The first in a 4 part series, here we will examine some of the major prophets of religion, and the romantic relationships that may or may not have shaped the evolution of their respective faith.
Abraham
Considered to be one of the great love stories in the Hebrew Bible is that of Abraham and Sarah. Unable to have children herself, Sarah gives her servant Hagar to Abraham to be his wife so that they may have a child. Ishmael is born and a few years later Sarah, an old woman, miraculously becomes pregnant with Isaac. Tensions inevitably arise between the two women in Abraham’s life and Sarah persuades her husband to send Hagar and Ishmael away. Abraham loved his son Ishmael, but apparently has a stronger bond with Sarah and complies.
Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar
When Sarah died, Abraham took another wife, Keturah, with whom he had six more sons. But when Abraham died, he chose to be buried with his first wife Sarah.
Moses
The Bible or the Qur’an doesn’t shed much light on Moses time as an Egyptian prince, a position he held until he fled at the age of 40. But you have to believe that in his 40 years as a prince he had a little something-something going on; probably several something-somethings. But that’s mere speculation.
After killing a man for abusing a Hebrew slave, Moses flees Egypt and happens upon a cute chick named Zipporah with her sisters at a well. Moses scares off some shepherds who are harassing the girls. Zethro, the girls’ father, is grateful and gives Zipporah to Moses. There isn’t any mention of love or affection between the two. He sends Zipporah and their children away before liberating the Hebrew slaves from Egypt. They later reunite, but Moses may have taken an Ethiopian wife in the mean time.
Zipporah is barely mentioned in sacred text at all, aside from one bizarre incident. One night, God tries to kill Moses for not circumcising their son. Zipporah, acting quickly, grabs a sharp rock and cuts the foreskin from the child. She then flings the bloody foreskin at his feet saying, “Surely, a bridegroom of blood thou art to me.” Hmm. Intuition says that marriage may have had some problems.
John the Baptist
There is no record of a Mrs. Baptist. He was hermit until about A.D. 27, living on locusts and wild honey. When he finally emerged from solitude wearing goat hair and a leather girdle, he spent his time yelling, “The kingdom of heaven is close at hand” to large crowds. So yeah, he was a single man. Go figure.
Mary magdeline
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ wasn’t the type to kiss and tell. There is no mention in the current translations of the canonical Gospels of any romantic relationships that Jesus may have had. Rumor has it, though, that there may have been one or two special relationships in Jesus life.
The non-canonical Gospel of Philip says, “And the companion of the Savior is Mary Magdalene. But Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval.” But this is Apocryphal, so it can’t be true right?
There has also been speculation that Jesus had an intimate relationship with his Apostle John, who is referred to in the Gospels as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Mere speculation, of course; but isn’t speculation always more fun than not speculating?
Muhammad
Much has been said about the Prophet of Islam’s multiple marriages. He had somewhere between 11 and 16 wives, depending on the source. However, his first marriage to a wealthy business owner named Khadija was apparently monogamous, and lasted 25 years until her death.
When they married he was 25, she was 40. They had 3 sons and 4 daughters. All of the sons died at a young age. It was only after Khadija’s death, after Muhammad was banished from Mecca, that he married other women. Some of his wives were the widows of fallen comrades. Others were daughters of prominent Arab chieftains, for the purpose of building diplomatic ties.
One of his wives named Aisha, who was betrothed to Muhammad when she was 6 years old, apparently had a great fondness for her husband that was reciprocated by the Prophet. But Muhammad’s love for his first wife Khadija never died. Aisha become jealous of the deceased first wife and asked him if Khadija was the only woman worthy of his love. Muhammad replied, “She believed in me when no one else did; she accepted Islam when people rejected me; and she helped and comforted me when there was no one else to lend me a helping hand.”