Why did Muhammad -pbuh- marry several women?


Did he do so for sexual gratification?

Whenever Prophet Muhammad’s name

emerges, the image in many people’s minds is a

man with many wives. For Muslims, his multiple

marriages had meaning and immense implications

for Islam, and by extension, the history of the

world. Needless to say, the issue remains

controversial, and as such, any study of the matter

requires an objective approach. Therefore we will

endeavour to tackle this topic by being as objective

as possible.

The Prophet Muhammad was driven by the

goal to ensure that his mission as the Messenger of

God was fulfilled and to establish a society based

on God’s commands, and not his own. In order to

achieve this goal, he did everything that was

humanly possible: he forged relations with the

various tribes of Arabia, concluded peace treaties

with his sworn enemies and kept relations with the

heads of various tribes, nations and religions.

Taken together his marriages was one way by

which he fostered relationships with various

influential tribes.

If one were to view the marriages of the

Prophet from this context, the motivating factors

behind his marriages become clear. It would be

very simplistic and incorrect to view his marriages

as being merely for lustful ends.

Let us now briefly examine the context of

each one of his marriages to see whether this was

the case. From the outset, it is of ultimate

importance to note that, except for one of his

wives, all of his eleven wives were widowed or

divorced. Most were in fact widowed.

His first marriage was to a widow named

Khadijah, who had been married twice and whom

he married when she was forty years old and he

was twenty five. She was the first woman to

embrace Islam. She provided great consolation to

him throughout his life and he continued to

remember her in his later years as his most beloved

wife. He stayed with her faithfully for 25 years

until her death, at which time he was 50 years old,

and she was 65 years old.

If he was driven by lustful desires as accused

by his opponents, he could have married several,

beautiful young women in a society where having

numerous wives was a norm – there would be no

reason to faithfully remain with an older woman

until the age of 50. This single fact would be

sufficient to totally refute the charges against him

in this regard. However, an examination of all of

his marriages, as we shall see, should put this

question to rest.

After Khadija’s death, he married another

widow, Sawda, who was 65 years old. She and her

previous husband, Sakran, were among those who

had immigrated to Ethiopia, fleeing from the

oppression and persecution of the Meccans. It was

during their return to Mecca that her husband had

died. Seeing her difficult condition, the Prophet

married her.

Then he married Aisha, daughter of his

lifelong friend and companion Abu Bakr. Aisha

had first been betrothed to Jabir bin Mut’im at the

age of 5. Child marriages were evidently the norm

at that time. She was the only virgin among the

Prophet’s wives and the only one who was born

into a Muslim family.

One of the Prophet’s goals in this marriage

was to strengthen the bond of his brotherhood

with Abu Bakr, who was his main defender against

the Meccans. Second, Aisha was of a lineage

known for honor and intelligence. The Prophet

knew that she would tremendously benefit his

nation (ummah) by transmitting crucial knowledge

from his life, especially family and personal matters

that others were not privy to. Indeed, the Prophet

advised his community to learn half of the

knowledge of the religion from Aisha. The

foresight of the Prophet proved itself, for she

would live for 45 years after his death, and thus

became one of the main sources of Prophetic

wisdom and knowledge.


 


He also married another widow, Hafsa, who

was the daughter of Umar Bin Khattab, his next

closest companion. Her husband, Khunays, had

been martyred in the Battle of Badr. He felt a duty

towards Umar, whose acceptance of Islam

provided a major boost for the Muslims in Mecca

against their foes.

 


Zaynab, daughter of Khuzaima, was another

widow that the Prophet married. She was married

to Ubayda bin al-Haris, who was martyred in the

Battle of Badr. She was sixty when the Prophet

married her. She was known as the “Mother of the

Downtrodden”. She, however, passed away after

two or three months of marriage.


He married another widow, Umm Salama.

Her previous husband, Abu Salama, was martyred

in the Battle of Uhud, leaving behind four orphans.

Umm Salama was pregnant at that time and was

extremely distressed and very sad. Needless to say,

she needed much support. After her delivery,

Umar proposed that the Prophet marry her.

The Prophet accepted the proposal and married her.

What purpose can there be for a person of 54 to

marry a widow with four orphans except love,

mercy and compassion? There was another crucial

factor in this marriage: Umm Salama was from the

Bani Makhzum tribe, which was the tribe of

Islam’s arch enemies at that time, Abu Jahl and

Khalid bin Waleed. Though Abu Jahl never

changed, Khalid later accepted Islam and became a

brilliant military general. Once again, bringing

influential and powerful tribes closer to Islam was

one of the noble objectives of the Prophet’s

marriages.

