Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of The Glorious Koran. An Explanatory Translation (1930)
The Sûrah contains further references to the wives of the Prophet in connection with which it may be mentioned that from the age of twenty-five till the age of fifty he had only one wife, Khadîjah, fifteen years his senior, to whom he was devotedly attached and whose memory he cherished till his dying day. With the exception of ‘Ayeshah, the daughter of his closest friend, Abû Bakr, whom he married at her father’s request when she was still a child, all his later marriages were with widows whose state was pitiable for one reason or another. Some of them were widows of men killed in war. One was a captive, when he made the marriage the excuse for emancipating all the conquered tribe and restoring their property. Two were daughters of his enemies, and his alliance with them was a cause of peace. It is noteworthy that the period of these marriages, was also the period of his greatest activity, when he had little rest from campaigning, and was always busy with the problems of a growing empire.
The period of revelation is between the end of the fifth and the end of the seventh years of the Hijrah.
The Clans
1. O Prophet I Keep thy duty to Allah and obey not the disbelievers and the hypocrites. Lo! Allah is Knower, Wise.
2. And follow that which is inspired in thee from thy Lord. Lo! Allah is Aware of what ye do.
3. And put thy trust in Allah, for Allah is sufficient as Trustee.
4. Allah hath not assigned unto any man two hearts within his body, nor hath he made your wives whom ye declare (to be your mothers) your mothers,1 nor hath he made those whom
1 The reference is to a custom of the pagan Arabs by which a man could put away his wife by merely saying: “Thy back is as my mother’s back for me.”
