Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 243
243 penny more than he gives to the other, nor can he spend with her one single hour more than he spends in the company of the other. If he spends one day in her company, he must spend one day in the company of the other, and his relations with both must be on a basis of equality. Except with regard to the love which he bears in his heart and which nobody can see, his treatment of the wife he loves a thousand times better than the other must be the same as his treatment of the latter. Is this indulgence, or is it one continuous sacrifice borne for the sake of one’s country, or nation or progeny, as the case may be? How painful is it, then, for a Muslim to be told by those who are utterly ignorant of the laws of Islam that the Holy Prophet sa had married more wives than one towards the end of his life merely out of self- indulgence? Every one of his marriages was a heavy sacrifice made by him for his country and his people, and the just and equal treatment which he accorded to every one of his wives will ever elicit not only the admiration but also the compassion of those who study his life. History bears witness to the fact that even in his last illness, when he was in a state of high fever and was hardly able to walk he went every day supporting himself on the shoulders of two men, from the house of one wife to that of another whose turn it was to have him in her house. A few days before his death his wives requested him not to move from house to house every day, as it was inconvenient for him, and to remain in the house of ‘ A ’isha till his illness left him.