Life-of-Muhammad

146Life of Muhammad saProphet sa has been attacked by European writersbecause he had several wives. They think a plurality ofwives is evidence of personal laxity and love of pleasure.This impression of the Prophet's sa marriages, however, isbelied by the devotion and self-consuming love whichthe Prophet's sa wives had for him. Their devotion andlove proved that the Prophet's sa married life was pure,unselfish and spiritual. It was so singular in this respectthat no man can be said to have treated his one wife sowell as the Prophet sa treated his many. If the Prophet's samarried life had been motivated by pleasure, it wouldmost certainly have resulted in making his wivesindifferent and even antagonistic to him. But the factsare quite otherwise. All the Prophet's sa wives weredevoted to him, and their devotion was due to hisunselfish and high-minded example. To his unselfishexample they reacted by unsparing devotion. This isproved by many incidents recorded in history. Onerelates to Maimuna ra herself. She met the Prophet sa forthe first time in a tent in the desert. If their maritalrelations had been coarse, if the Prophet sa had preferredsome wives to others because of their physical charms,Maimuna ra would not have cherished her first meetingwith the Prophet sa as a great memory. If her marriagewith the Prophet sa had been associated with unpleasantor indifferent memories, she would have forgotteneverything about it. Maimuna ra lived long after theProphet's sa death. She died full of years but could notforget what her marriage with the Prophet sa had meantfor her. On the eve of her death at eighty, when thedelights of the flesh are forgotten, when things only oflasting value and virtue move the heart, she asked to beburied at one day's journey from Mecca, at the very spotwhere the Prophet sa had camped on his return toMedina, and where after his marriage she had first methim. The world knows of many stories of love both realand imaginary, but not of many which are more movingthan this.