The Prophet and femininity
Feminine intuition and divine Light
To speak of the Prophet of Islam and his relationship to femininity is in truth to speak of the prophetic nature and of one's own femininity. This should also allow us to understand how all women can actually recognize themselves, with all simplicity, through the Prophet and find fulfillment there.
“ O you, the Prophet! We have declared lawful for you: the wives to whom you gave their dowry, the captives whom God has assigned to you, the daughters of your paternal uncle, the daughters of your maternal uncle, the daughters of your maternal aunts – those who had emigrated with you – as well as any believing woman who would have given herself to the Prophet provided that the Prophet wanted to marry her. This is a privilege granted to you, to the exclusion of other believers. » (Quran XXXIII, 50).
If God made lawful for the Prophet “any believing woman who would have given herself to him provided that he wanted to marry her”, it is because these believing women intuitively understand the prophetic luminous reality, and from then on, spontaneously consider give yourself to him, if he accepts, before any other believing man. God, here, therefore only authorizes the Prophet to accede to the legitimate desire of these believers who seek supreme fulfillment in the union of a “divine” marriage.
Ibn al 'Arabi tells us on this subject: “Now, as the divine reality is unapproachable directly in relation to the Essence, and there is only attested contemplation in a substance, the contemplation of God in the women is the most intense and the most perfect; and the most intense union (in the sensible order which serves as a support for this contemplation) is the conjugal act.
In fact, there is “conaturality” between the Prophet of Islam and women regarding the divine Light. Indeed, the Prophet was created from this Light and women are the privileged support of it in this world, particularly when they become mothers and a soul leans on one of them, as evidenced by the hadith: “ Paradise is under the feet of mothers “.
The first explicit manifestation of the privileged link between femininity and the plenary interior and exterior reality of the Messenger of God is related in the following way: The scene takes place on the day of the marriage of the future father of the Prophet, 'Abd Allah, with his future mother, Amina. On this blessed day, 'Abd Allah passes near the home of Qutaylah, sister of the believer Waraqah – recognized by all as a hanif (1) –, in order to go to Amina's father. Qutayla then sees, emanating from 'Abd Allah's face, a light coming from another world.
Troubled deep within herself and convinced of having perceived the very announcement of the long-awaited Prophet, she proposed, with all intuitive spontaneity, to give herself to him through marriage, so that the father of the future Prophet would deposit in her this Light, which she alone has seen directly. But God had not decided so and Amina became the mother of the future Prophet while 'Abd Allah died even before his birth.
The most remarkable thing is to note that this prophetic “light” is always perceived and collected by a woman, before men; whether for Qutaylah, Amina who knew she was the bearer of this light, or Khadija, the Prophet's first wife, who saw the “light” emanating from him. This truth is also perpetuated through the believers spoken of in the Quran.
Marriages and cohabitation
In order to bring the status of the Prophet of Islam into external conformity with the divine law (shari'a), stated for all believers, namely:
“ Marry, as you please, two, three or four women. But if you're afraid of not being fair, take just one woman » (Quran IV, 3), the Prophet is ordered: “ It is no longer permitted for you to change wives or take other wives, apart from your slaves, even if you are charmed by the beauty of some of them. God sees everything perfectly » (Quran XXXIII, 52).
These verses are to be compared to the one where it is said without ambiguity, against the customs of the time and against the recurring behavior of men which is established according to the law of the strongest:
“ You cannot be perfectly fair to each of your wives, even if you want to.” (Quran IV, 129). This is a strong indication in favor of monogamism.
And this therefore means that men must control their desire rather than persist in wanting to control another being – here the woman – the object of their desire, which socially they wanted to establish and institute against all truth.
“ If you want to substitute one wife for another, and if you have given a quintar of gold to one of the two, take nothing back (…) and besides, how would you take it back, in truth, then that you were bound together and that your wives benefited from a solemn alliance contracted with you » (Quran IV, 20-21).
These verses emphasize the essential, definitive and irreversible character of any union, however brief, of a man and a woman; and thereby, beyond the vicissitudes of life, insists on the monogamous ideal of a single true union, of which earthly attempts are like successive facets or approaches.
Concerning the prophetic example itself, his only surviving children were four daughters (Zainab, Ruqayya, Umm Kaltoum and Fatima) whom he had with his first wife, Khadija, in a monogamous marriage, based on personal affinities, and which lasted until her death. Subsequently, ten other marriages and two cohabitations were concluded with the Prophet.
These unions did not obey the passionate desires of Muhammad, but responded to necessities imposed by circumstances: help in raising children and running the home, extension of spiritual companionship, generosity granted to the widows of his companions who died as martyrs, a preliminary in order to change morals or political alliances favorable to the expansion of religion (see box).
“ The Prophet is closer to the believers than they are to each other, his wives are their mothers » (Quran XXXIII, 6).
Each of these wives, “mothers of believers,” were loved for themselves. 'Ali specified that the Prophet, whose son-in-law he was, never struck with his blessed hand one of his wives, nor even one of his slaves who were all freed.
Illiterate and maternal
According to Tradition, the Prophet of Islam offered a set of very diverse and varied character traits, always arranged harmoniously and without excess; like a diamond with these different facets, always transmitting the same unique and unifying light, at the same time soft, soothing and exhilarating for those who received it upon contact. He is a brilliant luminary (Quran XXXIII, 46), he transforms and leads believers from darkness to light (Quran II, 257).
He is the “hinge” between men and Heaven. Thus, if he knew how to show himself fully “virile” in combat or in his “harem”, he was always accessible, considerate, attentive and welcoming as a mother can be towards her children (Quran XXIV, 62 ).
In this regard, the Prophet is said to be “ummi”, which can be translated as: who cannot read or write, ignorant, or in another sense, maternal. He is thus able to receive and welcome perfectly, without mental or emotional interference, the Revelation of God descended on his Heart (Quran II, 97). He is “Mother” in the order of divine Manifestation and man in the order of Creation, while women are mothers in the order of Creation alone. Everything in truth was formed and is formed in the order of Creation from him, from his light. He is therefore the “womb” of our return to God (Quran XXXVI, 22 & 83), just as, in the earthly order, is the mother for her children who always return to her.
Thus, according to 'Aisha, the character of the Prophet was like the Quran, and by nature, he was like the Guarded Table (Quran LXXXV, 22) where the Mother of the Book rests (Quran III, 7; XLIII, 2-4), or Archetype of the Sacred Books, one could say. “He who has seen me, has seen the Truth”: the Prophet of Islam is indeed the sublime Door which leads to the Great Mysteries.
(1) hanif: linked to the spiritual path going back directly to Abraham.
Sources:
- The Women of the Prophet by Magali Morsy, ed. Mercury of France
- Women in Islam by Wiebke Walther, ed. Sinbad
- Sufi women and the passion of God by N. and L. Amri, ed. Dangles
