The Seventh Letter

In His Name, be He glorified!

And there is nothing but it glorifies Him with praise.(17:44)

May peace be upon you and God’s mercy and blessings for ever and ever. My Dear Brothers!

I gather you told Şamlı Hafız[1] to ask me two things:

THE FIRST

“Like the dissemblers in early times, the misguided of modern times make the marriage of God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) with Zaynab a pretext for criticism, considering it was intended to satisfy the lusts of the soul.”

T h e   A n s w e r : God forbid, a hundred thousand times! Such vile doubts

cannot  be harboured  against  that  lofty one! The Messenger  (UWBP) was such that from the age of fifteen to forty when the blood is fiery and exuberant and the passions of the soul enflamed, with complete chastity and purity he sufficed and was content with a single older woman, Khadija the Great (May God be pleased with her) – as is agreed by friend and foe alike. His having numerous wives after the age of forty, that is, when bodily heat subsides and the passions are quietened, is decisive, self-evident proof for those who are even a little  fair-minded  that such marriages  were not to satisfy the carnal appetites, but were for other important reasons and instances of wisdom.

One of those instances of wisdom is this: as with his words, the actions, states, conduct, and deeds of God’s Messenger (UWBP) are the sources of religion and the Shari‘a, and provide authority for its injunctions. The Companions   transmitted   the  outward,   public   things,   and   his  wives  were   the transmitters  and narrators of the private matters  of religion  and injunctions  of the Shari‘a that became clear from his private conduct in the personal sphere; they performed that function. Perhaps half of the personal matters of religion and the injunctions concerning them come from them. That is to say, numerous wives of differing temperament were required to perform this necessary duty.

------------------------------

[1] Tevfik Göksu; he was known as Şamlı since his father had been an army officer in Damascus for twenty years. See, Şahiner, Son Şahitler, i (new ed.), 288.