As Salamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu
The Prophetic Household
1.
Khadijah Bint Khuwailid (Radhi Allahu Anha): In Makkah — prior to Hijra — the Prophet’s household comprised him (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) and his wife Khadijah bint Khuwailid. He was twenty-five and she was forty when they got married. She was the first woman he married. She was the only wife he had till she died. He had sons and daughters with her. None of their sons lived long.They all died. Their daughters were Zainab, Ruqaiya, Umm Kulthum and Fatimah. (Radhi Allahu Anhun)
Zainab (Radhi Allahu Anha) was married to her maternal cousin Abu Al-‘As bin Al-Rabi‘ and that was before Al-Hijra.
Ruqaiya and Umm Kulthum (Radhi Allahu Anhuma were both married to ‘Uthman bin ‘Affan (Radhi Allahu Anhu) successively (i.e. he married one after the death of her sister).
Fatimah (Radhi Allahu Anha) was married to ‘Ali bin Abi Talib (Radhi Allahu Anhu); and that was in the period between Badr and Uhud battles. The sons and daughters that Fatimah and ‘Ali had were Al-Hasan, Al-Husain, Zainab and Umm Kulthum. (Radhi Allahu Anhum)
It is well-known that the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) was exceptionally authorized to have more than four wives for various reasons. The wives he married were thirteen. Nine of them outlived him. Two died in his lifetime: Khadijah and the Mother of the poor (Umm Al-Masakeen) — Zainab bint Khuzaima (Radhi Allahu Anhuma), besides two others with whom he did not consummate his marriage.
2.
Sawdah bint Zam‘a (Radhi Allahu Anha): He married her in Shawwal, in the tenth year of Prophethood, a few days after the death of Khadijah. Prior to that, she was married to a paternal cousin of hers called As-Sakran bin ‘Amr.
3.
‘Aishah bint Abu Bakr (Radhi Allahu Anha): He married her in the eleventh year of Prophethood, a year after his marriage to Sawdah, and two years and five months before Al-Hijra. She was six years old when he married her. However, he did not consummate the marriage with her till Shawwal seven months after Al-Hijra, and that was in Madinah. She was nine then. She was the only virgin he married, and the most beloved creature to him. As a woman she was the most learned woman in jurisprudence.
4.
Hafsah bint ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab (Radhi Allahu Anha) : She was Aiyim (i.e. husbandless). Her ex-husband was Khunais bin Hudhafa As-Sahmi in the period between Badr and Uhud battles. The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) married her in the third year of Al-Hijra.
5.
Zainab bint Khuzaimah (Radhi Allahu Anha): She was from Bani Hilal bin ‘Amir bin Sa‘sa‘a. W as nicknamed
Umm Al-Masakeen, because of her kindness and care towards them. She used to be the wife of ‘Abdullah bin Jahsh, who was martyred at Uhud, was married to the Prophet (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) in the fourth year of Al-Hijra, but she died two or three months after her marriage to the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam).
6.
Umm Salamah Hind bint Abi Omaiyah (Radhi Allahu Anha): She used to be the wife of Abu Salamah, who died in Jumada Al-Akhir, in the fourth year of Al-Hijra. The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) married her in Shawwal of the same year.
7.
Zainab bint Jahsh bin Riyab (Radhi Allahu Anha): She was from Bani Asad bin Khuzaimah and was the Messenger’s paternal cousin. She was married to Zaid bin Haritha (Radhi Allahu Anhu) — who was then considered son of the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam). However, Zaid divorced her. Allah sent down some Qur’anic verses with this respect:
“So when Zaid had accomplished his desire from her (i.e., divorced her), We gave her to you in marriage.” [Surah Al-Ahzab 33:37] About her, Allah has sent down some verses of Al-Ahzab Chapter that discussed the adoption of children in detail — anyway we will discuss this later. The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) married her in Dhul-Qa‘dah, the fifth year of Al-Hijra.
8.
Juwairiyah bint Al-Harith (Radhi Allahu Anha): Al-Harith was the head of Bani Al-Mustaliq of Khuza‘ah. Juwairiyah was among the booty that fell to the Muslims from Bani Al-Mustaliq. She was a portion of Thabit bin Qais bin Shammas’ share. He made her a covenant to set her free at a certain time. The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) accomplished the covenant and married her in Sha‘ban in the sixth year of Al-Hijra.
9.
Umm Habibah: Ramlah (Radhi Allahu Anha), the daughter of Abu Sufyan. She was married to ‘Ubaidullah bin Jahsh. She migrated with him to Abyssinia (Ethiopia). When ‘Ubaidullah apostatized and became a Christian, she stoodfast to her religion and refused to convert. However ‘Ubaidullah died there in Abyssinia (Ethiopia). The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) dispatched ‘Amr bin Omaiyah Ad-Damri with a letter to Negus, the king, asking him for Umm Habibah’s hand — that was in Muharram, in the seventh year of Al-Hijra. Negus agreed and sent her to the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) in the company of Sharhabeel bin Hasnah.
10.
Safiyah bint Huyai bin Akhtab (Radhi Allahu Anha) From the Children of Israel, she was among the booty taken in Khaibar battle. The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) took her for himself. He set her free and married her after that conquest in the seventh year of Al-Hijra.
