Gender Relations

Prohibition of adultery

A very important change that occurred in gender relations during the Prophetic times was the prohibition of adultery. According to Waqidi, Muslims used to commit adultery before being Muslim. ¹ This means adultery was not very uncommon during pre-Islamic times. Here two traditions are worth noting. When Thaqif of Taif had to accept Islam and they were negotiating the terms that they had to obey, they asked for permission to commit adultery, which was refused by the Prophet. ²  On the other hand, when the Prophet put a condition on Hind bint ‘Utbah, wife of Abu Sufyan, to not commit adultery at the time of her conversion, she answered ‘does a free woman commit adultery?’ ³  So, men were negotiating openly to be allowed to commit adultery but a woman was of the view that a respectable woman never commits such an act.  Definitely, adultery was an act which involved at least one man and one woman. If men used to commit adultery, how come women never did it? One can deduce that there was no social taboo attached to a man if he committed adultery so he was negotiating for it openly. There was a social taboo attached to a woman so she was refusing to accept that a woman ever commits it.  The prophet was determined to attach a social taboo for both men and women in this regard.

The question remains, what was adultery? No doubt, early Muslims used to have sex with their wives but they also used to have sex with imprisoned women who were not married to them. ⁴ Adultery was not sex outside marriage. It was illicit sex – sex with a woman who was not legally allowed.  Obviously, adultery was committed with a consenting woman but covertly.  No wonder, the earliest Middle Eastern codes of law recognized adultery as theft. ⁵  Ibn Ishaq mentions that whenever pre-Islamic Arabs doubted the paternity of a newborn they cast arrows to confirm it, meaning there was at least a small proportion of newborn children whose socially known father did not acknowledge them at the time of their birth. ⁶  But on the other hand, while studying early Islamic sources we come across thousands of names from pre-Islamic times.  Only one has an unknown father, and he is Umami’, the son of a slave girl. ⁷  It means almost all the infants who were declared illegitimate at the time of their birth, ultimately got a person who was willing to allow them to use his name as ‘father’ for social identity. The Prophet was against giving the father’s name in this way because it encouraged adultery. He clearly informed his followers at the time of Fath Mecca that the child belongs to the bed, meaning only the biological father can be called a child’s father. ⁸  Possibly, these illegitimate children were deprived of any inheritance from the property of their ‘social identity father’ by the power of ‘will’ bequeathed by him.  The Prophet forbade will, making the practice of donating one’s name to the illegitimate child as a father very costly. ⁹

Use of contraception

Perhaps all adulteries did not produce pregnancy.  We know contraceptives were available during the Prophetic times.  Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (Abu Sa’īd al-Khudrī اَبُو سَعِيد الخُدرى) participated in the raid of Mustaliq from the Muslim side and got a woman as booty. He says, “With us was a desire for women strengthened by our bachelorhood, but we preferred the ransom, so we practiced safe sex, and we said ‘we will keep the women from impregnation’. The messenger of Allah was in our midst before we asked him about that.  We asked him and he replied. ‘I do not recommend it. Indeed, a creation that Allah intended will be to the Day of Judgement’ ”. ¹⁰  The same Abu Sa’id al Khudri says that he set out to sell a woman he got as booty in the market. One potential customer, a Jew said, ‘O Abu Sa’īd! Perhaps you desire to sell her because an infant from you is in her womb!’ He answered ‘No, indeed I had safe sex with her’.  The Jew replied ‘it is akin to a small killing’. He said: I came to the Prophet and informed him of that, and he said, ‘the Jew lies! The Jew lies’.¹¹

We do not know the exact nature of contraceptives available to the Arabs of Prophetic times and their efficacy. A later physician Muhammad bin Zakariyya al-Razi (c. 854 – 925 CE) has given a list of contraceptives available during his time. ¹²  The contraceptives of that time were either coitus interruptus or the use of pessaries to block the cervix.  As an earlier physician, Soranus of Ephesus (c. 98 – 138 CE) mentions the same two methods of contraception available at his time, we can safely assume similar contraceptives were available to the earliest Muslims.¹³

Prophet Muhammad was never convinced of the efficacy of contraceptives.  After the war of Hunayn, the Prophet forbade Muslims to have sex with any woman prisoner until she menstruates.  Some people argued with the Prophet that there was nothing wrong with having sex using contraceptives. The prophet answered ‘pregnancy does not require all the ‘water’ and when Allah desires it nothing will prevent it’. ¹⁴  So, the Prophet was of opinion to better abstain from sex until it is established that she is not pregnant and if she gets pregnant in future, there should be no doubt about paternity.

