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The widows whom Prophet Muhammad married after Khadijah’s death do indeed fall into two distinct age-groups. But to label these two groups as “the middle-aged” and “the elderly” gives atypical definitions to these terms. The “elderly” group would refer to those brides between 28 and 40 while the “middle-aged” group would mean the teenagers. | The widows whom Prophet Muhammad married after Khadijah’s death do indeed fall into two distinct age-groups. But to label these two groups as “the middle-aged” and “the elderly” gives atypical definitions to these terms. The “elderly” group would refer to those brides between 28 and 40 while the “middle-aged” group would mean the teenagers. | ||
Muhammad did indeed marry his first wife Khadijah, | Muhammad did indeed marry his first wife Khadijah when he was 25 and she was 15 years older (i.e. 40, though a more plausible tradition states that she was 28 years old at the time). He rejected Sawdah, who was a little younger than himself, when they were both middle-aged. All his other wives were young enough to be his daughters and several were young enough to be his granddaughters. According to the traditional Islamic sources, he divorced one woman before consummating the marriage<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:111</ref> and broke off another courtship<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:113</ref> solely because he decided that these women were “too old” for him, and he continued to pursue teenagers until the day he died.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:105</ref> Nor does he seem to have been embarrassed by his own preference.<ref>"''Nothing was dearer to the Prophet of Allah than a horse. Then he said: “O Allah! Excuse me, no! The women!” (i.e., not dearer than women).''" - [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 90.6/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' Vol. 1 Chapter 90:6].</ref> The Islamic tradition bears witness against the idea that Muhammad was in the habit of marrying older women who were destitute and in need of his aide, and indeed shows that he rather preferred to marry women much, much younger than he. | ||
==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
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====Hakim ibn Hizam==== | ====Hakim ibn Hizam==== | ||
The first problem is that according to Bukhari and Muslim Hakim claimed his own age to be 120.<ref>{{Muslim| | The first problem is that according to Bukhari and Muslim Hakim claimed his own age to be 120.<ref>{{Muslim||1532b|reference}}; {{Tabari|39|p. 106}}.</ref> This is intrinsically questionable. To bolster his story, Hakim claimed to remember the episode when Abdulmuttalib ibn Hashim vowed to sacrifice his son Abdullah to the god Hubal but was able to ransom him for 100 camels. He says this was about five years before Muhammad was born.<ref>{{Tabari|39|pp. 41, 106}}.</ref> But Hakim’s ability to recite details that were already common knowledge does not prove he was an eyewitness to the event: he might well have heard the story from his parents. | ||
Hakim’s remarks about Khadijah’s age might have served a similar function of supporting his personal boasts rather than relaying accurate history. If he had long ago mentioned that Khadijah was two years older than himself, he might have needed to stick to his story about her relative age and readjust her chronological age in order to keep it consistent with his claims about his own age. There is something suspicious about his remark here. | Hakim’s remarks about Khadijah’s age might have served a similar function of supporting his personal boasts rather than relaying accurate history. If he had long ago mentioned that Khadijah was two years older than himself, he might have needed to stick to his story about her relative age and readjust her chronological age in order to keep it consistent with his claims about his own age. There is something suspicious about his remark here. | ||
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The third problem with Khadijah’s age is the common-sense consideration that she bore Muhammad six children over a period of ten years.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 83. Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> If she married him at 40, she was 50 by the time she gave birth to Fatima in 605.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:13.</ref> While this is not completely impossible, it is a sufficiently unusual achievement to cause us to pause and question the assertion. | The third problem with Khadijah’s age is the common-sense consideration that she bore Muhammad six children over a period of ten years.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 83. Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> If she married him at 40, she was 50 by the time she gave birth to Fatima in 605.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:13.</ref> While this is not completely impossible, it is a sufficiently unusual achievement to cause us to pause and question the assertion. | ||
