RIHANA AND JUWAIRIYA

SafIyya was no exception.  Many other women, among them RIhAna and JuwairIya, were taken in and treated as part of the war booty.  RIhAna was a Jewish girl of the BanU Quraizah.  After her husband was beheaded in cold blood along with eight hundred other male members of her tribe in the genocide at Medina, Muhammad kept her as his concubine.  We shall touch upon this massacre again in our discussion of jihAd.

JuwairIya, another of these unfortunate girls, was the daughter of the chief of the Banu�l Mustaliq.  She was captured in the fifth or sixth year of the Hijra along with two hundred other women.  �The Messenger of Allah made a raid upon BanU Mustaliq while they were unaware and their cattle were having a drink at the water.  He killed those who fought and imprisoned others.  On that very day, he captured JuwairIya bint al-HAris� (4292).

In the division of the booty, she fell to the lot of SAbit ibn Qays.  He set her ransom price at nine ounces of gold, beyond the power of her relatives to pay.  �Aisha�s reaction when she saw this beautiful girl being led into the presence of Muhammad is recounted in these words: �As soon as I saw her at the door of my room, I detested her, for I knew that he [Muhammad] would see her as I saw her.� And indeed, when Muhammad saw JuwairIya he paid her ransom and took her for his wife.  JuwairIya was at that time about twenty, and she became the seventh wife of the Prophet.  The whole story is given by Ibn IshAq, the Prophet�s biographer.

There was another girl, named Zainab, again Jewish, who had seen her father, husband, and uncle killed.  She poisoned the roasted lamb she was ordered to prepare for Muhammad.  Suspecting something wrong, Muhammad spat out the very first morsel.  He was saved, and she was immediately put to death, according to some authorities (TabaqAt, vol. II, pp. 252-255).

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Some incidents relating to the Prophet�s marriages with SafIyya (3325-3329) and Zainab hint Jahsh are mentioned (3330-3336).

SAFIYYA

Muhammad�s wars and raids not only fed his coffers, they also swelled his harem.  SafIyya, a beautiful girl of seventeen years, was the wife of the chief of a Jewish clan inhabiting Khaibar.  Muhammad�s custom was to make surprise attacks.  Khaibar was invaded in the same fashion.  Anas narrates: �We encountered the people at sunrise when they had come out with their axes, spades and strings driving their cattle along.  They shouted in surprise: Muhammad has come along with his force!  The Messenger of Allah said: Khaibar shall face destruction� (4438).  There is even a QurAnic verse relating to Muhammad�s sudden sweep on the valley and the fate of its people: �But when it descends [nazala] into the open space, before them evil will be the morning for those who were warned� (QurAn 37:177).  

In any case, many people were butchered, and many others were taken prisoners.  �We took Khaibar by force, and there were gathered the prisoners of war,� according to Anas.  SafIyya, the daughter of Huyayy b. Akhtab, the chief of the Quraiza and al-NazIr, was one of them.  Her husband, KinAna, was put to a cruel death (3325).

Anas continues: �She first fell to the lot of Dihya in the spoils of war.� (Incidentally, Dihya was strikingly handsome.  Muhammad used to see Gabriel in his form.) But Anas adds that people �praised her in the presence of Allah�s Messenger and said: �We have not seen the like of her among the captives of war� � (3329).  Muhammad took her away from Dihya, Gabriel or no Gabriel, and even took her to his bed the same night her husband was killed, in violation of his own command, which enjoined the believers to wait until the beginning of the next menstrual cycle in their captive women.

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THE ORIGINAL SIN

�Had it not been for Eve, woman would have never acted unfaithfully towards the husband,� the Prophet tells us (3471).

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TASTAHIDDA

Muhammad also made effective use of what are known in literary criticism as vulgar expressions.  Once the Prophet and his party returned from an expedition rather late, and his Companions wanted to hurry to their homes.  But the Prophet told them to wait till �the woman with dishevelled hair may comb it, and the woman whose husband had been away may get herself clean; and when you enter, you have the enjoyment� (3462).

The translator tells us that the Arabic word for �get herself clean� is tastahidda, which literally means �to remove the hairs on the private parts,� but it is here used metaphorically in the sense of getting ready for the husband�s company (note 1926).

ON MARRYING A VIRGIN

In other ahAdIs, the Prophet touches upon the excellence of marrying a virgin (3458-3464). JAbir reports: �The Apostle of Allah said: �JAbir, have you married?� I said, �yes.� He said: �A virgin or one previously married?� I said: �with one previously married,� whereupon he said: �Why did you not marry a virgin with whom you could sport?� � (3458), or �who might amuse you and you might amuse her� (3464).

