The Polygyny of the Prophet

the insulters of islam said that muhammad (pbuh);

- married his adopted son’s x-wife (his adopted son's name is zaid ibn haretha).

- allowed himself to marry any woman dedicate herself to him (i.e. he is sensual).

refuting this suspicion

1-it is well proved from the biography of muhammad (pbuh) that he has never married before being 25 years , although marrying in an early age was from the conventions of the pre-islamic era for the sake of getting many sons, as they would support and boost the tribe . it is also known that he was a pure and moral person and did not seek for illegal passion, even though there were in the same community many adulteresses making their houses the residence of vice with banners on the top to show the way for the forbidden enjoyment seekers.

in spite of all these circumstances that made deviation and fornication easy in makkah, he was never known except for purity and virtue. allah's eye was saving him from the devil's plot.

once his young mates took him to a place where there was forbidden enjoyment, allah covered him with sleep and he didn't wake up till his mates awaked him to return back home.

2- when the prophet was twenty-five years old he didn’t marry a virgin girl; he married a previously married woman who was fifteen years older than him. she had two sons who were closely twenty years old. she was khadija (may allah be pleased with her) and she was the one who chose to marry the prophet after she knew how pure, chaste and honest he is when he was working for her as a trader.

3-the prophet didn't marry any other woman until his wife khadija died.

he spent his youth with her and all his kids were from her except ibrahim who was from maria the coptic.

4- he lived his life after her death loving her, living with her memories and mentioning her good deeds because they were so special in his life especially for the success of his message.

he said about khadija: "she believed in me when the people didn't and supported me with her money". he was thankfully mentioning her deeds all the time, fulfilling her memory and welcoming her friends, to the extend that made aisha( his wife) feel very jealous about that.

but for his polygyny- like many other prophets- this was for many reasons:

he – may allah's blessings be upon him – was more than fifty years old after the death of his wife khadija; the age in which the fagot of lust or any sense instinct had been extinguished.

and on the other hand, the need to have someone who takes care of you and your kids increases…..

here are the circumstances of these marriages:

the first wife was: sauda daughter of zam'a

  after the death of khadija – may allah be pleased with her – the prophet had great sadness in his house and among his companions – may allah be pleased with them. they felt extremely sorry for him as he missed the  woman who took great care of him and his kids. in addition to that he lost his uncle abou-taleb; the most one supporting him and facing the polytheists .

              and this year was called the year of sorrow.

in such a sad and lonely atmosphere the prophet needed who can take care of him and his children. a muslim woman came to him called khaula daughter of hakim alselmyya and said: oh! allah's prophet, i feel that you are lonely after the death of khadija.

he answered: yes, she was my children's mother and housewife. she said: can i bring you a bride? he said with surprise: but who will be after khadija? she mentioned aisha daughter of abou-bakr. he said: she is still young. she

(khaula) said: engage her now and wait till she became mature.

he (pbuh) said: but who will serve for the house and my daughters? she said: sauda daughter of zam'a. he asked sauda and her father and they accepted and get married in makkah...they married in ramadan, year10 after   legation to become the prophets first wife after khadija (may allah be pleased with all of them).

the people of makkah got astonished of that marriage as sauda had neither beauty nor ancestral claims. she can't replace khadija who was very beautiful, with ancestral claims and all people wanted her.

here all insulters and offenders of islam have to know: this is  the first wife after khadija. she was one of the believers who immigrated to abyssinia with her husband to find a safe shelter from quraish. the prophet married her after she returned from abyssinia and lost her husband to protect her with her children.

so this marriage was not a result of a lust from the prophet but relieving sake of a muslim woman who was left without a man to take care of her and her sons.

the second wife after khadija was aisha daughter of abou-bakr whom the prophet said about:” he is the best guard over me in his money and companionship and if i would choose a friend i would take him but he is my brother in islam .”

abou-bakr was well known in supporting “al da’wa” with his money; the prophet said about him that his money was the most useful for him.

and aisha’s mother was om-roman daughter of amer al-kenany, she was from the lofty companions. when she died the prophet stepped down into her grave and prayed: "oh allah! you know what have happened to om-roman for you and your prophet". he said about her in the day she died: "if anyone wants to see the gazelle black eyed (hour) had to look to om-roman".

none ever in makkah was surprised of the affinity between the two friends the prophet and abu bakr, as it was very expected. for them it was a very normal marriage, and if there were anything to doubt about it they wouldn’t stop insulting it.

so the marriage between the prophet and a girl younger than him by almost forty years is not an odd thing because it was familiar in that society.

but the orientalists and the insulters of islam accused him of being lustful. they insist on ignoring the fact that these kinds of marriages were familiar at that time in this era; some other examples we can see below:

1- abdulmuttaleb; the grandfather of the prophet (pbuh) married hala the cousin of amena (the mother of the prophet, who married the youngest sons of abdulmuttaleb).