Muhammad’s detractors in Mecca asked him why he did not perform any miracles.<ref>{{Quran|2|118}}. {{Quran|2|145}}. {{Quran|6|37}}. {{Quran|6|109}}. {{Quran|10|20}}. {{Quran|13|7}}. {{Quran|17|59}}. Guillaume/Ishaq 133ff. {{Bukhari| | Muhammad’s detractors in Mecca asked him why he did not perform any miracles.<ref>{{Quran|2|118}}. {{Quran|2|145}}. {{Quran|6|37}}. {{Quran|6|109}}. {{Quran|10|20}}. {{Quran|13|7}}. {{Quran|17|59}}. Guillaume/Ishaq 133ff. {{Bukhari|||7274|darussalam}}.</ref> The only response available to him was, “The Qur’an is my miracle,”<ref>{{Quran|24|1}}. {{Quran-range|98|1|4}}.</ref> but the Islamic tradition seems not to have accepted this answer and numerous other traditions claim that he performed a variety of miracles. It is claimed that he [[Moon Split Miracle|split the moon]] and travelled to Jerusalem and back [[The Holy Qur'an: Al-Isra (The Night Journey)|in one night]]. Later tales, omitted from the earliest histories, claimed that he had multiplied food like [[Jesus]] Christ,<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 42.35/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:42:35-36]; Matthew 14:13-21.</ref> transfigured wood into iron, reminiscent of Elisha’s retrieval of the borrowed axe-head,<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 42.38/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:42:38]; II Kings 6:5-7.</ref> or cursed his enemy’s camel to sink in the sand.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 42.40/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:42:40].</ref> The tradition never points to the fecundidity of Khadijah as a miracle, even though the biblical tradition records a similar miracle in the birth of Isaac to Abraham. He never called it a blessing similar to Sarah’s gestation of Isaac<ref>Genesis 17:15-21, 21:1-7.</ref> or Elizabeth’s of John the Baptist.<ref>Luke 1:5-25, 57-80.</ref> In fact nobody expressed even mild surprise that a woman of Khadijah’s age had produced so many children. | ||
Perhaps that was because Khadijah’s fertility was a commonplace for a woman of her age. Perhaps she was still in her thirties when she bore Muhammad’s children. Perhaps, when her daughter Fatima was weaned in 607,<ref>{{Tabari|39|166}}; see {{Quran|2|233}} and Guillaume/Ishaq 71 for two years as the customary duration of nursing.</ref> Khadijah was still a few months short of forty – and that was why her childbearing ceased. | Perhaps that was because Khadijah’s fertility was a commonplace for a woman of her age. Perhaps she was still in her thirties when she bore Muhammad’s children. Perhaps, when her daughter Fatima was weaned in 607,<ref>{{Tabari|39|166}}; see {{Quran|2|233}} and Guillaume/Ishaq 71 for two years as the customary duration of nursing.</ref> Khadijah was still a few months short of forty – and that was why her childbearing ceased. | ||
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====Sawdah had Not Reached Menopause==== | ====Sawdah had Not Reached Menopause==== | ||
{{Quote|{{ | {{Quote|{{Muslim||1463a|reference}}.|Never did I find any woman more loving to me than Sauda bint Zam'a. I wished I could be exactly like her who was passionate. As she became old, she had made over her day (which she had to spend) with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) to 'A'isha. She said: I have made over my day with you to 'A'isha. So Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) allotted two days to 'A'isha, her own day (when it was her turn) and that of Sauda.}} | ||
{{Quote|Bewley/Saad 8:40.|Sawdah bint Zamaa '''became old''' and the Messenger of Allah did not have much to do with her. … She became afraid that he would divorce her and she would lose her place with him. So she said, “Messenger of Allah, my day which falls for me is for Aisha and you are in the lawful in it.”}} | {{Quote|Bewley/Saad 8:40.|Sawdah bint Zamaa '''became old''' and the Messenger of Allah did not have much to do with her. … She became afraid that he would divorce her and she would lose her place with him. So she said, “Messenger of Allah, my day which falls for me is for Aisha and you are in the lawful in it.”}} | ||
