6,632
edits
Muhammads Marriages of Political Necessity: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Muhammads Marriages of Political Necessity (view source)
Revision as of 00:34, 8 March 2021
, 8 March 2021no edit summary
| [checked revision] | [checked revision] |
No edit summary |
|||
| (4 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{QualityScore|Lead=1|Structure=1|Content=3|Language=1|References=2}} | {{QualityScore|Lead=1|Structure=1|Content=3|Language=1|References=2}} | ||
Some have suggested that "Prophet Muhammad married most of his wives for political reasons" and that "He only married so many women at one time out of political necessity." | Some have suggested that "Prophet Muhammad married most of his wives for political reasons" and that "He only married so many women at one time out of political necessity." | ||
This reasoning does not convince many critics. No matter how urgent the needs of state, they argue, nothing justifies having more than one wife at a time. If [[Muhammad]] could not see any way around his political problems except [[polygamy]], that simply proves he was not a "prophet". | This reasoning does not convince many critics. No matter how urgent the needs of state, they argue, nothing justifies having more than one wife at a time. If [[Muhammad]] could not see any way around his political problems except [[Polygamy in Islamic Law|polygamy]], that simply proves he was not a "prophet". | ||
You might take the line that polygamy was normal in seventh-century Arabia, and Muhammad was not doing anything wrong by the standards of his own culture. That may convince some of them that he was a decent person by the standards of his day. In that case, however, it would contradict [[Uswa Hasana|Islamic theology]], and there's still the question as to why Muhammad limited other Muslims to four wives each, yet at one point in his own life, he had [[Muhammad's | You might take the line that polygamy was normal in seventh-century Arabia, and Muhammad was not doing anything wrong by the standards of his own culture. That may convince some of them that he was a decent person by the standards of his day. In that case, however, it would contradict [[Uswa Hasana|Islamic theology]], and there's still the question as to why Muhammad limited other Muslims to four wives each, yet at one point in his own life, he had [[Muhammad's Marriages|eleven wives]] plus the intention of adding more. When Ghaylan ibn Salama became a Muslim, he had to divorce six of his ten wives – even though this was in early 630, when Muhammad himself had exactly ten wives. | ||
Why did Muhammad pick the apparently random number of four and enforce this as the maximum number of wives, yet break this rule himself? If the answer is that it was politically necessary, we would expect some exceptional political situation that, in order to ensure the future survival of [[Islam]], required Muhammad to [[marriage|marry]] all those women. | Why did Muhammad pick the apparently random number of four and enforce this as the maximum number of wives, yet break this rule himself? If the answer is that it was politically necessary, we would expect some exceptional political situation that, in order to ensure the future survival of [[Islam]], required Muhammad to [[marriage|marry]] all those women. | ||
| Line 25: | Line 24: | ||
Now let's look at it from a different angle. What would Islam have lost if Muhammad had failed to marry any of the other women? | Now let's look at it from a different angle. What would Islam have lost if Muhammad had failed to marry any of the other women? | ||
#If he hadn’t married Aisha, Sawdah or Hafsah, he might have had to think of a different way of raising money. However, what with the plundering and | #If he hadn’t married Aisha, Sawdah or Hafsah, he might have had to think of a different way of raising money. However, what with the plundering and taxing, Muhammad seemed to have had that problem worked out. | ||
#If he hadn’t married his [[Cousin Marriage in | #If he hadn’t married his [[Cousin Marriage in Islamic Law|cousin]] Zaynab bint Jahsh, he would have saved himself quite a bit of trouble, as this marriage – the first to break his “four wives only” rule – caused him social embarrassment on several fronts. | ||
#If he hadn’t married Mulaykah, Fatima, Asma or Amrah, he wouldn’t have had to divorce them, which might have kept his relations with their families smoother. But never mind about this – only Asma was of any political importance, and the divorce proved that even she was not as important as her family had hoped. | #If he hadn’t married Mulaykah, Fatima, Asma or Amrah, he wouldn’t have had to divorce them, which might have kept his relations with their families smoother. But never mind about this – only Asma was of any political importance, and the divorce proved that even she was not as important as her family had hoped. | ||
#If he hadn’t married Zaynab bint Khuzaymah, Hind or Maymunah, nothing at all would have changed. | #If he hadn’t married Zaynab bint Khuzaymah, Hind or Maymunah, nothing at all would have changed. | ||
| Line 41: | Line 40: | ||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||
{{Hub4|Muhammad's | {{Hub4|Muhammad's wives and concubines|Muhammad's wives and concubines}} | ||
[[Category:Muhammad]] | [[Category:Muhammad]] | ||