When he had settled in Madinah, the Prophet combined the roles of God’s messenger with that of head of state. It is true that the state was small, or rather a city state in our modern terminology, but it was surrounded by hostile groups and powers, some of whom lived within the city itself. He had to be fully aware, all the time of the dangers that could swell at any time and threaten the very existence of his community. As God’s messenger, Prophet Muhammad was duty bound to educate his community in their faith and to mould its life in accordance with the divine message. He discharged this duty in the most exemplary manner. He would sit with anyone who wanted to learn about Islam, speaking to them at their levels of education and understanding.
Needless to say, these duties kept him out of home much of the time. Yet he never neglected his family duties. He would go every afternoon to see every one of his wives, making sure that they lacked nothing. He would spend his nights at the home of whoever it was her turn, always maintaining strict fairness. Yet the fact that he had to marry so many wives meant that problems could always arise between them. They were a mixed group of mature and young women, each endowed with distinctive qualities. Hence, jealousy was bound to be felt. Perhaps none was more keenly jealous than Aishah, despite knowing that the Prophet loved her most. On one occasion he asked her whether she felt jealousy. She said: “How could one in my position be free of jealousy concerning you?”
We know that altogether the Prophet married eleven wives, but Khadijah, his close mate for 25 years, died before his marriage to any of the others, and Zaynab bint Khuzaymah lived with him only a few months before her death. Sawdah was the only one whom he married in Makkah after Khadijah’s death. Aishah was the first he married in Madinah, but others followed her into his home as and when the need arose. As she watched these developments, she wanted to keep her position. She realized that she could not do anything to stop these marriages, which were often dictated by circumstances. Hence, she worked to achieve her goal through clever manipulation. Soon there were two camps, one headed by Aishah and the other by Umm Salamah, who combined maturity with beauty and strong character.
Having said that, we stress that they were all good believers. We must never think that any of the Prophet’s wives resorted to any wicked tricks in order to score points or to harm the other person’s standing. What they wanted was to make sure that their own positions were safe. When we read the stories of what they did out of jealousy, we realize that these could happen between any good God-fearing people. Some of these stories, however, should be carefully examined. The most that can be said here is that the Qur’an takes issue with two of the Prophet’s wives for divulging a secret the Prophet said to one of them. This is referred to in Surah 66, where the episode led the Prophet to forbid himself something that God made permissible for him. The Surah tells him that he should not do so, and warns the two concerned wives that they must repent of their deed in order to regain God’s favor.