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{{Quote|Ibn Kathir, ''Tafsir'' on Q4:128.|Ibn Abbas said that the ''ayah'' refers to, “When the husband gives his wife the choice between staying with him or leaving him, as this is better than the husband preferring other wives to her.” However, the apparent wording of the ''ayah'' refers to the settlement where the wife forfeits some of the rights she has over her husband, with the husband agreeing to this concession, and that this settlement is better than divorce. For instance, the Prophet kept Sawdah bint Zam’ah as his wife after she offered to forfeit her day for A’ishah.}} | {{Quote|Ibn Kathir, ''Tafsir'' on Q4:128.|Ibn Abbas said that the ''ayah'' refers to, “When the husband gives his wife the choice between staying with him or leaving him, as this is better than the husband preferring other wives to her.” However, the apparent wording of the ''ayah'' refers to the settlement where the wife forfeits some of the rights she has over her husband, with the husband agreeing to this concession, and that this settlement is better than divorce. For instance, the Prophet kept Sawdah bint Zam’ah as his wife after she offered to forfeit her day for A’ishah.}} | ||
The fourth ''[[surah]]'' of the [[Qur'an]] is long and was probably not written all at once. But it all belongs to the same general period. It covers many family issues, including inheritance rights. {{Quran-range|4|7|11}} was written to answer the complaint of an Uhud widow,<ref>{{ | The fourth ''[[surah]]'' of the [[Qur'an]] is long and was probably not written all at once. But it all belongs to the same general period. It covers many family issues, including inheritance rights. {{Quran-range|4|7|11}} was written to answer the complaint of an Uhud widow,<ref>{{Abu Dawud||2891|darussalam}}; [http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=711&Itemid=59/ Ibn Kathir, ''Tafsir'' on Q4:7]; [http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=707&Itemid=59/ Ibn Kathir, ''Tafsir'' on Q4:11].</ref> so it must date from after 22 March 625. This same incident confirmed the limitation of the number of wives to four,<ref>{{Quran|4|3}}.</ref> so it must have been written before Muhammad was given permission to take a fifth concurrent wife<ref>{{Quran|33|50}}.</ref> on 27 March 627.<ref>{{Tabari|8|pp. 1-4}}; {{Tabari|39|p. 182}}; Bewley/Saad 8:72-73, 81.</ref> The ''surah'' is also full of invectives against the Jews<ref>{{Quran-range|4|46|59}}; {{Quran-range|4|150|175}}.</ref> and “hypocrites,”<ref>{{Quran-range|4|60|68}}; {{Quran-range|4|136|149}}.</ref> who were supposedly no longer a problem after April 627 according to the tradition (although in point of fact, according to the non-Islamic sources Jews were working with the Arab invaders well into the conquest period, and Muhammad may not have died until after he had personally conquered Jerusalem).<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 466.</ref> So the episode in which Sawdah “became old” and pleaded with Muhammad to not divorce her occurred between mid-625 and early 627. | ||
There are strong reasons to suspect it did happen during this period. Muhammad most likely considered divorcing Sawdah in December 626 or January 627 expressly because he wanted to marry a fifth woman but was trying to observe the limit of four wives.<ref>{{Quran|4|3}}.</ref> If Muhammad had not been contemplating marriage to a fifth woman, there would have been no point in divorcing Sawdah, for she was no trouble to him at home.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:40.</ref> It was only after he had decided to keep Sawdah that he needed the special dispensation to marry unlimited wives. However, the sources do not explicitly state this circumstance as the reason for the near-divorce. They only say that Sawdah “became old” and so Muhammad wanted to divorce her. | There are strong reasons to suspect it did happen during this period. Muhammad most likely considered divorcing Sawdah in December 626 or January 627 expressly because he wanted to marry a fifth woman but was trying to observe the limit of four wives.<ref>{{Quran|4|3}}.</ref> If Muhammad had not been contemplating marriage to a fifth woman, there would have been no point in divorcing Sawdah, for she was no trouble to him at home.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:40.</ref> It was only after he had decided to keep Sawdah that he needed the special dispensation to marry unlimited wives. However, the sources do not explicitly state this circumstance as the reason for the near-divorce. They only say that Sawdah “became old” and so Muhammad wanted to divorce her. | ||
