! Do not make haste in giving your reply and consult your parents.” She replied, “What is there to consult my parents? I want God and His Apostle and the abode of the Hereafter.1 She relates that all the wives of the Prophet gave a similar reply.2

The Prophet’s polygamous bonds of matrimony and the multifarious demands they entailed never cause him neglect, even for the shortest period of time, either the great responsibility of his mission or the affairs of the Muslims or even his own exacting religious and spiritual pursuits. They rather helped him to devote himself to his mission with a renewed vigour and enthusiasm. The wives of the Apostle always lent him a helping hand in the dissemination of his of his message and expounding the teachings of Islam of his followers. They accompanied him in his expeditions and nursed the sick and the wounded. In fact, about one-third of the teachings of Islam in regard to social, marital and household responsibilities of the Muslims has come to be known through the Apostle’s wives who enlightened and guided the Muslims about the family life and behaviour of the Prophet with the inmates of his house.3

The great service rendered to Islam by the wives of the Apostle is best illustrated by ‘Aisha about whom Adh-Dhahabi (d.748/1347), one of the most eminent scholars of the science of Traditions, write in the Tadhahkirat al-Huffaz.

“Among the companions of the Prophet well-versed in jurisprudence she was the most prominent for even the leading jurisconsults, referred intricate questions of law to her for advice. Qabisa bint Dhu’ayb says that ‘Aisha knew more about law than most of the companions who used to make inquiries from her. Abu Musa says that if any companion of the Prophet amongst us had any difficulty in finding out the real purport of any Tradition, he used to enquire it from ‘Aisha for she invariably knew about it. Hassan says that he found nobody more deeply versed than ‘Aisha in the Qur’an, injunctions about the things permitted and forbidden or mandatory and obligatory, poetry, Arabian History and genealogy.”4

Moral Virtues of the Apostle’s wives are indescribable; their clemency and benignity, grace and compassion, generosity and nobility, openhearted magnanimity are demonstrated by the incident handed down by Hisham on the authority of his father. He relates that “once Caliph Mu’awiyah sent one hundred thousand dirhams to ‘Aisha and, by God, the month was not over when she had given it away to the poor and the needy.” There-upon a bondmaid said to her, “it would have been better if you had meat of a dirham.’ ‘Aisha replied, “why didn't you tell me earlier?5 it also related that ‘Aisha was then keeping fast.6

The question relating to polygamous marriages allowed by Islam has long been preying on the minds or orientalists and Western writers. Their vexatiousness springs from their to hem in the matrimonial laws of Islam and the time-honoured practices of the Arabs countries within their own western concepts and usages. They are too often anxious to transpose their own standards – the product of peculiar circumstances in a particular type of society, lacking the sanction of divine authority – into a system growing out of the innate disposition and circumstances of Arabian society that carries not only social and moral benefits but also rest on the law of God. Truly speaking, it is a failing of the western way of thought and its protagonists that they present the Western concepts of morality as the standard pf human behaviour and then ruthlessly proceed to set a value on everything that goes contrary to it. What they actually do is to raise a whimsical issue and then go ahead to find an answer to the problem. This is all due too there self-conceitedness and chauvinistic approbation of everything originating in the west.

A Western biographer of the Apostle has been told enough to pinpoint this common weakness of the occidentals who try to bring in a verdict on the marriages of the Prophet.

“Muhammad’s married life must not be looked at from an occidental point of view or from that set by Christian conventions. These men and women were not Occidentals and they were not Christian. They were living at a period and in country where the only known ethical standards were theirs. Even so, there is no reason why the codes of American and Europe should be considered superior to those of Arabs. The people of the West have many things to give to the people of the East. They much to glean, too, and until they can prove that their way of living in on a higher moral standard than anybody else’s, they should reserve judgment on other creeds and castes and countries.7

The West condemns polygamy as an unmitigated evil and refuses, unwittingly, to attach any value to it, but, the so-called evil is neither unnatural nor abnormal, nor its condemnation is based on any universally accepted principle that it would continue to be rejected by the coming generations. The system envisages the role of men and women according to their nature while its rejection resting merely upon imaginary and fanciful scruples, derives support from powerful mass media possessed by the west. With the fast changing social, economic and moral pattern of the modern society the world will, in all probability, ultimately reject the Western values of monogamous marriages.