Pre-marital sex?

We are not aware of any case of premarital sex on the part of women among pre-Islamic and early Islamic Arabs.  Perhaps it never happened. Menarche was the age of majority for women. ¹⁵  Evidence points towards the fact that a woman got married immediately after menarche before she had any chance of a premarital affair.  All women we come across in historical sources of those times are married without any exception. Many of them had up to two children at age of eighteen. A’isha herself got married at an early age.

Men attained the age of majority at fifteen. ¹⁶  It was ascertained by the presence of a beard and the growth of pubic hair.¹⁷ Though men were ready for marriage by that age they had to wait until they were capable of earning and saving mehr dowry. Prophet Muhammad himself married for the first time at the age of twenty-five. ¹⁸

Generally, men from poor families spent one decade in their bachelor life after attaining sexual maturity. It is not exactly known how pre-Islamic and early Islamic men fulfilled their sexual desire during the period of their bachelor life.

 Reinforcement of documented sex

Adultery was one of the worst crimes during the Prophetic times.  Its punishment has been discussed in the section on social change.  Here it is enough to mention that after surveying all the ancient Middle Eastern legal codes Cook concludes that adultery was universally accepted as a crime committed only by women. ¹⁹  Man was not considered an accomplice in this crime.  Islam changed this legal doctrine and made the man committing adultery as much responsible for the crime as a woman was. ²⁰

Snubbing adultery in itself means that the Prophet was reinforcing marriage/legal relations. We have already seen in the chapter on pre-Islamic Arabs that there were different kinds of marriage, like relations between men and women in Pre-Islamic Arabia. The Prophet insisted on only one kind of marriage whose purpose was to start a new family, to bear children and to raise them. He prohibited marriage only for the sake of pleasure. ²¹ For the very same reason, he banned temporary marriage. ²²

Male head of the family

We know that the man was the political head of a family in pre-Islamic Arabia.  The Prophet maintained the status quo. At the time of the death of Ja’far bin Abu Talib, the Prophet said that ‘he was head of his family’. ²³  Similarly, the Prophet called Nusayba bint Ka’b’s husband ‘her guardian’. ²⁴  While talking to Ash’ath bin Qays of the Kindah tribe, who had come to Medina to accept Islam after Fath Mecca, the Prophet informed him about genealogy ‘we do not follow our mother’s line and disown our fathers’. ²⁵

Gender roles

As man remained head of the family, so remained his duties towards his family. At the Pilgrimage of Farewell in Arafat, the Prophet said; man has a responsibility to provide his wife with food and clothes. ²⁶

Wives continued to do household chores and work in the home-based cottage industry. Asma bint Umays (Asmāʾ bint ‘Umays اَسماء بِنت عُمَيس), the wife of Ja’far bin Abu Talib, while describing the time news of Ja’far’s death came, says that she had just tanned forty skins and kneaded her dough and washed and oiled and cleaned her children when the Prophet came to her home to break the bad news. ²⁷

Though the overwhelming majority of women did only household chores or worked in home based cottage industry, there were working women as well.  After the battle of Khandaq Sa’d bin Mu’adh was admitted in a tent and was treated by a woman physician by name of Kh’aybah bint Sa’d bin ‘Utba of the Aslam tribe. ²⁸  She used to treat other such people as well.  The medical profession was not solely women.  Male physicians were also there. When Sa’d bin Waqqaṣ got sick during the Pilgrimage of Farewell the Prophet called in a male physician by the name of Ḥārith bin Kalada of Thaqif to treat him. ²⁹  But there were fields which were considered women’s domain in toto. Nursing was one such job.  All nurses who got jobs in the Muslim army during the war of Khaybar were women. They were twenty in number. While paying their remuneration from the booty of the war, the Prophet made clear that it was just payment for their services and that they should not be considered combatants for any reference. ³⁰  Waqidi mentions at least one female circumcisioner in Mecca. ³¹

