In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

Why did the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) have many wives?

If someone asks you that question, either in a good or in a bad intention,

will you be able to answer?

Here is the answer ,as given in a lecture by Amro Khalid about the Mothers of the believers

( the Prophet’s wives)

Let’s first ask ourselves, how many wives did the Prophet had?

They were twelve. When he died there were ten wives with him ,

while Khadija and Zaynab died in his life

But do you know their names, the names of your mothers, the mothers of the

believers?

They are:Khadijah Bint Khuwaylid

Sawdah Bint ZamaahAaishah Bint Abi Bakr

Hafsah Bint OmarZainab Bint Khuzaymah

Om-salamah , Hind Bint OtbahZainab Bint Jahsh

Juwayriyah Bint AlharithSafiyah Bint Huyay Ibn Akhtab

Ommo Habibah Ramlah Bint Abi SofianMaria Bint Shamoun, the Egyptian

Maymonah Bint Alharith

Did the Prophet’s )PBUH( wives married someone for the first time

(i.e. were they all virgins?)

Only one, Aaishah, all the rest were either widows or divorced .

Were they all Arabs ?

All, except for Mariya, who was from Egypt.

Where they all Muslims ?

All but two ; Safiya who was a Jew , and Mariya who was a Christian .

Now, let’s answer the main and very important question: Was it lust that caused the prophet

(PBUH) to have so many marriages ?

To answer the question we have to mention the following facts :

1 -The Prophet married for the first time when he was 25 years old .

2 -The first woman he married , Khadijah was 40 years old already married twice before him and had

children. He stayed married to her alone for 25 years, until she died. He stayed single after her

death for two years in grief and mourning over her death. He was then 52 years old.

3 -From 52 till 60, he married several times for political and social reasons, not for lust (Naooz Billah).…

After two years of living single , he married Sawdah, an 80 year old widow in order to honor her because she was the first widow in Islam .Not an act of a lustful man after a period of living single.

It’s not logical to say that lust had appeared suddenly at the Prophet’s life at 52, and at the middle of the fierce physical and psychological

struggle to spread Islam

There is only one conclusion we can extract from the above:

1 -Mohammad )PBUH( the man married Khadijah2 -Mohammad )PBUH( the Prophet married the

rest of his wives .

But , was Mohammad (PBUH) the only Prophet to have multiple wives ?

Or polygamy was taken by other Prophets as well?

The answer is : NO. Polygamywas the norm at the times of Ibrahim, Dawoud, Solayman, all known in the

Bible to have been polygamists .

Now, let’s mention the political, social and religious reasons the prophet

)PBUH( had these marriages .

First: To spread the culture through eyewitnesses with all the details known only to intimate people. Hazrat

Aaishah (R.A), being so young, was able to tell all those details to the Muslims for more than 42 years.

She had seen and learnt so much from him. Her young age was a great advantage in this respect. She could tell what the Prophet (pbuh) used to do or say

in all aspects of life, so that people do and say the same in the similar situations…

Hazrat Aaishah (R.A), was the most knowledgeable person when it comes to the daily life of the

Muslims and how it should go as was lived by the Prophet (PBUH) himself . But how can he (PBUH) married her when she was only nine years old? The

desert climate answers to that . In such environment Girls reached youth very

young. Not only in Arabia, but also in Roma and Persia, girls were married that young

Second: To strengthen the relationships with his companions, he married Abi Bakr’s daughter and Omar's sister, married his daughters to Othman and Ali, May God be pleased with them all.

Third: out of mercy and rewarding the early Muslim widows and divorcees he (PBUH) gave them the honor of marrying them himself (Husbands either died in battles

or were non Muslims who divorced them.). Sawdah, Om-salama and Habeebah were widows.

Fourth: The Prophet (PBUH) was being a role model for the Muslims being kind to the widows and to the

people of the book who newly embraced Islam. He (PBUH) married Safiyah after her father , a Jew,

embraced Islam , so giving him and his daughter the

honor among his people

Fifth: He (PBUH) wanted to have ties and links with the different nations of the world. When he married Mariya, all Egyptians were on his side,

and when he married Gowayriyah, all her people (they were called the Bani Almustalaq and were captured by the Muslims after a battle),, they

all embraced Islam

I wish this makes you more assured and able take a stand up to allegations against the Prophet (PBUH).

May peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you all.