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NIGHT SESSIONS

We have one important hadIs which provides another indulgence to the believers and also throws some light on the Prophet�s sexual code.  In order to be impartial, a believer should visit his wives by turn.  But while he is in bed with one of them, he is allowed to have his other wives around.  Anas, one of the servants of Muhammad, reports that �all the wives of the Messenger of Allah used to gather every night in the house of one where he [the Apostle] had to come. . . . It was the night in the house of �Aisha, when Zainab came there.  He [the Holy Prophet] stretched his hand towards her [Zainab], whereupon she [�Aisha] said: it is Zainab.  Allah�s Apostle withdrew his hand.  There was an altercation between the two until their voices became loud.� When the morning prayer was announced, AbU Bakr came to get Muhammad; hearing their voices, he said: �Messenger of Allah, come for prayer, and throw dust in their mouths� (3450).

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DEPORTMENT TOWARD ONE�S WIVES

Ticklish problems arise if one has more than one wife and if one marries often.  One of the problems, for example, is how many nights one should spend with one�s newly wed wife?  The answer is seven days if she is a virgin, and three days if she is a widow (3443-3449).

Umm Salama, one of the wives of Muhammad, tells us that when Muhammad married her, he spent three nights with her.  When he intended to leave, she �caught hold of his garment.� But the Prophet told her: �If you wish I can stay with you for a week, but then I shall have to stay for a week with all my wives� (3443-3445).

Though a husband should divide his days equally among all his wives, one wife could make over her day to another.  AhAdIs 3451-3452 tell us that when Sauda became old, she made over her day to �Aisha.  So Allah�s Messenger �allotted two days to �Aisha� (3451).

But sometimes the Prophet himself would ask a wife to forgo her day.  One wife told him: �If I had the option in this I would not have allowed anyone to have precedence over me� (3499).

Eventually the rule of rotation was withdrawn altogether by a special dispensation of Allah: �Thou may defer the turn of any of them that thou pleasest, and thou may receive any thou pleasest; and there is no blame in thee if thou invite one whose turn thou hast set aside� (QurAn 33:51).  Allah is very accommodating.  �Aisha, for whose benefit He really spoke, taunted Muhammad: �It seems to me that your Lord hastens to satisfy your desire� (3453).

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CAST A GLANCE AT THE WOMAN YOU WANT TO MARRY

It is permissible to cast a glance at the woman one wants to marry, from �head to foot.� A believer came to Muhammad, informing him that he had contracted a marriage with an ansAr woman and wanted him to contribute toward the dowry payment.  �Did you cast a glance at her, for there is something in the eyes of the AnsArs,� Muhammad asked.  The man replied: �Yes.� �For what dower did you marry her,� Muhammad inquired.  �For four Uqiyas,� the man replied.  �For four Uqiyas?  It seems as if you dig out silver from the side of the mountain (that is why you are prepared to pay so much dower).  We have nothing which we should give you.  There is a possibility that we may send you to an expedition where you may get booty.� The man was sent on an expedition marching against the BanU �Abs (3315).

But this permission actually originated in a different incident.  An Arab woman named �Umra, the daughter of one Jaun, �was mentioned before Allah�s Messenger.� By now the Prophet was an important man in Arab politics, so he commanded an official of his named AbU Usaid to send a messenger to the woman.  She was brought and she �stayed in the fortresses of BanU SA�idah.� Allah�s Messenger went out until he came to her to give �her a proposal of marriage.� She was �sitting with her head downcast.� They saw each other, and Muhammad talked to her.  She told him: �I seek refuge with Allah from you.� Meanwhile the Prophet had arrived at his own conclusion.  He told her: �I have decided to keep you away from me.� Then Muhammad retired with his host and told him: �Sahl, serve us drink� (4981).  

It is in this hadIs that one finds it permissible to cast a glance at the woman whom one intends to marry (note 2424).

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CAPTIVE WOMEN

Adultery and fornication are punished according to Muhammad�s law, but not if you commit them with the �women that your right hands possess,� that is, those women, whether married or unmarried, who are captured by the Muslims injihAd, or holy war.  A QurAnic verse fortifies this position: �Also prohibited are women already married except those whom your right hands possess� (4:24).

AhAdIs 3432-3434 tell us that this verse descended on the Prophet for the benefit of his Companions.  AbU Sa�Id reports that �at the Battle of Hunain Allah�s Messenger sent an army to AutAs. . . . Having overcome them [the enemies] and taken them captives, the Companions of Allah�s Messenger seemed to refrain from having intercourse with captive women because of their husbands being polytheists.  Then, Allah, Most High. sent down [the above verse]� (3432).

The followers had a feeling of delicacy in the matter, based on an old moral code, but Allah now gave a new one.

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AL-�AZL

Coitus interruptus is permitted, but it is useless if the object is to prevent conception, for that is in the hand of Allah.  AbU Sirma reports: �We went out with Allah�s Messenger on the expedition. . . . and took some excellent Arab women; and we desired them . . . but we also desired ransom for them.  So we decided to have sexual intercourse with them but by observing �azl.� They consulted Muhammad, and he advised: �It does not matter if you do not do it, for every soul that is to be born up to the Day of Resurrection will be born� (3371).

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