Assalamu alaikum peace biagio Welcome to another episode of Islamic focus. I’m your host Hamad Rashid. Today we have our 44th program in our series, Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him the last messenger of Islam. Today we have our third program in commenting on the marriages of the Prophet. I’m joined
as my guest on today’s program by Dr. Jamal battery of St. Mary’s University.
Before we get into this program, could you very quickly highlight the main points that we touched on in last week’s program? Certainly, we discussed the connection between the marriage of the prophet to Khadija and his sexual purity and we indicated with ample reasoning, I hope that it was not really a pleasure seeking type of attitude in his marriage to Khadija, because of the difference in age he did not marry with any woman alongside with her. Even though polygamy was accepted socially and culturally. We discussed also the deep relationship of love and affection that was between them, that he continued to remember her even after her death. And that seemed to indicate the spiritual
and psychological companionship as the prominent motive behind their marriage, that this relationship really was a joint struggle to seek the pleasure of God not their own individual prejudice. We indicated also that after the death of Khadija, his first wife with whom he lived alone for 25 years, he married soda. And so there was probably at least 55 years old, some give an older age even for her. And then even after he made it so that she did not move to his household until two years later. So that left him with almost two or three years of periods where he didn’t have any wife in the household even. We indicated also that information available about Saudi Air
shows that she was not beautiful. In addition of being Of course, neither she was
rich, for example, or have any other attraction. And we indicated that the real reason for the Prophet’s marriage to sell them is that her husband died when she was in Ethiopia when they went because of persecution of Muslims in Mecca. And her family were very much enemies of the Prophet and of Muslims. And as such, the marriage of the prophet to her was a source of protection for her it gave her a home and saved her from any retaliation, possible retaliation by her family. And that led also to the softening of the hearts of their family, and some of them appreciated the nobility of the Prophet, and they actually many of them embraced Islam.
We also last time brought a chart
to show which was to the scale actually, the various phases in the life of the Prophet and he indicated that unlike the erroneous impression left by some writers, non Muslim writers, in fact, the greatest part of his life was a life of chaste bachelor ship. That’s up to the age of 25. Or monogamy, with one wife between the age of 25 to 50, with Habiba alone, and practical monogamy really, after one year or so of widowhood, when he was married to Souder, she moved to his household, only two years later. And we finally indicated that even before the polygamous period, the last phase in his life or last seven years of his life, that even though he contracted marriage
to Ayesha
while he was already married to sell the Ayesha did not move to his household until three years after the contract, which means that up to the age of 56, he was in virtual state of monogamy actually, the major part of his life,
like to
pick up on the distinction between contracting the marriage and moving to the household of the Prophet. Can I ask you perhaps to clarify the difference between these two faiths? Sure. In Islamic law, it is permissible actually. If, for example, the person is getting married to someone, that the marriage contract is negotiated and signed that everything in which case legally speaking,
they become husband and wife. But on the other hand, sometimes also, for whatever reasons, people might not consummate the marriage immediately. And the wife may not send the move directly or immediately to the household of the person to whom she she got married. So in the case of Ayesha,
the prophet was already married to Souder.
So the marital contract was negotiated with the approval of Ayesha and her parent. And in fact, the reason she did not probably move directly to his household one possible reason is that she was too young. The historians differ some give the age of six
Some give the age of nine nine seem to be the more reasonable one, because by any stretch of imagination, the age of six, of course, will not be an age really where marriage is contracted. But in any case, this has been the estimate given by by some historians. And perhaps in that age why the manager contract This is legitimate issue might have not been ready yet for marital life. And maybe that’s why she probably stayed for more years, as for several more years with with her family until she was mature enough to move to the household of the Prophet, I must add also that even moving to the household of the Prophet, he has may not necessarily also mean that the marriage was
consummated.