In one of the most challenging and appalling studies of the modern times, Alwin Toffer has analyzed the symptoms of terrifying changes emerging in the Western super-industrial society as a result of its present dehumanizing values. He has even predicted the as sexual attitudes of the West loosen up, as property rights become less important because of rising affluence, the social repression of polygamy may come to be regarded as irrational.8

Footnotes:

1. Bukhari, On the authority of ‘Aisha
2. Bukhari, On the authority of Ibn Hatim
3. The significance and indispensability of polygamous marriages have been expounded by Qadi Sulaiman Mansurpuri in Vol. I of the Rahmatul lil ‘Alamin (pp 141-144) and an Egyptian scholar ‘Abbas Mahmud al-Aqqad throws light on subject in the abqariyat Muhammad.
4. Tadhkirat al Huffaz, Vol. 1, p. 28
5. Tadhkirat al Huffaz, Vol. 1, p. 28
6. Ibid. On the authority of Umm Dharah
7. R.V.C. Bodley, The messenger – The Life of Muhammad, London 1946, p. 203
8. Alwin Toffler, Future Shock, (pan Boks, Ltd.1975) p. 228

Wives And Children Of The Apostle

The first among the wives of the Apostle was Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. The Prophet’s marriage with Khadijah took place before the beginning of revelation when he was twenty-five and she forty years old. Being deeply devoted to the Apostle of God. She supported him during the most difficult period of his life, shared his advertise and troubles with a good grace and helped him with her wealth and kind words. She had died three years before the Apostle migrated to Medina. She had borne the Apostle all his children except Ibrahim. The Apostle always held her in high esteem and very often praised her. There was never an occasion that he had to kill a sheep and cut it into pieces and not send them to Khadijah’s friends.1

After the death of Khadijah, the Apostle married Sauda bint Zama’a. He was then united in wedlock with ‘Aisha, whom he treasure and loved dearly. There has been no woman like her in the whole history of Islam who so deeply understood the teachings of Islam and convincingly explained the juristical issues; even the most eminent and learned companions of the Prophet consulted her on intricate legal issues. Hafsa, the daughter of ‘Umar, was the next to join the nuptial tie with the holy Prophet. Thereafter, he married Zaynab bint Khuzaymah who died two months after her married to the Apostle. Umm Salama was then wedded by the Apostle and Hafsa was the last of his wives to leave this fleeting world. After her, the Apostle his aunt Umaima. Thereafter, Juwayriah bin Harith, belonging to the tribe of al-Mustaliq and Umm Habibah bint Abu Sufyan were, in succession, taken as wives by the Apostle. His next wife was safiyah, the daughter of the chief of Banu-nadir, Her father Huyayy B. Akhtab, traced his descent to Harun B. ‘Imran, the brother of Prophet Musa. The honour of being the spouse of the Apostle went to Maymuna bint al-Harith of the tribe of Hilal.

There is no difference of opinion that nine of the Prophet’s wives survived him. Khadijah and Zaynab bin Khuwaymah had died during his lifetime. All of them, except ‘Aisha, were widows.2

The Apostle of God had also two bondswomen who were alive when he died. One of these was Mariyah the Copt, daughter of Sham’un, who had been presented to him by Muqauqis, the ruler of Egypt. She bore son, Ibrahim, to the Apostle. The other was Raihana bint Zayd who belonged to the tribe of An-Nadr.3 She was set free on her profession of Islam and thereafter the Apostle took her in marriage.4

All wives of the Prophet being Umm-ul-Mu'minin5 (mothers of the faithful) to the Muslims, they were forbidden to remarry anyone after the death of the Apostle. This was in keeping with the honour and respect due to the Prophet as we as the loving regard every Muslim bad for the Messenger of God. The writ of God for the Muslim was:

“And it is not for you to cause annoyance to the messenger of Allah, nor that ye should ever marry his wives after him. Lo! That Allah sight would be an enormity.” (Qur’an 33:53)

Footnotes:

1. Bukhari, ‘Aihsa relates that she was jealous of Khadija although she had never seen her.
2. Zad al-Ma’ad, Vol. I, pp. 26-29
3. According to some, she belonged to Banu Qurayza
4. Ibn Kathir, Vol. IV, pp. 604-5
5. Qur’an 33:6