The Life of Muhammad

by M. Husayn Haykal

  Muhammad’s Bereavement

  The measure of peaceful existence which Muhammad enjoyed was not to last. His daughter, Zaynab, was seriously ill. After al Huwayrith and Habbar hurt her when she attempted to emigrate from Makkah, Zaynab suffered from a miscarriage from which she never recovered. With her loss, Muhammad’s only surviving child was Fatimah, for Umm Kulthum and Ruqayyah had passed away earlier. Muhammad was saddened by the loss of Zaynab. He surely appreciated her compassionate disposition and loyalty to her husband, Abu al ‘As! ibn al Rabi‘, whom she had ransomed after his fall as captive at the Battle of Badr with jewelry her father had given her on her wedding. It did not matter that she, a Muslim, sought to ransom her husband, an unbeliever; nor that this unbeliever husband had fought against her father in a battle in which, had the Quraysh been victorious, Muhammad would have surely lost his life. The Prophet praised Zaynab’s good disposition and strong loyalty to her husband, and bemoaned her suffering from sickness during the whole time since her emigration from Makkah. It is no wonder that he felt bereaved at her loss. He felt the same deep concern for the well-being and happiness of others. It was his nature to sympathize with every sufferer, every bereaved, and to take the trouble to go everywhere within and outside of Madinah to visit the sick, console the destitute, and reassure the wounded. The hand of fate had here touched his own daughter. His tragedy was not the first of its kind, but the fifth, as he had previously lost two of his daughters and two sons. If he had found in God’s favorable disposition toward him a measure of consolation, he surely well deserved it.

  The Birth of Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Son

  Soon, Muhammad’s loss was to be compensated. Mariyah, his Coptic wife, gave birth to a son whom Muhammad called Ibrahim after the ancestor father of the Arabs as well as of hanifism and Islam. Until that day, and since the Archbishop of Alexandria had presented her to the Prophet, Mariyah had the status of a slave. She did not enjoy the benefits of a living quarter by the mosque as did the other wives of the Prophet, “the Mothers of Believers.” Muhammad had provided Mariyah with a second-story residence in one of the outskirts of Madinah, called today Mashrabat Umm Ibrahim. Her house, which was surrounded with vineyards, was where Muhammad used to visit her every now and then. He had chosen her for himself and gave her sister Sirin to Hassan ibn Thabit. Muhammad did not expect to have any more children as none of his wives except the late Khadijah had ever conceived, though some of them were quite young and capable of bearing children. When Mariyah gave birth to Ibrahim, the event brought to Muhammad, a man past sixty years of age, great joy and filled his heart with reassurance and jubilation. By giving birth to a child, the status of Mariyah was raised in the Prophet’s esteem; he now looked upon her as a free wife, indeed, as one enjoying a most favored position.

  Jealousy of the Prophet’s Wives

  It was natural that this change would incite no little jealousy among his other wives who continued to be barren. It was also natural that the Prophet’s esteem and affection for the newborn child and his mother increased that jealousy. Moreover, Muhammad had liberally, rewarded Salma, the wife of Abu Rafi‘, for her role as midwife. He celebrated the birth by giving away a measure of grain to all the destitute of Madinah. He assigned the newborn to the care of Umm Sayf, a wet nurse, who owned seven goats whose milk she was to put at the disposal of the newborn. Every day Muhammad would visit the house of Mariyah in order to take another look at his son’s radiant face and to reassure himself of the newborn’s continued health and growth. All this incited the strongest jealousy among the barren wives. The question was, how far would these wives be able to bear the constant challenge?

  One day, with the pride characteristic of new parents, the Prophet carried his son on his arm and walked into ‘A’ishah’s quarters in order to show him to her. He pointed out to her his great resemblance to his offspring. ‘A’ishah looked at the baby and said that she saw no resemblance at all. When the Prophet observed how much the child was growing, ‘A’ishah responded waspishly that any child given the amount of milk which Ibrahim was getting would grow just as big and strong as he. Indeed, the birth of Ibrahim brought such disaffection to the wives of the Prophet as would go beyond these and similar unfriendly answers. It reached such proportions that revelation itself voiced a special condemnation. Undoubtedly, the whole affair had left its imprint on the life of Muhammad as well as on the history of Islam.

