Muhammed, the prophet of Islam, then a widower after his first wife's death two years earlier, according to tradition consummated his marriage with Aisha at about my age (52 or 53). The leading tradition is that she was nine years old at the time, although some revisionist apologists of Muhammed argue that she may actually have been in her early teens at the time.
The likelihood that Muhammed was really a historic figure and that the rough outline of his life was more or less accurate is considerably greater than many other religious prophets, and I take the tradition to be generally accurate, while recognizing the issues involved in trying to get to the truth about a major religious figure from the distant past.
While modern Islamic law restricts a man to four wives at a time, Muhammed left nine widows at his death and a surviving concubine at his death in 632 CE, and was married twelve times during his life (three of his wives predeceased him). He had children only with his first wife (who died when he was 50 in a marriage that was monogamous), and with a concubine with whom he started a relationship four years before he died (their son died at aged eighteen months).
Eleven of his wives were divorced or widows, but many of them were of child bearing age during his marriage to them, and the birth of a child from his concubine not long before his death, suggests that he was not completely infertile. So, one can wonder to what extent most of these marriages were more than nominally sexual.
The lack of children with Aisha, his favorite wife, whom another of his wives gave up conjugal visits for, over nine years of post-consummation marriage, adds credence to the possibility that she was indeed only nine or ten years old when the marriage was consummated and may not have come into her fertility for a significant part of the marriage (this happened later in life in the harsh conditions of the Arabian desert in the 600s than it does now). Also, in the later years of their marriage once she became fertile, Muhammed had so many wives that Aisha may have had fewer carnal opportunities, if Muhammed tried to satisfy all or most of them. Her very long life after Muhammed's death is also supportive of the possibility that she may have been on the younger side, although there are also arguments that she wasn't so young (such as her purported age relative to her older sister).
It is also possible that Muhammed was infertile, at least as a practical matter, for all of his second and later marriages and that the child of his concubine, while treated as his child on account of his ownership of her, was actually from another man. Indeed, the historical accounts provide a possible alternative father who was at one point forbidden by Muhammed from visiting her any more in a way that ambiguously suggests that she was having sex with this other man.
The fact that Hafsa bint Umar who was married to him for seven years starting at age 20, Umm Salama who was married to him for seven years starting at age 32 (but ruling out the first couple of years as she gave birth to a fourth child from her late previous husband shortly after she married), Juwayriyya bint al-Harith who was married him for five years starting at age 19 all failed to have any children during their marriages to him is particularly notable among his various wives, and would be highly improbable if both spouses were fertile as the wive's ages would suggest, and if they had sex on a regular basis (even given the need to share with other spouses). It is less implausible for some of his other spouses who had shorter marriages, were older when they married, in some cases were reluctant brides, and had many sister wives at the time that they married Muhammed.
Wikipedia outlines Muhammed's family life (with the order rearranged to a chronological one in some cases and intermixed with language from the Wikipedia article on his wives) as quoted below. Note that the order of some of his marriages is not entirely clear.
Muhammad's life is traditionally defined into two periods: pre-hijra (emigration) in Mecca (from 570 to 622), and post-hijra in Medina (from 622 until 632). Muhammad is said to have had thirteen wives in total (although two have ambiguous accounts, Rayhana bint Zayd and Maria al-Qibtiyya, as wife or concubine). Eleven of the thirteen marriages occurred after the migration to Medina. All of Muhammad's wives were widows or had divorced, with the exception of Aisha.
Khadija (first wife, predeceased Muhammed)
Around the age of 25, Muhammad wed his wealthy employer, the 28- or 40-year-old widow and daughter of a merchant, Khadija. Muhammad used to manage her caravans and Khadija, being impressed by the skills of Muhammad, Khadija sent a proposal to the Islamic prophet. Around 595, the couple married and this marriage, his first, would be both happy and monogamous; Muhammad would rely on Khadija in many ways, until her death 25 years later. They had two sons, Qasim and Abd Allah (nicknamed al-Ṭāhir and al-Ṭayyib respectively), both died young, and four daughters—Zaynab, Ruqaiya, Umm Kulthum and Fatimah.
