[Edited 5th paragraph of mine for clarity]
Hi Arshie, good to have you back. I realize it’s no consolation, but I do regret having to expose Muhammad in this way. I was once religious, and felt that "my" religion was somehow a part of my identity – and so anything said against "my" religion could potentially be saddening or annoying. However religions really only belong to the people responsible for inventing them - we are all just human beings, who usually by pure chance end up following one person’s invented religion or another.
Regarding Muhammad and his rape of women, and his promoting of the rape of women by his followers, there are several passages from the Qur’an and hadith which refer to this. You probably know of the expeditions of Muhammad’s against neighboring tribes where he had the men executed, and distributed the women and children among his warriors for rape and slavery – these are variously described in hadiths (e.g. Bukhari, Vol 5, Book 59, #362: "...He then killed their men and distributed their women, children and property among the Muslims...He exiled all the Jews from Medina.") and the behaviour is also conveniently justified in Muhammad’s Qur’an.
Let’s begin with some of Muhammad’s ground rules (or lack thereof) for rape. The title of a chapter from book 8 of the hadith of Sahih Muslim deals specifically with raping women, and tells how a verse of Muhammad’s Qur’an allowing rape subsequently came to be "revealed".
Chapter 29: IT IS PERMISSIBLE TO HAVE SEXUAL INTERCOURSE WITH A CAPTIVE WOMAN AFTER SHE IS PURIFIED (OF MENSES OR DELIVERY). IN CASE SHE HAS A HUSBAND, HER MARRIAGE IS ABROGATED AFTER SHE BECOMES CAPTIVE
We can't pretend that married women choose to have consensual sex with strange men who have just taken them prisoner, slaughtered their people, distributed their children for slavery, and stolen land and other plunder from their tribes. The conclusion we're left with is that Muhammad and his men were rapists. But there's more. The chapter continues with the following
Book 8, Number 3432:
...Allah's Messenger (may pbuh) sent an army to Autas and encountered the enemy and fought with them. Having overcome them and taken them captives, the Companions of Allah's Messenger (may pbuh) seemed to refrain from having intercourse with captive women because of their HUSBANDS being polytheists. Then Allah, Most High, sent down regarding that: "And women already married, except those whom your right hands possess (iv. 24)"
Qur'an 4.24
"And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you."
In this incident, Muhammad’s companions "refrain" from raping captive
married women, until Muhammad conveniently "reveals" a new verse for his Qur’an
permitting it. Clearly, the married captive women are given NO CHOICE.
Now, Muhammad and his gang sometimes kept women and children for rape and/or slavery, but sometimes held them for
ransom. However, if the women had obviously been raped and were pregnant, the ransom would be more difficult to get from the women’s families - in those days where a family's "honor" was effected by the woman being tarnished with being raped. This presented a quandary – handled by Muhammad as described in the hadith of Malik's Muwatta - section 'Coitus Interruptus':
Book 29, Number 29.32.95:
"...Abu Said al-Khudri said, 'We went out with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on the expedition to the Banu al-Mustaliq. We took some Arabs prisoner, and we desired the women as celibacy was hard for us. We wanted the RANSOM, so we wanted to practise coitus interruptus. We said, 'Shall we practise coitus interruptus while the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is among us before we ask him?' We asked him about that and he said, 'You don't have to not do it. There is no self which is to come into existence up to the Day of Rising but that it will come into existence.' "
So Muhammad advised his men not to worry about ejaculating into their rape victims and potentially getting them pregnant. Muhammad also revealed a verse in which "Allah" supposedly spoke to him personally, giving Muhammad special privileges for having sex with more women than other Muslims, and raping women who were the "spoils of war".
Qur'an 33.50
"O Prophet! Lo! We have made LAWFUL UNTO THEE thy wives unto whom thou hast paid their dowries, and those whom thy right hand possesseth of those whom Allah hath given thee as SPOILS OF WAR, and the daughters of thine uncle on the father's side and the daughters of thine aunts on the father's side, and the daughters of thine uncle on the mother's side and the daughters of thine aunts on the mother's side who emigrated with thee, and a believing woman if she give herself unto the Prophet and the Prophet desire to ask her in marriage – a privilege for thee only, not for the (rest of) believers - We are Aware of that which We enjoined upon them concerning their wives and those whom their right hands possess - that thou mayst be free from BLAME, for Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful."
Here Muhammad not only gives himself special sexual privileges (as other self-proclaimed "prophets" like Joseph Smith and David Koresh have done), but he has ‘Allah’ say
"thou mayest be free from blame" – i.e. to excuse his rapes and those of his army. On the positive side, this suggest that Muhammad had something of a conscience about the crimes he committed - perhaps more so than some of his men.
(Interestingly, there is more evidence of Muhammad inventing verses of the Qur'an to fulfill his sexual desires. One verse of Muhammad’s Qur’an has Allah go to the trouble of saying that Muhammad doesn’t have to have sex with his various wives in turn -
33.51 "Thou mayest defer (the turn of) any of them that thou pleasest, and thou mayest receive any thou pleasest: and there is no blame on thee if thou invite one whose (turn) thou hadst set aside." To which his child-wife Aisha replied in the hadith of Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number 311: "...when Allah revealed (33.51)... I said (to the Prophet),
"I feel that your Lord hastens in fulfilling your wishes and desires." I don't know if she intended this as sarcasm or not. Muhammad also married his adopted son’s wife, and so he had another Qur’anic verse "revealed" to allow this as well!)
