Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of The Glorious Koran. An Explanatory Translation (1930)

to tell the story of his own vain effort to reform them, at which the Prophet laughed heartily.

Traditions (1) and (3) are the better authenticated and are alone adduced by the great traditionists. But the commentators generally prefer (2) as more explanatory of the text. All allude to a tendency on the part of some of the wives of the Prophet to presume on their new status and the Prophet’s well-known kindness — a tendency so marked that, if allowed to continue, it would have been of bad example to the whole community. The Koran first rebukes the Prophet for yielding to their desires to the extent of undertaking to forgo a thing which Allah had made lawful for him — in the case of (2), fulfilment of his vow involved a wrong to Mârya — and then reproves the women for their double-dealing and intrigue.

The above traditions have been made by some non-Muslim writers the text for strictures which appear irrelevant because their ideology is altogether un-Islamic. The Prophet has never been regarded by Muslims as other than a human messenger of God; sanctity has never been identified with celibacy. For Christendom the strictest religious ideal has been celibacy, monogamy is already a concession to human nature. For Muslims, monogamy is the ideal, polygamy the concession to human nature. Polygamy is of the nature of some men in all countries, and of all men in some countries. Having set a great example of monogamic marriage, the Prophet was to set a great example of polygamic marriage, by following which men of that temperament could live righteous lives. He encountered all the difficulties inherent in the situation, and when he made mistakes the Koran helped him to retrieve them. Al-IsMm did not institute polygamy. It restricted an existing institution by limiting the number of a man’s legal wives, by giving to every woman a legal personality and legal rights which had to be respected, and making every man legally responsible for his conduct towards every woman. Whether monogamy or polygamy should prevail in a particular country or period is a matter of social and economic convenience. The Prophet himself was permitted to have more wives than were allowed to others because, as head of the State, he was responsible for the support of women who had no other protector. With the one exception of Ayeshah, all his wives had been widows.