Wives Of The Prophet Muhammad

When he was 25 years old, the Prophet Muhammad married the 40 years old Khadidjah, who was one of the richest women in Mecca. He had undertaken trading missions on her behalf before the marriage. This marriage produced two sons, who died in early childhood, and four daughters who survived Muhammad.

Following Khadidjah's death, Muhammad married Sawdah the widow of one of the early converts to Islam. He married 'A'ishah, the daughter of his closest companion Abu Bakr, when she was 10 - 11 years old without divorcing his wife Sawdah. This was difficult for non-Muslim authors to accept - particularly those from a religious background that considers sex sinful and contrary to spirituality.

Polygamy had been practiced in Arabia for centuries to solve the problem of what to do when tribal wars reduce the number of available men and produce more widows with children who need support. Polygamy saved widows and their children from the need to earn a living as a servant, beggar or prostitute. Islam limited polygamy to 4 wives and required equal treatment in everything.

Muhammad set precedents to guide Muslims along this difficult path. He was married to one woman during the prime of his life from age 25 until her death when he was 53 years old. This counters the argument that he was a womanizer.

When Islam started spreading throughout Arabia, Marriage to the Prophet became an honor most women would have been delighted to accept. However, Muhammad didn't marry for pleasure as shown by his selections from available women.

His marriage to the very young 'A'ishah was not a frivolous act. She was the only wife alive when the need to record the details of the Prophet's personal life and practices for posterity became urgent.

Muhammad also married Hafsah, the daughter of his close companion Omar. She was a 40 years old widow who didn't find a suitable husband. He married Zeinab, the widow of a Muslim who died in battle defending the young Muslim Nation. She was kind and charitable which earned her the nickname: "mother of the weak". She was not young and died within 2 years of her marriage to the Prophet.

Muhammad married Umm Salamah, the old widow of a Muslim who died in battle leaving many children to support. He also married a Christian, Maria and a Jew, Safiah. He married Ramlah the daughter of Abu Sufian, who led the Arabs against Muhammad and Islam. Ramlah and her husband had converted to Islam and immigrated to Ethiopia to escape persecution in Mecca. Her husband converted to Christianity and left her.

He married his cousin Zeinab following her divorce from his adopted son Zaid who used to be his servant. Muhammad had asked for her hand for Zaid and persisted until she accepted. She mistreated Zaid because of her high social status until he divorced her. This made her unfit to marry a status conscious Arab. Her subsequent marriage to the Prophet shattered the Arabs' concepts of status and marriage.

Muhammad's wives played an important role in advising Muslim women on religious issues. Women have special requirements during periods of menstruation, late stages of pregnancy and child birth. This affected how women purified their bodies and clothing before prayer and how they coped with fasting from dawn to sunset during the month of Ramadan.

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Revised on 10/3/99