Islam
Père Zakaria Boutros

The wives of the messenger
 

The author      : Father Zakaria Boutros
The publisher:  www.fatherzakaria.com
 

The relation between the husband and wife in Islam and Christianity

In Christianity

Concerning marriage, the Christ said:” He who created them from the beginning "created them male and female" (Matthew 19:4) and he sanctified that relation

In Ephesus, he said about the marriage” This is a great secret” (Ephesus 5:32)

And also he said:” Let marriage be kept honorable in every way, and the marriage bed undefiled” (Hebrew 13:4) so that is sanctification of the marriage as it is a sanctified secret in Christianity as it is a bond between two only and there is no divorce

The Christ said:” whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (Matthew 5:32)

It is a holy inseparable relationship as what God has joined together, man must never separate." (Mark 10:9) that is the holiness of the marital life in Christianity

In Islam

We know the famous verse In the women chapter (Surat An-Nisa') 3:”Then marry women of your choice, two or three, or four but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with them, then only one or that your right hands possess" meaning any captive women , he can posses , and their number is unlimited , besides the pleasure marriage if they were traveling or in the battle , man can take a woman and spend sometimes with her then gives her a wage for that
The pleasure marriage was practiced during the time of Muhammad, , the messenger practiced it and so did the companions , it was also present during the time of Abe Bakre and the beginning of the time of Omer then Omer banned it ( Sahih Al-Bokhary)
narrated Omer Ibn Afrah: they said that Muhammad had nothing to do except marriage, so he had at the same time 9 wives , as when he said two, three or four that was for the people , but for the prophet he had special privileges for his prophecy , and above the 9 wives he had captives as Maria the Coptic and others  , besides those women who dedicates themselves to the prophet like Maymouna, he also engaged some women , but he didn’t marry them, and the total women according to the references were 66 women (1)
 
- Al-Syouty mentioned, the prophetical converse in which the prophet said:” three things I liked so much, the women, the perfume and food “(2)
 
 
 

There were so many marriage stories for Muhammad all of them were strange and unique

- it is well known from the converses books and the books of the prophetical life history that he married Khadija for 25 years , during that period he didn’t marry any other woman , that was good, then after the death of Khadija he married a child 6 years old , he engaged her while she was 6 years old and married her when she was 9 years old , and from the age of 6 to 9 he was doing bodily contacts with her that was mentioned in the books

In the book of Dr. Aeisha Abdul-Rahman Bent Al-Shate’ “the prophet’s women “she mentioned his 9 wives and the story of Aeisha

Some say that, may be she was 9 years old, but looks like 19 years old, actually that's not true for the following reasons:

1) On the day of her marriage she was playing with her fiends on the swing
2) her mother washed her face and head
3) she was carried from the swing and brought to the prophet

 - So is that rational to think for a 19 years old lady to play in a swing, to be carried and to let someone wash her face

Dr. Aeisha Abdul-Rahman mentioned the human aspect of the messenger in his relation with his wives, she said that the prophet was bringing for Aeisha the toys to play with and also he was bringing her friends to play with her, he was carrying her on his shoulders , to watch some of the Ethiopians playing outside with the sticks

Some are saying that marrying young girls was common at that time, but that was wrong and the messenger of God should rectify the wrong thing and not practice it

There was another story mentioned in the Confederates chapter (Surat Al-Ahzab) concerning his marriage to Zainab Bent Jahsh his daughter in law of his adopted son Zaied Ibn Hartha

The books said that one day the prophet went to visit  Zaied…and there was a curtain of hair over the door, a wind blew and the curtain was lifted up, so Muhammad saw Zainab in her room naked …he fall in love with her and when she went out to meet him , she heard him saying :O God, who changes the hearts” when Zaied came back she told him that the prophet was here , then he asked her why he didn’t get in , she told him the whole story till she reached his saying” O God, who changes the hearts”, then Zaied went to the prophet and asked him: do you want her , messenger of God? ,and then the verse of banning the adoption descended , as the messenger wanted to marry his daughter in law of his adopted son , and the adoption was totally forbidden , so every one should be named after his father and another verses descended permitting him to marry her saying to him how do you hide in yourself what Allah has already made known to you
 
 
 
 
 
 