In chronological order, most Sunni sources list Muhammad's children as:
Fatima was born in Mecca to Khadija, the first of Muhammad's wives. The mainstream Sunni view is that Khadija aged fifty, gave birth to Fatima in 605 CE, five years before the first Quranic revelations. This implies that she was over eighteen at the time of her marriage, which would have been unusual in Arabia. Twelver sources, however, report that Fatima was born in about 612 or 615 CE, when Khadija would have been slightly older. The report of the Sunni Ibn Sa'd in his Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kubra suggests that Fatima was born when Muhammad was about thirty-five years old.
It is undisputed that Fatima died six months after her father, but the Sunni tradition is that she died of grief, while the Shiite tradition is that she died of injuries suffered in a raid on her home aimed at her husband and Muhammed's cousin Ali, to end competition with the first Caliph whose authority he disputed.
Fatima was survived by two sons, Hasan and Husayn, and two daughters, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum. Controversy surrounds the fate of her third son Muhsin. Some canonical Shia sources report that Muhsin died in miscarriage, following Umar's raid on Fatima's house. Alternatively, Sunnis hold that Muhsin died in infancy of natural causes.
Some Shia scholars dispute the paternity of Khadija's daughters, as they view the first three of them as the daughters from previous marriages and only Fatimah as the daughter of Muhammad and Khadija.
[This hypothesis particularly makes sense if Khadja was 40 years old when he married her. But the Shi'ite hypothesis of a younger age at the time of her marriage to Ali favors a younger age for Khadja at the time of her marriage.]
Muhammad's descendants through Fatimah are known as sharifs, syeds or sayyids. These are honorific titles in Arabic, sharif meaning 'noble' and sayed or sayyid meaning 'lord' or 'sir'. As Muhammad's only descendants, they are respected by both Sunni and Shi'a, though the Shi'a place much more emphasis and value on their distinction.
During their marriage, Khadija purchased the slave Zayd ibn Harithah, then adopted the young man as her son at Muhammad's request.
Zayd ibn Haritha was a slave that Muhammad bought, freed, and then adopted as his son. He also had a wet nurse. According to a BBC summary, "the Prophet Muhammad did not try to abolish slavery, and bought, sold, captured, and owned slaves himself. But he insisted that slave owners treat their slaves well and stressed the virtue of freeing slaves. Muhammad treated slaves as human beings and clearly held some in the highest esteem".
After Khadijah's death, Khawla bint Hakim suggested to Muhammad that he should marry Sawda bint Zama, a Muslim widow, or Aisha, daughter of Um Ruman and Abu Bakr of Mecca. Muhammad is said to have asked for arrangements to marry both. Muhammad's marriages after the death of Khadijah were contracted mostly for political or humanitarian reasons. The women were either widows of Muslims killed in battle and had been left without a protector, or belonged to important families or clans with whom it was necessary to honor and strengthen alliances.
Sawda bint Zamʿah (second wife)Before he left for Medina, it was suggested by Khawlah bint Hakim that he should marry Sawdah bint Zam'ah, who had suffered many hardships after she became a Muslim. 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. She along with her husband migrated to Abyssinia due to persecution of Muslims by Meccans. Her husband died in Abyssinia and hence Sawdah had to come back to Makkah. There are disagreements in Muslim tradition whether Muhammad first married Sawda or Aisha, but Sawda is usually regarded as his second wife and she was living with him before Aisha joined the household. In one account, he married Sawda in Shawwal, when Sawda was about [50 to] 55 years old, in the tenth year of prophethood, after the death of Khadija. At about the same period, Aisha was betrothed to him.As Sawda got older, and some time after Muhammad's marriage to Umm Salama, some sources claim that Muhammad wished to divorce Sawda. Some traditions maintain that Muhammad did not intend to divorce her, but only Sawda feared or thought that he would. Ibn Kathir said that Muhammad was worried that Sawda might be upset about having to compete with so many younger wives, and offered to divorce her. Sawda offered to give her turn of Muhammad's conjugal visits to Aisha, of whom she was very fond, stating that she "was old, and cared not for men; her only desire was to rise on the Day of Judgment as one of his wives". While some Muslim historians cite this story as a reason of revelation, citing Quran 4:128, others like Rashid Rida dispute this whole account as "poorly supported", or mursal.
