during the last two years of his life. When he heard of a pretty woman, says Sprenger, he asked her
hand, but was occasionally refused. He had at least fourteen legal wives, and a number of slave
concubines besides. At his death he left nine widows. He claimed special revelations which gave
him greater liberty of sexual indulgence than ordinary Moslems (who are restricted to four wives),
and exempted him from the prohibition of marrying near relatives.^160 He married by divine command,
as he alleged, Zeynab, the wife of Zayd, his adopted son and bosom-friend. His wives were all
widows except Ayesha. One of them was a beautiful and rich Jewess; she was despised by her
sisters, who sneeringly said: "Pshaw, a Jewess!" He told her to reply: "Aaron is my father and
Moses my uncle!" Ayesha, the daughter of Abû Bakr, was his especial favorite. He married her
when she was a girl of nine years, and he fifty-three years old. She brought her doll-babies with
her, and amused and charmed the prophet by her playfulness, vivacity and wit. She could read, had
a copy of the Koran, and knew more about theology, genealogy and poetry than all the other widows
of Mohammed. He announced that she would be his wife also in Paradise. Yet she was not free
from suspicion of unfaithfulness until he received a revelation of her innocence. After his death
she was the most sacred person among the Moslems and the highest authority on religious and legal
questions. She survived her husband forty-seven years and died at Medina, July 13, 678, aged
sixty-seven years.^161
In his ambition for a hereditary dynasty, Mohammed was sadly disappointed: he lost his
two sons by Chadijah, and a third one by Mary the Egyptian, his favorite concubine.
To compare such a man with Jesus, is preposterous and even blasphemous. Jesus was the
sinless Saviour of sinners; Mohammed was a sinner, and he knew and confessed it. He falls far
below Moses, or Elijah, or any of the prophets and apostles in moral purity. But outside of the
sphere of revelation, he ranks with Confucius, and Cakya Muni the Buddha, among the greatest
founders of religions and lawgivers of nations.
§ 43. The Conquests of Islâm.
"The sword," says Mohammed, "is the key of heaven and hell; a drop of blood shed in the cause
of Allah, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting or prayer: whosoever
falls in battle, his sins are forgiven, and at the day of judgment his limbs shall be supplied by the
wings of angels and cherubim." This is the secret of his success. Idolaters had to choose between
(^160) He speaks freely of this subject in the Koran, Sur. 4, and 33. In the latter (Rodman’s transl., p. 508) this scandalous
passage occurs: "O Prophet! we allow thee thy wives whom thou hast dowered, and the slaves whom thy right hand possesseth
out of the booty which God hath granted thee, and the daughters of thy uncle, and of thy paternal and maternal aunts who fled
with thee to Medina, and any believing woman who hath given herself up to the Prophet, if the Prophet desired to wed her, a
privilege for thee above the rest of the faithful." Afterwards in the same Sura (p. 569) he says: "Ye must not trouble the Apostle
of God, nor marry his wives after him forever. This would be a grave offence with God."
(^161) Sprenger, III. 61-87, gives a full account of fourteen wives of Mohammed, and especially of Ayesha, according to
the list of Zohry and Ibn Saad. Sprenger says, p. 37: "Der Prophet hatte keine Wohnung für sich selbst. Sein Hauptquartier war
in der Hütte der Ayischa und die öffentlichen Geschäfte verrichtete er in der Moschee, aber er brachte jede Nacht bei einer
seiner Frauen zu und war, wie es scheint, auch ihr Gast beim Essen. Er ging aber täglich, wenn er bei guter Laune war, bei
allen seinen Frauen umher, gab jeder einen Kuss, sprach einige Worte und spielte mit ihr. Wir haben gesehen, dass seine
Familie neun Hütten besass, dies war auch die, Anzahl der Frauen, welche er bei seinem Tode hinterliess. Doch gab es Zeiten,
zu denen sein Harem stärker war. Er brachte dann einige seiner Schönen in den Häusern von Nachbarn unter. Es kam auch
vor, dass zwei Frauen eine Hütte bewohnten. Stiefkinderwohnten, so lange sie jung waren, bei ihren Müttern."