Is it true that Our Prophet offered divorce to his wife Hazrath Sawda?
A Brief Description of the Question:
My question is that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) offered divorce to Hazrath Sawda (r.a) because she was finding hard to compete with other young wives, but she declined because she said she wants to be resurrected as his wife, what does that mean finding hard to compete. Was prophet giving more time to other wives, although a husband should be just with all wives? Please reply at earliest thanks.
The Answer:
Answer: There is some information about Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) wanting to divorce Sawda. However, the reason for this is not that she was old or behaved slowly.
Sawda is the daughter of Zem'a who belongs to Amir b. Luay, a branch of the tribe of Quraysh. Sawda was married to Sakran, the brother of Suhayl b. Amr. She accepted Islam before her husband and played an important role in her husband's choosing Islam. At the time when Muslims were severely tortured in Mecca, Sakran and his wife emigrated to Abyssinia but he died there some time later.
Sawda is the daughter of Zem'a who belongs to Amir b. Luay, a branch of the tribe of Quraysh. Sawda was married to Sakran, the brother of Suhayl b. Amr. She accepted Islam before her husband and played an important role in her husband's choosing Islam. At the time when Muslims were severely tortured in Mecca, Sakran and his wife emigrated to Abyssinia but he died there some time later.
Sawda returned to Mecca after her husband's death. At this time, Khadija, the first wife of the Prophet, had just died. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had children who needed care. The Prophet, who named the year of Khadija's death as 'the year of sadness' was having a troubled time. He was left alone. This situation of the Prophet was felt by everybody. Hawla, the daughter of Hakim and the wife of Uthman b. Maz'un, saw the sadness of the Prophet and proposed to find a partner for him, and he assented. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was very much affected by the loyalty to faith Sawda had shown and as a result of the respect and high value that he attached to her, he proposed to marry her. Sawda was at the age of fifty when she married the Prophet. The marriage took place three years before the Hijra (migration from Mecca to Madinah). For the marriage, the Prophet went to the home of Sawda and her father performed the marriage ceremony. The mihr (money given to the wife before marriage by the husband) given by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to his wife was worth four hundred dirhams. Sawda had a brother who was initially a polytheist but afterwards chose the rightful religion.
After the marriage, Sawda looked after the children of the Prophet and brought them up with mother's mercy.
Sawda, who earned the honor of being the second wife of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), died in 640 AD (19, of the Hegira) at the time of the Caliph Umar, according to the soundest narration.
As is seen, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) took this righteous old lady under his care, who had separated from her relatives and joined the group of believers and who did not ever want to return back to polytheism in which her relatives believed; and the Prophet did this only because she was loyal to Allah and His religion, and he thus gave her the honor of being the mother of believers.
Sawda was tall and heavy in body and in her actions. As she could not move fast, she asked for permission to set out from Muzdalifa before anyone else in the Final Pilgrimage of the Prophet. On the other hand, one of the most important assets of Sawda was her generosity. In this matter, she was the first among the Prophet's wives after Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). One day, Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) sent a bag to Sawda. Sawda asked what was in the bag. When she learnt that it was money, she commanded it to be distributed to the poor.
One of the points which distinguished her from the other wives of the Prophet was her ultimate obedience. Moreover, Sawda is among those who narrated hadiths from the Prophet. However, the hadiths narrated by her are not more than five. Bukhari took one of these hadiths in his book. Abdullah b. Abbas, Yahya b. Adurrahman and As'ad b. Zurara narrated hadiths from Sawda.
Before her death, Sawda bequeathed her room to her friend Aisha, who lived in the next room to hers. By this way, Aisha had the chance to widen her place, which was quite limited as the Prophet was buried on one side of her room.
In As-Siratu'n-Nabawiya by Ibn Hisham, one of the most important sources of the history of Islam, there are some narrations apart from those above. According to this book, some time after the marriage, Sawda caused some delay in the Prophet's relations with his daughters. Again in the same source, the event in which the Prophet decides to divorce Sawda is also mentioned.
It is narrated that when Sawda sees Suhayl b. Amr, the brother of her deceased husband, among the prisoners of Badr War with his hands tied, she said: “O Aba Yazid! How did you surrender? Could you not die with your honor?” When the Prophet heard this, he said: “Sawda! Do you oppose Allah and His Messenger?” Sawda replied: “O Messenger of Allah! I swear to Allah Who has sent you as the rightful Prophet that I could not help saying this when I saw Abu Yazid like that.” Thereupon, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) intended to divorce Sawda, but she pleaded: “O Prophet, do not divorce me! Keep me in your wedlock; show me mercy! Do not let me drift into oblivion!” Then the Prophet accepted her wish. Islamic sources are of the same opinion that after this event, their marriage continued without any problem.
In short, Sawda is a lady who alleviated the sadness of the Prophet upon Khadija's death, who did the housework, who fulfilled the duty of motherhood for six children and most importantly who earned the title 'the mother of the believers'.
(Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqatul-Kubra, Beirut, t.y., VIII, 52-58; Ibnul-Athir, al-Kamil fi't-Tarih, trans. M. Beşir Eryarsoy, Istanbul 1985, II, 138 and others; Muhammad Hamidullah, The Prophet of Islam, trans. Salih Tuğ, Istanbul 1980, II, 730-731; Mevlana Shibli, Asr Saadah, trans. Ö. Rıza Doğrul, Istanbul 1981, II, 138-140).
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