There aren’t any hadeeth that say differently. Authentic references to the marriage of Muhammad and Zaynab bint Jahsh:
“So when Zayd had accomplished his desire from her (i.e. divorced her), We gave her to you in marriage, so that (in future) there may be no difficulty to the believers in respect of (the marriage of) the wives of their adopted sons when the latter have no desire to keep them (i.e. they have divorced them)”
[al-Ahzaab 33:37]
She used to boast about this to the other wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), saying: “Your families arranged your marriages but Allaah arranged my marriage from above the seven heavens.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 7420.
Thanks. So the authentic commentary is al-Ahzaab and there is no hadeeth. I know that there are other Muslims who disagree with you and that the hadeeth saying Mohammad saw Zainab unveiling in her chamber is being used and referred to widely.
**“The Messenger of God went out one day seeking him. On Zaid’s door was a curtain, which the wind moved to show her unveiled in her chamber. The heart of the Prophet was stricken by admiration for her” (Annals of al-Tabari, 2:453).
"The Messenger of God saw her after he married her off, and he was deeply moved by her. Then he said, “Praise be to Him, who changes the hearts!” (al-Tabari -commentary, 22:12; al-Kashshaf, 2:359)**
In any case, what you are presenting here is that Mohammad married Zainab just to prove a teaching – that it is alright to marry your adopted son’s wife after she is divorced. That it is alright to divorce and marry a divorcee. Case closed.
Unless you’re a Muslim, and even if you are, it’s difficult to accept this is fair and justified to Mohammad and Zainab. Marriage is certainly about fairness and willingness. However if Muslims are to follow the example of Mohammad then marriage is about convenience and necessity. If this is what Islam wants to promote about marriage so be it and I hope no Muslims will object when I bring this subject in any discussion on appropriate subject later on.
What makes it not so right and thus my curiosity and question about Mohammad in all this are as follow:
Mohammad did not have multiple wives and concubine as long as Khadijah was alive.
Khadijah was about twice Mohammad’s age when he married her. About all of Mohammad’s youth was spent in his marriage to Khadijah. He was ‘faithful’ to her alone and there was no duplicity on his part and the marriage was monogamous.
After Khadijah’s death and Mohammad position was established in the clan and he was a respected prophet, his preference began to change. No more it was monogamy but multitude of women for him whether by attraction or not but Mohammad was married to more than the one woman that his marriage to Khadijah signified.
Then you had the Quranic verses ‘of what your right hand possessed’. An interesting idea for me as a non-Muslim was his attraction to younger women which was demonstrated after the Khadijah era. I do not agree that Mohammad disliked Zainab. Like I said I know that many Muslims share this idea too. Mohammad DID like her for whatever reason but it was enough for him to marry her.
The contention put by Muslims here is that if Mohammad wanted Zainab to be his wife he would not have given her to Zaid. This is all assumption. But we can also assume that when Zainab was given to Zaid in marriage she was a young girl and being his cousin most probably he did not even look at her. It was another thing altogether after she was married and became a woman that exuded sexuality. She was his right hand possession so why not take her for himself?
Later the marriage to Aishah most probably at similar age. But I am sure he was wiser now, a young girl may mean nothing but when she grew up, it was another proposition altogether. So why not go for her now? Of course all this is my assumption but the fact remains that he was monogamous during his youth but polygamous thereafter.
