Most mainstream Islamic sources say the Prophet Muhammad had about eleven wives in total, with nine of them married to him at the time of his death.

Why the numbers differ

Different sources give slightly different counts, which is why you’ll sometimes see 11, 12, 13, or even more:

  • Many traditional Muslim scholars count 11 women as his wives (the “Mothers of the Believers”).
  • Some historians and reference works mention 13 women , because they also include women whose status is debated (for example, whether certain women were legally wives or concubines).
  • A few critical or academic sources list 15 or more “marriages” if you include proposed marriages, briefly-contracted marriages that ended quickly, and women he never actually lived with as wives.

So, the “simple” answer (especially from Muslim educational sites) is usually:

Muhammad had 11 wives in total , and **9 were alive as his wives when he passed away.

The commonly listed wives

Most Muslim-oriented sources agree on this core list of eleven wives, often called the “Mothers of the Believers” :

  1. Khadijah bint Khuwaylid
  2. Sawdah bint Zamʿah
  3. ʿA’ishah bint Abi Bakr
  4. Ḥafṣah bint ʿUmar
  5. Zaynab bint Khuzaymah
  6. Umm Salamah (Hind bint Abi Umayyah)
  7. Zaynab bint Jaḥsh
  8. Juwayriyah bint al-Ḥarith
  9. Umm Ḥabibah (Ramla bint Abi Sufyan)
  10. Ṣafiyyah bint Ḥuyayy
  11. Maymunah bint al-Ḥarith

Two other women are often discussed alongside them:

  • Rayḥanah bint Zayd – treated by some sources as a slave/concubine rather than a formal wife.
  • Maria al-Qibṭiyyah (Maria the Copt) – usually described as a concubine; she bore him a son, Ibrahim, and some writers argue she should therefore be counted as a wife, which pushes the number toward 12–13.

How Muslims usually phrase it

In contemporary Muslim educational material and daʿwah articles:

  • You’ll commonly read that “the Prophet Muhammad had eleven wives in total; nine were with him when he died.”
  • The wives are honored with the title “Mothers of the Believers” based on the Qurʾan (33:6).

Because of the debated status of a few women, you will see different counts in forums and academic discussions, but if you’re looking for the standard, widely used figure in Muslim sources, 11 wives is the most typical answer.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.