Family Forum / Parenting / Adoption / July 2009

http://islam-watch.org/SyedKamranMirza/adoption_in_islam.htm

Adoption in Islam
The Story of Prophet Muhammad's Marriage to Zainab Bint Jahsh
by Syed Kamran Mirza
Adoption in Islam

Islam prohibits adopting children. Period. Adoption in the technical
sense is not allowed in Muslim Shariah law. This is because Allah does
not like this gesture of adopting orphan children. Muhammad Rushed
Ridha states, "Allah prohibited adoption in Islam and annulled all the
judgements pertaining to adoption. The most important one of which was
the prohibition of the wife of the adopted son to the fostering father
as though he is the natural father. So Allah commanded his prophet to
marry Zainab Bint Jahsh in order to abolish pagan custom (Fatawa al-
Imam)." Al-sabuni states, "As to Zainab Bint Jahsh, the Messenger of
Allah married for no higher wisdom than to abolish the heresy of
adoption (A-sabuni)."

I don't know, how in the world Allah could dislike such noble deeds. I
am not sure what percentage of Muslims actually knows this divine law.
I do admit that I never knew this and, I was stunned when I first
learnt this from a real Mullah. How and why was this noble custom
among human being prohibited? We shall learn this history later in
this essay.

Pre-Islamic Arab Custom: Adoption of orphan/helpless child was a very
popular and moral practice amongst pre-Islamic Arabs. By adopting
orphan/helpless child, they used to consider adopted child as their
own. And they used to pass onto them the adopter's genealogy and name,
his investment of them with all the rights of the legitimate son
including that of inheritance and the prohibition of marriage on
grounds of consanguinity.

Post-Islamic Custom: The all-wise legislator of Islam willed to undo
the above mentioned Arab practice of adopting children. The divine
legislator willed to give the adopted son only the right of a client
and co-religionist. For that reason a verse was revealed: "God did not
make your adopted son as your own sons. To declare them so is your
empty claim. God's word is righteous and constitutes true guidance. (Q.
33: 4)." It follows from this revelation that the adopter may marry
the ex-wife of his adopted son and vice-versa. Thus Muhammad married
Zainab in order to provide a good example of what the All-wise
legislator was seeking to establish by way of rights and privileges
for adoption. In this regard God further said: "After a term of
married life with her husband, We permitted you to marry her so that
it may hence be legitimate and morally blameless for a believer to
marry the wife of his adopted son provided that wife has already been
divorced. That is God's commandment which must be fulfilled (Q.33:
37)." Who, among the Arabs, could implement this noble legislation and
thereby openly repudiate the ancient traditions? The truth is,
however, that Muhammad was the exemplar of obedience to God; his life
was the implementation of that which he was entrusted to convey to
mankind. His life constitutes the highest ideal, the perfect example,
and the concrete instance of his Lord's command (M.H. Haykal,
page-296-297).

Those who are Muslims and are obedient to the Qur'an will not have
adopted sons.

Muhammad's Marriage to Zainab Bint Jashsh

Muhammad's marriage to Zainab, who was the wife of his adopted son,
led to many accusations against Muhammad. The dissimulators said,
"Muhammad prohibits the wives of the son while he himself marries the
wife of his son Zaid." These incidents are not in harmony with the
ethics and conventions that Muhammad introduced to mankind, as Muslims
claim. Abdullah Ibn Umar narrated: "We have always called him [namely
Zaid] Zaid Ibn Muhammad." Abdullah Ibn Umar said, "We only called him
Zaid Ibn Muhammad till the verse "Muhammad is not the father of any of
your men' was revealed.""

