The Prophet’s wives

poster —

I've notices that there seems to be conflicting opinions on the number of wives the prophet Mohammad (pbuh) had.

I've heard people say he had as much as 20 wives and I have heard people say he had just 6. In different Islamic books I've read conflicting numbers too.

I am quite confused because I thought all Muslims agreed he had 11 wives.

How many wives did he [i]really[/i] have?, and can anybody prove this by quoteing an authentic source?

And why was he allowed to have more then 4 wives?

I would be grateful if you could help me out on this one.

Thanks.

Forum

Amal — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 - 20:03

Assalamu a'alykum,

[quote="poster"]How many wives did he [i]really[/i] have?, and can anybody prove this by quoteing an authentic source? [/quote]

Muhammad saw had 11-13 wives. I guess the sources are from Qur'an, ahadith and historical records.. Maybe someone else who knows more could expand on this.. i just checked my books again on this, and generally, the ulema differ on the status' of some of his wives - thats why there is no "exact figure" (eg its disputed on whether Maria al-Qibtiya ra was a wife or not).

[quote="poster"]And why was he allowed to have more then 4 wives?[/quote]

Muhammad saw was a unique person, and had a unique position. For example, clouds would shade him from the sun, he ascended to the heavens, water flowed inbetween his fingers, palm tree that cried, etc etc
So cant always apply same to Muhammad saw, as you could to us..

Also, before Islam, the land of Arabia was a place full of great feuding, fighting and conflicts and general chaos between families, tribes and races - so marriage between races, tribes, religions, etc, created connectivity; it was a way in which people could unite together, conflicting tribes could create relations between each other, nations could build bridges, etc. Its still done today - eg Queen Victoria married Friedrich, the German Emperor..
so the marriages that Muhammad saw had could make way for this..

Muhammad saw was also an example for us all, and so through his marriages, could show us what was the correct islamic stance on matter - ie it is allowed to marry your cousin (Muhammad saw married his cousin Zaynab bint Jahsh ra), or you can marry people of the book (Muhammad saw married Safiya bint Huyay ra), etc
hope that helps 🙂

ps. if your interested, theres a really nice book that i like on the wives of the Prophet by Ahmad Thompson - really concise and popular book on them ra

Omrow — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 - 17:54

Salam

[b]Prophet Muhammad had 13 Wives[/b]

The order in which he married them:

---------

Khadija

Sawda

Aysha

Hafsa

Zainab Bint Khuzaima

Zainab Bint Jahsh

Ummay Salma

Juweriya

Safya

Ummay Habeba

Maria the Christian

Mamuna

Rehana

--------

Ordinary people are allowed to marry 4 wives at a time.

They cannot take more than 4 in one go.

But the Prophet could marry as many women as he liked.

He chose to marry 13.

Omrow

Noor — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 - 18:02

[color=indigo][b]I've read that the Prophet PBUH had 11 wives, well thats what the book said. I don't think any of us here can really say how many wives the Prophet PBUH actually had without clear proofs from the Quran or Sunnah.[/b][/color]

Noor — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 - 18:12

[b][color=indigo]The prophet PBUH had 4 daughters Zara, Hadrat Fatimah RA, Hadrat Rukaya RA, Hadrat Zainab RA and Hadrat Umm-Kalsoom RA.[/color][/b]

Omrow — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 - 18:19

What, are you telling me that she cant tell the difference between wives and daughters?

She must be on LDS.

zara — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 - 18:22

omrow, i thought that the prophet had 4 wives and 11 daughters, i just got them mixed up.

peacegirl — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 - 23:13

[quote="zara"]no, it was class A[/quote]

4 wives and 11 daughters seems more realistic!! I know it's not but it SEEMS like a realistic figure! 😂
so leave zara alone!!