W3-The Wisdom Behind Prophet's (saw) Marriages(Ruling of Plural Marriages)

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· Allah says in His Book (interpretation of the meaning)

“And if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls then you marry (other) women of your choice, two or three, or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one or (slaves) that your right hands possess. That is nearer to prevent you from doing injustice” [Al-Nisa’ 4:3]

· It should be noted that there are conditions attached to plural marriages

· Justice or fairness

· The ability to spend on one’s wives

The wisdom behind permitting plural marriages

· Plural marriage helps to increase the numbers of the ummah (nation, Muslim community).

· It is known that the numbers can only be increased through marriage, and the number of offspring gained through plural marriage will be greater than that achieved through marriage to one wife.

· Statistics show that the number of women is greater than the number of men
· If each were to marry just one woman, this would mean that some women would be left without a husband,

· Which would have a harmful effect on her and on society

· Men are exposed to incidents that may end their lives, for they work in dangerous professions.

· They are the soldiers who fight in battle, and more men may die than women.

· This is one of the things that raise the percentage of husbandless women, and the only solution to this problem is plural marriage

· There are some men who may have strong physical desires, for whom one wife is not enough.

· If the door is closed to such a man and he is told, you are not allowed more than one wife,

· This will cause great hardship to him, and his desire may find outlets in forbidden ways.

· Plural marriage does not exist only in the Islamic religion, rather it was known among the previous nations.

· Some of the Prophets were married to more than one woman.

· The Prophet of Allah Sulaymaan (Solomon) had ninety wives. At the time of the Prophet (saws) there were some men who became Muslims who had eight or five wives.

· The Prophet (saws) told them to keep four wives and to divorce the rest.

· A wife may be barren, or she may not meet her husband’s needs, or he may be unable to have intercourse with her because she is sick.

· A husband may long to have children, which is legitimate desire, and he may want to have a sex life within marriage, which is something permissible, and the only way is to marry another wife.

· It is only fair for the wife to agree to remain his wife and to allow him to marry another.

· A woman may be one of the man’s relatives and to have no one to look after her, and she is unmarried or a widow whose husband has died

· The man may think that the best thing to do for her is to include her in his housewife along with his first wife, so that he will both keep her chaste and spend on her.

· This is better for her than leaving her alone and being content only to spend on her.

· There are other shar’i interests that call for plural marriages, such as strengthening the bonds between families, or strengthening the bonds between a leader and some of his people or group,

· He may think that one of the ways of achieving this aim is to become related to them through marriage, even if that is through plural marriage.

Objection

· Some people may object and say that plural marriage means having co-wives in one house, and that disputes and enmity that may arise between co-wives will have an effect on the husband, children and other

· This is harmful and should be avoided, and the only way to prevent that is to ban plural marriage.

Response to the Objection

· The response to that is that family arguments may occur even when there is only one wife, and they may not even happen when there is more than one wife, as wee see in real life.

· Even if we assume that there may be more arguments than in a marriage to one wife, even if we accept that they may be harmful and bad, the harm is outweighed by the many good things in a plural marriage.

· Life is not entirely bad or entirely good, but what everyone hopes is that the good will outweigh the bad, and this principle is what applies in the permission of plural marriage.

Another objection

· If we allow men to have plural wives, why are women not allowed to have multiple husbands, why does a woman not have the right to marry more than one man?

Response to this Objection

· There is no point in giving a woman the right to marry multiple husbands, rather that is beneath her dignity and she would not know the lineage of her children, because she is the one bears the offspring

· It is not permissible for the offspring to be formed from the sperm of a number of men lest the lineage of the child be lost and no one will know who is responsible for bringing up the child

· This will lead to breakdown of families, loss of ties between fathers and children, which is not permitted in Islam as it is not in the interests of the woman or of the child or of society as a whole.

W2-The Wisdom Behind Prophet's (saw) Marriages

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The Prophet (saw) Marriage to Safiyyah bint Huyay bin Akhtab (ra)

His saws, marriages to is captives: Juwairiyah bint Al-Harith and Safiyyah bint Huyay bin Akhtab (ra), not only show how Islam tolerates mixed marriages based on social status, but also shows the high regard given to women.
Instead of making them slaves, being his captives, he married them and gave them the highest status of women being among the “Mothers of the Believers.”
It further shows how the Prophet (saw) freed women from the bondage of slavery.

ISLAM PERMITS MARRIAGE WITH ‘THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK’

The Prophet (saw) also demonstrated that Islam permits inter religious marriage with the People of the Book by marrying Safiyyah bin Hujay bint Akhtab (ra), Jew
and Maria (ra), a Christian from Egypt.
Both of them embraced Islam and became among the “Mothers of the Believers.”

THE PROPHET’S MARRIAGE TO Sawda bint Zam’a (ra)

With the Prophet’s (saw) marriage to Sawda bint Zam’a (ra), a widower i.e. The Prophet( saw), can opt to marry a middle-aged, kind, jovial, and widowed woman like Sawda (ra) who can take care of his children.

The Prophet’s ‘saws’ Marriage to Umm Salamah (ra)

Had the Prophet saws, not married Umm Salamah (RA), a widow with many children, he would not have demonstrated is virtuous teachings on the care of the orphans.
He saws, showed kindness to them just like his real children.

The wisdom in the Prophet (saws) Marriages to Widows with children.

The Prophet’s (saw) marriages to Hafsah bint Umar bin Al-Khattab (ra), Zainab bint Khuzaimah (ra) and Umm Salamah Hind bint Abi Omaiyah (ra), all widows, show that men should show sympathy and care for widows by marrying them.

The Prophet’s (saw) marriage to his cousin, Zainab bint Jahsh (ra)

The Prophet’s (saw) marriage to his cousin Zainab bint Jahsh (ra), who was divorced by his adopted son, Zaid (ra) , shows that in Islam, it is lawful for man to marry his first degree cousin.

It is also lawful for a man to marry a woman, divorced by his adopted son.
A command by Allah swt, directly thru the Qur’an, to Prophet saws Qur’anic Evidence ( Al-Ahzab 33:37)

Translation (Al Ahzab 33:37)

“And (remember) when you said to him [Zaid Ibn Harithah (ra) – the freed –slave of the Prophet (saw)] on whom Allah has bestowed Grace (by guiding him to Islam) and you [O Muhammad (saw) too] have done favor (by manumitting him) “Keep your wife to yourself, and fear Allah. “But you did hide in yourself (i.e. what Allah has already made known to you that He will give her to you in marriage) that which Allah will make manifest, you did fear the (i.e. Muhammad (saw) married the divorced wife of his manumitted slave) whereas Allah had a better right that you should fear Him. So when Zaid had accomplished is desire from her (i.e. divorced her), We gave her to you in marriage, so that (in future) there maybe no difficulty to the believers in respect of (the marriage of) the wives of their adopted sons when the latter have no desire to keep them (i.e. they have divorced them). And Allah’s Command must be filled.” (Al-Ahzab 33:37)

The plural marriages of the Prophet (saw) are a guidance of the believers

· They serve s guides on the do’s and don’ts of marriages in Islam.
· All the types of marriages that we derive from the Prophet’s (saw) plural
marriages are based on the following words of Allah (SWT),

Qur’anic Evidence
Translation (Al-Maidah 5:5)

“(Lawful to you in marriage) are chaste women from those who were given the scripture (Jews and Christians) before your time, when you have given their due Mahr (bridal-money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage), desiring chastity (i.e. taking them in legal wedlock) not committing illegal sexual intercourse, nor taking them as girlfriends…”(Al-Ma’idah 5:5)

The Prophet( saw) showed the practical implementation of Islam

· All of he types of marriages are demonstrated by the Prophet (saw) show that Islam is indeed, complete, rational, and practical for all times and all places.

Qur’anic Evidence
Translation (Al-Ahzab 33:50)

“O Prophet [Muhammad (SAW)]! Verily, We have made lawful to you your wives, to whom you have paid their Mahr (bridal –money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage), and those (captives or slaves) whom your right hand possesses-whom Allah has given to you, and the daughters of ‘Amm (paternal uncles) and the daughters of your ‘Ammah (paternal aunts) and the daughters of your Khal (maternal uncles) and the daughters of your Khalah (maternal aunts) who migrated (from Makkah) with you, and the believing woman if she offers herself to the Prophet, and the Prophet wishes to marry her;- a priviledge for you only, not for the (rest of) believers. Indeed We know what We have enjoined upon them about their wives and those (captive or slaves) whom their right hands possess,-in order that there should be no difficulty on you. And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Al-Ahzab 33:50)

In short, Islam is the perfect religion for all mankind!
Allahu Akhbar!

W1-The Wisdom Behind Prophet's (saw) Marriages

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The Prophet’s (saw) plural marriages are an example for us to follow

Each marriage set the path to all possible types of marriages in Islam.

The Prophet’s (saw), marriage to Khadijah (ra)
The Prophet’s (saw), marriage to Khadijah (RA) showed that it is permissible for a man to marry a woman who is older than him, for a poor and orphan man to marry a wealthy woman, for an employee to marry his employer, and for bachelor to marry a widow.

PROPHET’S (saw) MARRIAGE TO AISHA (ra) & HAFSAH (ra)

As in the case of Aisha bint Abu Bakr (ra). A man can choose to marry a young and intelligent woman like Aisha (ra).
He can marry his friends daughter in the same way as the Prophet (saw) married Aisha and Hafsah (ra), the daughters of his closest friends: Abu Bakr and Umar (ra) in order to foster ties of relationships.

In addition, Islam allows the practice of bethrothal before entering into the marriage to Aisha (ra).
The Prophet’s Marriage to
Juwairiyah bint Al-Harith (ra)
Umm Habiba o Ramlah (ra)

A man can marry his enemy’s daughters as the Prophet (saw) married:
Juwairiyah bint Al-Harith, the head of Bani Al-Mustaliq of Khuza’ah and
Umm Habiba or Ramlah (ra), the daughter of Abu Sufyan (ra). Note that both Harith and Abu Sufyan (ra) were bitter enemies of Islam.

The Prophet’s (saw) marriages to their daughters show how Islam goes for peace and reconciliation.

Islam also permits marriage in absentia eg. Umm Habibah’s (ra)

As in the case of his marriage to Umm Habiba or Ramlah (ra), the daughter of Abu Sufyan (ra), who was in Abyssinia.
The Prophets ‘saw’ marriage to Maria (ra)
Likewise, it is allowed for a man to marry woman of low social class as in the case of Maria (ra), who was given to the Prophet (saw) as a present by the ruler of Egypt.
The Prophet (saw) elevated her status by marrying her, instead of making her his slave.