  Such far-reaching effects were natural in the circumstances. For Muhammad had granted to his wives a position hitherto unknown in Arabia. ‘Umar ibn al Khattab said, “By God, in pre-Islamic days, we never gave consideration to our women. It was only after God had revealed in their regard what He did that we started to do so. My wife came once seeking to dissuade me from doing what I had planned to do. When I answered her that this was none of her business, she said: ‘How strange of you, ‘Umar ibn al Khattab! You refuse to be told anything whereas your daughter may criticize her husband, the Prophet of God-may God’s peace and blessing be upon him-and do so so strongly that he remains worried the whole day long.’ Upon hearing this, I took my mantle and went straight to my daughter, Hafsah, and said to her: ‘O my daughter, is it true that you criticize the Prophet of God and do so so strongly that he remains worried the whole day long?’ Hafsah answered: ‘Indeed, I and his other wives do criticize him.’ I said: ‘You had better be warned that this will bring both the punishment of God and the wrath of His Prophet upon you. O Daughter, do not be deceived by that woman who became too proud of herself because of her beauty or Muhammad’s love for her.’ I left my daughter and went to visit Umm Salamah, another wife of the Prophet and a close relative of mine. Upon asking her the same question, Umm Salamah replied: ‘How strange of you, O Ibn al Khattab ! Are you going to interfere in everything, even in the Prophet’s own domestic affairs?”’ ‘Umar continued: “With this I was utterly rebuffed and I abandoned every thought I had entertained.” Muslim has related in his Sahih that Abu Bakr once sought the permission of the Prophet to visit him, and so did ‘Umar. Upon entrance into the Prophet’s living quarters, they found him sitting still and silent, surrounded by his wives. After announcing that he was about to break the silence with a story which he hoped the Prophet would find entertaining, he said: “O Prophet of God, if the daughter of Kharijah, [As in the Sahih of Muslim. In the account of Tabari there is no mention of a wife of ‘Umar by this name. In Ruh al Ma,’ani of Allnsi, the same statement by ‘Umar names “The daughter of Zayd” instead.] i.e., my wife, were ever seen or heard asking me for money, I would surely pull her hair.” The Prophet laughed, saying, “Here are my wives surrounding me and asking me for money.” Immediately, Abu Bakr rose to his daughter ‘A’ishah and pulled her hair and so did ‘Umar to his daughter, Hafsah. Both Abu Bakr and ‘Umar said to their daughters: “Do you dare ask the Prophet of God what he cannot afford to give?” They answered: “No, by God, we do not ask him any such thing.” Actually, Abu Bakr and ‘Umar had sought to see the Prophet because the latter was conspicuously absent at the previous prayer in the mosque, and the Muslims had asked one another the cause of his absence. It was in connection with this conversation between Abu Bakr and ‘Umar and their daughters that the following verse was revealed

  “O Prophet, tell your wives that in case they want the pleasures of this world and its ornaments, you will give them their freedom and send them on their way in fairness that they may elsewhere seek what they desire. But if they want God, His Prophet, and the other world, then remind them that God has prepared for the virtuous among them a great reward.” [Qur’an, 30:28-29]

  The Wives Plotting

  As a matter of fact, the wives of the Prophet went as far as to plot against their husband. Muhammad was in the habit of visiting them immediately after the mid-afternoon prayer. According to one report, he once visited Hafsah (or Zaynab, daughter of Jahsh according to another version) and paid her an unusually long visit. This made all the other wives jealous. ‘A’ishah reported: “Hafsah a
nd I plotted together that any wife whom the Prophet-May God’s peace and blessing be upon him -will visit will complain to him that she finds his breath undesirable, and will ask him whether he has eaten any maghafir (i.e., sweets with bad smells, and the Prophet could not stand bad smells). As he entered upon one of his wives, she asked him that question to which he answered: “No, but I have taken some honey at the quarters of Zaynab, which I will never do again.” Having agreed to the plot of ‘A’ishah and Hafsah, Sawdah related that when the Prophet approached her, she asked him whether he ate any maghafir to which he answered, “No.” She asked him: “Where then does this bad odor come from?” Muhammad replied: “Hafsah gave me a little honey, so then it must be that the bees that made that honey had picked it up from the blooms of the awful tree which produces the maghafir.” When he entered upon ‘A’ishah, the latter repeated to him the question of Sawdah, which he heard again from Safiyyah, whereupon he vowed never to touch that honey again. Upon hearing the other wives’ reports, Sawdah said: “May God be praised! We have deprived him of something he truly likes.” ‘A’ishah, however, looked askance at Sawdah and asked her to keep quiet.

