The Wives Of The Prophet (S) - Animation Video

One of the false accusations made against the Holy Prophet by Islamophobes is that his marriages were all motivated by pure lust for women. In order to dispel this myth, let us take a quick look at the wives of the Prophet and circumstances surrounding their marriages.

The first wife of the Prophet was Lady Khadija, a wealthy business owner who proposed to the Prophet due to his good character and spent all her wealth in the service of Islam after marrying him. She was one of the most loyal companions of the Prophet, and he did not marry any other woman until after she passed away.

After her, the Prophet, like many other companions who had the financial means, married a number of women who had lost their husbands, either naturally or in battle. His second wife, Sawdah, had travelled to Abyssinia with her husband to escape persecution in Mecca, and she returned as an elderly widow. The Prophet felt her loneliness and married her a few months after the demise of Khadija. The third wife was A'isha, who the Prophet married soon after migrating to Medina, after his previous engagement had broken off.

His 4th, fifth, and 6th wives were Hafsa, Zaynab the daughter of Khuseyma and Umm Salama, whose husbands were all martyred in the battles of Badr or Uhud. His 7th wife, Zaynab, the daughter of Jahsh, was previously married to Zayd, the adopted son of the Prophet. But as their marriage encountered irreconcilable complications, Zayd divorced her. Allah then ordered the Prophet to marry Zaynab to shatter a societal custom in which it was taboo to marry the divorced wife of your adopted son, so as to make life easier for such divorced women.

The 8th wife was Juwayriyyah, who was captured as a prisoner after a battle, but later wished to marry the Prophet herself. When the Prophet married her, Muslim soldiers freed the rest of the prisoners of her tribe, as they did not want the in-laws of the Prophet to be in their captivity, and as a result, the entire tribe converted to Islam.

The 9th wife was Ramla, who escaped to Abyssinia with her husband during the persecution of the Muslims in Mecca. She returned back in 7th Hijry as a widow, and the Prophet married her to support her. The 10th and 11th wives were Rayhana and Safiyyah. Both were Jewish ladies captured as prisoners after battles, but were eventually freed as they converted to Islam.

Safiyyah had seen a dream in which the moon fell in her lap, and her previous husband interpreted it as her desire to marry the Prophet. Upon hearing the dream, he hit her so hard that it left a bruise on her face. After her husband was killed in battle fighting the Muslims, she was brought to the Prophet while still bruised, and the Prophet proposed to her for marriage. The 12th wife was Maymunah, also a widow who proposed to the Prophet after the treaty of Hudaybiyah. And the 13th wife was Mariya, a slave sent as a gift by the Christian governor of Alexandria for the Prophet. The Prophet freed her, and when she converted to Islam, he proposed to her in marriage, and she accepted.

Out of the 13 ladies, the Prophet married. Eight of them were widows and divorcees, some even with children, and he married them to protect them from poverty. Three of them were captured as prisoners who later converted to Islam, and showed desire to marry the Prophet, or the Prophet proposed to them in marriage, so to help them assimilate into the new Muslim community. One of the marriages was due to a direct order of Allah in order to break a societal taboo.

While the marriage with Khadijah was the only marriage that did not have any secondary reasons or motives, none of the marriages of the Prophet were due to pure lust, and the accusation made by Islamophobes is nothing more than a mith.