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{{Quote|Bewley/Saad 8:44.|The Messenger of Allah married me when I was six and consummated the marriage when '''I was nine'''. I was playing on a see-saw … I used to play dolls.}} | {{Quote|Bewley/Saad 8:44.|The Messenger of Allah married me when I was six and consummated the marriage when '''I was nine'''. I was playing on a see-saw … I used to play dolls.}} | ||
{{Quote|{{Muslim| | {{Quote|{{Muslim||1422b|reference}}|Allah’s Apostle married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house when '''I was nine years old.'''}} | ||
{{Quote|{{Tabari|39|p. 171}}.|The Prophet married Aisha in Shawwal in the tenth year after the prophethood [13 May - 10 June 620], three years before the ''Hijra''. He consummated the marriage in Shawwal, eight months after the ''Hijra'' [11 May - 9 April 623]. On the day he consummated the marriage with her, '''she was nine years old.'''}} | {{Quote|{{Tabari|39|p. 171}}.|The Prophet married Aisha in Shawwal in the tenth year after the prophethood [13 May - 10 June 620], three years before the ''Hijra''. He consummated the marriage in Shawwal, eight months after the ''Hijra'' [11 May - 9 April 623]. On the day he consummated the marriage with her, '''she was nine years old.'''}} | ||
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If they knew that she had been born at the “beginning” and not the “middle” or the “end” of the year, it is unlikely that they would have been wrong about the year itself. “The fourth year of prophethood” was indeed the ninth year before the ''Hijra'' (25 October 613 - 13 October 614). It was the year when Muhammad first preached Islam in public;<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 117.</ref> Aisha’s parents would not have forgotten what was happening around the city at the time when their daughter was born. Abu Bakr’s accuracy is not really surprising, as he was a recognised expert on genealogy,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 115.</ref> so a person’s month of birth was exactly the kind of detail that he would remember. | If they knew that she had been born at the “beginning” and not the “middle” or the “end” of the year, it is unlikely that they would have been wrong about the year itself. “The fourth year of prophethood” was indeed the ninth year before the ''Hijra'' (25 October 613 - 13 October 614). It was the year when Muhammad first preached Islam in public;<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 117.</ref> Aisha’s parents would not have forgotten what was happening around the city at the time when their daughter was born. Abu Bakr’s accuracy is not really surprising, as he was a recognised expert on genealogy,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 115.</ref> so a person’s month of birth was exactly the kind of detail that he would remember. | ||
{{Quote|{{Muslim| | {{Quote|{{Muslim||1422c|reference}}|Aisha narrated that Allah’s Apostle married her when she was seven years old, and he she was taken to his house as a bride '''when she was nine''', and her dolls were with her; and when he died she was 18 years old.}} | ||
{{Quote|Ibn Majah 3:1877|Abdullah narrated. The Holy Prophet married Aisha while she was a seven-year-old girl and took her to his house as a bride '''when she was nine years old''' and he parted with her when she was 18 years old.}} | {{Quote|Ibn Majah 3:1877|Abdullah narrated. The Holy Prophet married Aisha while she was a seven-year-old girl and took her to his house as a bride '''when she was nine years old''' and he parted with her when she was 18 years old.}} | ||
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{{Quote|Guillaume/Ishaq 494.|So I wrapped myself in my smock … [Safwan ibn al-Mu’attal al-Sulami] passed me … He saw my form and came and stood over me. He used to see me before the veil was prescribed for us, so when he saw me he exclaimed in astonishment, “The apostle’s wife!” while I was wrapped in my garments.}} | {{Quote|Guillaume/Ishaq 494.|So I wrapped myself in my smock … [Safwan ibn al-Mu’attal al-Sulami] passed me … He saw my form and came and stood over me. He used to see me before the veil was prescribed for us, so when he saw me he exclaimed in astonishment, “The apostle’s wife!” while I was wrapped in my garments.}} | ||
Muhammad had ordered his wives to be veiled at the time he married Zaynab,<ref>{{Bukhari| | Muhammad had ordered his wives to be veiled at the time he married Zaynab,<ref>{{Bukhari|||5166|darussalam}}; Bewley/Saad 8:126-127.</ref> so the raid at al-Muraysi must have been after this. After Safwan brought Aisha back to Medina, they found themselves the focus of gossip. | ||