Historical views: There are many conflicting stories about this
scandalous happening and all these stories are based on Sahih Hadiths
and Muslim biographies and books. It is worthwhile to quote here what
Ibn Sa`d and al-Tabari said concerning this story:

Muhammad Ibn Yahya Ibn Hayyan narrated, "The Messenger of God came to
Zaid Ibn Haritha's house seeking him. Perhaps the Messenger of God
missed him at that time, that is why he said, 'Where is Zaid?' He went
to his house seeking him and, when he did not find him, Zainab Bint
Jahsh stood up to [meet] him in a housedress, but the Messenger of God
turned away from her. She said, 'He is not here, Messenger of God, so
please come in; my father and mother are your ransom.' The Messenger
of God refused to come in. Zainab had hurried to dress herself when
she heard that the Messenger of God was at her door, so she leapt in a
hurry, and the Messenger of God liked her when she did that. The heart
of the Prophet was filled with admiration for her He went away
muttering something that was hardly understandable but for this
sentence: 'Praise be to God who disposes the hearts.' When Zaid came
back home, she told him that the Messenger of God came. Zaid asked,
'You asked him to come in, didn't you?' She replied, 'I bade him to,
but he refused.' He said, 'Have you heard [him say] anything?' She
answered, 'When he had turned away, I heard him say something that I
could hardly understand. I heard him say, "Praise be to God who
disposes the hearts." ' Zaid went out to the Messenger of God and
said, 'O Messenger of God, I learned that you came to my house. Did
you come in? O Messenger of God, my father and mother are your ransom.
Perhaps you liked Zainab. I can leave her.' The Messenger of God said,
'Hold on to your wife.' Zaid said, 'O Messenger of God, I will leave
her.' The Messenger of God said, 'Keep your wife.' So when Zaid left
her, she finished her legal period after she had isolated herself from
Zaid. While the Messenger of God was sitting and talking with
`A'Lisha, he was taken in a trance, and when it lifted, he smiled and
said, 'Who will go to Zainab to tell her that God wedded her to me
from heaven?' The Messenger of God recited; 'Thus you told someone
whom God had favoured and whom you yourself have favoured: "Hold on to
your wife." ' `A'Lisha said, 'I heard much about her beauty and,
moreover, about how God wedded her from heaven, and I said, "For sure
she will boast over this with us." ' Salama, the slave of the
Messenger of God, hurried to tell her about that. She gave her some
silver jewellery that she was wearing."

More help from Allah:

So, this charge that the dissimulators, among others, leveled against
Muhammad (pbuh) necessitated the revelation of more Qur'anic verses:

(Sura al-Ahzab  Q.33: 40): "Muhammad is not the father of any of your
men, but [he is] God's Messenger and the Seal of the Prophets. God is
Aware of everything!"

(Sura al-Ahzab  Q.33: 37): "We married her off to you so that there
would be no objection for believers in respect to their adopted sons'
wives once they have accomplished their purpose with them. God's
command must be done!"

In the verse (33:37) there is stated a particular purpose for this
revelation and action of Muhammad. It is not for himself, but it is
for the future of the Muslim community. It is so that in future there
may not be a problem if anybody (father-in-law) wants to marry the
divorced wife of an adopted son. "We permitted you to marry her so
that it may hence be legitimate and morally blameless for a believer
to marry the wife of his adopted son." Without adoption, there cannot
be any adopted son either. Therefore, the explicitly stated reason for
the revelation of this verse does not exist. Muhammad himself
dissolved the original adoption of Zaid when the above revelation
came. Also, it is a mystery why in the world, any father-in law will
need to marry his adopted son's wife.

Critical (Orientalist) version:

Muhammad fell in love with Zainab, daughter of Jahsh, while she was
the wife of Zayd bin Harithah, his own adopted son. Once, when he
passed by the house of Zayd in the latter's absence, he was met by
Zainab wearing clothes which exposed her beauty. Muhammad's heart was
inflamed. It is reported that when his eyes fell upon her, he
exclaimed, "Praise be to God who changes the hearts of men" and he
repeated this expression at the time of his departure from her home.
Zainab heard him say this and noticed desire in his eye. Zainab
proudly reported this happening to her husband. Zayd immediately went
to see the Prophet and offered to divorce his wife. Muhammad answered,
"Hold to your wife and fear God." Thereafter, Zainab was no longer a
docile wife and Zayd had to divorce her. Prophet Muhammad married
Zainab Bint Jahsh who was his daughter-in-law. That was definitely
taboo in pre-Islamic Arabia, and the Prophet of Islam lifted this
taboo in order to satisfy his own lust and fulfill his own desire.
They also relate that when Muhammad saw her she was half-naked, that
her fine black hair was covering half of her body, and that every
curve of her body was full of desire and passion. Others relate that
when Muhammad opened the door of the house of Zayd the breeze played
with the curtains of the room of Zainab, thus permitting Muhammad to
catch a glimpse of her stretched out on her mattress in a nightgown.