[She had been married to Muhammed for thirteen years when he died.]
Aisha bint Abu Bakr (third wife)Aisha was the daughter of Muhammad's close friend Abu Bakr. She was initially betrothed to Jubayr ibn Muṭʽim, a Muslim whose father, though pagan, was friendly to the Muslims. When Khawlah bint Hakim suggested that Muhammad marry Aisha after the death of Muhammad's first wife (Khadija), the previous agreement regarding the marriage of Aisha with ibn Mut'im was put aside by common consent.Muhammad converted friendship of his four friends who later became the four Islamic rulers or successors, into relationship through marriage. He married Aisha and Hafsa daughters of Abu Bakr and Umar and he gave his daughters to Uthman and Ali. Aisha was the only virgin he married.The majority of traditional sources state that Aisha was betrothed to Muhammad at the age of six or seven, but she stayed in her parents' home until the age of nine, or ten according to Ibn Hisham, when the marriage was consummated with Muhammad, then 53, in Medina in 623.
She was therefore a virgin at marriage.
Aisha's age at marriage has been a source of controversy and debate, and some historians, Islamic scholars, and Muslim writers have challenged the previously-accepted timeline of her life.
Modern Muslim authors who calculate Aisha's age based on other sources of information, such as a hadith about the age difference between Aisha and her sister Asma, estimate that she was over thirteen and perhaps in her late teens at the time of her marriage.
Both Aisha and Sawda, his two wives, were given apartments adjoined to the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi mosque.Aisha was extremely scholarly and inquisitive. Her contribution to the spread of Muhammad's message was extraordinary, and she served the Muslim community for 44 years after his death. She is also known for narrating 2210 hadith, not just on matters related to Muhammad's private life, but also on topics such as marriage, sex, Islamic inheritance, Hajj and Islamic eschatology, among other subjects. 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.
[Her marriage had been consumated for nine years when Muhammed died, although she had been betrothed to him for about twelve years at that point.]
Hafsa bint Umar (Fourth Wife)Hafsa bint Umar, daughter of Umar ibn Al-Khattab, was widowed at Battle of Badr when her husband Khunais ibn Hudhaifa was killed in action [in 624]. Muhammad married her in 3 A.H./625 C.E [at the age of 20].
[She had been married to Muhammed for seven years when he died.]Zaynab bint Khuzayma (Fifth Wife; predeceased Muhammed)Zaynab bint Khuzayma was also widowed at the battle of Badr. She was the wife of Ubaydah ibn al-Harith, a faithful Muslim and from the tribe of Al-Muttalib, for which Muhammad had special responsibility
Her first husband was her cousin, Jahm ibn ‘Amr ibn al-Harith.While Zaynab was still a polytheist, she acquired a reputation for extreme generosity. "She was called 'Mother of the Beggars' because of her kindness to them and her pity for them."It is not known exactly when Zaynab converted to Islam, but her second husband was a prominent Muslim, Abdullah ibn Jahsh. This marriage must have ended in divorce, since Zaynab was already remarried at the time of Abdullah’s death; and she is not listed among the people whom he took to Medina in 622.Zaynab's next husband was Tufayl ibn al-Harith, a Muslim from the Muttalib clan; but this marriage also ended in divorce.Afterwards Zaynab married Tufayl's brother, Ubaydah, who was more than thirty years older than herself. In 622 they joined the general emigration to Medina, where they lived on a plot of land that was shared with Ubaydah's two brothers. Ubaydah was killed at the Battle of Badr in March 624, and Zaynab remained a widow for nearly a year.
When her husband died, Muhammad aiming to provide for her, married her in 4 A.H. [her fifth marriage, at the age of 29.] She was nicknamed Umm Al-Masakeen (roughly translates as the mother of the poor), because of her kindness and charity.
