Another Chapter and a Mention of the Wives of the Holy Prophet

“One of the two Imam, (abu Ja’far or abu ‘Abd Allah), ‘Alayhim al-Salam, has said, ’If the wives of the Holy Prophet, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, were not made unlawful for people to marry because of the words of Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, “You must not cause pain to the Messenger of Allah and never marry his wives after him” (33:53) they were unlawful for al-Hassan and al-Husayn (a.s.), because of the words of Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, “You must not marry whoever your fathers have married.” (4:22)’”

“I once heard abu ‘ Abd Allah (a.s.), saying, when this verse was mentioned, ‘We advised the man about his (two fathers) parents’, (29:7) ‘The Messenger of Allah is one of the (two fathers) parents.’ ‘Who is the other (father) parent?’ ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Ajalan then asked. He (the Imam) replied ‘Ali (a.s.), is the other (father) parent. His women are unlawful to us and this (verse) is especially for us.’”

“Sa‘ad ibn Abu ‘Urwah narrated to me from al-Hassan al-Basri that the Messenger of Allah (saww) married a woman from the tribe of Banu ’Amir ibn Sa‘sa‘ah called Sana’ and she was the most beautiful among women of her time. When ‘A’isha and Hafsa looked at her they said that she will dominate them before the Messenger of Allah because of her beauty. They said to her, ‘The Messenger of Allah does not show any interest in you.’ When she went to the Messenger of Allah (saww) he (the Messenger of Allah) took her in his hand and she said, ‘I seek refuge with Allah.’ The hand of the Messenger of Allah moved away from her and he divorced her and sent her to her family. The Messenger of Allah (saww) married a woman from Kindah who was a daughter of Abu al-Jawn. When Ibrahim, son of the Messenger of Allah from Maria the Coptic died, she said, ‘Had he been a prophet, his son would not die.’ The Messenger of Allah (saww) sent her to her family before going to bed with her. When the Messenger of Allah passed away and Abu Bakr took charge of the affairs of the people; al-‘Amiriya and al-Kindah women who had proposed for marriage came to him. Abu Bakr and ‘Umar had a meeting and they said to the women, ‘You can choose the veil or sexual satisfaction.’ They chose sexual satisfaction and married but one of the men contracted leprosy and the other man became insane. ‘Umar ibn ‘Udhaina has said, ‘I narrated this Hadith to Zurarah and al-Fudayl and they narrated it from Abu Ja‘far (a.s.), who has said, ‘Whatever Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, prohibited He is disobeyed in it so much so that they even married the wives of the Holy Prophet (saww) after him and he (the Imam) mentioned the two women, al-‘Amiriya and al-Kindiyah. Abu Ja‘far (a.s.), then said, ‘If you ask them about the case of a man who marries a woman then divorces her before going to bed with her if she is lawful for his son, they will say, ’No. It is not lawful.’ The Messenger of Allah (saww) is greater than their fathers in matters of unlawfulness in such case.'"

“Zurarah has narrated a Hadith similar to the previous Hadith from Abu Ja’far (a.s.), and he (the Imam) has said, ’They do not consider it lawful to marry their mothers if they are believers. The wives of the Messenger of Allah (sw) in the matter of the above unlawfulness are like their mothers.’”