Wives of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

The Mothers of the Believers: their lives, roles, and transmission of the Sunnah.

The wives of the Prophet (peace be upon him) are the Mothers of the Believers (Ummahāt al-Mu’minīn). The Quran affirms their status and instructs the believers to treat them with respect (Surah Al-Ahzab). They shared in his life, preserved his Sunnah, and transmitted countless hadiths. Many were scholars in their own right and counsellors to the early community. Below are the twelve women he married, with context on their lives and their place in the Seerah.

Wives of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in detail

Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (RA)

First wife and the first person to believe in his prophethood. She was a wealthy, respected merchant who employed him for a trade journey and then proposed marriage. He married her at twenty-five and she was forty; they were married for twenty-five years until her death. She bore him his children (except Ibrāhīm) and comforted him after the first revelation. The Prophet (peace be upon him) never forgot her; he would send gifts to her friends and speak of her with love. She died in the Year of Sorrow, shortly before the Hijrah.

Sawdah bint Zamʿah (RA)

Married the Prophet (peace be upon him) after Khadijah’s death. She was known for her piety and her willingness to give her night (her turn with the Prophet) to ʿĀishah (RA) out of love for her. She was among those who migrated to Abyssinia and later to Madinah. She transmitted hadiths and was respected by the Companions.

ʿĀishah bint Abī Bakr (RA)

Daughter of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (RA). She was the only wife the Prophet (peace be upon him) married who was not previously married. She was a leading scholar: she transmitted over two thousand hadiths, explained rulings, and was consulted on the Sunnah. The Prophet (peace be upon him) died in her room and was buried there. She played a major role in the political and scholarly life of the early community after his death.

Ḥafṣah bint ʿUmar (RA)

Daughter of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (RA). She was widowed at a young age; the Prophet (peace be upon him) married her. She was literate and became the custodian of the first compiled musḥaf (the copy prepared under Abū Bakr and then ʿUmar). She transmitted hadiths and was known for her strong character.

Zaynab bint Khuzaymah (RA)

Known as Umm al-Masākīn (Mother of the Poor) for her charity. She was widowed and the Prophet (peace be upon him) married her. She died only a few months after the marriage and was buried in Madinah.

Umm Salamah (Hind) bint Abī Umayyah (RA)

Wise and experienced. She had migrated to Abyssinia with her first husband, who died there; she then migrated to Madinah. The Prophet (peace be upon him) married her. She was a counsellor: at Ḥudaybiyyah she advised him on how to resolve the dispute with the Companions who hesitated to accept the treaty. She transmitted many hadiths.

Zaynab bint Jahsh (RA)

From a noble family; she was the Prophet’s cousin. She was first married to Zayd ibn Ḥārithah (RA), the Prophet’s freed slave and adopted son. When that marriage ended, Allah revealed that the Prophet (peace be upon him) should marry her (Surah Al-Ahzab), establishing that adopted sons are not like biological sons in terms of marriage. She was known for her devotion and charity.

Juwayriyyah bint al-Ḥārith (RA)

From the tribe of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq. She was captured in a campaign; the Prophet (peace be upon him) married her and set her free. When the Muslims learned that she was now the Prophet’s wife, they freed the other captives from her tribe. Many of them embraced Islam. Her marriage thus became a means of mercy and guidance for her people.

Umm Ḥabībah (Ramlah) bint Abī Sufyān (RA)

Daughter of Abū Sufyān, the Quraysh leader. She and her husband had migrated to Abyssinia; her husband apostatised and died there. The Negus arranged her marriage to the Prophet (peace be upon him) by proxy while she was still in Abyssinia. She later came to Madinah. Her marriage was a bond between the Prophet and a powerful Quraysh family and showed that faith, not lineage, defined the believer.

Maymūnah bint al-Ḥārith (RA)

The last woman the Prophet (peace be upon him) married. She was the sister of Umm al-Faḍl (wife of al-ʿAbbās). The marriage took place after the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah, during the Prophet’s ʿumrah. She transmitted hadiths and was known for her piety.

Ṣafiyyah bint Ḥuyayy (RA)

From the Jewish tribe of Banū Naḍīr. She was captured at Khaybar; the Prophet (peace be upon him) freed her and married her. She embraced Islam and was treated with full honour as a Mother of the Believers. She was intelligent and dignified; when some spoke ill of her Jewish origin, the Prophet (peace be upon him) defended her and pointed to her faith and lineage through Hārūn (Aaron).

Māriyyah al-Qibṭiyyah (RA)

Sent as a gift to the Prophet (peace be upon him) by the Muqawqis, the ruler of Egypt. She embraced Islam. She bore the Prophet (peace be upon him) a son, Ibrāhīm, who died in infancy. The Prophet (peace be upon him) was deeply grieved at his death. She was honoured and respected; she did not have the same legal status as the wives who were “Mothers of the Believers” but was in the Prophet’s care and bore him a child.

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