And they are saying that He was God who put into his heart those things

Is it possible that God put into the heart of a man the desire to take the wife of another man?? How could God do that?? and he is the one who said:” Everyone looking at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28)

How do you accuse God of doing that? How could he let a person have such lust in his heart, and to be occupied with that lust? And the verse came and he divorced the woman from her husband for the messenger to marry her

Aeisha was narrating her personal life with the prophet, how he was playing with her and fondling her, as they were bathing together in one basin and sprinkling water over each other, that was the humanity of the prophet in his relation with his wives, he loved Aeisha so much that his other wives were jealous of her, he told them don’t forget that she is the daughter of Abe Bakre

If the prophet saw a pretty woman, she should be for him, even if she was married
One of his companions named Dohya Al-Kalby was with him when they returned from the incursion of Bane Al-Mostaleq, they had war captives and they distributed the women among them, so Safya Bent Hoyai was the portion of Dohya Al-Kalby, he took the woman and went , then some people came to the prophet telling him how Safya was for Dohya and she was pretty woman , she should be yours, the prophet took her from Dohya and married her in the same day of killing her husband, father , uncle and brother and without waiting for the legal period (Al-Oda) to pass

That is really very strange and there is a big question mark for that behavior, there should be some secret for that, hoping that some Sheikh would explain it for us

The same was repeated with Joreya Bent Al-Harith , as she was the portion of Thabet Bin Kais , but she didn’t like Thabet and she was able to escape from him and went to the house of the prophet , Aeisha saw her and she was impressed of her beauty , so she was jealous of her beauty and said to herself , if the prophet saw her he would admire her as I did , and that what exactly happened , as when the prophet heard her voice from outside , he went out to see what was happening , Joreya told him I was the portion of Thabet Bin Kais,  I want to pay for him to leave me , but as I am captive I have nothing , he said to her: don’t be afraid I will pay for you and take you for myself , and he did

In the incursion of Fazara, one of the companions took a captive girl, her name was not mentioned in the books, it was said that she was the Fazarian girl (Al-Fattah Al-Fazarya) , the messenger heard about her , he met that man in the market ,and asked her how is the Fazarian, the man told him: believe me messenger , she is a pretty girl and I didn’t unveil her yet , the messenger said: send her to me, the man didn’t understand that, next day he told her again , and the man didn’t understand what he wanted, and in the third day the man realized and understood his demand and he sent her to him

That is a question mark; could people do like him??

In the Confederates chapter (Surat Al-Ahzab) 50:” and a believing woman if she dedicates herself unto the Prophet and the Prophet desire to wedlock her, a privilege for you only, not for the rest of believers, In order that there should be no difficulty for you, and God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

So the question is: any believing woman dedicates herself to the messenger, even if she was married, with no exception???

As an example for that: a girl named Maymouna, when he was in Makkah in the state of pilgrimage , in the last day , Maymouna was riding a camel, when she saw him , she threw herself on him from the camel saying the camel and who is on the camel are for you messenger of God , so he took her , and for that a verse descended to allow him to take any woman who dedicates herself to him , as the verse that descended when he took Zainab from Zaied , on that incident Aeisha said:” I can see your God is always rushing to satisfy your desires “

Those are very strange things that make man think, how could that happen and why?

Narrated Aeisha: the prophet peace upon him didn’t die till all women were lawful for him (3)

In Christianity

The Christ said:” Everyone looking at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28)

The man should be scarified from inside, that happens through connection with God

So tell him please let your spirit to purify me, change me and satisfy me, as one who is full tramples a honeycomb, but to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet

The Christianity bids for sublimation of man , by taking the spirit of God within him to purify his heart and life and sublimate him over the lusts and the marriage will be holy and the marriage bed undefiled, and for every man will be his wife and for every woman her husband , as from he beginning he created them male and female and man is living in peace and comfort in happiness with the only life partner

And that is the Christ who raises and sublimates the human nature and gives us the capabilities of living in holiness

I am asking everyone to ask the Christ to fill his heart and change his life and then he will get a holy life in Jesus Christ, Amen
 

(1) “Quranic lessons” page 832 and also in Sahih Al-Bokhary

(2)  Al-Syouty exegesis, part 3, page 377

(3)  Al-Tabaquat Al-Kobra, by Ibn Saad, part 8