2- omar bin al khattab married the daughter of ali bin abi-taleb while omar was elder than her father.

3- omar bin al khattab offered his daughter hafsa for abou-bakr to marry her, while the age difference between them was the same between the prophet and aisha.

these were the habits of that society when the prophet married aisha. but the orientalists and the insulters of islam saw in this marriage a great event to offend both islam and prophet muhammad (pbuh) – as they say – that the elderly man married the virgin young girl.

the third wife: hafsa daughter of omar the young widow:

she was the wife of hanis bin huthafa al-sahmy, who was a lofty companion that immigrated to abyssinia twice then to madienah. he died after getting wounded in the battle of ohud. his wife hafsa became a widow in a very young age.

this made omar her father very sad as her beauty was extinguishing day after a day. he searched for a groom for his daughter as he was a pitiful father and because this act was normal at that time in this society (to look for a husband for one’s daughter).

such a feeling was the motive for omar to speak to abou-bakr who did not reply on omar’s request. then he went to othman bin affan who refused this offer too.

omar felt very disappointed and went to the prophet who said to omar:” hafsa will get married to the one who is better than othman and othman will  marry who is better than hafsa”.

omar knew what the prophet meant by this; that the prophet himself will marry hafsa and othman will marry one of the prophet's daughters. he ran to his daughter very happily and was satisfied that allah had relieved the agony of his daughter.

the fourth wife: om-salamah daughter of zad al rakeb:

she was one of the first immigrants to abyssinia . her husband (abu-salamah) abdullah son of abdulasad almakhzomy was one of the first prophet’s companions who immigrated to madienah.

she is from a generous house. her father was one of the bounteous of quraish who was known as “ zad al rakeb” (the one who supplies  travellers with food)  because no  one ever travelled with him without getting supplied with food for his whole journy.

her dead husband was a companion from bani-makhzom tribe; he was the cousin of the prophet (the son of his father's sister). he immigrated twice to abyssinia then to madienah. they both ( om salamah & her husband) were from the very first people embracing islam. they both immigrated to madienah and witnessed severe events together with their child…may allah be pleased with her…

the fifth wife: zainab daughter of jahsh:

"i have never seen a woman better in performing islam, fearing allah than zainab. she was honest and faithful, loving of her relatives and giving charity; all for the sake of the almighty allah."

that was how aisha (may allah be pleased with her) described her fellow wife zainab daughter of jahsh.

  but the insulters of islam said that muhammad (pbuh) admired the wife of his adopted son "zaid son of haretha" and wanted to marry her after he made them got divorced!! this is of course nonsense and this marriage was for causes mentioned below:

doctor haykal replied in his book "the life of muhammad" p.29 saying: it is either the lust of the exposed evangelization or the evangelization for the science, and the old antagonism against islam originated deeply since the crucifixion wars made them write that.

we would like that those insulters pay attention to the reason of this marriage; the prophet married the ex- wife of his son in adoption for wisdom from allah in order to abolish the adoption habit. such habit that counterfeits the facts had bad effects on the lives of people.

this habit had been originated in the pre-islamic society, allah chose his messenger to be the first for ending this habit.

here are some verses from the holy quran to submit an announcement for that verdict opposing these pre-habits and explaining the new legislation for adoption in general :

"muhammad isn't the father of any man among you, but he's the messenger of allah and the seal of the prophets." (alahzab: 40)

"proclaim their real parentage. that will be more equitable in the slight of allah. if you don't know their fathers then they are your brethren and clients." (alahzab: 5)

"and when you say to whom allah has conferred favor and you have conferred favor; keep your wife and fear allah. and you didn't hide in the mind that allah was to bring to light and fear mankind while allah has a better right that you should fear him. so when zayd had performed the formality of divorce from her, we gave her unto her in marriage. therefore there is no sin on believers in respect to wives of their adopted sons, when the latter had performed the necessary formality of the release from them (females). the commandment of allah must be fulfilled." (alahzab: 37)

again we remind here that the marriage of the prophet from zainab was not for a lust or a libido. it was an order from allah to abolish the habit of adoption through a legislation in this society in which adoption is one of its principle habits. it couldn’t be abolished except through the prophet and in his house.

zainab daughter of jahsh understood that and boasted her fellow wives and said: "your families married you to the prophet – may allah's blessings and peace be upon him – while i got married to him by the order of allah from above seven skies".

zayed didn’t  divorce zainab beause he knew that the prophet wanted to marry her- as those insulters say- but because their life was not based on a desired treaty which zainab didn't forget. she was the noble well known and beautiful lady but got married to a man who was a slave for some of her family. he was also a slave for the prophet (pbuh) who freed him after that in makkah.

it is normal that he was the slave captivated man in his wife's eyes which was not her dream to marry such a man although he was well known as zaid son of muhammad in this society.

that made them both unhappy; so zaid went complaining to the prophet who ordered him to keep his wife and fear allah. narrated by