“Despite The Highly Sexualized Image Of Him In The West, The Multiply Married Muhammad Was Celibate” - Lesley Hazleton: A Fresh Insight Into Prophet Muhammad’s Conjugal Relations With His Later Wives That Has Spawned A Great Deal Of Controversy

By Muhammad Yunus, New Age Islam (Co-author (Jointly with Ashfaque Ullah Syed), Essential Message of Islam, Amana Publications, USA, 2009) 20 June 2022 One Can Say with Fair Degree of Certainty That All of the Prophet’s Later Marriages Were Celibate Main Points: 1. Prophet Muhammad’s marriage with Aisha, daughter of Abu Bakr, gave him the clan protection that he needed for the security of his life. 2. Besides, in the tribal society of Prophet’s era and even in recent times female children are married off to ensure their security or for financial reasons or to move up in clan hierarchy. 3. Prophet’s marriage with Aisha, still a minor was merely of promissory nature to be consummated after she reached her adulthood. 4. The failure of all later wives of the Prophet – all widows, except Aisha, who had given birth to children to their erstwhile husbands only shows that he did not consummate marriage with any of them and that all his later marriages including the one with Aisha were celibate ------ At around age 50, Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) lost both his uncle Abu Talib and his first wife Khadija, and was thus left without any clan protection. This was about the tenth year of his prophetic mission in Mecca. The Quraysh, who had opposed him since the very beginning of his mission, now threatened to kill him. His marriage with Aisha, daughter of Abu Bakr, gave him the clan protection that he needed for the security of his life. The marriage also served as a strong testimony of the truth of his mission. Abu Bakr was a highly prestigious member of the Meccan society. He would never take Muhammad, a veritable pariah of the society at that moment in history, as his son-in-law, unless he was convinced of the truth of his prophetic mission." ----------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Was Hazrat Aisha Married to the Prophet in Her Childhood? ----------------------------------------------------------- So Aisha's age was not any issue. Even if she were much younger than alleged in classical reports, Abu Bakr would have gone ahead with this marriage. Besides, in the tribal society of Prophet’s era and even in recent times female children are married off to ensure their security or for financial reasons or to move up in clan hierarchy. But such ‘child marriages’ remain merely on paper or oral commitment of the guardian of the child until the ‘child bride’ reaches her adulthood. Therefore, the Prophet’s marriage with Aisha, still a minor was merely of promissory nature to be consummated after she reached her adulthood. Absolutely nothing wrong or immoral about it and the Muslims must not feel ashamed or apologetic about it. Now the question is when was this marriage consummated. Regardless of colourful stories spun around this and the Prophet’s other marriages, we must take the Qur’an as the final authority on the status of the Prophet’s marriages – whether they were consummated at all or remained merely commitments to offer security and prestige to the spouses. This must be clearly understood before passing any judgment on the Prophet’s personal disposition towards all his later wives – their number not being important. ----------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Hazrat Aisha’s Controversial Age at Marriage: Nine or Nineteen? ----------------------------------------------------------- The Prophet had lived with his first wife, Khadija, a widow many years older to him for some 25 years. After her death, he contracted some 10 or marriages – mostly widowed in their advanced ages who had children from their previous husbands. Aisha was the only exception. Around the middle of Medinite period when the Prophet had already contracted most of his later marriages the Qur’an declares: “Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things.” (33:40). This forestalled any possibility of the Prophet having a male off-spring from any of his later marriages. That is to say, if the Prophet were to have any son born to any of his later wives, the Qur’an would have been falsified. The only way that the Prophet could stand up to the Qur’an’s verdict was by not consummating any of his later marriages. Besides, as the birth of a child would have given a very special honour and position to any of his wives who bore him a child, each of them must have done their best to attain a conjugal union which must have been averted by the Prophet’s profound spirituality and nightly vigil. ----------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Aisha bint Abu Bakr: A Fascinating Woman ----------------------------------------------------------- Lesley Hazelton, one of the most eminent scholars and internationally acknowledged biographer of the Prophet of this era argues this in a compelling manner in her 2013 publication, The First Muslim, The Story of Muhammad, River Head books, New York (pg 220) Conclusion. The failure of all later wives of the Prophet – all widows except Aisha, who had given birth to children to their erstwhile husbands only shows that he did not consummate marriage with any of them for had he done so he must have had issues from them – given that each of them had children from their previous marriage. This must be true for Aisha as well who as a virgin bride had the strongest possibility of bearing a child for the Prophet. Hence one can say with fair degree of certainty that all of the Prophet’s later marriages were celibate. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Related Article: In Defence Of The Prophet's Marriage With Hazrat Ayesha Even If She Was A Minor, According To A Hadees Report Narrated By A Single Person, That Too A Senile Old Man Hazrat Aisha's Contribution In The Spread, Propagation And Legacy Of Islam Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati And Other Islamophobes' Attack On Islamic Prophet’s Marital Life Will Cease Only When Muslims Change Their Own Belief About Hazrat Aisha’s Very Young Marriage ----- Muhammad Yunus, a Chemical Engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, and a retired corporate executive has been engaged in an in-depth study of the Qur’an since early 90’s, focusing on its core message. He has co-authored the referred exegetic work, which received the approval of al-Azhar al-Sharif, Cairo in 2002, and following restructuring and refinement was endorsed and authenticated by Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl of UCLA, and published by Amana Publications, Maryland, USA, 2009. URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/sexualized-muhammad-celibate-hazleton-conjugal/d/127276 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism