Muhammad’s
wives: Background you need to know-A debate!
Syed Kamran Mirza
[email protected]
On the above title Mr. Parvez Ahmed
from Florida wrote an essay in his desperate quest to damage control for
the so-called Islamophobia and defamation of Prophet Muhammad. His utter
lie, lots of wishful disinformation and deceptive tactics to hide the
truth has drawn my attention to comment.
Mr. Pervez talked about background (“Background you need to
know”) but he has given no background or any reference at all. This is
an utter deception and intellectual dishonesty by Mr. Pervez. Readers have
already learned a lot about how Mr. Pervez has distorter the facts of the
history from an eloquently written rebuttal by Mr. Abul kasem from
Australia which was posted in NFB on December 24, 2002.
Islamic apologists (like Mr. Pervez Ahmed) usually
bring some ludicrous logic and justification to defend Prophet
Muhammad’s sexual/polygamous adventures, and they mostly fail to bring
any prudent scriptural supports in favor of their assertion. We are dealing with the history of more than thousand year
old and nobody among us was present there at the time of these happenings.
Therefore, to claim something about any happenings in the 6th
or 7th Century, we need to cite references. In this business of
Islam, we need support from: Quran, Hadiths and various books/biographies
written by Islamic scholars. History always consists of two
sides--positive and negative sides. We should judge both sides of the
history to know the actual truth.
Most apologists usually blame authors (who brought
untold stories of Islam on the discussion) by saying: (a) Lack of
knowledge/ignorance, (b) Misinterpretation or mistranslation of scriptures
or by (c) Some lame excuses, such as the Prophet
had to marry due to political reasons and not for sex, or he was
forced to marry, simply wanted to rescue
widows etc. There are sahih Hadiths available today to prove clearly
that Prophet Muhammad married many women for his personal lusts and had
sex daily with most of his wives who stayed with him.
(1) Sahih
Bukhari Hadith: Katadha'ha said,
Hazrat Anash Ibn Malek (ra) narrated, "Nabi Karim (pbuh) used to have
sex with all his wives in the same night. At that time the Prophet had
eleven wives".
(2) Sahi Bukhari:
Aisha used to scent Muhammed to have intercourse with other
wives...1.5.270; Volume 1, Book 5, Number 270:
Narrated Muhammad
bin Al-Muntathir: on the authority of
his father that he had asked 'Aisha about the saying of Ibn 'Umar(i.e. he
did not like to be a Muhrim while the smell of scent was still coming from
his body). 'Aisha said, "I scented Allah's Apostle and he went round (had
sexual intercourse with) all his wives, and in the morning he was Muhrim
(after taking a bath)."
The
above sahi Bukhari hadiths have clearly disproved what most Islamic
apologists/scholars tried to portray with their futile attempt of
deception again and again. Fatwa should not be one sided game
as Mr. Kasem has opined in his essay. We should declare fatwa also for
those Islamists who intentionally and deliberately try to distorting the
real history!
However, in this rebuttal of mine let me prove one by
one how Mr. Pervez has deliberately distorted the historical facts to fool
the honorable readers. Below are my comments against some selective
distorted comments made by Mr. Pervez Ahmed:
Mr. Pervez Ahmed said:
“Muhammad's 12 wives, although not all married to him at the same
time, were modest, courageous, independent, outspoken, righteous, patient
and loyal. They were not known for their physical beauty -- certainly not
the kind that is flaunted in public. In fact, all but one of Muhammad's
wives! were widows, and many of them were over the age of 40 when they
married him.”
My
Comments:
Untrue statement by Mr.
Pervez Ahmed. Shafiyya was paragon beauty and was very young (in her teen)
when she was forcibly married by Prophet Muhammad after killing her all
relatives including her newly married husband. Shafiyya was first
distributed (booty from the battle
of Khyber)) to other Islamic soldiers, but when Prophet Muhammad heard
about her paragon beauty then he took her for his wife.
Aisha was only 6 when she was married and she was extremely
beautiful. Reyhana was very beautiful and young Jewish girl (Booty from Banu Quryza). Zainab Bint Jahsh (Muhammad’s adopted son’s wife) was also very young and extremely
beautiful for what Muhammad married her by sheer lust. This scandalous
story will probe the real truth, which I will describe later in this
rebuttal.
Mr. Pervez Ahmed said:
“Why did Muhammad marry 12
women? John Esposito, in Islam: The
Straight Path, writes, "As was customary for Arab chiefs, many were
political marriages to cement alliances. Others were marriages to the
widows of his companions who had fallen in
combat and were in need of protection."
My comments: Well well, if some one wants to help any widow then he
must marry her to render his help to her! What a simplistic logic and
shameful argument by John Esposito! That means, if
President Bush wants to help some widows—he should first marry them all!
Is it not a fantastic idea? To help all the widows of America—President
Bush will need to build thousands of giant-sized Harems throughout the
entire state of Texas. I wonder, was it possible that there were only 7 or
8 widows ( whom Prophet Muhammad married) in the 7th century
Arabia? What a hilarious logic!
Mr. Pervez
said:
“The current charge that Muhammad took his third wife, Aisha, when she
was a minor is based on apocryphal
traditions. The preponderance of
evidence suggests that Aisha was between 16 and 19 years old when she
married Muhammad.”
My Comments: This
is an utter lie by Mr. Pervez! Where is the so called “evidence”
(reference), if you got any? Can you give us any Hadiths (Sahi or non sahi)
or any prudent opinion by a famous Islamic scholar? How can you bring such
lie in the civilized forum like NFB? The claim by you that Aisha was 16 or
19 year old when Prophet Muhammad married her is simply ludicrous.
