Muhammad's Marriages: Difference between revisions

When Muhammad repeated his marriage-proposal, Hind gave him a string of reasons for why she wanted to refuse, and he left her house disappointed. Muhammad had, in fact, to argue her out of her excuses and propose a third time before she finally accepted him.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:63.</ref> They were married on or before 6 April 626.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:61.</ref> This raises the question of whether Hind truly wanted to marry Muhammad or whether she simply gave in to the pressure from the most powerful man in the community. Regardless of why she changed her mind, her on-principle reluctance to remarry indicates that she had been managing quite well on her own, and that she felt no compelling or even trifling reason to get married.

Although it was beyond question that Zaynab was economically independent, modern historians sometimes claim that she might have had a social or moral need to remarry. One writes, “Before Islam, the Arabs did not allow divorcees to remarry,”<ref>Abdallati, H. ''Islam in Focus'', pp.177-179, cited in “Rebuttal to Sam Shamoun’s Article Muhammad’s Multiplicity of Marriages” in ''Answering Christianity''.</ref> and that her divorce “made her unfit to marry a status conscious Arab.”<ref>[http://www.scribd.com/doc/133159128/The-Real-Men-of-the-Renaissance-Badreddine-Belhamissi/ Aly, A. (1999). ''The Real Men of the Renaissance'', p. 26. Belhamissi.]</ref> However, there is no evidence that the Arabs forbade divorced women to remarry. On the contrary, Abu Sufyan’s favourite wife, Hind bint Utbah, had been a divorcée.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:165; Al-Suyuti, ''Tarikh al-Khulafa''. Translated by Jarrett, H. S. (1881). ''History of the Caliphs'', pp. 200-201. Calcutta: The Asiatic Society.</ref> Abu Sufyan's clan, the Umayyads, had been the dominant clan of the Quraysh even before Abu Sufyan became the high chief of Mecca;<ref>E.g., see Guillaume/Ishaq 82.</ref> what was socially acceptable for the Umayyads was, by definition, acceptable for everyone. Muhammad did not marry Zaynab to rescue her from social disapprobation; rather, he created significant social disapprobation in order that he might marry her, for while remarriage was not taboo, marrying ones daughter-in-law (even through adoption), evidently was.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 9}}. "The ''Munafiqun'' made this a topic of their conversation and reviled the Prophet, saying, 'Muhammad prohibits (marriage) with the (former) wives of one's own sons, but he married the (former) wife of his son Zayd.'"</ref>

Juwayriyah was in a similar situation to Rayhanah. She was only a widow because the Muslim raiders had killed her husband.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:83.</ref> Unlike Rayhanah, Juwayriyah was not poor. She knew that the raiders had only carried off a fraction of her tribe’s wealth and that they had only killed a few of the men. Her father, the chief, had survived the raid, and he was willing and able to pay the ransom set on her head.<ref>Ibn Hisham note 739.</ref>

But Muhammad refused to accept the ransom. He gave Juwayriyah the choice of marrying himself or marrying another Muslim.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 629; Ibn Hisham note 918; {{Tabari|39|pp. 182-183}}.</ref>

Ubaydullah died in Abyssinia.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:68.</ref> This should not have made much difference to Ramlah’s economic position. If he had been running some kind of business, she could have taken it over; and if he had had any savings, she would have inherited them. In fact he had been an [[Alcohol|alcoholic]],<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:68: “He gave himself over to drinking wine until he died.”</ref> so it is possible that she had already needed to fend for herself for several years. She had chosen to remain in Abyssinia rather than join her family in Medina, so presumably she could have continued to do whatever she was doing indefinitely. Widowhood now gave her the option of remarriage. There were twelve single men in the community but only four single women, of whom two were elderly, so Ramlah and her teenaged daughter could have easily found suitors had they wished to marry.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 526-527. This list shows that the group also included four married couples and six children under 13.</ref>

Muhammad must have heard from the returned emigrants about their lives in Abyssinia, so he could not have been under any wrong impression that Ramlah was in need of “rescuing”. In fact, even if she had needed to be rescued, there is no real reason why she would have had to marry Muhammad; she could have simply gone to Medina and lived with her family. Further, if Muhammad had for some reason believed that Ramlah needed to marry, and to marry himself, as a matter of survival, this opens the question of why he did not also propose marriage to the other two widows. They were elderly and of the peasant class,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq pp. 179, 526-528. The details here show that the two ladies had been married to a pair of brothers, i.e. were probably of a similar age. One of them was the older sister of the mother of Ramlah’s foster-mother. Hence she must have been ''at least'' 30 years, and more likely 40 years, older than Ramlah, who was then 35. The family is described as “freed”, i.e. ex-slaves.</ref> but this should not have mattered to someone who did not care about youth, beauty, rank or wealth.

The answer is, of course, that there is no evidence that Muhammad married Ramlah for economic reasons.

[[Safiyah]] was a prisoner of war whom Muhammad captured at the siege of Khaybar.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 511.</ref> She was only a widow because Muhammad had killed [[Kinana|her husband]].<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 515.</ref> She was only poor because Muhammad had appropriated the wealth of Khaybar to himself.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 521-523.</ref> However, her poverty had not reached the level of absolute destitution, for many of her relatives were still alive in Khaybar. They had persuaded Muhammad to let them remain on the land and farm the dates in exchange for giving him half the revenues.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 515.</ref> If Safiyah had remained in Khaybar, she too could have farmed dates.

