The Prophet and His Wives.Part1

Prophet Muhammad personifies the roles of perfect father and husband. He was so kind and tolerant with his wives that they could not envisage their lives without him, nor did they want to live away from him.

He married Sawda, his second wife, while in Makka. After a while, he wanted to divorce her for certain reasons. She was extremely upset at this news, and implored him:

“O Messenger of God, I wish no worldly thing of you. I will sacrifice the time allocated to me, if you don’t want to visit me. But please don’t deprive me of being your wife. I want to go to the Hereafter as your wife. I care for nothing else.”  

The Messenger did not divorce her, nor did he stop visiting her.

Once he noticed that Hafsa was uncomfortable over their financial situation. “If she wishes, I may set her free,” he said, or something to that effect. This suggestion so alarmed her that she requested mediators to persuade him not to do so. He kept his faithful friend’s daughter as his trusted wife.

All of his wives viewed separation from the Messenger of God as a calamity, so firmly had he established himself in their hearts. 

They were completely at one with him. They shared in his blessed, mild, and natural life. If he had left them, they would have died of despair. If he had divorced one of them, she would have waited at his doorstep until the Last Day.

After his death, there was much yearning and a great deal of grief. Abu Bakr and ‘Umar found the Messenger’s wives weeping whenever they visited them. Their weeping seemed to continue for the rest of their lives. Muhammad left a lasting impression on everyone. At one point, he had nine wives and dealt equally with all of them and without any serious problems. He was a kind and gentle husband, and never behaved harshly or rudely.

In short, he was the perfect husband.

A few days before his death, he said:

“A servant has been allowed to choose this world or his Lord. He chose his Lord.” 

Abu Bakr, a man of great intelligence, began to cry, understanding that the Prophet was talking about himself. His illness worsened daily, and his severe headache caused him to writhe in pain.

But even during this difficult period, he continued to treat his wives with kindness and gentleness. 

He asked for permission to stay in one room, as he had no strength to visit them one by one. His wives agreed, and the Messenger spent his last days in ‘A’isha’s room.

Each wife, because of his generosity and kindness, thought she was his most beloved. The idea that any man could show complete equality and fairness in his relationships with nine women seems impossible. For this reason, the Messenger of God asked God’s pardon for any unintentional leanings. He would pray:

“I may have unintentionally shown more love to one of them than the others, and this would be injustice. So, O Lord, I take refuge in Your grace for those things beyond my power.” 

What gentleness and sensitivity! I wonder if anyone else could show such kindness to his children or spouses. When people manage to cover up their lower inborn tendencies, it is as if they have done something very clever and shown tremendous willpower. But they sometimes expose these very defects unconsciously while bragging of their cleverness. The Messenger, despite showing no fault, sought only God’s forgiveness.

His gentleness penetrated his wives’ souls so deeply that his departure led to what they must have felt to be an unbridgeable separation.

They did not commit suicide, as Islam forbids it, but their lives now became full of endless sorrow and ceaseless tears.

The Messenger was kind and gentle to all women, and advised all other men to follow him in this regard. 

Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas described his kindness as follows:

‘Umar said: One day I went to the Prophet and saw him smiling. “May God make you smile forever, O Messenger of God,” I said, and asked why he was smiling. “I smile at those women. They were chatting in front of me before you came. When they heard your voice, they all vanished,” he answered still smiling. On hearing this answer, I raised my voice and told them: “O enemies of your own selves, you are scared of me, but you are not scared of the Messenger of God, and you don’t show respect to him.” “You are hard-hearted and strict,” they replied. 

‘Umar also was gentle to women. However, the most handsome man looks ugly when compared to Joseph’s beauty. Likewise, ‘Umar’s gentleness and sensitivity seem like violence and severity when compared to those of the Prophet. The women had seen the Messenger’s gentleness, sensitivity, and kindness, and so regarded ‘Umar as strict and severe. Yet ‘Umar shouldered the caliphate perfectly and became one of the greatest examples after the Prophet. He was a just ruler, and strove to distinguish right from wrong. His qualities enabled him to be caliph. Some of his qualities might seem rather severe; however, those very qualities enabled him to shoulder very demanding responsibilities.