This pattern, in which the man was the main breadwinner of the family and the woman stayed at home doing household chores or participating in the cottage industry, was due to the fact that society prescribed strict roles to the genders.  The woman’s role was to raise children. She had to be near them. By looking at all the jobs that were performed in that society, one can conclude that there was not a single job which a woman was absolutely incapable of doing. As a matter of fact, women even fought a in a war during dire need. Nusayba bint ka’b fought from the side of Muslims at Uhud when Muslims were under pressure. She was wounded in the war. ³²  She again fought in Yamama from the Muslim side and was wounded. ³³  Safiya bint Abdul Muttalib (Ṣafiyah bint ‘Abd ul Muṭṭalib صَفِيَه بِنت عَبدُالمُطَلِب) fought with a Jew and killed him during the battle of Khandaq. ³⁴ Umm Sulaym bint Milhan (Umm Sulaym bint Milḥān اُمّ سُلَيم بِنت مِلحان), mother of Anas bin Malik, had to participate in the battle of Hunayn at the time everybody was fleeing from Hawazin. ³⁵  Women fighters can be traced among the polytheists as well. Salma of Ghatafan, for example, lead a small army against Khalid bin Walid during the Ridda Wars. ³⁶  Definitely, society expected women to do such jobs in emergency situations only. Jobs that were reserved for men were all those which, if done by a woman, clashed with a woman’s duty to raise children.

Woman’s chastity and segregation of genders

Early Islamic society attached significance to a woman’s chastity.  During the Pilgrimage of Farewell at Arafat, the Prophet fixed the responsibility of maintaining her chastity on the woman herself by avoiding sex outside marriage and by not inviting anybody to her home whom her husband would dislike. ³⁷  Any society that attaches significance to the chastity of a woman will not allow the intermingling of sexes in a provocative way. Rather, the segregation of sexes will be encouraged. Such was the case of early Muslim society. In a matter of ifk, the Prophet took the fact that Safwan bin Mu’attal (Ṣafwān bin Mu’aṭṭil صَفوان بِن مُعَطِّل) didn’t use to visit the Prophet’s home in his absence as a proof of the innocence of Safwan and A’isha. ³⁸, ³⁹ The same theme is reflected when the Prophet disallowed women to travel alone without being accompanied by a lawful man for more than three days at the time of Fath Mecca. ⁴⁰ Needless to mention that any woman travelling without a lawful male chaperone generated suspicions in a male mind that she was inviting sex. Umm Hakim (Umm Ḥakīm اُمّ حَكِيم), wife of Ikrima bin Abu Jahl, after accepting Islam went out along with a Roman slave to look for Ikrima. The slave wished to sleep with her on the way and she kept giving him hope until she reached the people of ‘Akka.  She informed them of the slave’s behaviour and they tied him with ropes. On their way back, Ikrima killed the slave. ⁴¹, ⁴²

Still, genders were not strictly segregated in the Prophetic times.  Men and women could mingle and converse with each other provided they could demonstrate that their motives were platonic.  Ibn Ishaq notes in the story of Umar’s conversion that the Prophet was present in Al- Ṣafa along with his forty Companions including women, where Umar intended to go with an aim to kill Prophet Muhammad. ⁴³  In the same story Ibn Ishaq notes that Khabbab bin Aratt (Khabbāb bin Aratt خَبَّاب بِن اَرَتّ) was reading Qur’an to Fatima bint Khattab (Fātima bint Khaṭṭāb فاطِمَه بِنت خَطَّاب), who was not his maḥrim (مَحرِم. Legally allowed women sex partners and those women whom a man cannot marry due to degrees of marriage are his mahrims). ⁴⁴  On numerous occasions the Prophet himself is shown to have talked to Muslim women who were not his mahrim. Prophet Muhammad talked directly to Hamna bint Jahsh (Ḥamna bint Jaḥsh حَمنَه بِنت جَحش) at the end of the battle of Uhud. ⁴⁵  Umm Sinan (Umm Sinān اُمّ سِينان) talked to the Prophet face to face to apply for the job of a nurse in the campaign of Khaybar.⁴⁶  Prophet Muhammad talked directly to non-Muslim women as well.  Zaynab bint Harith, a Jewish woman who made the Prophet eat poisoned lamb after Khaybar, brought it to the Prophet by herself and offered him to eat it. ⁴⁷  Umm Ayman, mother to Usama bin Zayd, talked to the Prophet directly when the prophet was suffering from his last sickness.  Abbas along with Prophet’s wives and some other ladies was present in the same room. ⁴⁸  Talking to non mahrim (غير محرم) was not restricted to Prophet Muhammad.  His wives could also talk to non mahrim men directly as well.  Umm Salma (Umm Salmā اُمّ سَلمىٌ), wife of Prophet Muhammad, while standing in the door of her quarter, talked to Abu Lubaba, who was tied to a column of the mosque.  In this tradition, she says the event took place before the hijab was prescribed by the Prophet but we know Prophet’s wives had started taking the veil at the time of the campaign of Mustaliq and the said incident took place after Mustaliq at the occasion of the raid on Qurayzah.⁴⁹  Even Muslim men, other than Prophet Muhammad, used to talk to Muslim women without an intermediary. During the siege of Taif Khuwayla bint Hakim (Khuwaylah bint Ḥakīm خُوَيلَه بِنت حَكِيم) talked to Umar face to face.⁵⁰  The same applied to Muslim women.  Fatima bint Muhammad (Fātimah bint Muḥammad فاطِمَه بِنت مُحَمَّد), the wife of Ali, received Abu Sufyan and talked to him while he was in Medina on the eve of Fath Mecca.⁵¹ This kind of intermingling of genders was never prohibited during Prophet’s lifetime.

