Of the Prophet's wives in Madinah, it was clear that it was A'ishah that he loved most.
From time to time, one or the other of his companions would ask:
"O Messenger of God, whom do you love most in the world?"
He did not always give the same answer to this question for he felt great love for many
for his daughters and their children, for Abu Bakr, for Ali, for Zayd and his son Usamah.
But of his wives the only one he named in this connection was A'ishah. She too loved him
greatly in return and often would seek reassurance from him that he loved her. Once she
asked him:
"How is your love for me?"
"Like the rope's knot," he replied meaning that it was strong and secure. And
time after time thereafter, she would ask him:
"How is the knot?" and he would reply:
"Ala haaliha in the same condition."
As she loved the Prophet so was her love a jealous love and she could not bear the thought
that the Prophet's attentions should be given to others more than seemed enough to her.
She asked him:
"O Messenger of God, tell me of yourself. If you were between the two slopes of a
valley, one of which had not been grazed whereas the other had been grazed, on which would
you pasture your flocks?"
"On that which had not been grazed," replied the Prophet.
"Even so," she said, "and I am not as any other of your wives.
"Everyone of them had a husband before you, except myself." The Prophet smiled
and said nothing.
Of her jealousy, A'ishah would say in later years:
"I was not, jealous of any other wife of the Prophet as I was jealous of Khadijah,
because of his constant mentioning of her and because God had commanded him to give her
good tidings of a mansion in Paradise of precious stones. And whenever he sacrificed a
sheep he would send a fair portion of it to those who had been her intimate friends. Many
a time I said to him: "It is as if there had never been any other woman in the world
except Khadijah."
Once, when A'ishah complained and asked why he spoke so highly of "an old Quraysh
woman", the Prophet was hurt and said:
"She was the wife who believed in me when others rejected me. When people gave me the
lie, she affirmed my truthfulness. When I stood forsaken, she spent her wealth to lighten
the burden of my sorrow.."
Despite her feelings of jealousy which nonetheless were not of a destructive kind, A'ishah
was really a generous soul and a patient one. She bore with the rest of the Prophet's
household poverty and hunger which often lasted for long periods. For days on end no fire
would be lit in the sparsely furnished house of the Prophet for cooking or baking bread
and they would live merely on dates and water. Poverty did not cause her distress or
humiliation; self-sufficiency when it did come did not corrupt her style of life.