Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 473
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 473 The motive behind such marriages in the estimation of the Holy Prophet is well illustrated by his direction to Abdul Rahman bin Auf who was appointed to command an expedition to Dumatul Jandal and who was given the direction by the Holy Prophet that if he came to terms with the tribe concerned he might marry the daughter of their chief, which he did and from whom he had a son who became a renowned jurist in Islam, as has already been noticed. The Holy Prophet did not direct that Abdul Rahman bin Auf should bring the daughter of the chief to Medina so that the Prophet might marry her. The Holy Prophet married Aisha, the daughter of his closest friend, Abu Bakr; and Hafsa, daughter of Umar, who had become a widow and for whom her father was anxious to arrange a marriage; and Um Salamah, widow of a loved Companion, who had been left with several children; and Um Habeebah, daughter of his then bitterest enemy, Abu Sufyan, who had been widowed in Abyssinia; and his first cousin, Zainab bint Jahsh, who had been divorced by Zaid, his freedman; and Safiyah, also a widow, daughter of his most im placable enemy, Huyay bin Akhtab, who had been executed on account of his treachery after the siege of Medina; and Jawairiyyah, the widowed daughter of a chief who had embraced Islam along with his tribe. He also married Mary the Copt who had been sent to him as a gesture of goodwill by the Christian Viceroy of Egypt. The motive in all these cases is clear. But one has not to be apologetic on behalf of the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, in this matter of a plurality of wives, or indeed in respect of any other aspect of his life. The crucial question in the context of his domestic life is what the character