1-Muhammad was twenty five years old when he married Khadija, his first wife,
who was fifteen years his senior and had been married twice . She
remained his wife for twenty eight years until she died and he did not marry
any other woman during this period of his life. He was always faithful to her
memory, so much so that so that this loyalty provoked jealousy among some of
his wives in later years.
2- The Prophet's nature, character and way of life before and after his
prophethood are absolute proof that he was neither lustful nor sensuous. How
could a man who was more than fifty years old suddenly change and become a
slave to lust, when he had every opportunity as a young man to follow his
desires, in common with the other young men of his tribe. On the contrary
Muhammed was well known for his virtue and his only wife who was a virgin was
A'isha, daughter of Abu Bakr, while most of his wives were widows whom he
married for humane reasons or in order to enforce a religious observance or
ruling and not for any sensuous desire on his part.
3-As regards his marriage to Sawda daughter of Zam'a who was the widow of
one of his companions, he was more than fifty years old at the time, and she
was neither beautiful, wealthy nor of noble descent. He married her in order to
care for and support the family of his companion, who had suffered torture and
death for his faith in God. His marriage to 'A i'sha ,daughter of Abu
Bakr and Hafsa, daughter of O'mar at later dates were in order to strengthen
the ties between himself and his companions, Abu Bakr and 'Omar.
4-As regards Um Salma, she was the widow of a martyr who had been mortally
wounded in the battle of Uhud . She was an old woman and when the prophet
proposed marriage to her she tried to excuse herself from accepting because of
her age, but the Prophet consoled her and married her for humane reasons. The
Prophet married Ramlah, daughter of Abu Sufyan who had emigrated to Abyssinia with her husband who had renounced Islam,
become a Christian and had abandoned her leaving her without any maintenance .
The prophet sent a message to Al Najashi, who ruled Abyssinia, requesting
Ramlah's return to her homeland to deliver her from the estrangement which she
felt in a foreign land and to deliver her from the persecution of her own Pagan
family in Mecca, had she been forced to return to them. The Prophet also hoped
that by this marriage her influential father in Mecca might be induced to embrace Islam .
The Prophet married Juwayriya, daughter of Al Harith who was among the captives
captured at the battle of Al Mustalaq. Her father was the chief and master of
his tribe and the Prophet married her in order to liberate her from captivity
and he requested the Muslims to liberate their captives and set them free .
This marriage paved way for understanding with the Prophet's previous enemies.
The Prophet married Safiya who was the daughter of the chief of the Jewish
tribe of Banu Quraiza. She was allowed to choose between returning to her
People or being set free by marrying the Prophet and she preferred to marry the
Prophet to returning to her tribe
5- The Prophet' s marriage to Zeinab ,daughter of Jahsh, who was his cousin,
was in order to establish a religious ruling. She had been married to Zeid ben
Haritha ,the Prophet's adopted son. Their marriage did not last long and she
was divorced. It was the custom of the Arabs during that period to prohibit any
marriage between a man and his adopted son's divorced wife . The Prophet was
ordered by God to marry Zeinab in order to abolish this ruling which was
totally unnecessary. The following Quranic verse abolished this ruling :
"...
Then when Zeid had dissolved his marriage with her, with the necessary
formality, we joined her in marriage to you: in order that the in future there
may be no difficulty in the matter of marriage with the wives of their adopted
sons,when the latter have dissolved with the necessary formality their marriage
with them and God's Command must be fulfilled.''