"Untold: A History of the Wives of Prophet Muhammad" is a mystical demystification of the women who were present at the founding of Islam. Bold in conception, shivery in detail, it sheds light on the influence of the women who, centuries ago, were caught in intrigue, war, clan concatenations, jealousy and a host of other exigencies of the human condition.
The Prophet Muhammad didn't start out as a prophet; neither was Jesus the Christ from day one. These divinely inspired men became what they were meant to be. And right alongside both, there were women. Women who witnessed, women who comforted, women who tended, women who loved, women who suffered.
Tamam Kahn, a Sufi, has written a remarkable book. Just as Anita Diamant gave us the Jewish matriarchs in "The Red Tent," and just as Marion Zimmer Bradley gave us the perspective of the women of the Arthurian legends in "The Mists of Avalon," Tamam Kahn teases out, uncovers and re-imagines the women who surrounded Muhammad.
Written in a prose/poetry form known as prosimetrum, she combines hadith with poetical imaginings. Consider this from the opening poem: "Conversation with these women / Will never end." She's right. As I read her book, I wished that every single one of them was alive to weigh in on the dreadfully politicized issue of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero. I am sure each one of them would have had something trenchant and accurate to say.
Muhammad's first wife was Khadija, the White Shade Cloud. It was she who saw Muhammad through the roughest years in his becoming a prophet. It was to her that he brought his fears of madness and his tears of wonder. She simply began to balance everyday life with Divine Wonder as part of ordinary reality. Known for her business acumen, she gave up everything -- her wealth, her prestige, her everything -- to believe in her husband as her prophet.
His second wife was Aisha, Matchfire in the Backlight. She was his only virgin wife, a woman who studied law and learned the entire Quran by heart. His third was Zaynab, the Beautiful. It is she to whom responsibility for the creation of hijab falls. She was on display on her wedding night, and it was given: "And when ye ask of them [the wives of the Prophet] anything, as it of them from behind a curtain." Hijab means both to separate and to protect.
My favorite of the wives is Umm Salama, the Mother of Peace. Her name means "Mother of Salama"; she was called The Wise. Her wisdom arises in the Treaty of Hudaybiyya, a "crucial moment in Muhammad's life where he enacted a peace treaty with the leaders of Mecca."
There were two Jewish wives, Rayhanna and Safiyya, and Mariya from among the Christians. Kahn writes the anguish of her heart over these women: "How can we have the name of the mule that came with her [Mariya] to Arabia -- Dudul -- and lack so many fundamental facts about the woman who was to become the mother of Prophet Muhammad's son?" Indeed. Mariya calls herself "the one-woman-peacekeeping bride from Egypt." There are seven others whom I will leave you to discover in this special book.
The word Islam comes from etymological roots meaning "peaceful surrender." A verse from the Quran says it beautifully: "It well may be that Allah will put love between you and those of them who are your enemies" (60:7). "Matrimony," chimes the author, "rescued widows and was a kind of peace plan."
Tamam Kahn's book goes a long way toward peace and surrender to the truth that Islam is a religion of the Book, just as are Judaism and Christianity. Read "Untold," learn about these strong, miraculous women and weep for the years of peace that we have all lost.
For spiritual nourishment, visit Dr. Susan Corso's website and blog, Seeds for Sanctuary. Follow her on Twitter @PeaceCorso and Friend her on Facebook.
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Muhammad's wives - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Untold: A History of the Wives of Prophet Muhammad | Facebook
I dropped him. He was mean and rude.
oh yeah, and ever heard of misuse of quotation marks? it's a bit of a disease, really.
c.w. please read the book Hindus: An Alternative History By Wendy Doniger before you ignorantly and insinuatingly condemn the practices of other religions.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262511
http://chitraraman.voiceofdharma.org/blogs/general/calling-her-bluff.html
http://chitraraman.voiceofdharma.org/book-reviews/wendy-doniger/review-of-the-hindus-an-alternative-history-chapter-10.html
The above virtually word-by-word examination of Doniger's misrepresentations and distortions apply ONLY to one chapter - imagine how long a list of corrections to the entire book would be!
Here's a few more:
http://www.sandeepweb.com/2009/11/25/wendy-doniger-is-a-syndrome/
http://sookta-sumana.blogspot.com/2010/07/wendy-donigers-psychofumble-into-porno.html
Putting Doniger in context, her inability to translate from Sanskrit is ridiculed by her peers:
"Professor Michael Witzel of Harvard was once publicly challenged to prove his claim that Wendy Doniger's knowledge of Vedic Sanskrit is severely flawed. Witzel's claim seemed as audacious as saying that the Pope is not a good catholic. Therefore, Witzel quickly published on the web several important examples of Sanskrit mistranslations by Wendy Doniger ...
On her translation of Rg Veda "Witzel concludes: In this hymn (of 18 stanzas) alone I have counted 43 instances which are wrong or where others would easily disagree."
http://www.rajivmalhotra.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=26#up63
I sincerely believe that the world is eager to know much more about the "untold story" of Muhammads approximately dozen wives.
A normal man who makes enough money to keep him surviving in life, can not provide a fair quality of life to all his wives, which means that he must not be allowed to marry multiple wives because he will only make his society worse.
The Quranic Verse 4:3 came to solve social problems. Unfortunately today, some less religious and ignorant Muslims intensify the Muslim's social problems in the Islamic poor countries by marrying multiple wives and bringing more and more illiterate and poor kids into the society which on the long run will only keep their entire society below the level of poverty.
God's revelation doesn't allow polygamy just for anyone or any reason and Quranic Verse 4:129 certainly nullifies the excuse God Almighty gave to Muslim men to practice polygamy.It says marry one only, as you will not be able to be fair to more than one wife. Equality is required even in the matter of sharing a husbands's be with his wife/wives.
Therefore, unless we have social or personal dilemmas where too many Muslim men were lost in a massive war or there is problem with the wife toward her husband( for instance unable to have issues due to wife's fault ) then polygamy may be allowed or justified in my view.
Even if that is true, it was also common at the time in Arabia for Jews, Christians and Pagans to live alongside each other. It seems an odd choice to do away with religious diversity but to continue the "custom" of sex with children.
Right in the UK an eleven year old boy had fathered a child in 2007.
Take the case of age of consent as it was existing in the civilized UK until 1929. Up until as recently as 1929 the law in England (and Wales) still allowed boys as young as 14 and girls as young as 12 to be legally married. Would he call those marrying 12 year old girls as criminals?
Only bigots like you will use 21st century norms to 6th century customs. Even today in the advanced Japan, it has one of the lowest ages of sexual consent in the world; it's as low as 13 in metro Tokyo and the national age of consent ranges between 13 and 18 depending on the province. Are Japanese marrying teenagers sex criminals?
How many of us in 2010 approve the age of Mahatma Gandhi’s bride? Obamas role model.She was eleven.
Religiously, it is impossible for people outside the culture to understand the reasons for cementing the attachment which existed between Muhammad and his closest friend Abubakar. The manners of the country recognised such alliances and Aysha was living for about 45 years after the death of Mujhammed vouchsafing some of the finest traditions and teachings of Muhammad. She became a great leader in history
It's good to be the Prophet.