Marriage life of Prophet pbuh -Justified!

Misconception: Marriage with Zainab bint Jahsh

His marriage to his paternal cousin Zainab bint Jahsh was a peculiar case which aimed at eradicating a deeply rooted pre-Islamic tradition — i.e. the adoption of children.

In Al-Jahiliyah the Arabs used to consider an adopted person exactly like a real son or daughter as far as rights and sanctities are concerned.
That Jahiliyah tradition had been so deeply rooted in their hearts that it was not easy to remove or uproot it.

This tradition in fact affronts the basic principles of Islam; especially those concerned with marriage, divorce and inheritance and some other cases, and brought about lots of corruptions and indecencies.

Naturally Islam stands against such deeds, and attempts to remove them from the Islamic society.

For the eradication of this tradition, Allâh, the Exalted, bid His Messenger [pbuh] to marry his cousin Zainab bint Jahsh, who was an ex-wife to Zaid.

She was at variance with Zaid to an extent that he intended to divorce her — that was at the time when the Confederates (Al-Ahzab) were making an evil alliance against the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] and against the Muslims.

The Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] feared that the hypocrites, the idolaters, and the Jews would make a propaganda out of it and try to influence some Muslims of weak hearts.
That was why he urged Zaid not to divorce her, in order not to get involved into that trial.

Undoubtedly this hesitation and partiality were alien to the character of the Prophet [pbuh] .
They did not apply to the power of determination and will with which he had been sent.
Allâh, the Exalted, blamed him for that by saying:

   "And (remember) when you said to him (Zaid bin Haritha ÑÖì Çááå Úäå — the freed slave of the Prophet [pbuh]) on whom Allâh has bestowed grace (by guiding him to Islam) and you (O Muhammad [pbuh] too) have done favour (by manumitting him), 'Keep your wife to yourself, and fear Allâh.' But you did hide in yourself (i.e. what Allâh has already made known to you that He will give her to you in marriage) that which Allâh will make manifest, you did fear the people (i.e. Muhammad [pbuh] married the divorced wife of his manumitted slave) whereas Allâh had a better right that you should fear him." [Al-Qur'an 33:37]

Finally Zaid divorced Zainab and the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] married her at the time he laid siege to Bani Quraiza.

That was after she had finished her Iddat (i.e. period during which a widow or a divorcee may not remarry).

Allâh Himself had already ordained it, and so gave him no other alternative. Allâh had even started the marriage Himself by saying:

    "So when Zaid had accomplished his desire from her (i.e. divorced her), We gave her to you in marriage, so that (in future) there may be 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)." [Al-Qur'an 33:37]

And that was in order to break down the tradition of child adoption in practice after He had done it in words:

    "Call them (adopted sons) by (the names of) their fathers, that is more just near Allâh." [Al-Qur'an 33:5]

    "Muhammad ([pbuh]) is not the father of any man among you, but he is the Messenger of Allâh, and the last (end) of the Prophets." [Al-Qur'an 33:40]

^^^
Lots of deeply-rooted traditions cannot be uprooted or demolished or even adjusted by mere words.

They must be matched and associated with the action of the advocate of the Message himself.

This could be perceived through the deeds practised by the Muslims at Al-Hudaibiyah 'Umrah (Lesser Pilgrimage) during which 'Urwah bin Mas'ud Al-Thaqafi saw certain Muslims tend to pick up any expectoration that fell down from the Prophet [pbuh]. He also saw them race to the water of his ablution and they almost quarrelled for it.

There were others who competed to pledge allegiance to death and some others pledged not to flee from (the battlefield).

Among those people, were eminent Companions like 'Umar and Abu Bakr, who although dedicated all their lives to the Prophet [pbuh] and to the cause of Islam, but refused to carry out the Messenger's ordres with respect to slaughtering sacrificial animals after the ratification of Al-Hudaibiyah Peace Treaty, the thing that perturbed and caused the Prophet [pbuh] to feel anxious.

However, when Umm Salamah [R] advised that he take the initiative and sacrifice his animals, his followers raced to follow his example; a clear evidence in support of the saying: Actions speak louder than words, in the process of exterminating a deeply-established tradition.

Hypocrites aroused a lot of suspicions and made a broad false propaganda against that marriage.

Their acts and talks about that marriage had ill-effects on those Muslims whose Faith was still weak, particularly that Zainab was the fifth wife — and the Noble Qur'ân limited the number up to four only; Zaid was traditionally his son, and so a father marrying his son's divorcee was a heinous sin in the eyes of the Arabians.

Al-Ahzab Surah was revealed to shed full light on the two issues, i.e. Islam does not recognize adoption of children, and the Prophet [pbuh] is given (by Allâh) more freedom as regards the number of wives he can hold than other Muslims in order to achieve noble and honourable purposes.

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