The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 669
PT. 22 AL-AḤZĀB whose husband was killed in the Battle of Uḥud; Ummi Salmah whose husband died in 4 A. H. , and Ummi Habībah, daughter of Abū Sufyan, who became a widow in 5 or 6 A. H. (in exile in Abyssinia). He married Juwairiyyah and Ṣafiyyah, both widows, in 5 A. H. and 7 A. H. respectively, seeking a union with and pacification of their tribes. It is worthy of note that a hundred families of the Banu Muṣṭaliq were liberated by Muslims when the Holy Prophet married Juwairiyyah. Maimunah, another widow, it is said, offered herself to be taken in marriage by the Holy Prophet which offer he condescended to accept in the interest of the education and training of Muslim women. He married Zainab, the divorced wife of Zaid in 5 A. H. in order to put a stop to a foolish custom prevailing among the Arabs and in order also to assuage her wounded feelings as the respected lady had felt deeply humiliated at being divorced by Zaid. He married Mariah in 7 A. H. , and thus by raising a freed slave girl to the highly eminent spiritual status of the "Mother of the Faithful", he gave a death blow to slavery. Such were the pious and righteous motives of our noble Master in marrying widows and divorced women, by no means noted for their youth or beauty, and yet his cruel and mean traducers vainly try to depict him as a person who was given to gratifying his carnal desires. They deliberately ignore the patent fact that up to the age of 25 he lived the spotless life of a celibate. Then in the prime of his youth he married a lady CH. 33 fifteen years his senior and lived with her a most happy life till he was an old man of fifty and she about sixty- five. After her death he married Saudah, another lady of a very advanced age. He married all his other wives, to which exception has been taken by evil-minded carpers, between 2 A. H. and 7 A. H. , a period when he was constantly engaged in active fighting and his life was perpetually in danger and the fate of Islam itself hung in the balance. Could any sane person in such situation of danger and uncertainty conceive of contracting marriage after marriage from motives attributed to the Holy Prophet? After this he lived for about three years as virtual ruler of the whole of Arabia when all the comforts and amenities of life were at his disposal and yet he entered into no further marriage. Does not this fact alone establish the honesty and sincerity of the Holy Prophet's motives in marrying his wives? The words "if she entrusts herself to the Prophet" have been taken as specially referring to Maimūnah who is reported to have offered herself to be taken into marriage by the Holy Prophet. The clause, "This provision is only for thee as against other believers," means that it was a special privilege of the Holy Prophet and was due to the special nature of his duties as a Divine Prophet. In fact, marriages of the Holy Prophet were dictated by much higher and nobler considerations than merely personal ones. The clause may also refer to the special permission granted to the Holy Prophet, to retain all his wives, 2583