Muhammad
Muhammad's life is traditionally defined into two periods: pre-hijra (emigration) in Mecca (from 570 to 622), and post-hijra in Medina (from 622 until 632). Muhammad is said to have had thirteen wives in total (although two have ambiguous accounts, Rayhana bint Zayd and Maria al-Qibtiyya, as wife or concubine.) Eleven of the thirteen marriages occurred after the migration to Medina.
Women in the Quran
With the exception of Aisha, as she was only nine at the time, Muhammad only married widows and divorced women. Aisha bint Abi Bakr is often thought of as the Prophet's favorite wife. She is linked to the Qur'an's injunctions against slander in Sura 24:11-26, for her involvement in "the affair of the lie [or, slander]" (al-ifk), in which she was falsely accused of "being with" another man, Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal al-Sulami. She is considered to be the first woman to choose "God and His Prophet" over "the world and its adornment"; in Sura 33:28-29, God ordered Muhammad's wives to make this decision of preference, after the Prophet was annoyed by the wives growing desire for material possessions. Aisha is also important to the Sunni sect of Islam.