  Since the Prophet granted to his wives such an unusual position at a time when Arab women amounted to nothing at all in society, it was natural for his wives to abuse the liberty which none of their peers had known before, a liberty which went so far as to enable any of them to criticize the Prophet so severely as to spoil his disposition the rest of the day. He often ignored some of his wives, and avoided others on many occasions, precisely in order to discourage their abuse of his compassion. Even so, one of them was so moved by jealousy as to exceed all limits of decency. But when Mariyah gave birth to Ibrahim, they were incensed. They lost all the composure and self-mastery which Muhammad had for years been trying to instill into them. It was for this reason that ‘A’ishah had gone to the extreme of denying all resemblance between him and his son, a denial which amounted to an accusation of adultery on the part of the innocent Mariyah.

  Their Rebellion

  One day Hafsah went to her father’s house complaining about this situation. While the Prophet was in her room, Mariyah came to him and stayed with him some time. Upon Hafsah’s return she found the Prophet and Mariyah in her quarters and, as she waited for them to come out, her jealousy broke all bounds. When, finally, Mariyah left the quarters and Hafsah entered, she said to the Prophet: “I have seen who was here. By God, that was an insult to me. You would not have dared do that if I amounted to anything at all in your eyes.” At the moment Muhammad realized that such deep-lying jealousy might even move Hafsah to broadcast what she had seen among the other wives. In an attempt to please her, Muhammad promised that he would not go unto Mariyah if she would only refrain from broadcasting what she had seen. Hafsah promised to comply. However, she could not keep her promise as jealousy continued to affect her disposition. Hence, she intimated the secret to ‘A’ishah, who in turn reported it to the Prophet. He took it as evidence of Hafsah’s failure to keep her promise. Perhaps the affair did not stop with Hafsah and ‘A’ishah but spread to the other wives. Perhaps, too, all of them had noticed the high esteem in which Mariyah was held and sympathized with ‘A’ishah and Hafsah’s opposition to the Prophet. There is nothing unusual in the whole story, such gossip and petty jealousies being commonplace between man and his many wives. A man’s affection belongs where he puts it within his household, and the controversy which the daughters of Abu Bakr and ‘Umar had woven around the Prophet’s affection for Mariyah was utterly groundless. Previously we had seen that some disaffection had risen between the Prophet and his wives on various occasions because of the pocket money he allocated to them, or because of the honey Zaynab used to serve. Therefore, they had all the more reason to feel slighted and no little alienated when they discovered their husband’s inclination toward ‘A’ishah or his esteem for Mariyah.

  An explosion was soon to come. One day, while the Prophet was staying with ‘A’ishah, his other wives delegated Zaynab, daughter of Jahsh, to go in and, in their name, to accuse him of injustice and unfairness to them, and to plead that his love for ‘A’ishah was a violation of the code which he himself had set down of a day and night for each of his wives. On the other hand, realizing that the Prophet did not care very much for her charms, and being no longer anxious to please him, Sawdah had given up her day and night to ‘A’ishah. But Zaynab was not satisfied with expressing the other wives’ indignation at this apparent injustice. She attacked ‘A’ishah personally. The latter was anxious to defend herself, but kept still in response to the Prophet’s reconciliating pleas. Seeing that ‘A’ishah was defenseless, Zaynab went to excess in her accusations, and the Prophet finally had to permit his favorite wife to take her defense into her own hands. ‘A’ishah spoke out with great eloquence in refuting Zaynab’s claims. The Prophet listened with obvious satisfaction and admired the perspicacity of Abu Bakr’s daughter.

  Indeed, favoritism for some of his wives had created such controversy and antagonism among the “Mothers of the Believers” that Muhammad once thought of divorcing some of them, but they soon agreed to let him distribute his favors as he pleased. When Mariyah gave birth to Ibrahim, their jealousy was at its strongest, especially in the case of ‘A’ishah. Certainly, Muhammad’s leniency and gentleness encouraged rebellion, and the new status which he had conferred upon women in society fanned their vanity. Muhammad, however, was not free to spend his time dealing with household problems. The need soon came to be felt for a decisive lesson to reestablish discipline and to liberate him for teaching the message and fulfilling the mission of his prophethood. Hence, he decided to ignore his wives and, indeed, to threaten them with divorce. A lesson had to be taught to them, and the time had apparently come for a decision. Either these women were to return to reason or they would be given their freedom in a mutually convenient divorce.