He married a divorced woman, Zaynab, the

daughter of Jahsh. She was married to Zayd bin

Haritha, the freed slave of the Prophet. She was

the cousin of the Prophet, being the daughter of

his paternal aunt. Zayd divorced her and the

Prophet married her when she was 38 years old.

His marriage to Zaynab was aimed at emphasizing

the invalidity of the age-old Arab practice of taking

adopted sons as real sons. The marriage was

divinely sanctioned, as stated in the Qur’an,

“When Zayd had come to the end of his union with her,

We gave her to you in marriage …’’(33:37)

Umm Habiba was another widow whom the

Prophet married. She was a daughter of Abu

Sufyan who was a bitter enemy of Islam until his

conversion later. She was initially married to

Ubaydallah, who was a companion of the Prophet.

Both immigrated to Ethiopia, fleeing the

persecution of the Meccans. Ubaydallah became a

Christian and later died there. Considering her very

difficult situation, her father being an enemy of

Islam and her husband a deserter, the Prophet sent

an envoy to Negus, king of Ethiopia requesting to

arrange a marriage with her. The king arranged the

marriage and she was married to him when she was

36 or 37 years old. Like many of his marriages, his

marriage to Umm Habiba resulted in bringing a

major tribe of the Quraysh, Banu Abd al-Shams,

towards Islam.

He married another widow, Juwayria. Both

her father and husband were bitter enemies of

Islam; the former had planned to attack Medina at

the instigation of the Meccans. This led the Muslim

army to march against the clan of her father. The

result was their defeat at the hands of the Prophet

and the death of Juwayria’s husband. After the

conflict, the Muslims captured many prisoners, one

of whom was Juwayria. Juwayria’s father offered a

ransom for her freedom. She requested to stay in

the service of the Prophet and he married her at

her request. Her marriage resulted in the freeing of

all the prisoners of war of her tribe. Again, this

marriage led to the establishment of peace and

friendly relations.

He also married a woman named Safiyya, a

widow as well. Her second husband was killed in

the Battle of Khaybar. Her father was the chief of

the famous Jewish tribe, Banu Nazir. He was killed

in the Battle of Khaybar, and so Safiyya was taken

prisoner. She was eventually freed and the Prophet

married her. Some complained that she was

sympathetic to the Jews. Her answer was that they

were her relatives, and the Prophet defended her

position. He told her to respond in the following

way: “My father is Aaron (Haroon) and my uncle is

Moses (Musa).” This marriage had led to a closer

relationship between the Muslims and the Jews of

Medina.

His final marriage was to another divorced

woman, Maymuna. She was married twice and was

very old. She married the Prophet when he was 57.

The reason for her marriage was that the Prophet’s

uncle, Abbas, suggested it in order to bring her

tribe – Halaliyyeen – to the fold of Islam. That

was actually what happened; after his marriage to

her, they entered Islam in hosts.

From the above, we see that it was not the

Prophet’s whims and desires that initiated his

marriages, but rather it was that God had planned

his marriages. He commanded His Messenger

after the last marriage (with Maymuna) not to

marry any more (Qur’an 33:52), because by that

time the objectives of his marriages were achieved

as the Prophetic mission was near to completion.

All of this does not mean that the Prophet

was not interested in sex. He was surely attracted

by sex and beauty, and was not a prude in

expressing it. He said, “perfume and women are

made dear to me. However, the joy of my eye is in

prayer.” He also said: “I am in full control of

myself.” In fact, a look at his life would suggest

that he approached the various aspects of human

life with moderation - be it eating, drinking, or

enjoying time with his wives – never indulging in

any one thing excessively. The portrayal of him by

many Western writers as promiscuous and

licentious, mostly due to the fact that he had

numerous wives, is far from the truth and historical

facts as shown above. Indeed, his marriages had a

social motive and a higher goal than mere sexual

gratification.

It would be relevant here to quote a female,

Western scholar, Karen Armstrong, the author of

Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time, in relation to the

issue of Prophets marriages and polygamy in Islam:

“The Qur’anic institution of polygamy was a piece

of social legislation. It was designed not to gratify

the male sexual appetite, but to correct the

injustices done to widows, orphans, and other

female dependents, who were especially vulnerable.

All too often, unscrupulous people seized

everything and left the weaker members of the

family with nothing… Polygamy was designed to

ensure that unprotected women would be decently

married, and to abolish the old loose, irresponsible

liaisons; men could have only four wives and must

treat them equitably; it was an unjustifiably wicked

act to devour their property… The Qur’an was

attempting to give women a legal status that most

Western women would not enjoy until the

nineteenth century. The emancipation of women

was a project dear to the Prophet’s heart…”