Muhammads Marriages of Political Necessity: Difference between revisions

This reasoning does not convince many critics. No matter how urgent the needs of state, they argue, nothing justifies having more than one wife at a time. If Muhammad could not see any way around his political problems except polygamy, that simply proves he was not a "prophet".

You might take the line that polygamy was normal in seventh-century Arabia, and Muhammad was not doing anything wrong by the standards of his own culture. That may convince a some of them that he was a decent person by the standards of his day. In that case, however, there is still the question as to why Muhammad limited other Muslims to four wives each, yet at one point in his own life, he had eleven wives plus the intention of adding more. When Ghaylan ibn Salama became a Muslim, he had to divorce six of his ten wives – even though this was in early 630, when Muhammad himself had exactly ten wives.  

# '''616-619'''. The Quraysh enforced a trade blockade against the Hashim clan in Mecca. The Muslims survived by living off Khadijah’s wealth. Although the Muslim historians do not state this directly, the blockade was ''probably'' lifted because Muhammad agreed to the Satanic Verses compromise.

# '''622'''. The Quraysh pronounced the death sentence on Muhammad. He survived by escaping to Medina and moving his community there. If Khadijah had been alive, she and not Sawdah would have most likely accompanied Fatima in the rearguard party.

# '''624-627'''. The Jews in Medina announced that they did not believe Muhammad was the Messiah, which seriously dented his credibility with the local pagans. He ejected two of the tribes and killed the third. He was now “Duke” of Medina. If Khadijah had been alive, the Angel Jibreel would probably have brought all those urgent messages about the treachery of the Jews in her house instead of in Hind’s.

# '''627'''. The Meccans, together with a few Bedouin chiefs and exiled Jews, besieged Medina, hoping to kill Muhammad in the battle. Muhammad dug a trench around Medina and so the siege failed. Muhammad then conquered a Kilab tribe and secured from them a trade blockade against Mecca. By the time Muhammad agreed to end the blockade (the date is not given, but the Meccans had become hungry), the Meccans had learned not to attack Muhammad directly. If Khadijah had been alive, Muhammad would have probably conquered the Kilabites and blockaded Mecca in exactly the same way.

# '''628'''. Meanwhile, Muhammad took a pre-emptive strike against the surviving Jews. After a war of conquest against Khaybar, every Jew in Arabia was reduced to vassalage. There was a danger that their Ghatafan allies would retaliate, so Muhammad stock-piled weapons in anticipation. If Khadijah had been alive, perhaps she and not Hind would have been the one who carried the first aid box to Khaybar.

# '''630'''. After Mecca was starved out, Muhammad mustered an army of ten thousand and marched in to conquer the city. The “Duke” of Mecca was converted at sword-point, and the city surrendered. This served as a warning to the Ghatafans, and even the Yemenites negotiated an “alliance” (surrender) rather than face the Muslim armies. If Khadijah had been alive, it’s really difficult to imagine how anything at all would have been different.

# '''630–632'''. Muhammad conquered whatever was left of Arabia. By the time of his death, he was effectively “King”. If Khadijah had been alive, she would have been “Queen”.