She accepted the prophet's offer,
and contented herself for her losses in the squabbles of his harem.
His other wives were Juwairijah, Hafsah, Um Salmah, Um Kabibah,
another of the Abyssinian refugees, and Zainab, widow of his cousin.
The last wife was Maimunah, who is said to have offered herself to him
when he was considering the invasion of Mecca. A Coptic (Christian)
slave girl, Mary, and Rihanah, a Jewess, were added to the harem, but
went through no form of marriage with him. Mary was sent as a present
from one of the Coptic rulers in answer to the prophet's letter,
urging the claims of Islam; while Rihanah, whose husband was one of
the many who were cruelly slaughtered by decapitation after a victory
over the Jews, was at nightfall, almost immediately after the
massacre, taken to the prophet's tent. It is evident that the prophet
had many opportunities of still further increasing his harem, for many
women offered themselves; while the relatives of handsome widows would
make no arrangements for the re-marriage of the bereaved ones until
they had been offered to the prophet and refused.
It cannot be expected that things could always run smoothly with so
many women possessing rights to his attention, and there is much
evidence to show that Mohammed was often disturbed by the difficulty
of pleasing all. His relations to the feminine sex, as may be
expected, led to a very low estimate of the position of women.
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