11.
Maimunah bint Al-Harith (Radhi Allahu Anha): The daughter of Al-Harith, and the sister of Umm Al-Fadl Lubabah bint Al-Harith. The Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) married her after the Compensatory ‘Umrah (Lesser Pilgrimage). That was in Dhul-Qa‘dah in the seventh year of Al-Hijra.
Those were the eleven women that the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) had married and consummated marriage with them. He outlived two of them — Khadijah and Zainab, the Umm Al-Masakeen. (Radhi Allahu Anhuma) Whereas the other nine wives outlived him.
The two wives that he did not consummate marriage with were, one from Bani Kilab and the other from Kindah and this was the one called Al-Jauniyah.
Besides these, he had two concubines. The first was Mariyah, the Coptic (an Egyptian Christian), a present gift from Al-Muqauqis, vicegerent of Egypt — she gave birth to his son Ibrâhim, who died in Madinah while still a little child, on the 28th or 29th of Shawwal in the year 10 A.H., i.e. 27th January, 632 A.D. The second one was Raihanah bint Zaid An-Nadriyah or Quraziyah, a captive from Bani Quraiza. Some people say she was one of his wives.
However, Ibn Al-Qaiyim gives more weight to the first version. Abu ‘Ubaidah spoke of two more concubines, Jameelah, a captive, and another one, a bondwoman granted to him by Zainab bint Jahsh.
Whosoever meditates on the life of the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) , will conceive that his marriage to this great number of women in the late years of his lifetime, after he had almost spent thirty years of his best days of youth sufficing himself to one old wife — Khadijah (Radhi Allahu Anha) and later on to Sawdah (Radhi Allahu Anha), was in no way an overwhelming lustful desire to be satisfied through such a number of wives. These marriages were in fact motivated by aims and purposes much more glorious and greater than what normal marriages usually aim at.
The tendency of the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) towards establishing a relationship by marriage with both Abu Bakr and ‘Umar (Radhi Allahu Anhuma) and his marriage to ‘Aishah and Hafsah (Radhi Allahu Anhuma) — and getting his daughter Fatimah (Radhi Allahu Anha) married to ‘Ali bin Abi Talib (Radhi Allahu Anhu), and the marriage of his two daughters, Ruqaiyah and Umm Kulthum (Radhi Allahu Anhuma) to ‘Uthman (Radhi Allahu Anhu) — indicate clearly that he aimed at confirming the relationship among the four men — whose sacrifices and great achievements in the cause of Islam are well-known.
Besides this, there was that tradition of the Arabs to honour the in-law relations. For them a son or a daughter-in-law was a means by which they sought the consolidation of relationship and affection with various phratries. Hostility and fights against alliances and affinities would bring an unforgettable shame, disgrace and degradation to them.
By marrying the Mothers of believers (Radhi Allahu Anhina), the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) wanted to demolish or break down the Arab tribes’ enmity to Islam and extinguish their intense hatred. Umm Salamah (Radhi Allahu Anha) was from Bani Makhzum — the clan of Abu Jahl and Khalid bin Al-Waleed. Her marriage to the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) produced good results. Khalid’s (Radhi Allahu Anhu) deliberately indecisive attitude at Uhud — for instance — was due to the Messenger’s marriage to Umm Salamah. Khalid (Radhi Allahu Anhu) went even further than that, in a short time he willingly became a keen obedient Muslim.
After the Messenger of Allah’s marriage to Umm Habibah (Radhi Allahu Anhu), Abu Sufyan, her father, did not encounter him with any sort of hostility. Similarly his marriage to Juwairiyah and Safiyah (Radhi Allahu Anhuma) made the two tribes stop all sorts of provocation, aggression or hostility against Islam. Better still, Juwairiyah (Radhi Allahu Anha), herself, was one of the greatest sources of blessing to her own people. On the occasion of her marriage to the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam), his Companions (Radhi Allahu Anhum) set a hundred families of her people free. They said: “It is for their affinity with the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam).” No need to say what great good impression this gratitude had on everybody’s soul. One of the greatest motives of all is Allah’s bidding his Prophet (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) to educate and purify the souls of people who had known nothing whatsoever about courtesy, education and culture. He had to teach them to comply with the necessities of civilization and to contribute to the solidification and the establishment of a new Islamic society.
An essential fundamental rule of the Muslim society is to prohibit mixing of men and women. Providing direct education for women, though highly compelling, is impossible in the light of this Islamic norm. Therefore, the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) had to select some women of different ages and talents, and indoctrinate them systematically in order to educate she-Bedouins and townswomen, old and young, and thus furnish them with the instruments of propagating the true faith. The Mothers of believers (Radhi Allahu Anhina) [i.e. wives of the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam)] were in such a convenient position that they could convey the state of the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) and his affairs to people (men and women). Being educated and taught the teachings and rules of Islam, his wives, especially those who outlived him, played a very important role in conveying Prophetic traditions Ahadith to the Muslims. ‘Aishah (Radhi Allahu Anha), for instance, related a large number of the Prophet’s (Sallallahu 'Alayhi wa Sallam) deeds and statements.
To continue Insha Allah