Regarding Wives There are various points to be made regarding wives:Muhammad ordains polygamy in Surah 4:3,
“marry women of your choice, two, or three, or four.”
When Muhammad wanted to marry his adopted son’s wife, he received a revelation that made it acceptable to do so (after a divorce). Surah 33:36-37,
“You [Muhammad] sought to hide in your heart what Allah was to reveal(1)…when Zeid [Muhammad’s adopted son] divorced his wife, We [Allah] gave her to you [Muhammad] in marriage, so that it should become legitimate for true believers to wed the wives of their adopted sons if they divorced them.”
A footnote informs us that what Allah was to reveal is that Muhammad wanted his son’s wife.1
Consider what the Bible states about how a husband is to treat his wife,
“Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them” (Colossians 3:19).
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Ephesians 5:25).
Love and do not be bitter, and also give yourself to her. What does it mean to give oneself like Christ did? Men are to give their very lives for their wives, this means that you would die in her place and more importantly, men are to devote their entire lives to loving their wives, serving them and caring for them.
Now here is an example of the Qur’an’s teaching on the subject as found in Surah 4 quoted from eight different translations:
Abdulah Yusuf Ali, “As to those women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly).”2
N. J. Dawood, “Good women are obedient…As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them.”3
Arthur J. Arberry, “But when they are in wedlock, if they commit indecency, they shall be liable to half the chastisement of freewomen.”4
George Sale, “But those, whose perverseness ye shall be apprehensive of, rebuke and remove them into separate apartments, and chastise them.”5
M. H. Shakir, “the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.”6
Rashad Khalifa, “The righteous women will cheerfully accept this arrangement, since it is GOD’s commandment, and honor their husbands during their absence. If you experience rebellion from the women, you shall first talk to them, then (you may use negative incentives like) deserting them in bed, then you may (as a last alternative) beat them.”7
Marmaduke W. Pickthall, “good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them.”8
E. H. Palmer, “virtuous women, devoted, careful (in their husbands’) absence, as God has cared for them. But those whose perverseness ye fear, admonish them and remove them into bedchambers and beat them.”9
How did they play out in Muhammad’s own life? The Hadith—Sahih Muslim 4:2127 The Book of Prayers / Kitab Al-Salat—relates that A’isha, one of Muhammad’s wives who was circa 9 years old narrated the following:
When it was my turn for Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) to spend the night with me…[I] lay down till he thought that I had gone to sleep….[I] put on the shoes slowly, and opened the door and went out…He struck me on the chest which caused me pain, and then said: Did you think that Allah and His Apostle would deal unjustly with you? She said: Whatsoever the people conceal, Allah will know it.
She was taking turns amongst his many wives, he beat her and on top of it he blamed her and claimed that Allah approved.
Also, the Hadith has some interesting things to say regarding Muhammad’s sexual appetite. Muhammad was a polygamist who was married to anywhere between nine and eleven women.
He had an insatiable sexual appetite shown by sacred tradition about his making his round amongst his many wives to copulate with them all in one night, or one day and night.
The Hadith makes the following references (from M. Muhsin Khan’s translation of Sahih Bukhari):
Vol. 1, Book 5, #268 states day and night and Vol. 7, Book 62, #142 states that it was in one night.
That he had wives (plural) is related in Vol. 1, Book 5, #267, 270; Vol. 6, Book 60, #435; Vol. 7, Book 62, #1.
That he had nine wives is related in Vol. 1, Book 5, #268; Vol. 7, Book 62, #5-6, 142.
That he had eleven wives is related in Vol. 1, Book 5, #268.
Also in Vol. 1, Book 8, #367 it is related that Muhammad give a slave girl away to be married only to change his mind and take her for himself.
Lastly, note that a Hadith transmitted by Tirmidhi states, “The Prophet said: If a woman dies while her husband was pleased with her, she will enter Paradise.”