fatak
13-08-02, 01:40 PM
Some Western scholars have charged that Muhammad was licentious on account of the many marriages he contracted. Popular myth has maligned the Prophet and cast a shadow over an otherwise universally accepted great leader. But what was the nature of these marriages, and do they demonstrate a weakness for pleasure? Let’s examine this issue more closely. When Muhammad married Khadijah in Mecca, he was 25 years old and she was 40. He lived with her monogamously for almost a quarter of a century( 23 years). He didn’t take another wife until after she died, and he was over 50 years old. If he was licentious, the time to have married multiple women would have been in his youth, not when he was an old man charged with the endless duties of being a prophet.( He used to spend most of his days in meetings and a portion of every night in the mosque praying.) He remarried only at the insistence of his companions, and his new wife was an overweight widow. His next marriage was to the daughter of his friend Abu Bakr. Contrary to what is commonly assumed, this girl, named A’ishah, was not 9 years old when the marriage took place. When the engagement was announced, she was 12( in those days puberty came around that time), and the actual marriage didn’t take place until she was over 16. Neither she nor her parents had any objection to the marriage,
Neither she nor her parents had any objection to the marriage, and she, herself, always expressed her love and affection for the Prophet even into the many decades that she outlived him.( A’ishah became one of the most important early scholars of Islam.) All the rest of Muhammad’s marriages occurred in Medina and were spread out over 10 years. After the three wives already mentioned, he married 11 other women. With the exception of one divorcée, all of them were widows or freed captives of war. Muhammad asked their consent before marrying each, and they readily agreed. Muhammad divided his time with each equally and helped with the housework in each wife’s apartment. Again, if he was addicted to sex, he would have married all young women. Instead, they were mostly oldand/ or widowed.
How could Muhammad marry more than four wives when the Qur’an established a limit? The verses prohibiting more than four wives were revealed after the last of Muhammad’s marriages.
Each wife had a special status in the community. They were known as the Mothers of the Believers and people deferred to them as members of the Prophet’s family. After the Prophet passed away, his nine surviving wives took up the task of being teachers and social activists. Many Muslims today name their daughters after the Prophet’s wives.
Cheers
fatak
Neither she nor her parents had any objection to the marriage, and she, herself, always expressed her love and affection for the Prophet even into the many decades that she outlived him.( A’ishah became one of the most important early scholars of Islam.) All the rest of Muhammad’s marriages occurred in Medina and were spread out over 10 years. After the three wives already mentioned, he married 11 other women. With the exception of one divorcée, all of them were widows or freed captives of war. Muhammad asked their consent before marrying each, and they readily agreed. Muhammad divided his time with each equally and helped with the housework in each wife’s apartment. Again, if he was addicted to sex, he would have married all young women. Instead, they were mostly oldand/ or widowed.
How could Muhammad marry more than four wives when the Qur’an established a limit? The verses prohibiting more than four wives were revealed after the last of Muhammad’s marriages.
Each wife had a special status in the community. They were known as the Mothers of the Believers and people deferred to them as members of the Prophet’s family. After the Prophet passed away, his nine surviving wives took up the task of being teachers and social activists. Many Muslims today name their daughters after the Prophet’s wives.
Cheers
fatak