This is a third distinction, even between constructing the marriage moving to the household to be part of the household and submission of magic. I’m sure many of the viewers are probably asking or wondering if the age of 12 is not too early for to be contemplating marriage, and also the age difference, the gap between the profit in Asia was quite significant. Would you comment on as to? Okay, you’re paying close to 12 in a sense that if you take the narration that say they were married, or negotiated the contract at the age of nine, and they mentioned that she moved to the household Three years later, yes. So they’d say about the age of 21, she moved to his household. I
think this indeed might sound rather strange today, in the confines of the Western culture, its laws and customs. There’s no question about that it sounds rather early for for marriage. But on the other hand, the sociological and cultural circumstances 1400 years ago in Arabia may not necessarily be the same as we have it today. And we cannot really subject that period in that place, with the to the criteria or the measurement that we use in our contemporary society or our particular customs. To begin with, I don’t believe that the difference in age in itself should be a barrier towards marriage that he was she was very young, and he was already in his mid 50s. That is not in itself, a
barrier in marriage. In fact, we hear once in a while also, even in the Western society, of marriages, with Wyatt, difference of age, if there are other good reasons for compatibility or other strong reasons for that marriage. The age difference should not in itself be a barrier, unless, of course, you talk about something very, very unreasonable, like somebody who’s 80 years old, 16 years old, for example, yes, that might be a case. But otherwise, there is no criteria really, to determine one particular age difference.
And even if you look at the
Western society today, you find that the culture and customs again, he is
seem to be against a marriage of minors, even negotiating a contract, even with the approval of the parents, of course, that’s the law of the land, I think in in the witness must have bought, what 16 years old or something of that nature,
or 18, or 19, or something like.
But on the other hand, if you look at the matters, in the framework of the cultures, and Society of the time, when the Prophet contracted the marriage that was quite common, and even today, I would say, in some other cultures in the east, there are cases of people also contracting marriage to minors, even though they would not move to the household of the husband immediately.
As far as the young age when you talk about 20, or saw 12, or possibly 13, because some give for years, even before she moved to the household years, even then, from the purely medical standpoint, and this I checked with the physicians, you know, that it is quite possible and not unusual for a girl to be totally mature is reach adolescence at the age of 12. It’s not not unreasonable to expect. And also I was told that the age of adolescence varies from one family to the other, one person to the other. It’s also varies with races and the weather. In the in the warm areas. I was taught by one physician, for example, who practiced in India, in Britain and in North America, that
he has seen many cases of an average earlier age of reaching adolescence in the in the areas in the world where it’s, it’s reasonably more warm. I don’t know whether this has anything to do with the hormonal activities. This is something that
you know, can be checked
But on on the horn, there is no difficulty at all
knowledge and maturity even as early as, as 12, even before sometimes, but the knowledge in any case with Isaiah was essentially the advancement of faith 3d rather than, you know marrying for pleasure because even when you contract a marriage to a child or a minor before
reaching the age of adolescence, obviously it’s not the physical attraction and to have to wait for several years before she moves to the household of this ensures that there must have been other overarching reason reasons beyond the
pleasure itself. You mentioned that the the intent and your view behind the marriage was that it was helpful and advancing the faith.
Could you explain in what sense that was the case? Okay, to begin with. As indicated earlier, Muslims were severely persecuted in America, and among the earliest people who became Muslims and accepted the Prophet.
There were a number of very devout Muslims, including Abu Bakar.
Abu Bakr, in fact, was the first meal about to embrace Islam and to follow the prophet and became very much beloved and close to Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him
was a very strong supporter of the prophet in the most difficult times, especially in the migration from Mecca to Medina, the Quran make reference to that in Surah, nine in verse 41.
In addition to that, Abu Bakr was a very wise man. He was a very good reputation and good characters among his people.
And in fact, as we see later in history, he was chosen to be the first kiss after the death of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Now, Aisha was the daughter of Lachman. Yes, she was the daughter of Abu Bakar. So for the prophet to get married,
from the daughter of his very close and beloved companion and support, like a buck was very useful in honoring a buck in establishing a sort of more rapport and cementing the relationship, and in a way you rewarded him for his faithfulness, also, and marriage, of course, customary was regarded as one of those important means of cementing relationships.
Like I said, we notice in this marriage, that our Isha at the time was too young. So the definitely there was no question of romance or attraction, she was still a child, really, practically.
Secondly, that this marriage, helped also to the demolish and destroy some of the bad customs that existed among Arabs, we find some reference to that actually in Muslim
that apparently, the Arabs whenever somebody was so close to the other and equals him, you’re my brother is not necessarily blood brothers. And being a blood brother, if somebody calls himself a call the other my brothers, that some of them used to believe that he should not get married to his daughter or else he would be marrying, you know, his son and his niece,
even though it’s just the superficial, just the you know, Brotherhood in blood, and I mean, in faith in blood. And apparently that was the case because according to the integration in Muslim, that when Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him offered to abolish the requests or, you know, proposal to marry his daughter, Ayesha, Abu Bakr said, All messenger of God, but you are my brother. So the perfect answer, he said, yes, you are my brother in faith, but according to the book of gotchas, lawful ultimatums of marriage, and that actually was to remove that bad habit, because that established artificial barriers and perfectly legitimate marriage and made a clear distinction between bloods
brotherhood and brotherhood in phase which should not be a various terms of intermarriage.
