✦ Ruling on Marrying the Wives of the Prophet ﷺ After His Passing ✦
Source: Fatāwā Amonpuri by Shaykh Ghulām Muṣṭafā Ẓahīr Amonpuri
❖ The Question
What is the ruling on marrying the wives of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ after his death?
❖ The Answer
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu wa-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, ammā baʿd:
The wives of the Prophet ﷺ are the Mothers of the Believers, and just as marrying one’s own mother is prohibited, marrying the wives of the Prophet ﷺ after his death is ḥarām.
❀ Allah ﷻ says:
﴿وَأَزْوَاجُهُ أُمَّهَاتُهُمْ﴾
(al-Aḥzāb, 33:6)
“The Prophet’s wives are the mothers of the believers.”
❀ Imām Abū ʿAbdillāh al-Qurṭubī رحمه الله (d. 671H) said:
شرف الله تعالى أزواج نبيه صلى الله عليه وسلم بأن جعلهن أمهات المؤمنين، أى فى وجوب التعظيم والمبرة والإجلال وحرمة النكاح على الرجال، وحجبهن رضي الله تعالى عنهن بخلاف الأمهات
“Allah honored the wives of His Prophet ﷺ by making them the mothers of the believers — meaning it is obligatory to respect them, show kindness to them, honor them, and that marriage to them is forbidden for men. Unlike one’s biological mothers, ḥijāb is required with them.”
(Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī, 14/123)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr رحمه الله (d. 774H) said:
أجمع العلماء قاطبة على أن من توفي عنها رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم من أزواجه أنه يحرم على غيره تزويجها من بعده، لأنهن أزواجه فى الدنيا والآخرة وأمهات المؤمنين
“All scholars are unanimously agreed that any wife whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ left behind at his death, it is forbidden for anyone else to marry her afterwards. For they are his wives in this world and in the Hereafter, and they are the mothers of the believers.”
(Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr, 6/455)
❖ Conclusion
It is unanimously prohibited for anyone to marry the wives of the Prophet ﷺ after his passing, as they remain his wives in both this world and the Hereafter, and they are honored as the Mothers of the Believers.
✿ ھذا ما عندي والله أعلم بالصواب ✿
