of worship and family life, and people would try to discredit her to destroy the credibility of these practices. However, with multiple wives, there were a lot more sources to the knowledge, making it more difficult to discredit it. Therefore, his marriages gave more women the opportunity to learn and teach the matters of his private life. In Arabian culture, marriage was contracted in accordance with the larger needs of the tribe and was based on the need to form alliances within the tribe and with other tribes. Virginity at the time of a first marriage was emphasized as a tribal honor. Terminology "Mother of the Believers" is a term by which each of Muhammad's wives came to be prefixed over time. It is derived from Quran 33:6: "The Prophet is closer to the believers than their selves, and his wives are (as) their mothers" is applied to all of the wives. Family life Muhammad and his family lived in small apartments adjacent to the mosque at Medina. Each of these was six to seven spans wide (1.7 meters) and ten spans long (2.3 meters). The height of the ceiling was that of an average man standing. Blankets were used as curtains to screen the doors. According to an account by Anas bin Malik, "The Prophet used to visit all his wives in a round, during the day and night and they were eleven in number." I asked Anas, "Had the Prophet the strength for it?" Anas replied, "We used to say that the Prophet was given the strength of thirty (men)." And Sa'id said on the authority of Qatada that Anas had told him about nine wives only (not eleven)." Although Muhammad's wives had a special status as Mothers of the Believers, he did not allow them to use his status as a prophet to obtain special treatment in public. Marriages Khadija bint Khuwaylid Around the age of 25, Muhammad wed his wealthy employer, Khadija, the 28-or 40-year-old widow, and daughter of a merchant. Muhammad used to manage her caravans; and Khadija, being impressed by the skills of Muhammad, sent a proposal to the Islamic prophet. Around 595, the couple married, and this marriage, his first, would be both happy and monogamous; Muhammad would rely on the Khadija in many ways, until her death 25 years later. They had two sons, Qasim and Abd Allah (nicknamed al-Ṭāhir and al-Ṭayyib