Ages of Muhammads Wives at Marriage: Difference between revisions

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The third problem with Khadijah’s age is the common-sense consideration that she bore Muhammad six children over a period of ten years.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 83. Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> If she married him at 40, she was 50 by the time she gave birth to Fatima in 605.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:13.</ref> While this is not completely impossible, it is a sufficiently unusual achievement to cause us to pause and question the assertion.
The third problem with Khadijah’s age is the common-sense consideration that she bore Muhammad six children over a period of ten years.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 83. Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> If she married him at 40, she was 50 by the time she gave birth to Fatima in 605.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:13.</ref> While this is not completely impossible, it is a sufficiently unusual achievement to cause us to pause and question the assertion.


Muhammad’s detractors in Mecca asked him why he did not perform any miracles.<ref>{{Quran|2|118}}. {{Quran|2|145}}. {{Quran|6|37}}. {{Quran|6|109}}. {{Quran|10|20}}. {{Quran|13|7}}. {{Quran|17|59}}. Guillaume/Ishaq 133ff. {{Bukhari|9|92|379}}.</ref> He had to fall back on, “The Qur’an is my miracle,”<ref>{{Quran|24|1}}. {{Quran-range|98|1|4}}.</ref> but it is clear that he was not happy about this response. He subsequently claimed to have [[Moon Split Miracle|split the moon]] and to have [[The Holy Qur'an: Al-Isra (The Night Journey)|travelled to Jerusalem and back in one night]]. Later tales, omitted from the earliest histories, claimed that he had multiplied food like Jesus,<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 42.35/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:42:35-36].</ref> transfigured wood into iron, reminiscent of Elisha’s retrieval of the borrowed axe-head,<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 42.38/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:42:38]; II Kings 6:5-7.</ref> or cursed his enemy’s camel to sink in the sand.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 42.40/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:42:40].</ref> Yet in the hostile atmosphere of Mecca, where a miracle was desperately desired to reinforce Muhammad’s credibility, he never pointed to his wife’s extraordinary fecundity. He never called it a blessing similar to Sarah’s gestation of Isaac<ref>Genesis 17:15-21, 21:1-7.</ref> or Elizabeth’s of John the Baptist.<ref>Luke 1:5-25, 57-80.</ref> In fact nobody expressed even mild surprise that a woman of Khadijah’s age had produced so many children.
Muhammad’s detractors in Mecca asked him why he did not perform any miracles.<ref>{{Quran|2|118}}. {{Quran|2|145}}. {{Quran|6|37}}. {{Quran|6|109}}. {{Quran|10|20}}. {{Quran|13|7}}. {{Quran|17|59}}. Guillaume/Ishaq 133ff. {{Bukhari|9|92|379}}.</ref> He had to fall back on, “The Qur’an is my miracle,”<ref>{{Quran|24|1}}. {{Quran-range|98|1|4}}.</ref> but it is clear that he was not happy about this response. He subsequently claimed to have [[Moon Split Miracle|split the moon]] and to have [[The Holy Qur'an: Al-Isra (The Night Journey)|travelled to Jerusalem and back in one night]]. Later tales, omitted from the earliest histories, claimed that he had multiplied food like Jesus,<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 42.35/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:42:35-36]; Matthew 14:13-21.</ref> transfigured wood into iron, reminiscent of Elisha’s retrieval of the borrowed axe-head,<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 42.38/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:42:38]; II Kings 6:5-7.</ref> or cursed his enemy’s camel to sink in the sand.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 42.40/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:42:40].</ref> Yet in the hostile atmosphere of Mecca, where a miracle was desperately desired to reinforce Muhammad’s credibility, he never pointed to his wife’s extraordinary fecundity. He never called it a blessing similar to Sarah’s gestation of Isaac<ref>Genesis 17:15-21, 21:1-7.</ref> or Elizabeth’s of John the Baptist.<ref>Luke 1:5-25, 57-80.</ref> In fact nobody expressed even mild surprise that a woman of Khadijah’s age had produced so many children.


[[File:Khadija.jpg|right|thumb|Khadijah’s “medal” in ''Promptuarii iconum insigniorum'' (1553). Lyon: Rouillé.|200px]]
[[File:Khadija.jpg|right|thumb|Khadijah’s “medal” in ''Promptuarii iconum insigniorum'' (1553). Lyon: Rouillé.|200px]]

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