Eleven women were married to Muhammad. Muslims use the term Umm al-Mu'minin (; meaning 'Mother of the Believers') prominently before or after referring to them as a sign of respect, a term derived from Quran 33:6. At the age of 25, Muhammad married his first wife, the widow Khadija bint Khuwaylid. This marriage lasted for 25 years. After her death in 619 CE, he married a total of 10 women over the remaining years of his life. From these wives, two bore him children: Khadijah and Maria al-Qibtiyya. All of Muhammad's wives were widows or divorced, with the exception of Aisha. Muhammad's life is traditionally delineated by two epochs: pre-hijrah Mecca, a city in western Arabia, from the year 570 to 622 CE, and post-hijrah in Medina, from 622 until his death in 632. Hijrah refers to the mass migration of Muhammad and his followers to Medina due to persecution faced by Muslims in Mecca. All but two of his marriages were contracted after this migration. Objectives Muhammad was first married at age 25 to Khadijah. He remained monogamously married to her for another 25 years until her death. after which he is believed to have had multiple wives for the reasons explained below. With the exception of Aisha, Muhammad only married widows, divorcées or captives. Watt states that all of Muhammad's marriages had the political aspect of strengthening friendly relationships and were based on the Arabian custom. Esposito points out that some of Muhammad's marriages were aimed at providing a livelihood for widows. He noted that remarriage was difficult for widows in a society that emphasized virgin marriages. F.E. Peters says that it is hard to make generalizations about Muhammad's marriages: many of them were political, some compassionate, and some perhaps affairs of the heart. John Victor Tolan writes that Muhammad's marriages mainly attempts at forging political alliances. The objectives of Muhammad's marriages have been described as: Helping out the widows of his companions. Creating family bonds between him and his companions (Muhammad married the daughters of Abu Bakr and Umar, whereas Uthman and Ali married his daughters. He therefore had family bonds with all the first four Caliphs). Spreading the message by uniting different clans through marriage. Increasing credibility and sources for conveying his private family life. If he only had one wife, then it would have been a tremendous responsibility on her to convey Muhammad's private acts