Wives of Muhammad
Khadija, Muhammad's first wife, was his employer and a woman of considerable wealth who reportedly supported him financially and emotionally, and she also became his first follower when he began preaching the message of Islam.
[4][5] Both her age and marital history at the time of her marriage to the 25-year-old Muhammad remain unclear; she was either 28 or 41 and may or may not have been a virgin, with the existence of any previous children also being disputed.
Nonetheless, this marriage was the most significant by all accounts: six of Muhammad's seven biological children were produced with Khadija and the couple remained monogamous for the entirety of the 24 years that they were together.
He did not, however, have a Medinan wife, presumably because they did not embrace Islam's approval of marrying multiple women and its curtailment of their right to inheritance.
[9] Additionally, Muhammad's wives were not allowed to remarry after his death; all men of the contemporary era were strictly warned against attempting to marry these widowed women, with this intent being classified as "a major offence in the sight of Allah" in the Quran.
[10] Scottish academic William Montgomery Watt states that all of Muhammad's marriages had the political aspect of strengthening friendly relationships and were based on the Arabian custom.
[11] American professor John Esposito points out that some of Muhammad's marriages were aimed at providing a livelihood for widows;[12] he noted that remarriage was difficult for these women in Arabian society, which emphasized and was hyper-focused on female virginity and sexual purity.
[13] American academic Francis Edward Peters says that it is hard to make generalizations about Muhammad's marriages; many of them were political, some compassionate, and some perhaps affairs of the heart.
[14] American historian John Victor Tolan writes that Muhammad's marriages were mainly attempts at forging political alliances.
[16] According to an account by Anas ibn Malik, one of Muhammad's companions: "The Prophet used to visit all his wives in a round, during the day and night and they were eleven in number."
[24][25] They had two sons, Qasim and Abd Allah (nicknamed al-Ṭāhir and al-Ṭayyib respectively),[26] both died young, and four daughters—Zaynab, Ruqaiya, Umm Kulthum and Fatimah.
[27] During their marriage, Khadija purchased the slave Zayd ibn Harithah, then adopted the young man as her son at Muhammad's request.
[28] Muhammad's uncle Abu Talib and Khadija died in 620 and the Islamic prophet declared the year as Aam al-Huzn ('Year of Sorrow').
Prior to that, Sawdah was married to a paternal cousin of hers named As-Sakran ibn ‘Amr and had five or six children from her previous marriage.
But Sawdah stopped him in the street and begged him to take her back, offering to give up her turn for his nightly conjugal visits to Aisha, whom he was very fond of.
[43] She was highly regarded for her intellect and knowledge in various fields, including poetry and medicine, which received plenty of praise by the traditionist al-Zuhri and by her student Urwa ibn al-Zubayr.
[46] When her husband died, Muhammad aiming to provide for her, married her in 4 A.H. She was nicknamed Umm Al-Masakeen (roughly translates as the mother of the poor), because of her kindness and charity.
[48][49][50] The death of Zaynab coincided with that of Abu Salamah, a devout Muslim and Muhammad's foster brother, as a result of his wounds from the Battle of Uhud.
[54][55] Al-Tha'labi reports that the prophet paid a mahr for her and Ibn Hajar makes reference to Muhammad giving Rayhana a home upon their marriage.
[56] An incident happened in which Aisha left her camp to search for her lost necklace, and returned with a companion of Muhammad.
[3] In Medina Muhammad arranged the widowed Zaynab's marriage to his adopted son Zayd ibn Harithah.
He thinks that even if there is a basis of fact underlying the narrative, it would have been subject to exaggeration in the course of transmission as the later Muslims liked to maintain that there was no celibacy and monkery in Islam.
[62] Rodinson disagrees with Watt arguing that the story is stressed in the traditional texts and that it would not have aroused any adverse comment or criticism.
[89] W. Montgomery Watt and Nomani believe that Muhammad married Safiyya as part of reconciliation with the Jewish tribe and as a gesture of goodwill.
[95] According to Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili, Safiyya came to appreciate the love and honor Muhammad gave her, and said, "I have never seen a good-natured person as the Messenger of Allah".
[97] According to Islamic tradition, Safiyya was beautiful, patient, intelligent, learned and gentle, and she respected Muhammad as "Allah's Messenger".
"[98] In the same year, Muhammad signed a peace treaty with his Meccan enemies, the Quraysh effectively ending the state of war between the two parties.
He soon married the daughter of the Quraysh leader and military commander, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, aimed at further reconciling his opponents.
[105] Muhammad dispatched 'Amr bin Omaiyah Ad-Damri with a letter to the Negus (king), asking him for Umm Habiba's hand—that was in Muharram, in the seventh year of Al-Hijra.
Her original name was "Barra" but he called her "Maymuna", meaning the blessed, as his marriage to her had also marked the first time in seven years when he could enter his hometown Mecca.
