APPENDIX I.
MOHAMMED'S WIVES AND CONCUBINES.
REMARK. — What follows are again mere translations,
which present the reader with an interesting account
of the several persons mentioned. The account consists
of sundry biographical notices from Moslem authors,
as collected and introduced by the Rawzat ul Ahbab.
IT is recorded that the Prophet said, 'I have not taken
any wife, nor given away a daughter to any one, without
Gabriel having first brought me an order from my Lord;
and I only acted according to that order." 1
The biographers record that his Excellency had twelve
married wives with whom he consummated marriage. They
are all agreed respecting eleven of them; but in regard
to the twelfth, their opinion differs as to whether
she was a married wife or a slave concubine.
1. Khadija was the first of those pure wives.
As she had a common lineage of descent with the Prophet,
she was of all his chaste wives nearest to him. From
the children of Kassy that Excellency married Khadija
and Om Habiba. Khadija had been twice married before,
in each of which marriages she had born two children.
Hind, one of her sons, was brought up by the Prophet
of God, after he had married her. It is recorded that
Hind used to say, 'I am the most noble through father,
mother, brother, and sister; for my father is the Apostle
of God, my mother Khadija, my brother Kasim, and my
sister Fatima.' Khadija was a virtuous, wise, and determined
lady, whom even in the time of ignorance they called
'the pure.' She had an exalted lineage and an ample
fortune.
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