[At that time that Muhammed married Zaynab, he had three other wives then living, and one wife that had predeceased him.]
Zaynab, however, she became ill and died about [eight] months after her marriage [at age 30].
Close to Aisha's age, the two younger wives Hafsa and Zaynab were welcomed into the household. Sawda, who was much older, extended her motherly benevolence to the younger women. Aisha and Hafsa had a lasting relationship.
Hind bint Suhayl (Umm Salama) (Sixth Wife)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. Abu Salamah's widow, Umm Salama, also a devoted Muslim, had none but her young children. Her plight of being without a man reportedly saddened the Muslims, and after her iddah some Muslims proposed marriage to her; but she declined. She was the paternal cousin of Khalid Ibn Al Waleed, the military commander who fought against Muhammad in many battles. Her marriage made Khalid take an indecisive attitude at the battle of Uhud. When Muhammad proposed her marriage, she was reluctant for three reasons: she claimed to suffer from jealousy and pointed out the prospect of an unsuccessful marriage, her old age, and her young family that needed support. But Muhammad replied that he would pray to God to free her from jealousy, that he too was of old age, and that her family was like his family. She married Muhammad around the end of 4 AH.
[At that time that Muhammed married Umm Salama, he had three other wives then living, and had two wives who had predeceased him. She was widowed in 625 and married Muhammed the same year. Umm Salama was married to Muhammad at the age of 32. Umm Salamah was a widow with 3 children and a fourth born almost immediately after their marriage. She had been married to Muhammed for seven years when he died.]
Zaynab bint Jahsh (Seventh Wife)Zaynab bint Jahsh was Muhammad's cousin, the daughter of one of his father's sisters.In the Pre Islamic Era, Arabs used to consider children who had been sponsored exactly the same as their biological children as far as rights such as inheritance and sanctities were concerned. However, after marriage the sponsored children lost their inheritance rights and were henceforth known as the children of their biological parents. After attaining puberty, they could not live with the sponsoring family but were still subsidised. This was to reduce the enmity of biological children towards sponsored children and to prevent the mingling of male sponsors with adult sponsored females.In Medina Muhammad arranged the widowed Zaynab's marriage to his adopted son Zayd ibn Harithah. Caesar E. Farah states that Muhammad was determined to establish the legitimacy and right to equal treatment of the adopted. Zaynab disapproved of the marriage, and her brothers rejected it, because according to Ibn Sa'd, she was of aristocratic lineage and Zayd was a former slave. Watt states that it is not clear why Zaynab was unwilling to marry Zayd as Muhammad esteemed him highly. He postulates that Zaynab, being an ambitious woman, was already hoping to marry Muhammad; or that she might have wanted to marry someone of whom Muhammad disapproved for political reasons. According to Maududi, after the Qur'anic verse 33:36 was revealed, Zaynab acquiesced and married Zayd.Zaynab's marriage was unharmonious. According to Watt, it is almost certain that she was working for marriage with Muhammad before the end of 626. Zaynab told Zayd about this, and he offered to divorce her, but Muhammad told him to keep her.
Muhammad, fearing public opinion, was initially reluctant to marry Zaynab. The marriage would seem incestuous to their contemporaries because she was the former wife of his adopted son, and adopted sons were considered the same as biological sons. According to Watt, this "conception of incest was bound up with old practices belonging to a lower, communalistic level of familial institutions where a child's paternity was not definitely known; and this lower level was in process being eliminated by Islam." The Qur'an, 33:37 however, indicated that this marriage was a duty imposed upon him by God. It implied that treating adopted sons as real sons was objectionable and that there should now be a complete break with the past. Thus Muhammad, confident that he was strong enough to face public opinion, proceeded to reject these taboos. When Zaynab's waiting period was complete, Muhammad married her. An influential faction in Medina, called "Hypocrites", a term that refers to those who convert to Islam while secretly working against it in the Islamic tradition, did indeed criticize the marriage as incestuous. Attempting to divide the Muslim community, they spread rumors as part of a strategy of attacking Muhammad through his wives. According to Ibn Kathir, the relevant Qur'anic verses were a "divine rejection" of the Hypocrites' objections. According to Rodinson, doubters argued the verses were in exact conflict with social taboos and favored Muhammad too much. The delivery of these verses, thus, did not end the dissent.
