How Can The Prophet’s (Saw) Polygamy Be Explained?
How can the Prophet’s (saw) polygamy be explained?
Undoubtedly, Prophet Muhammad’s (saw) polygamy is a special condition. Due to the fact that Prophet Muhammad (saw) had nine wives, some people considered him as a man who was fond of earthly pleasures. However, when we examine his marriages it is seen that this is not the case. In this respect, Prophet Muhammad (saw) married at the age of 25 to his first wife Khadijah (ra), who was a widow woman and was considerably older than him, and this marriage lasted 25 years. Despite all the offers made to him, he did not marry to another woman in this young age.
Here are the primary reasons of Prophet Muhammad’s (saw) marrying to many women:
- a) Undoubtedly, the religion he brought interests women, too, as much as it does men. Wives of Prophet Muhammad (saw) performed the duties of teaching and educating women. It is publicly known that Khadija (ra) made great sacrifices to help and support Prophet Muhammad (saw) in the first period of his prophecy. In a hadith narrated by Aisha (ra), who lived long after Prophet Muhammad (saw), it is said that Prophet Muhammad (saw) acted like a teacher of Muslims in terms of morals and his private life and the judgments on specific situations about women. Each of his other wives contributed to teaching the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (saw) in their environments and different ways.
- b) Prophet Muhammad (saw) has special reasons to marry to almost each of his wives. Taking the believer women, who become widow and have no support after death of their husbands and persist on being loyal to Islam, under his protection and rewarding them as in the case of his marriages with Sawda, Zaynab, and Hind; pioneering actually in changing the wrong understanding of seeing foster-child as one’s own child as in the case of his marriage with Zaynab who was divorced from his former foster-child Zayd; and ensuring integration of Islamic society by establishing kinship with leading ones of the companions, strong Arabic tribes and neighbor communities as in the case of his marriage with Hafsa, Umm Habiba and Safiyya may be included in these reasons and objectives.
Source: Presidency Of Religious Affairs The Turkey, High Board of Religious Affairs FATWA
