Did the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, ask some men to divorce their wives so that he could marry them? And was the Messenger a man of many marriages, as is claimed?

What your friend says is slander and falsehood. Perhaps he is referring to the marriage of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to Zaynab bint Jahsh, may Allah be pleased with her, who was married to Zayd ibn Harithah, may Allah be pleased with him (Zayd ibn Muhammad before the prohibition of adoption). The Prophet's marriage to her was for a legislative wisdom: to abolish the pre-Islamic custom of adoption.

As for the multiplicity of the Prophet's marriages, the response is as follows: 1. Many prophets married more women than our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, such as David and Solomon, peace be upon them. 2. The Prophet's life, in relation to his marriages, went through three stages: - The first stage: Before marriage, where he remained unmarried until he was twenty-five years old. No deviance was known from him, despite growing up in a warm environment where young people mature early. - The second stage: The stage of a single wife, where he married Khadijah, may Allah be pleased with her, who was fifteen years older than him. He lived with her until she passed away when he was fifty years old, and he did not marry anyone else while she was alive. Rather, he remained loyal to her and spoke of her kindly. - The third stage: After the death of Khadijah, may Allah be pleased with her, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, married several women for humanitarian, political, and legislative reasons, not for lust. This is clear from the following examples: - Sawdah bint Zamʿah: He married her out of compassion for her situation, pity for her, and to preserve her Islam. She was elderly and not beautiful. - Hafsah bint Umar: He married her after her husband's martyrdom, to mend her brokenness and protect her chastity. - Zaynab bint Khuzaymah and Umm Salamah: He married them to console them after their husbands' martyrdom and to care for their children. - Zaynab bint Jahsh: He married her to abolish the custom of adoption. - The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not marry any virgin other than Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her.

Thus, the Prophet's marriages were to console those he married or to encourage their people to embrace Islam. If it were for lust, he would not have accepted elderly and widowed women.