Ages of Muhammads Wives at Marriage: Difference between revisions

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.</ref> He had to fall back on, “The Qur’an is my miracle,”<ref>{{Quran|24|1}}. {{Quran-range|98|1|4}}.</ref> but it is clear that he was not happy about this response. He subsequently claimed to have [[Moon Split Miracle|split the moon]] and to have [[The Holy Qur'an: Al-Isra (The Night Journey)|travelled to Jerusalem and back in one night]]. Later tales, omitted from the earliest histories, claimed that he had multiplied food like Jesus,<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 42.35/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:42:35-36].</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> Yet in the hostile atmosphere of Mecca, where a miracle was desperately desired to reinforce Muhammad’s credibility, he never pointed to his wife’s extraordinary fecundity and 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.