THE HAREM OF THE MUSLIM PROPHET Mohammed: How Many Wives Did He Have & Who Were They?

Muslims will tell you a Muslim man can have up to four wives at a time, based on Sura 4:3. Strictly speaking that is not the complete truth, as a Muslim can also have unlimited concubines and can have sex with "women their right hands possess". (Sura 23:5-6; 33:50,52; 4:24; Sura 70:29-30). Regardless, though, Mohammed recited a verse in the Qur'an (Sura 33:50) that made an exception for one individual: himself. Why is that?
'Aisha remarked, "It seems to me that your Lord hastens to satisfy your desire." Sahih Muslim vol.2 book 8 no.3453-3454 p.748-749.
"On the other hand, a Muslim told me that every marriage was for humanitarian or alliance purposes. 'Aisha and some wives were daughters of powerful chiefs Mohammed needed the support of. Others such widows, "taken care of" by Mohammed after their previous husband died. I asked, incredulously, was the Muslim really taught that every marriage was for those reasons? When he said "yes", then I said, "what about Safiyah and Zainab bint Jahsh? Since he was not aware of those, other Muslims (as well as non-Muslims) might not be either. As to the accuracy of the sources of my information, it all comes from either the Qur'an itself or authoritative hadiths of Sunni Islam." - quote by Steve Morrison.
Who were Mohammed's Wives?
Here is a list of wives of Mohammed by the Muslim scholar Ali Dashti. He probably based much of this on an earlier list in the History of al-Tabari vol.9 p.126-241. It should be mentioned that scholars and Hadiths are not entirely agreed on the wives of Mohammed. For example some hadiths (not Bukhari or Sahih Muslim) mention a couple of wives of Mohammed that he divorced, and these are not shown here.