We know talking to the opposite gender on essentially non-sexual matters does not stir emotions.  It is usually touching that leads to sexual arousal. The prophet never touched a non mahrim woman. Not even formally, like shaking hands.  Hind bit ‘Utbah took her veil off after talking to the Prophet at the time of her conversion so he could see her face. Then she talked to him and offered to shake hands with him which he disallowed. ⁵²  He demonstrated to his followers by setting a personal example that such action had no place in Islam.

Domestic violence

It appears that a pre-Islamic Arab man could kill his wife and get away with the murder.  The usual motive of such a murder was doubt about the chastity of the wife.  During the battle of Khandaq, a Muslim youth was going to kill his wife only because he found her standing between two doors of the house when he returned home. ⁵³  The prophet prohibited the murder of the wife. During the raid of Tabuk Adi (‘Adī عَدِى), a man from Udhra told the prophet, ‘I had two wives.  They fought with each other, so I aimed and shot one of them with my arrow’. The prophet asked him to pay blood money for murder and disallowed him to take any inheritance from her. ⁵⁴  The prophet expressly forbade men from murdering their wives due to doubt about their chastities. At Pilgrimage of Farewell in Arafat, the Prophet said that if a wife does not avoid sex outside marriage or invites unrelated men to her house, still her husband can only beat her and that also in such a way that it does not severely hurt her. ⁵⁵  Elaborating on the same theme, the Prophet asked men to treat their wives well as they were bound to them and were dependent on them.⁵⁶

Polygamy

Islam upheld the pre-Islamic custom of polygamy.  Almost all companions of the Prophet had more than one wife. The Prophet himself had many wives.  In the eighth volume of his Tabqāt Ibn Sa’d, in addition to giving the list of wives of the Prophet, gives a list of women whom the Prophet married without consummation of marriage, whom he divorced, and women to whom the Prophet made proposals without completing the marriage and those women who gave themselves to the Messenger. ⁵⁷ He had been monogamous during his stay in Mecca.  He married Sawdah (سَودَه) after the death of Khadija and Sawdah was his only wife at the time of the Immigration.  She was given a quarter in the mosque that was built by the Prophet.  A’isha was his first wife in Medina.  As wives increased, so did the number of quarters. ⁵⁸  The prophet was establishing that a man should be able to provide equal amenities and equal provisions to each of his wives to practice polygamy.  He made that he apportioned his new wives equal to the older ones. ⁵⁹  Not only this, he spent an equal number of nights with each of his wives and if he ever made any change in it he made it with the consent of the others. ⁶⁰

Islam, however, did not allow polyandry for women.  It was in line with the principle of establishing the true biological paternity of each and every pregnancy.

Prohibited degrees of marriage

Prohibited degrees of marriage that existed in Pre-Islamic Arabia remained valid.  Two important prohibitions were added to them.  Pre-Islamic Arab men could marry their stepmother.  They were allowed to marry their sister-in-law as well.  Both were disallowed in Islam. In Islamic law, based on the Qur’an, a man could not marry his mother, his daughter, his sister (including half-sister, consanguine or uterine), his aunt (paternal or maternal), his brother’s or sister’s daughter, his wife’s mother or daughter, or his father’s or son’s wife. ⁶¹  Milk relationships had a similar effect to blood relationships, and marriage with a foster mother or a foster sister was expressly forbidden. The mother was expanded to include the grandmother and so on.  Marriage to two sisters at the same time was also prohibited. ⁶²

