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Muhammad's Marriages: Difference between revisions
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It is often suggested that [[Muhammad]]’s [[Muhammad's Wives|wives]] were, for the most part, poor widows whom he [[marriage|married]] to save from a life of destitution. This article investigates the plausibility of such a perspective. | It is often suggested that [[Muhammad]]’s [[Muhammad's Wives|wives]] were, for the most part, poor widows whom he [[marriage|married]] to save from a life of destitution. This article investigates the plausibility of such a perspective. | ||
== | ==Background== | ||
{{Quote|Ali, M. M. (1924, 1993). ''Muhammad the Prophet'', pp. 192-193. Columbus, Ohio: The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at Islam Lahore.|The perpetual state of war created disparity between the male and female elements of society. Husbands having fallen on the field of battle, their widows had to be provided for … This is the reason that [Muhammad] himself took so many women to be his wives during the period when war was raging. Nearly all of his wives were widows.}} | {{Quote|Ali, M. M. (1924, 1993). ''Muhammad the Prophet'', pp. 192-193. Columbus, Ohio: The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at Islam Lahore.|The perpetual state of war created disparity between the male and female elements of society. Husbands having fallen on the field of battle, their widows had to be provided for … This is the reason that [Muhammad] himself took so many women to be his wives during the period when war was raging. Nearly all of his wives were widows.}} | ||
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Finally, in addition to considering whether Muhammad's individual wives were persons, one must also consider whether Muhammad was himself a man of means who would have been able to well provide for the women whom he married. For, if Muhammad was not himself a reliable source of welfare, then it would be equally difficult to maintain that his marriages were a form of financial relief for his wives, who may, one thinks, just as easily, have encountered great wealth elsewhere among the muslims. | Finally, in addition to considering whether Muhammad's individual wives were persons, one must also consider whether Muhammad was himself a man of means who would have been able to well provide for the women whom he married. For, if Muhammad was not himself a reliable source of welfare, then it would be equally difficult to maintain that his marriages were a form of financial relief for his wives, who may, one thinks, just as easily, have encountered great wealth elsewhere among the muslims. | ||
== | ==The Wives== | ||
===Sawdah bint Zamaa=== | ===Sawdah bint Zamaa=== | ||
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===Zaynab bint Khuzayma=== | ===Zaynab bint Khuzayma=== | ||
Zaynab’s husband was killed at Badr; he was Ubayda ibn Al-Harith, the first Muslim to die in battle.<ref>Guillaume/Ibn Ishaq 506.</ref> She should have been available for remarriage by late July 624. But she did not marry Muhammad for another seven months.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:82. “He married her in Ramadan at the beginning of the 31st month of the ''Hijra''.”</ref> So she | Zaynab’s husband was killed at Badr; he was Ubayda ibn Al-Harith, the first Muslim to die in battle.<ref>Guillaume/Ibn Ishaq 506.</ref> She should have been available for remarriage by late July 624. But she did not marry Muhammad for another seven months.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:82. “He married her in Ramadan at the beginning of the 31st month of the ''Hijra''.”</ref> So there is no reason to believe she had fallen into any sort of immediate destitution. Islamic chronicle further buttress this point. | ||
Zaynab had plenty of family in Medina. At her funeral, just eight months after her | Zaynab had plenty of family in Medina. At her funeral, just eight months after her marriage to Muhammad, “three of her brothers” were present.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:82.</ref> Her deceased husband Ubayda also had two brothers, Al-Tufayl and Al-Husayn, who had accompanied him to Medina<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 218.</ref> and had fought with him at Badr.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 328.</ref> Furthermore, Zaynab was on good terms with her pagan relatives in Mecca. Her cousin Qubaysa ibn Amr made the journey out to [[Medina]] so that he could arrange her marriage to Muhammad,<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918.</ref> even though this could have easily been done by one of her brothers in Medina. | ||
Zaynab was from the wealthy Hilal tribe,<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918; {{Tabari|9|p. 138}}.</ref> and it seems that her | Zaynab was from the wealthy Hilal tribe,<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918; {{Tabari|9|p. 138}}.</ref> and it seems that her branch of the family had as much money as any of them. This family, it appears, also never stopped supporting her; and hence, there was always someone to ensure her subsistence. As we have seen, Muhammad was impecunious and could not afford to feed his wives and even perhaps himself properly. | ||
Whatever may have been Zaynab's motive in marrying Muhammad, it seems unlikely that money played any sort of important role. Indeed, once again, it appears more plausible that Muhammad's financial circumstances would have, through his strengthened link to Zaynab's family, improved as a result of this marriage. | |||
===Hind (Umm Salama) bint Abi Umayya=== | ===Hind (Umm Salama) bint Abi Umayya=== | ||