[Their marriage was six years old when he died.]
Rayhana bint Zayd (Eighth Wife)Rayhana bint Zayd was a Jewish woman from the Banu Nadir tribe. In 627, the Banu Qurayza tribe was defeated and Rayhana was enslaved.
Ibn Sa'd wrote that Rayhana went on to be manumitted and subsequently married to the prophet upon her conversion to Islam. 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.
Similar to Maria al-Qibtiyya, there is not universal consensus among Islamic scholars as to whether Rayhana was officially one of Muhammad's wives. Hafiz ibn Minda and Shibli Nomani, for example, believed that she returned to the Banu Nadir upon her manumission.
Rayhana died in 631, 11 days after hajj, and was buried at the Al-Baqi Cemetery in Medina along with other wives of Muhammad.
[She died about a year before Muhammed died.]
Juwayriyya bint al-Harith (Ninth Wife)One of the captives from the skirmish with the Banu Mustaliq was Juwayriyya bint Al-Harith, who was the daughter of the tribe's chieftain. Her husband, Mustafa bin Safwan, had been killed in the battle.
She initially fell among the booty of Muhammad's companion Thabit ibn Qays ibn Al-Shammas. Upon being enslaved, Juwayriyya went to Muhammad requesting that she - as the daughter of the lord of the Mustaliq - be released, however, he refused. Meanwhile, her father approached Muhammad with ransom to secure her release, but Muhammed still refused to release her. Muhammad then offered to marry her, and she accepted.
When it became known that tribes persons of Mustaliq were kinsmen of the prophet of Islam through marriage, the Muslims began releasing their captives. Thus, Muhammad's marriage resulted in the freedom of nearly one hundred families whom he had recently enslaved.
[She was born in 608 CE. Her first husband Mustafa ibn Safwan (died. 627, killed in the battle against Muslims). She probably married Muhammad in 627 at about age 19, and was married to him about five years when he died.]
Safiyya bint Huyayy Ibn Akhtab (Tenth Wife)Safiyya bint Huyayy was a noblewoman, the daughter of Huyayy ibn Akhtab, chief of the Jewish tribe Banu Nadir, who was executed after surrendering at the Battle of the Trench. She had been married first to the poet Sallam ibn Mishkam, who had divorced her, and second to Kenana ibn al-Rabi, a commander.
In 627 or early in 628, Safiyya married Kenana ibn al-Rabi, treasurer of the Banu Nadir; she was about 17 years old at that time.
In 628, at the Battle of Khaybar, Banu Nadir was defeated, her husband was executed and she was taken as a prisoner. Muhammad freed her from her captor Dihya and proposed marriage, which Safiyya accepted. According to Martin Lings, Muhammad had given Safiyyah the choice of returning to the defeated Banu Nadir, or becoming Muslim and marrying him, and Safiyyah opted for the latter choice.
According to Muhammad al-Bukhari, Muhammad stayed for three days between Khaybar and Medina, where he consummated his marriage to Safiyya. His companions wondered if she was to be considered a captive (Arabic: ma malakat aymanukum) or a wife. The former speculated that they would consider Safiyya as Muhammad's wife, and thus "Mother of the Believers".
Muhammad advised Safiyya to convert to Islam, she accepted and agreed to became Muhammad's wife. Safiyya did not bear any children to Muhammad.
According to a hadith, Muhammad's contemporaries believed that due to Safiyya's high status, it was only befitting that she be manumitted and married to Muhammad.