The claim that Safiyah “needed” to marry Muhammad because her high rank meant “it would be inappropriate for her to be assigned to anyone other than the Prophet”<ref>[http://www.ispi-usa.org/muhammad/appendix2.html/ “The Prophet’s Marriages and Wives”] in Akhter, J. (2001). ''The Seven Phases of Prophet Muhammad’s Life''. Chicago: IPSI.</ref> assumes that Safiyah “needed” to be taken prisoner. But Muhammad did not need to take prisoners, even from his own point of view. He had already won the war and taken control of the city. The Jews in Khaybar had no further means to fight back, and Muhammad did not need hostages to ensure their future cooperation.

Once Muhammad had decided that Safiyah was his hostage, he had to feed and shelter her. There was no need to marry her; he had to provide for her material needs regardless. The claim that “this marriage protected her from humiliation”<ref>[http://www.al-islam.org/muhammad-yasin-jibouri/8.htm/ Al-Jibouri, Y. T. “Marriages of the Prophet” in ''Muhammad''. Qum, Iran: Ansariyan Publications.]</ref> shows a strange perception of what is “humiliating”. Safiyah might not have liked to be a domestic slave or a commoner’s concubine, but she surely would have found these options less humiliating than her actual fate of being married to the man who had just killed her husband. Safiyah’s husband was not, as is sometimes claimed, “killed during the battle of Khaybar”;<ref>E.g., [http://www.al-islam.org/muhammad-yasin-jibouri/8.htm/ Jibouri].</ref> he had been personally murdered by Muhammad after the declaration of truce.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 515.</ref>

Muhammad’s family – not only his wives and descendants, but his extended family too – lived off the wealth of Khaybar for the rest of their lives.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 521-523.</ref> Since Safiyah represented the leading family of Khaybar,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 437-438.</ref> there is a very real sense in which Muhammad’s whole clan was living at her expense. Muhammad was not providing for Safiyah; it was she who provided for him.

Maymunah was never poor; she was born into the bourgeois Hilal tribe.<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918; {{Tabari|9|p. 135}}.</ref> After her husband died, she became the guest of her married sister Lubabah.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:94: “Al-‘Abbas ibn al-Muttalib married her to him. He took care of her affairs.”</ref> Lubabah’s husband was Muhammad’s uncle, Abbas ibn Abdulmuttalib, who was “one of the richest of the Banu Hashim.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 114.</ref> He “used to go often to the Yaman to buy aromatics and sell them during the fairs”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 113.</ref> and was also apparently a banker: “he had a great deal of money scattered among the people.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 309-310.</ref> Maymunah offered to marry Muhammad without taking any dower.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:97: “Maymuna bint al-Harith was the woman who gave herself to the Messenger of Allah.” Also: “‘Amra was asked whether Maymuna was the one who gave herself to the Messenger of Allah. She said, ‘The Messenger of Allah married her for 500 ''dirhams'' and the guardian for her marriage was al-‘Abbas ibn al-Muttalib.’”</ref> Muhammad agreed, but this was not acceptable to Abbas, who unexpectedly provided Maymunah with a dower anyway.<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918 says the dower was 400 ''dirhams'', like that of all Muhammad’s other wives. Bewley/Saad 8:97 says it was 500 ''dirhams'', in keeping with Ibn Saad’s other traditions that Muhammad’s wives received 12½ ounces of silver. The higher sum is from the later histories, suggesting that the chroniclers adjusted it for inflation.</ref>

It has never been entirely clear why Muhammad married Maymunah. What ''is'' clear is that she was not poor or homeless and did not need rescuing.

In one sense, Mariyah was poor. She was a slave in Egypt, and the Governor sent her to be a slave in Arabia, a gift from one powerful man to another.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 653.</ref> She possessed nothing of her own. She was herself property.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 194}}. “He had intercourse with her by virtue of her being his property.”</ref>

Muhammad sent his delegation to the Governor of Egypt in the final month of 6 A.H. (April or May 628).<ref>{{Tabari|8|p. 98}}.</ref> It was 7 A.H. by the time the Governor responded by sending Mariyah to Medina,<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:148.</ref> but presumably he did this fairly soon after receiving the delegation. So Mariyah was probably in Medina by the summer of 628. It is not certain what services Mariyah performed for Muhammad’s household in exchange for being fed and sheltered. It is never indicated that she sang or danced or similar. Rather, the statement “The Messenger of Allah was alone with his slavegirl Maria in Hafsa’s room”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:149.</ref> suggests that Mariyah did housework for Hafsah, much as Barira did for Aisha.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 496.</ref> Whatever the arrangement was, it saved Mariyah from destitution. However, if Muhammad's intentions were to save her from destitution, he would have manumitted her and sent her back to her family in Egypt. But he did not do this.  

Mariyah obviously did not “need” to be Muhammad’s concubine. He had already spent a year demonstrating that it was possible for her to live in his household without having sex with him.