User talk:1234567: Difference between revisions

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{{Quote|[http://www.islamawareness.net/Muhammed/ibn_kathir_wives.html/ Ibn Kathir, “Maymunah”] in ''The Wives of the Prophet''.|After the Prophet's death, Maymunah continued to live in Medina for another forty years, dying at the age of 80, in 51 AH, being the last but one of the Prophet's wives to die.}}
{{Quote|[http://www.islamawareness.net/Muhammed/ibn_kathir_wives.html/ Ibn Kathir, “Maymunah”] in ''The Wives of the Prophet''.|After the Prophet's death, Maymunah continued to live in Medina for another forty years, dying at the age of 80, in 51 AH, being the last but one of the Prophet's wives to die.}}


This is still not correct, as not one, but four or five, of Muhammad’s widows were still alive in 51 AH (Hind, Aisha, Sawdah, Safiyah and perhaps Juwayiriyah). Ibn Kathir, writing 700 years after the event, was either trying to harmonise the conflict without considering all the facts – also known as “guessing” – or else blindly copying the text of someone else who did. If Ibn Kathir (or his source) guessed at which part of his original text was the error, he might also have been guessing at the year of Maymunah’s death. So we have no real confidence that the correct year was either 51 ''or'' 61 AH. The only consistency is that Maymunah lived to be about 80.
This is still not correct, as not one, but four or five, of Muhammad’s widows were still alive in 51 AH (Hind, Aisha, Sawdah, Safiyah and perhaps Juwayriyah). Ibn Kathir, writing 700 years after the event, was either trying to harmonise the conflict without considering all the facts – also known as “guessing” – or else blindly copying the text of someone else who did. If Ibn Kathir (or his source) guessed at which part of his original text was the error, he might also have been guessing at the year of Maymunah’s death. So we have no real confidence that the correct year was either 51 ''or'' 61 AH. The only consistency is that Maymunah lived to be about 80.


While we do not really know Maymunah’s death-date, and therefore her birth-date, we will accept Ibn Kathir’s more conservative tradition. According to this, she was born in 30 BH, i.e., between June 593 and May 594 (median = 2 December 593). This would make her about 35 when she married Muhammad in February 629, although we will bear in mind that she might have been many years younger.
While we do not really know Maymunah’s death-date, and therefore her birth-date, we will accept Ibn Kathir’s more conservative tradition. According to this, she was born in 30 BH, i.e., between June 593 and May 594 (median = 2 December 593). This would make her about 35 when she married Muhammad in February 629, although we will bear in mind that she might have been many years younger.
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