  The Prophet’s Separation from His Wives

  Muhammad isolated himself from all his women for a full month and refused to talk about them to anyone. Nor did anyone dare talk to him concerning them. During this month, his mind was absorbed by his mission and the requirement of carrying the message of Islam beyond the Arabian Peninsula. Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and his other in-laws as well, were deeply concerned over the sad fate that awaited the “Mothers of the Believers” now that they had exposed themselves to the anger of the Prophet and the consequent punishment of God. It was even said that Muhammad had divorced Hafsah, ‘Umar’s daughter, after she had divulged the secret she had promised to keep. The marketplace of Madinah hummed with rumors about the impending divorce of the Prophet’s wives. The wives, for their part, were repentent and apprehensive. They regretted that their jealousy of one another had carried them away, that they had abused and harmed their gentle husband who was to each one of them at all times an elder brother, a compassionate father, a nearest kin, and the best of everything that might be hoped for in this life and the next. Muhammad spent most of his time in a storeroom he owned, placing his servant Rabah at its doorstep as long as he was inside. Therein he used to sleep on a very hard bed of coarse date branches.

  ‘Umar’s Reconciliation of the Prophet and His Wives

  At the end of the month during which Muhammad vowed to separate himself from his wives, the Muslims were despondent over the prospect of Muhammad’s domestic affairs. Many signs of dejection and sorrow were apparent on their faces as they gathered in the mosque. ‘Umar ibn al Khattab sought out the Prophet in his isolation. He went to the storeroom and called out to his servant, Rabah, asking for permission to enter. Rabah went in to speak to the Prophet but came out silent, a sign that Muhammad did not wish to see anyone. ‘Umar asked once more. Once more Rabah went in and came out silent. At this, ‘Umar raised his voice that the Prophet might hear and, repeating his request for an audience, said: “O Rabah, seek permission for me to see the Prophet of God. I fear that he thinks that I have come to intercede for my daughter, Hafsah. By God, if he were
to ask me to strike off her head, I would do so without hesitation.” The Prophet then permitted him to enter. He came in, sat down as his eyes roved around the room, and began to cry. Muhammad asked him why he was crying. Actually ‘Umar cried out of severe shock at seeing the Prophet lying on the only piece of furniture in the room, the miserable straw mat, whose pattern of weaving had imprinted itself on the Prophet’s side. He cried out of compassion for the Prophet’s isolation in a room absolutely empty except for a little barley, a skin, and a small container of water. After hearing ‘Umar’s explanation, Muhammad taught him a lesson on the necessity of renouncing the pleasures of the world in order to achieve inner peace. ‘Umar then said: “O Prophet of God, what difficulties do your wives present? If you have truly lost them through divorce, you still have God, His angels Jibril and Mikhail, Abu Bakr and me, and all the Muslims on your side.” He kept on talking to the Prophet in this vein until the latter felt pleased and even smiled. As the Prophet’s mood changed for the better, ‘Umar told him about the despondency of the Muslims gathered in the mosque and their bemoaning of his separation from his wives. The Prophet explained that he had not divorced his wives but that he meant only to teach them a lesson. ‘Umar immediately asked for and was granted permission to inform the Muslims waiting in the mosque. He hurried thither to announce the good news that the Prophet of God-May God’s peace and blessing be upon him -had not divorced his wives. It was in connection with this incident that the following verses of the Qur’an were revealed

  “O Prophet, why do you forbid yourself that which God has made legitimate for you, namely, to seek to please your wives? God is certainly compassionate and merciful. God has made it legitimate for you to release yourself from your vows. He is your Lord, and He is the All-Wise and All-Knowing. The Prophet had intimated information to one of his wives, but she did not keep the secret. When God brought knowledge to the Prophet of her insincerity, and the Prophet blamed her for it, her asking who had told him the news thus divulged her secret. The Prophet answered that God, the All-Knowing and Omniscient, had informed him of the deed. If the insincere wife and her insincere confidante were to repent to God and purify their thoughts, then they would be forgiven. But if they persist in striving against him, then God will compensate him with His friendship, with that of Jibril, Salih, the believers and angels, who will assist him in his plight. In case he should divorce his wives, God might even replace them with better ones, with women who are Muslims, believing, pious, repentant, and virtuous, whether widowed or virgins.” [Qur’an, 30:1-5] With this revelation, the whole affair was brought to a close. The wives of the Prophet, having regained their wisdom and common sense, returned to their husband repentant, pious, and confirmed in their faith. Once reconciled by their repentance, Muhammad returned to his wives and his domestic life resumed its peace-the necessary prerequisite for any man with a mission to perform.