Historical Analysis and Its Results

What does true historical analysis conclude from all this? It concludes that Muhammad stood for monogamy and counseled its observance. This is the substance of the example of his married life with Khadijah, as well as that of the Qur'anic commandments :

"Marry such women as seem becoming to you, two, three, or four. But if you fear that you may not be just, then marry only one, or your slaves" [Qur'an, 4:3]; and,

"You will not be able to do justice to more than one wife however much you may try. And if you must marry another wife, do not incline excessively to one and leave the other like a thing suspended.� [Qur'an, 4:129]

These verses were revealed toward the end of the eighth year of the Hijrah after the Prophet had married all his wives. The purpose of these verses is to limit the number of wives to four whereas, until their revelation, there was no limit to the number of wives a Muslim could marry. This historical fact repudiates the claim that Muhammad has allowed himself that which he had forbidden to the people. Furthermore, these verses were revealed in order to stress the superiority of monogamy over polygamy.

The Qur'an commanded the limiting of one's self to one wife out of fear of the possibility of injustice and conviction that justice to more than one wife is not within the limits of men's capability. The revelation, however, realized that in the exceptional circumstances of a people, it is quite possible that there might be a need for more than one wife; but it has limited polygamy to four and conditioned its practice to capacity for fairness and justice on the part of the husband.

Muhammad called the Muslims to realize these values by exemplifying them in his own life in a period in which Muslims made battle and fell as martyrs on every occasion. But could anyone in truth decide once and for all that monogamy is the absolute commandment in all conditions and circumstances? What would be the effect of such a law when wars and epidemics and revolution cut down thousands and millions of men in a brief while?

Would then monogamy still be better than polygamy when restricted to the exceptional circumstances? Can the people of Europe in this age following World War I assert categorically that monogamy is the law of life of their own citizens, even if they may say it is the law in the books? Are not the social and economic disturbances which the world witnessed in Europe following the War the direct result of this imbalance between the two sexes, of their inability to bring about harmony and prosperity in their marital relations, and hence of their insistence to seek that harmony outside the marriage bond?

It is not my intention to decide the issue here. But I leave the matter to the reader to ponder. I do wish to repeat, however, that the happiness of the family and that of the community can best be served by the limitation which monogamy imposes. That is so, however, if and only if the life of the community itself is normal.

The Story of Zaynab, Daughter of Jahsh

As for the story of Zaynab, daughter of Jahsh, the chroniclers, Orientalists, and missionaries have mixed it with such products of vivid imagination that they have made of it a story of love and passion. Critical history, on the other hand, concludes that it is one of the truly great facets of Muhammad's personality. It proves beyond question that Muhammad was the perfect example of faith and conviction, for it is an instantiation of the principle that the faith of man is complete only when he truly loves for his brother that which he loves for himself. Muhammad had made himself always the exemplar of his own legislation, especially of such laws as were intended to replace the tradition and customs of pre-Islamic Arabia.

He was the examplar of the new system which God revealed through him as a mercy and guidance to mankind. For a repudiation of the whole story of Zaynab as reported by these chroniclers or Orientalists and missionaries, it is sufficient to realize that the said woman was the daughter of Umaymah and grand-daughter of `Abd al Muttalib the uncle of the Prophet of God-may God's peace and blessing be upon him.

It is sufficient to remember that this woman was brought up in sight of Muhammad and under his care, and on this account was regarded by him as a daughter or a young sister; that he knew too well whether she was beautiful or not before she ever married Zayd ; that he saw her and followed her growth from childhood to maturity and youth; and that it was he who asked her hand for Zayd, his adopted son.

Once the reader knows these historical data, then all the fictitious elements and tales spun about him, namely, that he passed by her house in the absence of her husband and was struck by her beauty; that he opened the door of her house and, as the breezes played with the curtains of her room, he saw her stretched in her nightgown like a real "Madame Recamier," that his heart was so struck by her beauty that he instantly forgot Sawdah, `A'ishah, Hafsah, Zaynab, daughter of Khuzaymah and Umm Salamah, his wives-not to mention the memory of Khadijah of whom `A'ishah used to say that she had never felt jealous of any woman except Khadijah on account of the memory he kept of her-all these tales must dissolve.