Muhammad convinced Safiyya to convert to Islam. According to Al-Bayhaqi, Safiyyah was initially angry at Muhammad as both her father and husband had been killed. Muhammad explained, "Your father changed the Arabs against me and committed heinous acts." Eventually, Safiyyah got rid of her bitterness against Muhammad. 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". Safiyyah remained loyal to Muhammad until he died.According to Islamic tradition, Safiyya was beautiful, patient, intelligent, learned and gentle, and she respected Muhammad as "Allah's Messenger". Muslim scholars state she had many good moral qualities. She is described as a humble worshiper and a pious believer. Ibn Kathir said, "she was one of the best women in her worship, piousness, ascetism, devoutness, and charity". According to Ibn Sa'd, Safiyyah was very charitable and generous. She used to give out and spend whatever she had; she gave away a house that she had when she was still alive.Upon entering Muhammad's household, Safiyya became friends with Aisha and Hafsa. Also, she offered gifts to Fatima. She gave some of Muhammad's other wives gifts from her jewels that she brought with her from Khaybar. However, some of Muhammad's other wives spoke ill of Safiyya's Jewish descent. Muhammad intervened, pointing out to everyone that Safiyya's "husband is Muhammad, father is Aaron, and uncle is Moses", a reference to revered prophets.Muhammad once went to hajj with all his wives. On the way, Safiyya's camel knelt down, as it was the weakest in the caravan, and she started to weep. Muhammad came to her and wiped her tears with his dress and hands, but the more he asked her not to cry, the more she went on weeping. When Muhammad was terminally ill, Safiyya was profoundly upset. She said to him "I wish it was I who was suffering instead of you."
[Their marriage was four years old when he died.]
Ramla bint Abi Sufyan (Umm Habiba) (Eleventh Wife)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. He sent a proposal for marriage to Ramla bint Abi Sufyan, who was in Abyssinia at the time when she learned her husband had died. She had previously converted to Islam (in Mecca) against her father's will. After her migration to Abyssinia her husband had converted to Christianity. 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.
[Their marriage was four years old when he died.]
Mariyah bint Shamoon al-Qibtiy (Concubine and Baby Mama)Maria al-Qibtiyya was one of several slaves whom the Governor of Egypt sent as a present to Muhammad. He kept her as a concubine despite the objections of his official wives. It is mentioned in all earliest biography of Prophet Muhammad that Mariyah is a slave girl or concubine. Mariyah bore Muhammad a son, Ibrahim who later died at 18 months.
Māriyya bint Shamʿūn, better known as Māriyya al-Qibṭiyya or al-Qubṭiyya, or Mary the Copt, died 637, was an Egyptian woman who, along with her sister Sirin, was sent to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 628 as a gift by Muqawqis, a Christian governor of Alexandria, during the territory's Persian occupation. She and her sister were slaves. She spent the rest of her life in Medina where she converted to Islam and lived with Muhammad where she bore a son, Ibrahim ibn Muhammad. The son would die as an infant and then she died almost five years later.
In this year Hātib b. Abi Balta'ah came back from al-Muqawqis bringing Māriyah and her sister Sīrīn, his female mule Duldul, his donkey Ya'fūr, and sets of garments. With the two women al-Muqawqis had sent a eunuch, and the latter stayed with them. Hātib had invited them to become Muslims before he arrived with them, and Māriyah and her sister did so. The Messenger of God, peace and blessings of Allah be upon Him, lodged them with Umm Sulaym bt. Milhān. Māriyah was beautiful. The prophet sent her sister Sīrīn to Hassān b. Thābit and she bore him 'Abd al-Rahmān b. Hassān.
The death of Ibrahim caused Muhammad to weep.
