Were the Founder of Islam's Wives Women?
- philhoraia
- Aug 5, 2024
- 1 min read
In this post we shall be looking at S 33:32 which apart from having a grammatical blunder is also formulated oddly.
Women of the prophet’s, you are not like one of the women. If you have feared then do not be submissive in speech so that the one in whose heart is disease desires, and say decent speech.
The Arabic goes: يَا نِسَاءَ النَّبِيِّ لَسْتُنَّ كَأَحَدٍ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ ۚ إِنِ اتَّقَيْتُنَّ فَلَا تَخْضَعْنَ بِالْقَوْلِ فَيَطْمَعَ الَّذِي فِي قَلْبِهِ مَرَضٌ وَقُلْنَ قَوْلًا مَعْرُوفًا
We'll deal with the grammar first. 'Like one of' is ka'ahadin min. He uses the masculine form of one in the construct case, ahad, with the preposition min. Now, the feminine form is ihda.
Even as we read it in translation, the verse suggests that the author is saying that his wives are not women. It doesn't say: 'Like one of the other women.'
The author very often uses the word zawj of wives where we might have expected zawjah. See: Wife or Husband? This usage has been explained away as a word that covers both the husband and the wife. Now, in every instance of the word in the Arabic Bible, it means husband. When a wife is being spoken of, the form used is zawjah.
Further reading:
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