Microsoft Word Marriage Guide doc

Source: 
www.al-islamforall@org
 
26
respect and love him, that they all chose to re-establish their non-sexual marriages with him 
rather than leave him. Their words were given, and peace was restored. 
The Verse of the Option did not mention Maryah at all, but concentrated on the 
attitude of the wives to luxury and worldly goods. The 'apostle-women' agreed to sacrifice 
their material self-interest, and earned their titles of Mothers of the Believers. 
Maryah gave birth to a son, who was given the name of the great Ibrahim, perhaps in 
recollection of that Patriarch who had founded the Arab tribes through his son Ismail. The 
Prophet and all the Muslims rejoiced, for his only previous sons, who had been children of 
Khadijah, had died in infancy. Tragically, the same fate was to befall little Ibrahim. 
All this must have been particularly painful for A'ishah, for of all the Prophet's wives, 
she seems to have been the only one who was childless. The others had all had children by 
their previous marriages. It seems that the Prophet (P.B.U.H) well understood her sense of 
'emptiness,' and the need to compensate, for he gave her the kunyaname Umm Abdallah, 
named after one of her sister's sons. 
At the time of the Option the Prophet (P.B.U.H) asked her to reflect very carefully 
before she agreed to stay with him, and he advised her to consult her father for his opinion. 
She proudly refused to do so. She did not even have to think: she chose Allah and His 
Messenger. 
There is no doubt but that A'ishah was the Prophet's beloved, and that she genuinely 
loved him in the fullest sense. She used to stroke his hair with his favourite perfume, wash 
from the same bowl as him, drink from the same cup, and sleep wrapped in the same 
garment. His favourite position for relaxation was to lie with his head in her lap.