“Despite The Highly Sexualized Image Of Him In The West, The Multiply Married Muhammad Was Celibate” - Lesley Hazleton: A Fresh Insight Into Prophet Muhammad’s Conjugal Relations With His Later Wives That Has Spawned A Great Deal Of Controversy
By
Muhammad Yunus, New Age Islam
(Co-author
(Jointly with Ashfaque Ullah Syed), Essential Message of Islam, Amana
Publications, USA, 2009)
20 June
2022
One Can
Say with Fair Degree of Certainty That All of the Prophet’s Later Marriages
Were Celibate
Main
Points:
1. Prophet
Muhammad’s marriage with Aisha, daughter of Abu Bakr, gave him the clan
protection that he needed for the security of his life.
2. Besides, in
the tribal society of Prophet’s era and even in recent times female children
are married off to ensure their security or for financial reasons or to move up
in clan hierarchy.
3. Prophet’s
marriage with Aisha, still a minor was merely of promissory nature to be
consummated after she reached her adulthood.
4.
The failure of all later wives of the Prophet – all widows,
except Aisha, who had given birth to children to their erstwhile husbands only
shows that he did not consummate marriage with any of them and that all his
later marriages including the one with Aisha were celibate
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At around
age 50, Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) lost both his uncle Abu Talib and
his first wife Khadija, and was thus left without any clan protection. This was
about the tenth year of his prophetic mission in Mecca. The Quraysh, who had
opposed him since the very beginning of his mission, now threatened to kill
him. His marriage with Aisha, daughter of Abu Bakr, gave him the clan
protection that he needed for the security of his life. The marriage also
served as a strong testimony of the truth of his mission. Abu Bakr was a highly
prestigious member of the Meccan society. He would never take Muhammad, a
veritable pariah of the society at that moment in history, as his son-in-law,
unless he was convinced of the truth of his prophetic mission."
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Also Read: Was Hazrat Aisha Married to the Prophet in Her
Childhood?
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So Aisha's
age was not any issue. Even if she were much younger than alleged in classical
reports, Abu Bakr would have gone ahead with this marriage. Besides, in the
tribal society of Prophet’s era and even in recent times female children are
married off to ensure their security or for financial reasons or to move up in
clan hierarchy. But such ‘child marriages’ remain merely on paper or oral
commitment of the guardian of the child until the ‘child bride’ reaches her
adulthood. Therefore, the Prophet’s marriage with Aisha, still a minor was
merely of promissory nature to be consummated after she reached her adulthood.
Absolutely nothing wrong or immoral about it and the Muslims must not feel
ashamed or apologetic about it.
Now the
question is when was this marriage consummated. Regardless of colourful stories
spun around this and the Prophet’s other marriages, we must take the Qur’an as
the final authority on the status of the Prophet’s marriages – whether they
were consummated at all or remained merely commitments to offer security and
prestige to the spouses. This must be clearly understood before passing any
judgment on the Prophet’s personal disposition towards all his later wives –
their number not being important.
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Also Read: Hazrat Aisha’s
Controversial Age at Marriage: Nine or Nineteen?
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The Prophet
had lived with his first wife, Khadija, a widow many years older to him for
some 25 years. After her death, he contracted some 10 or marriages – mostly
widowed in their advanced ages who had children from their previous husbands.
Aisha was the only exception. Around the middle of Medinite period when the
Prophet had already contracted most of his later marriages the Qur’an declares:
“Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of
Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all
things.” (33:40). This forestalled any possibility of the Prophet having a
male off-spring from any of his later marriages. That is to say, if the Prophet
were to have any son born to any of his later wives, the Qur’an would have been
falsified. The only way that the Prophet could stand up to the Qur’an’s verdict
was by not consummating any of his later marriages. Besides, as the birth of a
child would have given a very special honour and position to any of his wives
who bore him a child, each of them must have done their best to attain a
conjugal union which must have been averted by the Prophet’s profound
spirituality and nightly vigil.
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Also Read: Aisha bint Abu Bakr: A Fascinating Woman
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Lesley
Hazelton, one of the most eminent scholars and internationally acknowledged
biographer of the Prophet of this era argues this in a compelling manner in her
2013 publication, The First Muslim, The Story of Muhammad, River Head books,
New York (pg 220)
Conclusion. The failure of all later wives of
the Prophet – all widows except Aisha, who had given birth to children to their
erstwhile husbands only shows that he did not consummate marriage with any of
them for had he done so he must have had issues from them – given that each of
them had children from their previous marriage. This must be true for Aisha as
well who as a virgin bride had the strongest possibility of bearing a child for
the Prophet. Hence one can say with fair degree of certainty that all of the
Prophet’s later marriages were celibate.
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Related
Article:
Hazrat
Aisha's Contribution In The Spread, Propagation And Legacy Of Islam
-----
Muhammad
Yunus, a Chemical Engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, and
a retired corporate executive has been engaged in an in-depth study of the
Qur’an since early 90’s, focusing on its core message. He has co-authored the
referred exegetic work, which received the approval of al-Azhar al-Sharif,
Cairo in 2002, and following restructuring and refinement was endorsed and
authenticated by Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl of UCLA, and published by Amana
Publications, Maryland, USA, 2009.
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