Like Rayhana bint Zayd, there is some debate between historians and scholars as to whether Maria ever became Muhammad's wife or remained a concubine. An indication that she was a concubine is that when she bore her son to Muhammad, she was set free. "Ibn ‘Abbas said: When Maria gave birth to Ibrahim the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, ‘Her son has set her free.’"There is also strong evidence that there was no living quarter for her in the proximity of the Prophet's Mosque. Only the wives of Muhammad had their quarters adjacent to one another in the proximity of his mosque at Medina. Maria was made to reside permanently in an orchard, some three kilometers from the mosque. Evidence that suggests she was a concubine is in the narration: "Anas said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) had a female-slave (amat) with whom he had intercourse, but ‘Aishah and Hafsah would not leave him alone until he said that she was forbidden for him. Then Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, revealed: “O Prophet! Why do you forbid (for yourself) that which Allah has allowed to you.’ until the end of the Verse.”"The ‘female-slave’ referred to in this narration was Maria, the Copt, as specified in a hadith attributed to Umar and classified as sahih by Ibn Kathir, which names her Umm Ibrahim (the mother of Ibrahim).In a report from Ibn ‘Abbas and ‘Urwah b. al-Zubair concerning the same incident, Muhammad said to Hafsa: "I make you witness that I my concubine (surriyyati) is now forbidden unto me."
[Four years had passed since she became his slave when he died and less than two years had passed since Ibrahim had died when Muhammed died.]
Maymuna binti al-Harith (Twelfth Wife)As part of the treaty of Hudaybiyah, Muhammad visited Mecca for the pilgrimage. There Maymuna bint al-Harith proposed marriage to him. Muhammad accepted, and thus married Maymuna, the sister-in-law of Abbas, a longtime ally of his. By marrying her, Muhammad also established kinship ties with the banu Makhzum, his previous opponents. As the Meccans did not allow him to stay any longer, Muhammad left the city, taking Maymuna with him. 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.
She was in her late 30s when she married him. Maymuna lived with Muhammad for three years until his death in 632.
Muhammad's widows
Nine of Muhammad's wives survived him.
[Three of his wives predeceased him. Maria al-Qibtiyya is not counted as a widow.]
Aisha, who became known as Muhammad's favourite wife in Sunni tradition, survived him by decades and was instrumental in helping assemble the scattered sayings of Muhammad that form the Hadith literature for the Sunni branch of Islam.
According to the Qur'an, God forbade anyone to marry the wives of Muhammad, because of their respect and honour, after he died.Nor is it right for you that ye should annoy Allah's Messenger, or that ye should marry his wives after him at any time.[Quran 33:53]The extent of Muhammad's property at the time of his death is unclear. Although Qur'an [2.180] clearly addresses issues of inheritance, Abu Bakr, the new leader of the Muslim ummah, refused to divide Muhammad's property among his widows and heirs, saying that he had heard Muhammad say:We (Prophets) do not have any heirs; what we leave behind is (to be given in) charity.Muhammad's widow Hafsa played a role in the collection of the first Qur'anic manuscript. After Abu Bakr had collected the copy, he gave it to Hafsa, who preserved it until Uthman took it, copied it and distributed it in Muslim lands.Some of Muhammad's widows were active politically in the Islamic state after Muhammad's death. Safiyya, for example, aided the Caliph Uthman during his siege. During the first fitna, some wives also took sides. Umm Salama, for example, sided with Ali, and sent her son Umar for help. The last of Muhammad's wives, Umm Salama lived to hear about the tragedy of Karbala in 680, dying the same year. The grave of the wives of Muhammed is located at al-Baqīʿ Cemetery, Medina.
Family Life
Muhammad performed household chores such as preparing food, sewing clothes, and repairing shoes. He is also said to have had accustomed his wives to dialogue; he listened to their advice, and the wives debated and even argued with him.
Muhammad and his family lived in small apartments adjacent to the mosque at Medina. Each of these was six to seven spans wide (1.7 meters) and ten spans long (2.3 meters). The height of the ceiling was that of an average man standing. Blankets were used as curtains to screen the doors.
According to an account by Anas bin Malik, "The Prophet used to visit all his wives in a round, during the day and night and they were eleven in number." I asked Anas, "Had the Prophet the strength for it?" Anas replied, "We used to say that the Prophet was given the strength of thirty (men)." And Sa'id said on the authority of Qatada that Anas had told him about nine wives only (not eleven)." Although Muhammad's wives had a special status as Mothers of the Believers, he did not allow them to use his status as a prophet to obtain special treatment in public.
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