Maria the Copt (Mariyah Al-Qibtiyyah): Difference between revisions

Mary the Copt (Arabic: مارية القبطية Mariyah Al-Qibtiyah‎), also known as Maria Qubtiyya, was one of the concubines/sex slaves of the prophet Muhammad. Although she is considered an "umm al-mu'minin" أم ألمؤمنين she was never actually the wife of the prophet according to the accepted historical sources by orthodox Sunni Islam.<ref>{{Cite web| title = Maria, the Copt: Prophet Muhammad's Wife or Concubine? {{!}} ICRAA.org| author = | work = ICRAA.org| date = | access-date = 18 November 2021| url = https://www.icraa.org/maria-copt-muhammad-wife-concubine/| quote = }}</ref><ref name="seek_WasM">{{Cite web| title = Was Mariya al-Qibtiyya Ever a Wife of the Prophet Muhammad? - SeekersHub Answers| author = | work = SeekersHub Answers| date = | access-date = 3 March 2016| url = https://seekersguidance.org/answers/general-counsel/was-mariya-al-qibtiyya-ever-a-wife-of-the-prophet-muhammad/| quote = }}</ref> According to the [[sira]] she was sent to Muhammad as a gift from the Christian Patriarch of Egypt. According to the [[hadith]] and the [[sirah]] her beauty and Muhammad's lust for her incited the jealousy of Muhammad's wives, in particular Hafsa and [[Aisha]]. The jealousy they had of her and Muhammad's response was actually the [[Asbab al-Nuzul (Revelational Circumstances of the Quran)|cause]] of the "revelation" of several Qur'an verses according to the tradition. Although she converted to Islam and bore the prophet a son who later died, she remained a slave of the prophet until he died, according to most of the traditional scholars. The traditional sources compare her concubinage to that of Hajar to Ibrahim, and the son that Mariyah bore was named Ibrahim. According to classical Islamic sources, had her son Ibrahim lived, he too would have been a prophet.  

In addition to extra-juridically killing Mabur in contravention of [[Shari'ah (Islamic Law)]], the slander against Maria would be considered qadhf قذف or slander in an Islamic shari'ah court and theoretically should have been punished with lashing, as was done in the [[Incident of Ifk.|Incident of Ifk]] with A'ishah. The case thus presents interesting examples of the prophet contravening what would later be codified as Islamic law.  

According to the sirah and hadith, Mariyah is an umm-walad أم ولد of the prophet, that is to say she bore him a male child. The son she bore him was named Ibrahim, after the prophet. The child died very young, within a year and a half of his birth, and the prophet is said to have shed tears over his death. According to the traditional sources he died during an eclipse, which combined with the fact that he died only 5 months before his father would put his death on the 10th of Shawwal 10 AH or the 27th of January 623 CE <ref name="Powers2011_2">{{cite book | author = David Powers | date = 15 March 2011 | title = Muhammad Is Not the Father of Any of Your Men: The Making of the Last Prophet | publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press | pages = 56| isbn = 978-0-8122-2149-7 | oclc = 1037937026 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OUxWN1VBnBEC}}</ref>. Multiple ahadith tell that he would have been a prophet had he grown to adulthood. The hadith also speak of his death being necessary due to Muhammad being خاتم النبيين"khaatam al-nabiyyin'" or the "seal of the prophets<ref name="Powers2011_3">ibid, 57</ref>." This is also in line with the famous Quranic verse surat-al-ahzab (surah 33) verse 40: