It is well-known that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was exceptionally authorized to have more than four wives for various reasons. The wives he married and consummated the marriage with were eleven. Nine of them outlived him. Two died in his lifetime.
Below is a brief overview of the Prophetic marriages in chronological order:
1. Khadijah Bint Khuwaylid: In Makkah — prior to Hijra — the Prophet’s household comprised him صلى الله عليه وسلم and his wife Khadijah. He was twenty-five and she was forty when they got married. She was the first woman he married and she was the only wife he had till she died. She was his greatest source of strength and comfort during the initial years of Revelation. She was also the only wife with whom Allah had blessed him with children. They were together for twenty-five years and her death deeply grieved the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
2. Sawdah bint Zam‘a: He married her in Shawwal, in the tenth year of Prophethood, a few days after the death of Khadijah. She was one of the early converts who had migrated to Abyssinia and was widowed there. She was older than the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم at the time of their marriage and she was also the wife who, a few years later, gave up her turn with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to her co-wife 'Aishah
3. ‘Aishah bint Abu Bakr: He married her in the eleventh year of Prophethood, a year after his marriage to Sawdah, and two years and five months before Al-Hijra. She was shown to him in a dream as his wife and she was six years old when he married her. However, he did not consummate the marriage with her till Shawwal seven months after Al-Hijra, and that was in Madinah. She was nine then. She was the only virgin he married, the only wife in whose bed he received Revelation, and the most beloved creature to him. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم died in her house, on her day, in her arms and was buried in her house. 'Aishah was the most learned woman in jurisprudence and even the greatest of the Sahabah sought her consult, particularly on matters relating to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
4. Hafsah bint ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab: She was widowed at a young age and the Messenger of Allâh صلى الله عليه وسلم married her in the third year of Al-Hijra, in the period between the Badr and Uhud battles.
5. Zainab bint Khuzaimah: She was nicknamed 'Umm Al-Masakeen', because of her kindness and care towards them. Her husband was martyred at Uhud, and she married the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in the fourth year of Al-Hijra, but she died two or three months after the marriage.
6. Hind bint Abi Omaiyah (Umm Salamah): She was a widow from Bani Makhzum - the clan of Abu Jahl and Khalid ibn Al-Waleed. The Messenger of Allâh صلى الله عليه وسلم married her in Shawwal in the fourth year of Al-Hijra. Her marriage to the Messenger of Allâh صلى الله عليه وسلم produced good results. Khalid’s deliberately indecisive attitude at Uhud — for instance — was due to the Messenger’s marriage to Umm Salamah. Khalid ibn Waleed went even further than that, in a short time he willingly embraced Islam and went on to become the greatest warrior of this Ummah.
7. Zainab bint Jahsh: The Messenger of Allâh صلى الله عليه وسلم married her in Dhul-Qa‘dah, the fifth year of Al-Hijra. She was previously married to Zaid bin Haritha — who was then considered the son of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. In jahiliyah the Arabs used to consider adopted children exactly like a real son or daughter as far as rights and inheritances are concerned. In order to eradicate this deeply rooted pre-Islamic tradition and to explain that it has no basis in Islam, Allah سبحانه و تعالى sent down Qur'anic verses giving Zaynab in marriage to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when Zaid divorced her. Surah Al-Ahzab was revealed to shed full light on this issue.
8. Juwayriyah bint Al-Harith: Daughter of the chieftain, Juwayriyah was among the booty that fell to the Muslims from Bani Al-Mustaliq when her tribe attacked the Muslims and were defeated. The Messenger of Allâh صلى الله عليه وسلم freed her and married her in Sha‘ban in the sixth year of Al-Hijra. On the occasion of her marriage to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, his Companions set a hundred families of her people free. Subsequently, her people later on went onto embrace Islam.
9. Ramlah bint Abu Sufyan (Umm Habibah): Her husband apostatized and became a Christian, but she remained steadfast in her religion and refused to convert. When her husband died and she became a widow, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم married her, in the seventh year of Al-Hijra. After the Messenger of Allâh’s marriage to Umm Habibah, Abu Sufyan, her father, did not encounter him with any sort of hostility and once an ardent enemy of Islam, he later on embraced Islam.
10. Safiyah bint Huyai: From the Children of Israel, she was among the booty taken at Khaibar battle. The Messenger of Allâh صلى الله عليه وسلم took her for himself. He set her free and married her after that conquest in the seventh year of Al-Hijra. Her marriage to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم ceased hostilities between her people and Islam.
11. Maimunah bint Al-Harith: The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم married her after the Compensatory ‘Umrah (Lesser Pilgrimage). That was in Dhul-Qa‘dah in the seventh year of Al-Hijra.
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For anyone who would just take the time to read about The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم 's life, you will understand that his marriage to this great number of women in the late years of his lifetime, after he had spent almost thirty years of his best days of youth sufficing himself to one old wife — Khadijah, was in no way an overwhelming lustful desire to be satisfied through such a number of wives.
These marriages were in fact motivated by aims and purposes much more glorious and greater than what normal marriages usually aim at.
Anyone who has read historical fiction or even skimmed through basic information about the medieval period, you will find that marriages played a great role in establishing alliances and eradicating hostilities. That was the way of life back then, be it in Europe, the Arabian Peninsula or the Eastern part of the world.
Take two warring parties, marry one of them to the other and you will have a ceasefire. It was a matter of honor and hostility and fights against alliances and affinities would bring an unforgettable shame, disgrace and degradation to them. The same way of life existed among the Arab tribes.
By marrying the Mothers of Believers, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم demolished the Arab tribes’ enmity to Islam and extinguished their intense hatred. Moreover, the Mothers of the Believers and particularly Aisha'ah were the ones who related the ahadith on the intimate matters in Islam, and as such, we witness the great wisdom with which Allaah decreed these marriages.
Taken from:
Ar-Raheeq al-Makhtoum (The Sealed Nectar) by Sheikh Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri
The Prophetic Household : Abdurrahman.org
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