But indeed, this marriage was quite crucial in the advancement of Islam, because of the exceedingly important and crucial role played by Isaiah the prophet made very, very good choice. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that was not even directed through some source of inspiration that
was destined to play a very important role in preserving and advancing the faith. But to have you shed some light on that role that he played and its relationship to our marriage to to the Prophet brother, could you comment on that further? Sure. So begin with Islam is a complete and comprehensive way of living which involves all aspects of human life on the individual person and socio economic political levels to begin with,
according to the Quran in surah 30
Three in passage 21 Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him is not only sent as just a record that somebody who receives the revelation and utter it just in words, but also to be the embodiment of the teaching of Islam to be as the Quran call it. And that verse was the perfect example, for us to follow as a human being. And to follow the example of the Prophet means that we need to have more information about all aspects and all phases of his life, including even domestic life at home, or whatever he teaches all the time pertaining to the religious practice of the believers.
Well, the best to teach people and tell them about the life of the Prophet as a family man, as a husband, and father, obviously would be his wives.
But he even was more than that, because other women could have performed that role also to be the communicators of the practice of the Prophet and his family. Because Ayesha indeed was of extraordinary intelligence, and memory, and scholarship for that matter. She was a very important source of Islamic teaching, pertaining to the family structure and family life. She was narrator’s of numerous saying of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, which provide guidance to Muslim and still providing guidance 100 years after her. I just give you, you know, to satisfy your question, some examples of what some of the great scholars said about the scholarship and ability of Isaiah.
Eman Abdullah, the hubby who is a prominent scholar in the so called Edmodo chat or the science of biography. He said Muslim developed also signs of biography to verify and authenticate various reports. So he was a specialist in getting information about the people who narrated sayings of Prophet Muhammad peace revenue, this amount of data in his book called deskera. Father, he describes Asia as one of the greatest scholars among the components, not just the greatest companion or greatest Muslim, one of the greatest of all the scholars of jurist. And he said that whenever we had any problem that we had confused, we were confused about or uncertain, we went to Asia. And we
always found that she had some knowledge about it. And he had when he says, We is not referring to the common man. He’s talking about scholars, that’s when the scholars themselves, the jurist, have some issues that they wanted to verify. They always found that he had some knowledge upon that, in a hurry, another great scholar also, he said, he said that if the knowledge of Isaiah
was compared to the knowledge of all the mothers of the believers, they failed to the other wives of the Prophet, and the knowledge of all women, their knowledge of Asia would supersede become even greater
another’s color, excuse me, by the name of Arthur Ivanova. He said that I Isha was the most knowledgeable in terms of understanding, standard law, and the best in terms of giving opinion to the public.
So this definitely reflect the fact that she was raised talent.
This kind of talent could have been easily lost, had she married, just an ordinary man, but the very fact that she lived as the wife of the Prophet of Islam,
she became like a school and really through her many generations of scholars graduated, we were able to get more information and more in depth look at the life of the Prophet. And to shed more light, about the greatness of the personality of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon, she was just average person.
instances
in the prophets, marriages, to the daughters of his close companions, where the matches were carried out to cement the relationship and beside, besides,
as it’s well known that the second closest person also to the Prophet more or less, or one of the closest few to the prophet in our second, besides bobak, is how much maybe spirit or God’s pleasure and peace be with him also.
Armor also was, even though he embraced Islam at a later time later, then Abu Bakr
was so close to the prophet to the point that even after the death of the Prophet he was the second kill if that’s after Abu Bakr.
And like Abu Bakr also, Omar was a person with a great deal of virtue. He was a great statesman. And in fact,
his life as a kid is very exemplary in terms of his you know, his sacrifice and
living in poverty, and looking after the needs of people. So you had lots of very good qualities as a person.
What happened is that
I’m not had a daughter by the name of half.
And half. So I was married already to a person whose name is nice and Mahadeva.
Like her husband, hops also was very devoted to the cause of Islam and Muslims. And she participated with her husband in defending Muslims in the famous battle of Badr.
God during that battle,
her husband was injured, severely injured.