If any grain of them was true, Muhammad would have taken her in marriage himself at first, rather than give her in marriage to Zayd. This historical relationship between Zaynab and Muhammad rules out as utterly fictitious and groundless all the stories which have been attributed to Zaynab's attractiveness.

History, however, has more yet to tell. It proves that Muhammad asked for the hand of his own cousin Zaynab for his adopted son Zayd. Her brother, `Abdullah ibn Jahsh, refused to let his sister, the Hashimi and Qurayshi noble girl that she was, and the first cousin of the Prophet in addition, become the wife of a slave whom Khadijah had bought and whom Muhammad had set free. Such a union was regarded by him as well as by the Arabs in general as a thing of great shame. For the daughters of the aristocracy to marry their slaves, even though their slaves had become free, was plainly unthinkable. But Muhammad sought to wipe out these racial and class distinctions between men. He sought to educate the whole world to the truth that no Arab is superior to any non-Arab unless it be in virtue and piety. For it was God who said,

"Highest in God's view is the most virtuous." [Qur'an, 49:13]

Muhammad did not choose to force this noble principle upon a woman outside his own tribe and clan. Let it then be Zaynab, he thought, his very cousin, that will carry the first burden of this flagrant violation of Arabian custom. Let her be the destroyer of these pagan traditions. Let her cause herself, and therewith the whole tribe and religion of Muhammad, to endure all the criticisms that such an act would engender. And let Zayd, his awn adopted son, be the person of lesser lineage to marry the noble Makkan aristocrat.

On the other hand, Arab custom and tradition demanded that the adopted son inherit from his adopted father, like the latter's legitimate children. And since this custom too was the object of Muhammad's attack, his choice of Zayd as the spearpoint of the first reform, would actually make of him-if he were prepared to give up the inheritance to which Arabian custom gave him title-the spearhead of another Islamic legislation prohibiting inheritance to any but the blood heirs and relatives of the deceased. Thus, Muhammad insisted that Zaynab agree to marry Zayd and that her brother `Abdullah ibn Jahsh accept Zayd as a brother-in-law. Indeed, this furnished the occasion for the revelation that "No believer, whether man or woman, has freedom to choose otherwise than as God and His Prophet have resolved in any given case. To do so is to disobey God and His Prophet, to err and fall into manifest misguidance." [Qur'an, 33:36]

Once the foregoing verse was revealed, neither `Abdullah nor his sister Zaynab had any alternative but to acquiesce in the Prophet's order. The Prophet helped Zayd furnish a dowry for his bride-to-be and the marriage took place. After the wedding, the husband found in his wife a woman very hard to manage and to live with. Her pride continued to know no bounds. Indeed, she continued to deride Zayd, to boast of her lineage in his presence and to look down on him because of his having once been a slave. Zayd complained about her to the Prophet more than once and even consulted with him in the matter of divorcing her. All along, the Prophet would counsel him in these terms

"Hold fast to your wife and fear God." Zayd's home life, however, did not improve and, unable to bear her false pride any longer, Zayd divorced her.

Adoption in Islam

The All-Wise Legislator willed to undo the Arab practice of adopting children and passing onto them the adopter's genealogy and name, his investment of them with all the rights of the legitimate son including that of inheritance and the prohibition of marriage on grounds of consanguinity. The divine Legislator willed to give the adopted son only the right of a client and co-religionist. In this sense, the verse was revealed that: "God did not make your adopted son a. your own sons. To declare them so is your empty claim. God's word is righteous and constitutes the true guidance." [Qur'an, 33:4]

It follows from this revelation that the adopter may marry the ex-wife of his adopted son and viceversa. But how is such provision to be implemented? Who, among the Arabs, could implement this legislation and thereby openly repudiate the ancient traditions? Even Muhammad himself, despite his tremendous willpower and profound understanding of the wisdom implicit in the divine command, found himself disinclined to implement this judgment by marrying Zaynab after Zayd had divorced her. Indeed, the criticisms of the commonplace and the vituperations with which he was indicted in the public eye for breaking down such well established custom did, for a time, influence Muhammad's judgment and affected his decision.