How important maintaining these forbidding relations in both pre-Islamic and Islamic times is apparent from the ‘abusive words’ they had.  Like any other society, Arabs had certain words, which they used judiciously during their verbal quarrels to insult their opponent.  All abusive words we know were related to incest.  For example, Nabbash bin Qays (Nabbāsh bin Qays نَبَّاش بِن قَيس) a Jew of Qurayzah said to Sa’d bin ‘Ubada in anger ‘you bit the clitoris of your mother!”.  And Ghazzal bin Samaw’al (Ghazzāl bin Samaw’al غَزَّال بِن سَمَوأل) another Jew of Qurayzah insulting Sa’d bin Mu’adh said ‘you bit the penis of your father!”⁶³  Even Abu Bakr said ‘you bit the clitoris of Lāt’ cursing Budayl bin Warqa of Khuza’a  during the negotiations at Hudaibiyah.⁶⁴

Abusive words could be related to other kinds of illicit sex as well, for example, bestiality.  In an interesting story, Salama bin Salama (Salama bin Salāmah سَلمىٌ بِن سَلامَه) introduced the Prophet to a Bedouin.  The Bedouin, doubting the prophethood of the Prophet, asked Salama if he was a true prophet, could he predict if his pregnant she-camel would bear a male or female calf?  Salama answered angrily ‘you mounted on your she-camel and now she is pregnant with a little goat from you.’  This abusive language was so disturbing to the Prophet that he shunned Salama for uttering obscene words and turned away from him. ⁶⁵

Monetary transactions at the time of marriage

The man had to pay mehr dowry (mehr مَهر bride money) at the time of marriage as they used to do in pre-Islamic times.  It remained a woman’s property.  The woman also received gifts from her parents (parental dowry) at the time of marriage.  It also remained the woman’s property. The Prophet asked Mahmiyya bin Jaza’ (Maḥmiyyah bin Jaza’ مَحمِيَه بِن جَزَء) to pay bridal dowry to his daughter when she was being married to Fadl bin Abbas (Faḍl bin ‘Abbās فَضَل بِن عَبَّاس). ⁶⁶  A’isha’s mother had gifted a necklace made up of Ẓafar beads to her at her marriage. ⁶⁷  Due to the custom of dowry to be given to the daughter by her parents, marrying a daughter was expensive. It was particularly true for widows who were less attractive to men and never married. Waqidi tells the Prophet used part of his khums to marry off widows of Banu Hashim.⁶⁸  A marriage banquet was hosted by the groom after the consummation of marriage.  In the marriage banquet of Ṣafiyah, the Prophet invited the whole Muslim army to participate in Khaybar and served them with ghee, dates and barley. ⁶⁹

It is possible that it was a tradition that a woman would give birth to her first child in her parent’s house. ⁷⁰  Probably, the parents bore the expenditure of the delivery.

Divorce

Marriage was pretty stable among Muslims during the Prophetic times.  We do not see a lot of examples of divorce.  The only time divorce took place in the early Islamic community was when Umar divorced his polytheist wife Zaynab bint Abi Umayyah after the Peace Treaty of Hudaibiyah. ⁷¹ Divorce was not an easy solution to marital problems. It involved children. A Muslim man of the Prophetic times is reported to have detested something of his wife but withheld from divorcing her for he had children by her and loved her. ⁷²

Prohibition of female infanticide

The Prophet prohibited the murder of female infants.  Watt thinks its economic consequence would have been the expansion of population and thus the need for more resources. ⁷³

Man’s duty to protect his wife

Protecting women and children was an Arab’s honour in pre-Islamic times and remained so even after the advent of Islam.  When the delegate of Hawazin after the war of Hunayn was given the option by the Prophet to choose between their cattle and women, they said ‘women are our honour and we shall choose them’. ⁷⁴

Arabs used to take their wives to the battlefield. This action was similar to that of a gambler who puts money at stake.  It was a kind of vow that they would fight for their honour and if they lose, the enemy would have full right to capture their wives and have sex with them. Urwa bin Mas’ud, who was negotiating with Muslims on behalf of the Quraysh at Hudaibiyah informed the Quraysh that he had seen women with Muslims meaning they won’t surrender at any cost.⁷⁵

Slave girls

Sex with captured women was not considered adultery, nor was it rape during pre-Islamic times. It was allowed for Muslim men too. Early Islamic sources note that some women of Hawazin were already distributed among Meccan and Medinan Muhajirun and they had had sexual intercourse with them by the time Hawazin came to terms with the Prophet. ⁷⁶  Such women did not lose their chastity in the eyes of their husbands and they used to accept them back at the earliest chance they got. ⁷⁷ All women of Hawazin were returned except the one who was pregnant and decided to stay with Sa’d bin Waqqas. ⁷⁸ Accepting a woman back was not limited to the polytheists.  Even Muslim women were captured by others, but early Islamic sources don’t mention it up and loud. At least on one occasion, the Prophet is reported to have ransomed a Muslim woman from Banu Fazara by returning a captured woman of theirs. ⁷⁹

