Mothers of the Believers

S 33:6  The prophet is closer to the believers than themselves and his husbands are their mothers. And the possessors of wombs are closer to one another in Allah’s book than the believers and the emigrants except that you do your protectors a kindness. That was mastur in the book.

Is this for all times or just for that time? If for all times, how might his defunct wives be their mothers? If mothers then we might suppose that they didn't observe veil, although they did, for what mother veils herself from her kids? Aisha used to have male guests sleep overnight. See my post Seaman Staines and Captain Pugwash

If his wives were the believers' mothers, was he himself their father? From an article:

Missing Part On Muhammad's Fatherhood

The late Muslim translator Abdullah Yusuf Ali records that Ubayy b. Ka‘b had an additional statement in his reading of S. 33:6. The Uthmanic text presently reads:

"The prophet is closer to the believers than their own selves, and his wives are their mothers."

Yet Ubay's codex read:

"The prophet is closer to the believers than their own selves, and he is a father to them, and his wives are their mothers."

Hence, Yusuf Ali states:

"In spiritual relationship the Prophet is entitled to more respect and consideration than blood-relations. The Believers should follow him rather than their fathers or mothers or brothers, where there is conflict of duties. He is even nearer - closer to our real interests - than our own selves. IN SOME QIRAATS, LIKE THAT OF UBAI IBN KA'B, occur also the words ‘and he is a father to them,’ which imply his spiritual relationship and connect on with the words, ‘and his wives are their mothers.’ Thus his spiritual fatherhood would be contrasted pointedly with the repudiation of the vulgar superstition of calling any one like Zaid ibn Haritha by the appellation Zaid ibn Muhammad (xxxiii. 40): such an appellation is really disrespectful to the Prophet." (Ali, The Holy Qur'an, p. 1104, fn. 3674)

A renowned Muslim scholar of the past candidly admitted:

... An unusual reading of the Qur'an includes, "He is a father to them," but it is no longer recited since it is AT VARIANCE with the version of 'Uthman. (Muhammad Messenger of Allah (Ash-Shifa of Qadi 'Iyad), Qadi 'Iyad Musa al-Yahsubi, translated by Aisha Abdarrahman Bewley [Madinah Press, Inverness, Scotland, U.K. 1991; third reprint, paperback], pp. 29-30; bold and capital emphasis ours)

This scholar's comment presupposes that the Uthmanic text was more reliable, a position which is not supported by the Islamic data. Variant Readings of the Quran

In the same article we read:

And then we used to recite among the Verses in Allah's Book: ‘O people! Do not claim to be the offspring of other than your fathers, as it is disbelief (unthankfulness) on your part that you claim to be the offspring of other than your real father’ ..."

The author of quran said that a mother is only she who bore you.

Qur'an Inconsistency: Can I call her mother?

Mothers and Daughters

Were the 'Mothers of the Believers' Believers?

We may refer to our female fellow believers as 'sisters' and to other females as 'sisters in humanity'. We may even marry those we call Sister, but to call a woman 'mother' is something else. If we were to do that, wouldn't that be a designation for a woman who is particularly held in high regard? Would it be appropriate for a man to marry a woman whom he called 'mother'?

In the Catholic Church, nuns are addressed as 'sister' but they have a Mother Superior. She's not an ordinary sister.

If a man thinks of a woman as his mother, would he assault her?

 She said: "He gave me a shove in the chest that hurt me and said: 'You thought that Allah and His Messenger would be unfair to you.'

https://sunnah.com/nasai:3963

Was the Founder of Islam a Believer?