It was at this stage that the following divine criticism was addressed to Muhammad: "Would you hide, 0 Muhammad, within yourself that which God was going to bring to light anyway? Would you fear the gossip of the people? Isn't God more worthy of being feared?" [Qur'an, 33:37]

The truth is, however, that Muhammad was the exemplar of obedience to God; his life was the implementation of that which he was entrusted to convey to mankind. The outcome, therefore, was that Muhammad would not give any weight at all to the gossip of the people if he were to marry the ex-wife of his adopted son, since the fear of social condemnation is nothing comparable to that of condemnation by God, of disobedience to divine commandment. Thus, Muhammad married Zaynab in order to provide a good example of what the All-Wise Legislator was seeking to establish by way of rights and privileges for adoption. In this regard, God said:

"After a term of married life with her husband, We permitted you to marry her so that it may hence be legitimate and morally blameless for a believer to marry the wife of his adopted son provided that wife has already been divorced. That is God's commandment which must be fulfilled." [Qur'an, 33:37]

Return to the Orientalists' Views

Such is the evidence critical history furnishes in the case of Zaynab, daughter of Jahsh, and of her marriage to Muhammad. She was his first cousin whom he knew well long before Zayd ever married her. It was he who asked for her hand on Zayd's behalf. Muhammad often saw Zaynab even after her marriage to Zayd, for the veil was not then known. It was also the custom, on account of Zaynab's blood relation to Muhammad and Zayd's relation as adopted son, that the couple would refer to the Prophet any complaint each may have against the other. As Zayd was not happy in his marriage with her, it was natural that both of them would seek advice and judgment in their domestic disputes.

All these provisions of the divine law have been revealed, and they have been instanced in the case of Zayd and Zaynab's marriage and divorce, and of Zaynab's later marriage to Muhammad. These provisions had one purpose, namely the raising of the manumitted slave to the full status of freedom, and the repudiation of all the rights of masters, protectors, and adoptive parents in clear and unequivocal terms. There is hence no ground for these fictitious stories woven by Orientalists and missionaries and repeated by Muir, Irving, Sprenger, Weil, Dermenghem, Lammens and other biographers of Muhammad. Their so-called scholarship is a scandalous piece of missionarizing.

It is a masquerade of science. Their traditional antagonism to Islam, going back to the Crusades, has simply taken possession of their conscience, dictating and determining all that they write on the subject. It is this fundamental prejudice which vitiates their writing. Their "history" is a crime against history itself, for they choose to see, to note, and to report only the most scurrilous and fictitious reports to satisfy this end. Even if, though impossible, their claims were true, we would still refute them with the simple argument that the great stand above the law; that Moses, Jesus, Jonah, and others before Muhammad have likewise risen above the laws of nature as well as of society, some in their birth, others in their lives. None of this has affected their greatness.

Muhammad, moreover, legislated for man and society by means of his Lord's revelation. He executed those laws equally by his Lord's command. His life constitutes the highest ideal, the perfect example, and the concrete instance of his Lord's command. Would those missionaries have Muhammad divorce his wives in order not to exceed the limit of four prescribed by lslamic law after Muhammad? Wouldn't they then subject him to more severe criticism?

But Muhammad's treatment of his wives was just and noble. We have seen in the above-mentioned tradition of `Umar ibn al Khattab some evidence thereto, and we shall see more yet in the sequel. Evidently, Muhammad not only honored woman more than did any other man, but he raised her to the status which truly belongs to her-an accomplishment of which Muhammad alone has so far been capable.

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