{{Quote|Guillaume/Ishaq 495.|The greatest offenders were … Hamna bint Jahsh, for the reason that her sister Zaynab bint Jahsh was one of the apostle’s wives and only she could rival me in his favour. As for Zaynab, Allah protected her by her religion and she spoke nothing but good. But Hamna spread the report far and wide, opposing me for the sake of her sister.}} | {{Quote|Guillaume/Ishaq 495.|The greatest offenders were … Hamna bint Jahsh, for the reason that her sister Zaynab bint Jahsh was one of the apostle’s wives and only she could rival me in his favour. As for Zaynab, Allah protected her by her religion and she spoke nothing but good. But Hamna spread the report far and wide, opposing me for the sake of her sister.}} | ||
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Amrah’s age is not extant in any sources surveyed for this study. However, the age of her first husband is recorded. He was Muhammad’s cousin, Al-Fadl ibn Abbas.<ref>Ibn Ishaq, cited in Guillaume, A. (1960). ''New Light on the Life of Muhammad'', p. 55. Manchester: Manchester University Press.</ref> Al-Fadl’s brother Abdullah recalled: “We reached Allah’s Apostle five years after he had made ''Hijra'' and were with the Quraysh when they marched during the year in which the Battle of ''Ahzab'' [Trench] was fought [627]. I was with my brother Fadl … I was then eight years old while my brother was 13.”<ref>Tabrani/Haythami vol. 6 p. 64 reported on the chain of narrators for this hadith. Cited in Khandhlawi, M. M. Y. (1959). ''Hayatus Sahaba''. Translated by Elias, A. H. (2008). ''The Lives of the Sahabah'', vol. 1, p. 373. Farid Book Depot (Pvt.) Ltd.</ref> | Amrah’s age is not extant in any sources surveyed for this study. However, the age of her first husband is recorded. He was Muhammad’s cousin, Al-Fadl ibn Abbas.<ref>Ibn Ishaq, cited in Guillaume, A. (1960). ''New Light on the Life of Muhammad'', p. 55. Manchester: Manchester University Press.</ref> Al-Fadl’s brother Abdullah recalled: “We reached Allah’s Apostle five years after he had made ''Hijra'' and were with the Quraysh when they marched during the year in which the Battle of ''Ahzab'' [Trench] was fought [627]. I was with my brother Fadl … I was then eight years old while my brother was 13.”<ref>Tabrani/Haythami vol. 6 p. 64 reported on the chain of narrators for this hadith. Cited in Khandhlawi, M. M. Y. (1959). ''Hayatus Sahaba''. Translated by Elias, A. H. (2008). ''The Lives of the Sahabah'', vol. 1, p. 373. Farid Book Depot (Pvt.) Ltd.</ref> | ||
If Al-Fadl was 13 in 627, he was born in late 613 or 614 – that is, he was exactly the same age as Aisha. His family emigrated to Medina three years later,<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 202}}.</ref> and soon afterwards, Al-Fadl petitioned Muhammad to arrange a marriage for him. Muhammad found him a wife on the same day, but it was not Amrah bint Yazid. The girl whom Al-Fadl married in 630 was his cousin, Safiya bint Mahmiyah.<ref>{{Muslim| | If Al-Fadl was 13 in 627, he was born in late 613 or 614 – that is, he was exactly the same age as Aisha. His family emigrated to Medina three years later,<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 202}}.</ref> and soon afterwards, Al-Fadl petitioned Muhammad to arrange a marriage for him. Muhammad found him a wife on the same day, but it was not Amrah bint Yazid. The girl whom Al-Fadl married in 630 was his cousin, Safiya bint Mahmiyah.<ref>{{Muslim||1072a|reference}}.</ref> | ||
It is a little strange that such a young man would so soon afterwards take on a second wife, but it seems that he did so willingly, for Amrah was of no political importance. There is no obvious reason for this marriage beyond the documented fact that Al-Fadl was susceptible to pretty girls.<ref>See {{Bukhari|74|247}}.</ref> He was also said to be the eldest son of a very wealthy man,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 113, 114, 309-310.</ref> so if he wanted a second wife, there was nothing to stop him from taking one. It is therefore highly unlikely that Amrah was plain or that she was older than Al-Fadl. She would have been the same age as her bridegroom or a little younger. | It is a little strange that such a young man would so soon afterwards take on a second wife, but it seems that he did so willingly, for Amrah was of no political importance. There is no obvious reason for this marriage beyond the documented fact that Al-Fadl was susceptible to pretty girls.<ref>See {{Bukhari|74|247}}.</ref> He was also said to be the eldest son of a very wealthy man,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 113, 114, 309-310.</ref> so if he wanted a second wife, there was nothing to stop him from taking one. It is therefore highly unlikely that Amrah was plain or that she was older than Al-Fadl. She would have been the same age as her bridegroom or a little younger. | ||