Apologetics views:

Muhammad Husain Haikal, for one, in the course of "refuting" the
claims of V. Vacca in the Encyclopaedia of Islam regarding Zainab,
speaks about a "glorious deed" of Muhammad, which the orientalists and
missionaries have turned into a romance. He says, "As to Zainab Bint
Jahsh, who has been wrapped up by orientalists and missionaries in an
imaginary picture of romance and infatuation, true history judges that
[Muhammad's act with] her was one of the glorious deeds of Muhammad.
Being the perfect example of faith, he applied to her the Hadith that
says, 'Man's faith is not made perfect till he loves for his brother
what he loves for himself'.

Apologists conclude that it is one of the truly great facets of
Muhammad's personality. It proves beyond question that Muhammad was
the perfect exemplar of his own legislation, especially of such laws
as were intended to replace the tradition and customs of pre-Islamic
Arabia. He was the exemplar of the new system that God revealed
through him as a mercy and guidance to mankind.

On the other hand, Arab custom and tradition demanded that the adopted
son inherit from his adopted father, like the latter's legitimate
children. And since this custom too was the object of Muhammad's
attack, his choice of Zayd as the spear point of the first reform,
would actually make of him -- if he were prepared to give up the
inheritance to which Arabian custom gave him title -- the spearhead of
another Islamic legislation prohibiting inheritance to any but the
blood heirs and relatives of the deceased. This indeed furnished the
revelation: "No believer, whether man or woman, has the freedom to
choose otherwise than as God and His Prophet have resolved in any
given case. To do so is to disobey God and His Prophet, to err and
fall into manifest misguidance (Q.33: 37)"

Comments:

There is a considerable moral problem with such a self-serving
revelation. It is quite clear that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was
attracted to Zainab before Zaid divorced her and it might well have
been the true reason for the divorce itself. And Qur'anic verses do
make clear that there was something going on before Zaid divorced
Zainab. The entire melodrama: Zaid's divorce of Zainab, Muhammad's
marriage with Zainab and subsequent revelations of several Qur'anic
Ayats from Allah to purify this scandalous happening is something to
ponder very seriously. There is more in this strange story. That this
action is immoral and this revelation/justification of it self-serving
and not fitting for a true word of God is an important aspect, but not
a contradiction within the Quran - even though contradicting the true
character of God, who is moral purity. Prohibiting adoption is no way
a moral action. Prohibitions of alcohol drinking, smoking, gambling,
sorceries, killing, etc., could be a moral action. But why was there
prohibition of adoption?

To summarize, the logical difficulty is that Allah (?) causes a
scandal and then sends Gabriel to officially justify the scandalous
action of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) with Qur'anic revelations is morally
incorrect and too much of a coincidence.

Some after thoughts: Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) cannot get away from the
culpability of this salacious behavior of his with Zainab. If he had
this forthrightness in his mind, he would have vigorously fight with
his conscience and not allow this marriage to go through. But the
reality was quite the opposite. He had surrendered to his passion and
thus had marred his "unblemished" character. If all the Muslims in the
present-day world follow Muhammad's inglorious example, seduce theirs
daughter-in-law, and then cause a divorce and then to add insult to
the injury marry her, what would happen then? Just think the
consequences. In more enlightened society if a man does what Mohammad
(pbuh) did with Zainab he would be looked up as a lascivious
character. Not all the Qur'anic Ayats of this world will be able to
change that. To have faith is one thing, but to have a blind faith is
another matter, altogether!