As the paternity of a child and hence his rights and obligations towards his tribe were of utmost importance, pregnant women were not accepted back. The prophet always asked Muslims to have sex with prisoner women only after they menstruate to establish clearly who the father was in case they fall pregnant. ⁸⁰  After the campaign of Khaybar the Prophet came across a captive woman who was full-term pregnant.  The size of the pregnancy could easily establish the date of conception before the war. The Prophet asked her if her owner was having sex with her and the answer was yes. The Prophet said how would her son inherit from her owner when he is not his child? Or would he make him a slave, while he runs under his hearing and his sight? ⁸¹

By the way, the main motive of capturing women in war was not sex per se, but to get sons.  At least this was the publicly stated motive. Uyayna bin Hisn took an old woman at the war of Hunayn with the hope that her husband would offer a rich ransom to get her back. His companion, Zuhayr abu Ṣurad told him to let her go, for her mouth was cold and her breasts were flat; she could not conceive and her husband would not care and her milk was not rich. ⁸²  Uyayna bin Hisn himself, explaining his motive to participate in the war from the Muslim side, had told that he was hoping to capture a girl from Thaqif as Thaqif were the people who produced intelligent children. ⁸³  Liking to capture a woman in war rather to marry a woman by consent of her parents arose from financial constraints. Mehr dowry had to be paid to a free Arab woman at the time of marriage.  The captured woman was not paid mehr dowry though she bore sons to the man. ⁸⁴  The Prophet paid manumission as mehr for Safyiah while he had to pay nothing in the case of Rayhana (Rayḥānah رَيحانَه). ⁸⁵

Feminine virtues

As is obvious from the above example of Uyayna bin Hisn, the most sought virtue in a woman to make her wife or capture her in the war was her tribal nobility.  Physical beauty was an additional plus point. Actually when Safyiah reached Medina from Khaybar after her marriage with the Prophet the first thing Prophet’s other wives sought in her was her beauty.⁸⁶  A’isha says women used to diet for fear of being fat. ⁸⁷

Poets continued to illustrate a woman’s beauty in their odes during Prophetic times.  One poem attributed to Ḥassan bin Thabit at the time of Fath Mecca is:

Of Sha’thā who fills me with longing
So that my heart cannot be cured of it?

She is like the wine of Bayt Ra’s
Mixed with honey and water.

All draughts that could be mentioned
Cannot be compared with that wine.

We blame it for what we do amiss
If we are quarrelsome or insulting to others.

When we drink it we are as kings and lions
Nothing can keep us from the fray.⁸⁸

But the poets had to remain within the limit of decency while describing the physical beauty of a woman.  Expressions of lust were frowned upon. During the siege of Taif a slave of Fakhita bint Amr (Fākhita bint ‘Amr فاخِتَه بِنت عمرو), an aunt of the Prophet, was there by name of Mata (Māta ماتا).  Mata expressed to Khalid bin Walid that Dadiya (Dādiyah دادِيَه), the daughter of Ghaylan (Ghaylān غَيلان) who was a leader of the besieged, should not escape from Khalid in case the Prophet conquers Taif.  He also composed:

Indeed she comes in fours and goes in eights
When she sits, she bends; when she speaks she sings;

When she reclines she weakens
Between her legs is the likes of a satisfying dish;

Her teeth like the Chamomile
Just as al-Khaṭīm said;

Among the types of women her creation is established
There is no roughness or fragility;

She will make you sink looking at her and
She doesn’t even notice her face is flushed.⁸⁹

When the Prophet heard these words he said ‘I did not know of this harmful understanding of beauty when I set out to al ‘Aqīq’ (the site of the camp)’.  He forbade Mata’s entry upon women of the Abdul Muttalib family and exiled him to a hima.  Later he complained, so the Prophet allowed him to come to the town on Fridays only. ⁹⁰

Extramarital affairs

Where there is a man there is an extramarital affair.  No law, no moral code, and no religious tenants have ever prevented it successfully.  Ḥassan bin Thabit is claimed to have an extramarital affair with Sha’tha bint ibn Suwayra (Sha’thā bint ibn Suwayrā’  بِنت ابن سُوَيراء شَعثا), a Jewess from Nadir at the time of matter with Nadir. ⁹¹

Like any other society, extramarital love affairs made a popular theme of stories and fascinated writers and readers alike. When Khalid bin Walid was going to kill the male captives from Banu Jadhīma a young man, whose hands were tied to the neck with a rope, he asked permission to talk to a woman who was among the group of women prisoners standing nearby.  The request was granted.  The man said to her, “Fare you well, Ḥubaysha, though life is at an end.”  Then he recited:

Tell me when I sought and found you in Ḥalya
Or came on you in al-Khawāniq,

Was I not a lover worthy to be given what he asked
Who undertook journeys by night and noonday?