Now a couple of Muhammad’s rapes. I’ve already quoted from the first Islamic biography of Muhammad about the torture and murder of Safiyya’s husband, and Muhammad’s instant "marrying" of her when he felt sexually attracted to her, but now I’ll quote from some corroborating hadith
Sahih Muslim Book 008, Number 3325:
...We took it (the territory of Khaibar) by force, and there were gathered the prisoners of war. There came Dihya and he said: Messenger of Allah, bestow upon me a girl out of the prisoners. He [Muhammad] said: Go and get any girl. He [Dihya] made a choice for Safiyya daughter of Huyayy (b. Akhtab). There came a person to Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) and said: Apostle of Allah, you have bestowed Safiyya bint Huyayy, the chief of Quraiza and al-Nadir, upon Dihya and she is worthy of you only.
He [Muhammad] said: Call him along with her. So he came along with her. When Allah's Apostle (may pbuh) SAW HER he said: Take any other woman from among the prisoners. He (the narrator) said: He (the Holy Prophet) then granted her emancipation and married her. Thabit said to him: Abu Hamza, how much dower did he (the Holy Prophet) give to her? He said: He granted her freedom and then married her. On the way Umm Sulaim embellished her and then sent her to him (the Holy Prophet) at night...
Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 59, Number 513:
Narrated 'Abdul 'Aziz bin Suhaib:
Anas bin Malik said, "The Prophet took Safiya as a captive. He manumitted her and married her."
It is clear that Muhammad took one look at Safiyya, and decided to "marry" her that night - and given that he had Safiyya's husband tortured and murdered, and stole the Jews' land and goods, we have to presume the sex was not by free choice. And then there is Muhammad’s rape of Juwairiya.
Bukhari Volume 3, Book 46, Number 717:
Narrated Ibn Aun:
I wrote a letter to Nafi and Nafi wrote in reply to my letter that the Prophet had suddenly attacked Bani Mustaliq without warning while they were heedless and their cattle were being watered at the places of water. Their fighting men were killed and their women and children were taken as captives; the PROPHET GOT JUWAIRIYA on that day.
Sunan Abu-Dawud Book 29, Number 3920:
...Juwayriyyah, daughter of al-Harith ibn al-Mustaliq, fell to the lot of Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas, or to her cousin. She entered into an agreement to purchase her freedom. She was a very BEAUTIFUL woman, most ATTRACTIVE to the eye.
...She said: Apostle of Allah, I am Juwayriyyah, daughter of al-Harith, and something has happened to me, which is not hidden from you. I have fallen to the lot of Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas, and I have entered into an agreement to purchase of my freedom. I have come to you to seek assistance for the purchase of my freedom.
The Apostle of Allah (pbuh) said: Are you inclined to that which is better?
She asked: What is that, Apostle of Allah?
He replied: I shall pay the price of your freedom on your behalf, and I shall marry you.
She said: I shall do this
...The people then heard that the Apostle of Allah (pbuh) had married Juwayriyyah. They released the captives in their possession and set them free, and said: They are the relatives of the Apostle of Allah (pbuh) by marriage. We did not see any woman GREATER than Juwayriyyah who brought blessings to her people. One hundred families of Banu al-Mustaliq were set free on account of her.
As with Safiyya, Juwayriyyah was apparently a
beautiful woman who was distributed as a sex-slave to one of Muhammad's men, but when he saw her
he wanted to have sex with her. The writer of this hadith clearly implies that the beautiful Juwayriyyah had made a GREAT sacrifice, in agreeing to be raped by the murderer of her tribe's men on the night she was captured, so that some members of her tribe might be freed from Muhammad’s slavery. Keep in mind that these histories are written by Muhammad's side, wishing to paint his actions in the best light. Imagine a history of these events written by his victims.
There are two ways you can be assured beyond reasonable doubt that Muhammad was a rapist, and that he taught others to rape. The first is to imagine these stories as if Muslims were the victims of Crusaders. E.g. Imagine the following (fictional) history was written by Crusaders:
"The Crusaders travelled to recapture lands stolen by Muslims. On the way they passed through a Muslim town. The Chief Crusader had all the Muslim men beheaded, and distributed the women and children between his warriors. He saw a Muslim woman among the prisoners who was more beautiful than the rest. He had a revelation from God that that for the Crusaders “all married women are forbidden, except those captives whom your right hands possess”, and with great pleasure he "married" the Muslim woman that night. Meanwhile his men freely ejaculated into the other captive Muslim women as per his instructions."I know that you would join the rest of us of the human race in calling this mass rape, and the Chief rapist’s justification a disgustingly lie.
The second way we know Muhammad was a rapist, and taught others to rape, is that we see explicit evidence of this from modern Muslims. For example, the ex-PLO terrorist Mr. Walid Shoebat writes in his book ‘Why I Left Jihad’ of "our Nazi education", and (on page 32):
I remember students used to ask our teacher, Na’eem Ayyad, during our Islamic studies in Bethlehem High School, if it were permitted for Muslims to rape the Jewish women after we defeated them. His response was "The women captured in battle have no choice in this matter, they are concubines and they need to obey their masters, having sex with slave captives is not a matter of choice for slaves." He said that sexual intercourse with Jewish captives does not have to be consensual.'
I want to stress that Muslims shouldn't feel ashamed or as though they’re somehow implicated in what Muhammad did. Any of us non-Muslims could have been raised under Muhammad's Islam if chance had dictated the circumstances. What we all need to do is to stand together and create pressure to reform the worst parts of all ideologies. As the Muslim Professor Mr. Ziauddin Sardar writes at
http://www.newstatesman.com/200302170039 of Muhammad "What made him human was that he could make mistakes and he was a product of his own time.... Islam...requires individual believers and societies to exert themselves and to reinterpret the Koran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad."
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stoicaltec
15 years ago
I really appreciate the way arshie responded to fitna. His calm voice and academic response helped me understand the Quran much better. I see people like Pat condell and Christopher Hitchens enjoy great success because they appeal to the worst aspects of human nature. But they rarely use facts or logic.
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