Muhammad's Marriages: Difference between revisions

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This marriage ended in divorce after only a few weeks.<ref>{{Tabari|8|p. 187}}; {{Tabari|39|p. 165}}; Bewley/Saad 8:106.</ref> So whatever Muhammad’s reasons for marrying Mulaykah, they were evidently not very compelling. Whatever he thought she gained by marrying him, he ultimately declared himself not willing to provide it.

Fatima’s father was a minor chief, and he was still alive when she married Muhammad.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 570ff shows her father as a military commander of some authority. {{Abudawud|18|2921}} shows that he survived to the caliphate of Umar.</ref> So she was not poor.

There is no record that Fatima ever remarried; men were forbidden to approach a woman who had once been the wife of the Prophet.<ref>{{Quran|33|53}}.</ref> She had to work for a living. Muslim women were not forbidden to work, but the obligations of the Veil made most kinds of work difficult for them. Fatima eventually set up a business in collecting camel-dung, drying it out and selling it as fuel.<ref>{{Tabari|39|pp. 186-188}}; Bewley/Saad 8:100-101.</ref> She apparently disliked this work, for she used to complain, “I am wretched! I am miserable!”<ref>{{Tabari|39|pp. 186-188}}; Bewley/Saad 8:100-101: “She used to collect the camels and say, ‘I am the wretch.’”</ref> But it seems she had difficulty in finding any other kind of work, for she continued with the camels all her life. While she lived another fifty years,<ref>{{Tabari|39|pp. 186-188}}; Bewley/Saad 8:100-101.</ref> and therefore did not starve, it is unlikely that this kind of work brought in huge profits.

Neither Muhammad nor any other Muslim leader ever showed any interest in saving Fatima from her life of poverty.

Asma was a wealthy princess from [[Yemen]] who had lived all her life in luxury.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 189}}. Her tribe, the Kindah, were the rulers of Yemen.</ref> Her father hinted that he found Muhammad’s standard 12½ ounces of silver a “stingy” dower, but was forced to accept that this was all Asma would be paid.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 189}}.</ref>

Not much is known about Amrah’s background. But this is not really relevant here. Muhammad divorced her on the first day,<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 188}}; Bewley/Saad 8:101.</ref> and therefore, whether she was poor or not, he certainly did not provide for her materially.

Like Rayhanah, Tukanah was a prisoner-of-war from the Qurayza tribe.<ref>[http://www.al-islam.org/hayat-al-qulub-vol2-allamah-muhammad-baqir-al-majlisi/ Al-Majlisi, ''Hayat al-Qulub'' vol. 2 chapter 52.] Translation by Rizvi, S. A. H. (2010). ''Life of the Heart''. Qum, Iran: Ansariyan Publications.</ref> She was only poor because Muhammad had attacked her tribe, killed its men and confiscated its property.

 

Muhammad selected Tukanah as one of his personal slaves. After that he had to feed her whether he had sex with her or not. So the fact that she became his concubine did not reduce her poverty. She would still have been living at his expense if she had only been his housemaid.

An alternative way to save Tukanah from poverty would have been not to attack her tribe in the first place.

Nothing is known about this woman except that she was a domestic maid (a slave) before she became a concubine.<ref>Ibn Al-Qayyim, ''Zaad Al-Maad'' vol. 1 p. 29, cited in Al-Mubarakpuri, S. R. (2002). ''The Sealed Nectar'', pp. 564-565. Riyadh: Darussalam.</ref> So Muhammad had to support her whether he had sex with her or not. Once again, he could have equally well “saved her from poverty” if he had simply left her as a domestic maid.

 

 

Prophet Muhammad himself never claimed that he married women out of compassion for their poverty. On the contrary, he asserted that he, and men in general, chose their wives for four basic motives: for their money, for their family connections, for their beauty and for their piety. He added: “So you should marry the pious woman or you will be a loser.”<ref>{{Bukhari|7|62|27}}.</ref> The suggestion that Muhammad’s many marriages were motivated by a charitable concern for the welfare of widows is not found in the early sources. This theory seems to have been devised by a few modern historians and then uncritically accepted by others.

 

Nevertheless, the widely held view that “Muhammad married poor widows to provide them with a home” is not supported by the historical evidence.