I did no wrong when I said when our people were together,
Reward me with love before some misfortune befalls!

Reward me with love before distance divides
And the chief goes off with a dear one thus parted.

The woman answered, “May your life be prolonged seven and ten continuous years and eight thereafter.”  Then the guards pulled him away and beheaded him.  The woman went with him when he was being beheaded and bent over him and kept on kissing him until she died at his side. ⁹²  Though this story has no religious significance nor it is an important political event, both early Islamic sources Waqidi and Ibn Ishaq could not help themselves neglecting it.⁹³  Interestingly, like all love stories of the times, this tragedy had to end in the death of both lovers.

Use of Veil

The veil was definitely known to Pre-Islamic Arabs. It continued to be used by Muslim women.  A veil covered the face because in many reports the onlooker could not recognize a woman because she was veiled. ⁹⁴  We do not know the exact date when the Prophet’s wives were ordered to veil their faces.  A’isha is reported to have visited Bilal and Amir bin Fuhayra in their home when they were sick.  A’isha tells it happened immediately after Immigration and at that time veil had not then been ordered.⁹⁵  It is during a marriage of Juwayrya where Waqidi mentions for the first time that the Prophet made her wear a hijab (ḥijāb حِجاب). ⁹⁶ This was before the battle of khandaq during the raid on Mustaliq.

Like in pre-Islamic times, the veil was a symbol of nobility. When Muslims set out to Medina from Khaybar after the war, the Companions said about Safiyah, ‘today we will know whether she is his wife or concubine.  If she is his wife, he will cover her; if not she is his concubine’.  The prophet commanded Safiyah to veil herself, hence people knew she was his wife. ⁹⁷  Again, like pre-Islamic times, we do not know how widespread the use of the veil was.  Perhaps women of higher status used the veil and that also on certain occasions.

Rules of inheritance

We do not know the exact rules of inheritance among pre-Islamic Arabs.  Waqidi writes that in jahiliyyah, if a man died without any son, his inheritance would go to his brother.⁹⁸  The Prophet changed this rule of inheritance after the battle of Uhud. He gave the widow and orphaned daughter a share of the inheritance. ⁹⁹  He upheld the changed rules at the battle of Khandaq when Mahmud bin Maslama (Mahmūd bin Maslamah مَحمُود بِن مَسلَمَه) died during the war.  He had plenty of property, but was survived by only a daughter.  He was worried on his deathbed that his daughter would not receive anything.  The prophet told him that daughters have a share in the inheritance. ¹⁰⁰ How much share a daughter would get is not explicitly mentioned in early Islamic sources.  Umm Kurz al-Ka’biya (Umm Kurz al-Ka’biyah اُمّ كُرز الكَعبِيَه) reports that the Prophet once said that when distributing the meat of a sacrifice, for a boy, two sheep are appropriate, for a girl, one. ¹⁰¹ It could have had an indirect implication that the share of a boy in inheritance was double that of a girl.

The prophet advised Muslims not to ‘will’ their inheritance. ¹⁰²  This advice was just to protect legal heirs from any kind of injustice at the time of the distribution of assets. The Prophet used to give an exemption of one-third that could be willed. For example, when Sa’d bin Waqqaṣ got sick during the Pilgrimage of Farewell, and he suspected he would die, he asked the Prophet’s permission to ‘will’ his property in charity as he had only one daughter as heir. The prophet allowed only one-third of his property to be given in charity, explaining that it is better to leave his heir wealthy than to leave her needy and begging. ¹⁰³  The notion that the dead cannot be represented by living at the time of distribution of assets was deeply rooted in the pre-Islamic Arab mind. Islam did not change it. ¹⁰⁴

Last words of Prophet Muhammad

The last words of Prophet Muhammad before his death, according to Ma’mar, were: “Fear Allah in matters concerning women and those slave women your right hands possess.” ¹⁰⁵  Not only was the question of gender relations was on the Prophet’s mind up to the last minute he survived on this planet, but he was also concerned that men would take advantage of their positions as head of their households.

