Mohamed's Wives Roles

Essay by rslim95University, Bachelor'sA-, November 2007

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Consider the role played in the first community of Muslims by the wives of Muhammad as they are portrayed in the Qur'an and in Muslim tradition.

How weretheir lives different from those of other women in that first Muslim community?It is safe to say that Mohammed's wives played a huge role in his life and the lives of other women in the first Islamic community. The two main wives that had an influence on Islam were Aisha and Khadija. "The lives and marriages of two of Muhammed's wives, Khadija and Aisha, encapsulate the kinds of changes that would overtake women in Islamic Arabia" (Leila Ahmed p.42) . In this paper I will discuss the lives of these women and there influence of gender expectations and how they later became "role models" to later generations of Muslims.

I will begin by discussing Khadija, Muhammeds first wife. She was a wealthy widow who who provided the financial support that allowed Muhammad to leave the trading business and lead a contemplative religious life.

She was the first person to accept Islam. She was a big part of the transformation of the 7th century Arabian society. The fact that first person to have accepted Islam is a woman and not a man has in itself a significance for the role of women in the venture of Islam. "The faith of this mature, wealthy women of high standing in the community must have influenced others particularly members of her own important clan, the Quraysh, to accept Islam".(Leila Ahmed p.47) She set the standard for women pertaining to how to stand by their husbands. She supported the prophet both morally and materially. As the first Muslim woman she represents a model and has shown the way for all Muslim women who wish to live the...