Part 2 – Did Muhammad Have Concubines?

Maria al-Qibtiyya, Consent, and the Ethics of Prophetic Privilege

🔥 Introduction: A Prophet, a Slave, and a Scandalous Silence

In an age where consent is the moral baseline, what happens when the founder of a religion—revered as the greatest moral example—takes a woman into his household, never marries her, and has sex with her?

And what if that woman was a gift from a foreign king—a slave, with no recorded manumission, no marriage contract, and no known consent?

That woman was Maria al-Qibtiyya.
That man was Muhammad.
That act was concubinage—sanctioned not only by custom but by the Qur’an itself.

This post cuts through apologetic fog to examine the historical record, Islamic sources, and moral consequences of the Prophet's relationship with Maria al-Qibtiyya.

🧕 Who Was Maria al-Qibtiyya?

Maria was a Coptic Christian slave from Egypt, sent to Muhammad as a gift by the Christian ruler of Egypt, al-Muqawqis, during the 7th century.

📜 Primary Sources Confirming Her Status:

Ibn Sa’d (Tabaqat al-Kubra):

“Al-Muqawqis... sent Maria, her sister Sirin, and a mule... She was a slave.”

Al-Tabari (Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk):

“She was gifted to the Messenger of Allah. He kept Maria for himself and gave her sister to Hassan ibn Thabit.”

Ibn Kathir (Al-Bidayah wa’l-Nihayah):

“Maria remained the Prophet’s concubine. She bore him a son, Ibrahim.”

Not a single early source refers to her as a wife. All major biographical and historical records call her a slave (amah), not a free woman (hurra).

💍 Was There a Marriage Contract?

Muslim apologists often claim Maria was Muhammad’s “wife.” But in Islamic law, this requires a marriage contract (nikah) and manumission before sexual relations.

✅ What We Would Expect to See:

A recorded marriage ceremony
A dowry (mahr)
A witnessed contract
A statement of manumission (freedom from slavery)

❌ What We Actually See:

None of the above exists in any hadith, sira, or tafsir
No record of freedom before sex
No mention of Maria becoming “Mother of the Believers”, which is the title reserved only for wives

Conclusion: Maria was never freed, never married, and never given the status of a wife.

🤰 Did Muhammad Have Sex With Her?

Yes—and the sources are unambiguous.

Sahih Muslim 1453b:

“Maria, the Copt, was the slave of the Messenger of Allah and she gave birth to his son, Ibrahim.”

No marriage. No nikah. Yet she bore the Prophet a child. That can only mean one thing: sexual intercourse with a slave, outside marriage — concubinage.

💔 The Incident of the Hafsa Scandal

The relationship caused a scandal within Muhammad’s household.

📜 Tafsir al-Jalalayn on Surah 66:1:

“He had intercourse with Mariya in Hafsa’s house... Hafsa found out and became upset.”

Muhammad reportedly had sex with Maria in his wife Hafsa’s bed, in her absence. When confronted, he swore an oath to abstain from Maria to appease his wives.

Surah 66:1 was then revealed:

“O Prophet! Why do you forbid what Allah has made lawful for you...?”
— Surah At-Tahrim 66:1

This verse essentially tells Muhammad: “Don’t swear off your concubine just to keep your wives happy.”

That’s not private sin. That’s canonized divine permission to continue the sexual relationship with a slave.

⚖️ Was It Consensual?

Here is the brutal truth:

She was a slave
She was never freed
She had no legal power of refusal
There is no record of her consent

By all standards of modern ethics, Maria’s sexual relationship with Muhammad cannot be called consensual. Even by Islamic standards, consent was not a legal requirement for intercourse with slave women.

Sharia on Consent and Slaves:

In all four Sunni madhhabs, a slave woman cannot refuse sex to her master.
Her body is part of his property rights.
There is no need for her verbal or implied agreement.

This was standard doctrine, not fringe opinion.

🧠 Apologetics and Counterarguments

Let’s now examine — and refute — the common Muslim defenses:

❌ “But Muhammad freed her!”

Refutation:
There is no historical record of this claim. Not in:

Ibn Ishaq
Ibn Sa’d
Al-Tabari
Sahih collections

If she was freed and married, why was she never called “Mother of the Believers”? That title was reserved exclusively for wives.

❌ “It was a cultural norm back then!”

Refutation:
True — but that only makes Muhammad a man of his time, not a man for all time.

Islam claims that Muhammad is:

The universal moral example (Qur’an 33:21)
The seal of the prophets
The model for all humanity

If he followed immoral practices “because they were common,” then his example fails the test of timelessness.

❌ “She consented silently by giving birth!”

Refutation:
Pregnancy is not consent. The fact that she bore a child proves only that sex occurred — not that it was wanted, welcomed, or equitable.

❌ “There are no hadiths where she complains!”

Refutation:
Of course not. She was a slave, foreign, isolated, and surrounded by the Prophet’s family. Her silence is not evidence of consent — it’s evidence of powerlessness.

🔄 The Trap in Debate Form

Let’s now walk this as a live exchange.

You ask:

“Was Maria al-Qibtiyya Muhammad’s wife or his slave?”

They say:

“She was honored and respected!”

You press:

“That’s not what I asked. Was she a wife? Is there a record of her being freed or a marriage contract?”

They dodge:

“No, but the Prophet had special privileges...”

You follow up:

“So he could have sex with a woman he never married or freed. But ordinary Muslims can’t — they need nikah. Why the double standard?”

Now they must either:

Admit Muhammad had sex with a slave without consent, or
Claim special exemption for their prophet — which invalidates his example as universal

Either way, the trap closes.

📚 Islamic Sources Recap

Source	What It Says
Qur’an 66:1	Tells Muhammad to continue relationship with Maria
Ibn Sa’d	Maria was never freed, given by Egyptian ruler
Al-Tabari	Muhammad kept Maria as his concubine
Ibn Kathir	Maria was not married, gave birth to Ibrahim
Sahih Muslim 1453b	Maria was Muhammad’s slave
Tafsir al-Jalalayn	Confirmed intercourse and scandal with Hafsa

💥 Why This Is Devastating

If Muhammad:

Had sex with a slave
Never freed her
Never married her
And continued the relationship with Allah’s approval

Then:

Consent is irrelevant in Islam’s highest moral example
Concubinage is not just allowed, but sanctified
There is no ethical defense possible by modern standards

This shatters the myth of Muhammad as a timeless moral leader.

🤐 What Silence Really Means

Maria al-Qibtiyya’s story is rarely discussed — and when it is, it’s often sanitized beyond recognition.

But here’s what the record shows:

She was gifted like chattel
She was never manumitted
She was never married
She was used sexually
She was silenced by history

And every Muslim who claims Muhammad was the highest moral example must answer for this.

⏳ Final Verdict: One Woman, One Religion, No Consent

Maria al-Qibtiyya exposes the moral collapse at the heart of Islamic theology:

It permits sex without consent
It protects prophetic actions from criticism
It preserves slavery and concubinage through divine sanction
And it forces Muslims into a moral corner:
- Either justify rape by ownership
- Or admit their Prophet’s example is not moral by today’s standards

That’s not a fringe issue. That’s a fatal contradiction.

⏭️ Coming Next in the Series…

Part 3 – Did Islam Abolish Slavery?

Islam is often praised for encouraging the freeing of slaves. But was the institution itself ever condemned, outlawed, or dismantled by revelation? Or was it preserved, regulated, and enshrined as divine law?

Spoiler: There is no abolition verse.

Stay tuned.

Spotlight On Islam

Thursday, September 18, 2025