End notes

1. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 473.
2. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 473.
3. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 553.
4. For such practice see: Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 466.
5. See above, gender relations of pre-Islamic Arabs.
6. For the casting of arrows see: Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013).
7. For Umami’ see: Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 304.
8. For the Prophet’s announcement see: Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 412.
9. For forbidding of will see: Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 412.
10. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 202.
11. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 202.
12. Vern L. Bullough, ed.   Encyclopedia of Birth Control. (Santa Barbara CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001), 154.
13. For Soranus’s list see: Paul J. Carrick, Medical Ethics in the Ancient World, (Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2001), 119 – 122.
14. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 451.
15. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 257.
16. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 222.
17. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 251, 254.
18. Montgomery W. Watt, Muhammad at Mecca, (Oxford University Press London 1953 repr. 1965), 38.
19. Stanley A. Cook, “Adultery (Semitic),” Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, (New York, 1951 – 1957), Vol I P 135 – 137.
20. Walter Young, “Stoning and Hand-amputation: the pre-Islamic Origins of the Hadd penalties for Zina and Sariqa.”  Master’s thesis, Institute of Islamic studies.  (Montreal: McGill University, September 2005), 173.
21. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 325.
22. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 426.
23. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 535.
24. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 131.
25. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 641.
26. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 539.
27. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 535.
28. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 250.
29. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 546.
30. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 338.
31. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 139.
32. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 131.
33. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 131.
34. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 458.
35. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 443.
36. Abū Jā’far Muḥammad bin Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, The History of al- Ṭabarī. Vol. X, ed. Ehsan Yar-Shater, trans. Fred M. Donner (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993), 77, 78.
37. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 539.
38. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 221.
39. Safwan bin Mu’attil was from Sulaym.  He died in Futuhul Buldan on the Syrian front.
40. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 412.
41. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 418.
42. ‘Akka is an unknown locality.
43. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 156.
44. For the event see: Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 156.
45. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 389.
46. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 338.
47. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 334.
48. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 547.
49. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 250.
50. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 590.
51. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 391.
52. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 418.
53. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 232.
54. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 498.
55. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 539.
56. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 544.
57. Montgomery W. Watt, Muhammad at Medina, (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 395.
58. Montgomery W. Watt, Muhammad at Medina, (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 284.
59. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 202.
60. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 679.
61. Qur’an 4: 22 – 26.
62. Montgomery W. Watt, Muhammad at Medina, (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 280.
63. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 222.
64. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 285.  For Budayl bin Warqa’s tribal affiliation see: Ma‘mar ibn Rāshid. The Expeditions. Ed. Joseph E. Lowry, Trans. Sean W. Anthony.  (New York: New York University Press, 2015).  20.
65. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 293.
66. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 343.
67. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 209.
68. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 187.
69. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 349.
70. Abdullah bin Zubayr was born in the house of Abu Bakr, in as-Sunh.  See: Khalifa Ibn Khayyat, Khalifa ibn Khayyat’s History on the Umayyad Dynasty (660 – 750), ed. and trans. Carl Wurtzel, (Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2015), P 130, Year 73.
71. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 311. In this particular case, the Muslims were prohibited to marry or remain in a marriage with polytheists
72. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 351.
73. Montgomery W. Watt, Muhammad at Medina, (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 271.
74. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 592.   See also:  Ma‘mar ibn Rāshid. The Expeditions, ed. Joseph E. Lowry, trans. Sean W. Anthony, (New York: New York University Press, 2015), 68.
75. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 295.
76. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 462. AND Ma‘mar ibn Rāshid. The Expeditions. Ed. Joseph E. Lowry, Trans. Sean W. Anthony.  (New York: New York University Press, 2015).  68, 69.
77. See example: Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 275.
78. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 466.
79. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 277.
80. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 336.
81. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 336.
82. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 593.
83. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 590.
84. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 665.
85. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 255, 256, 332.
86. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 349.
87. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 209.
88. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 558.
89. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 458.
90. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 458.
91. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 179.
92. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 563.
93. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 563.   AND Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 432.
94. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 349.
95. Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 280.
96. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 202.
97. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 332.
98. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 161.
99. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 161.
100. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 324.
101. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 303.
102. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 412.
103. Muhammad bin ‘Umar al-Wāqidī, The life of Muḥammad:  kitāb al-Maghāzī, ed. Rizwi Faizer, trans. Rizwi Faizer, Amal Ismail and AbdulKader Tayob, (London: Routledge, 2011), 546.
104. Montgomery W. Watt, Muhammad at Medina, (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 290.
105. Ma‘mar ibn Rāshid, The Expeditions, ed. Joseph E. Lowry, trans. Sean W. Anthony, (New York: New York University Press, 2015), 114.