And she, of course, tried to help as she was helping other wounded Muslims in that battle.
And as soon as his wound was just, you know, nurse then showed up to him, he continued again, to fight.
But then a number of arrows, you know, cut him apart, really. So he was martyred in that battle, despite of the grief of hazza and seeing her husband really die, she courageously continued in this very pressing battle, to nurse other people who were injured, to supply them with water and look after them.
Of course, as the battle ended, her grief was really unbearable.
So what happened is that Amash wanted to do something for his daughter. So he went first to
to apo box, to offer him to get married to his daughter just to look after her.
And then he declined, he went to, to ask man, another companion, the prophet, Osman, also politely declined. So Amara got a little bit
upset about that. And obviously, he was worried about his daughter, now she’s a widow. And probably she was not that attractive, that anybody else would marry her because she was not that young, and the reports about her that she was not particularly beautiful. In fact, some historians say that,
even after the Prophet married her, she did not particularly love her as much as she was sometimes a little bit, you know, rough Yes, and her treatment of the Prophet except that she was also very pious, she used to pray and fast a lot, which might have compensated for that. But even one narration say that one time the Prophet even thought of divorcing her, but to honor her and honor how much his companion he did not go through with this.
So what happened is that when the Prophet learned about her plight, and how much he was upset, that nobody has offered marriage to her. So the Prophet said, Alright, somebody better even is going to get married to her. So he took her for wife, and actually gave his daughters to us man whose previous wife died for. So that was a way of reconciling the companions and also honoring hafsa.
And looking after her after the death of her husband, and this was not necessarily the only
of someone who was martyred for the cause of Islam, the prophet of marriage.
Could you tell us a bit more about this marriage is well, well after the profits managed to have some.
He also married a woman by the name of Xena bento Jose Marquez. This was an elderly woman again, who is known by the nickname of Omen Misaki, the mother of the destitute woman, Masaki. And the reason she was given that name actually that she was an elderly and very kind woman that used to really love and look after the hero, people who are orphans and poor.
And this woman, Xena, Xena, was married to one of the heroes of Islam by the name of Aveda has an optimal palate and that you actually was martyred in the same battle, which helps us husband also was much better, better.
And like hafsa also, despite of the martyrdom of her husband Zeynep continues to help the Muslims in the battle until God gave them victory over the the pagans. Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him heard about her college
sacrifice and of course hairpins for the loss of her husband. So he offered her marriage. It is said to have been about the age of 6060 years old, and you the Prophet 900 what kind of purpose really would there be behind that? In fact, she was so old that
She died only two years after she was married to the Prophet peace be upon him. The question again that should be always repeated is this marriage for passion, or compassion.
This was actually a lesson even beyond looking after the singer, one particular woman was a widow widow.
But it was actually innocent also for Muslims like and because of the previous program to look after. Those people who lost their husbands to look after the orphans, they left in their sacrifice in defending the cause of Islam.
And since again, better or better was not the only button which Muslim had to confront their enemies, we find that both the profit as well as his companions, did get married of widows of other martyrs, other battles, as is the case of the marriage of the prophets, for example, between the prophet and on the Salah,
which is another good reason
to believe that Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him in his marriage is really was perhaps the give the most novel example. And those marriages
examine this topic in some detail. It may be useful, perhaps if we could have you tell us a little bit more about the circumstances and the details of this marriage show the proper tool to this lady? Okay, I’ll tell you my best way since we have only about one minute or so let’s just get started on that. And they can catch up with it. First of all, almost handyman was also known by the name of hint, Vint, Amaya. She was one of the great Muslim women also
embraced Islam alongside with her husband. His name was Abdullah Asad.
He was actually a relative to answer to the Prophet.
And because of the persecution, as indicated earlier of those who became Muslims in the mecca period, on the sentiment and her husband migrated also what among those who migrated to Ethiopia,
on the way when the initially they were going to migrate. They were stopped by the family of by her own family, clan. And they said, How come How do you want to go with your husband to a CMP and they tried to prevent her. And then the family of her husband came and say you cannot take your child because he’s ours we consider him to be there’s also to the point that they dislocated the arm of the child, both of them were pulling him and they forced that actually to stay behind for some time before she was able to join her husband in Ethiopia will have to leave the story there and press pick up on our next program because we’ve exhausted our time for today. We want to thank you all for
watching and invite you back next week we’ll have another programming focus. Thank you for watching.