Below are some rock-hard proofs (Sahi hadiths) that Mr. Pervez
simply lied to protect Prophet Muhammad in order to achieve heavenly
pleasures (72 Huries and wine) in his after life. Let us examine some Sahi
hadiths to know the real truth:
About
Aisha’s age: History as per Sahih Hadiths from the source of Hazrat
Aisha Bint Abu Bakr:
(1) `A´isha
Bint Abu Bakr was Prophet Muhammad's third wife. `A´isha herself
narrated, "The Messenger of God married me in Shawwal in the tenth
year after of his prophet hood, three years before the Migration as I
was six years old. I was nine
years old when he consummated the marriage with me.
(2) Ibn Hisham
narrated that, "Muhammad (pbuh) married Aisha Bint Abu Bakr when
she was seven years old and consummated the marriage with her when they
were in Medina when she was nine years old (Sahih
Hadiths)".
(3) Another
Sahih Bukhari Hadith: Hazrat Aisha (RA) narrated, " when Prophet
(pbuh) married me I was only six
year old at that time. After that we traveled to Medina where I got
sick and my hairs were shed due to fever. After I got rid of my sickness
my hairs were grown back again. One day while I was playing with my
friends in a swing-sets (dolnas) I was called on my mother and when I
reached to her she (Mother) held my hand and took me to the door. At that
time I was breathing rapidly because I was still tired of swinging with my
friends. And I did not understand why I was called here. Then , my mother
took me to a room where I saw three helping maids (ansar) who immediately
decorated me and handed me over to the Prophet (pbuh), and they left the
room. At that time I was only nine-
year old. Prophet (pbuh) consummated our marriage that day".
(4) Sahih
Bukhari hadith: According to Muaallah Ibn Ashad, Hazrat Aisha
narrated: "when I (Aisha) asked why he married me ? Messenger of
Allah said, I saw you in dream twice. I saw (in a dream) you are covered
by a silk chaddar and Angel Gabriel told me, here is your wife'. When I
removed the silk-chaddar I found you were the woman under the silk chaddar.
After that I (Messenger of Allah) said to Angel Gabriel , if this is the
wish of Allah then it is of course shall be fulfilled."
In the quest of rationalizing Prophet Muhammad's
marriage to A'isha some apologists like to claim that,: "It was Hazrat Abu Bakr who
insisted the Prophet to have a permanent relationship in the history of
Muslims through his daughter."
In this essay, let us examine what the history
actually tells us, and how Hazrat A'isha Bint Abu Bakr was married with
the Prophet:
Sahih
Bukhari Hadith: Uroowaa (ra) narrated, " Nabi Karim (sa)
himself proposed to marry Aisha Bint Abu Bakr while Aisha was only six year old girl. Then, Abu
Bakr said, O Messenger of God, I am your brother, how can you marry my
daughter ?' On reply Nabi karim (sa) said, you are my brother only in the
religion. Therefore, Ai'sha is halal for me to marry".
Sahih
Bukhari Hadith: There is another tradition by `Atiyya (ra):
"The Messenger of God proposed to marry `A´isha Bint Abu Bakr while
she was a little girl. Abu Bakr said, 'O Messenger of God, can a man marry
his brother's daughter?' Muhammad replied, 'You are my brother in my
religion.’ Poor Abu Bakr (ra)
had no other choice but to accept the proposal and sacrifice his little
girl of six in exchange of the chattel of a house, fifty [dirhams] worth,
or so.
Other
numerous Sahih Hadiths: In the Bukhari Sharif (recently translated
in Bengali) there are hadiths (dealing sexual life of Prophet) which could
surprise all readers, but to keep this essay reasonably short, I am not
going to describe them in this article. In those Sahih hadiths: one can
learn how Prophet Muhammad encouraged his disciples to marry (young)
virgin girls ; fact that, Prophet Muhammad was having sexual strength
equal to 50 or (according to some) 100 man ; Or. How Angel Gabriel brought
from heaven a "miraculous-drink"
for Prophet Muhammad, which made him so strong in sexual power, etc. etc.
We can find more interesting untold story by careful delving of those
existing Sahih Hadiths.
Now
that I have given some authentic irrefutable historical evidences to
substantiate my claim; could Mr. Pervez also give some references to
substantiate what he has claimed in his essay? If he can not give any
reference then we shall take it guaranteed that Mr. Pervez simply lied
with the readers.
The issue of Marrying adopted son’s wife:
Mr. Pervez said:
“Another marriage that
has raised current scrutiny is his seventh wife, Zaynab. This marriage, as with most of Muhammad's actions, was done to
instruct the nascent Muslim community by setting personal examples. At issue was the relationship of an
adopted child to his new parents. Modern Westerners may disagree, but
Islam's position is that adopted children are not equivalent in legal or
biological status to children out of natural birth. To
illustrate this, God commanded Muhammad to marry the wife of his adopted
son following their divorce.”
My comments:
What a weird logic by Mr.
Pervez Ahmed! Is adoption a bad practice? Why Allah does not like such a
universal noble practice? Is it really very bad or harmful if an adopted
son is given equal status of a real biological son? Is it really immoral
or unethical by any standard? If I want to give my adopted son equal
rights just like my biological son then where is the problem? This is
utterly nonsense! This mentality of Allah and Prophet Muhammad reminds me
the famous ‘Fox-tail’ story. Readers perhaps remember the story of that wicked
fox that lost his tail while stealing a chicken from the farmer’s house.
After loosing his own tail the cunning fox came to his peers to advise
that everybody should cut their tail since the tail is so ugly looking.
So, because Prophet had to marry Zaynab (by any means) to satisfy his own
lust; therefore Allah jumped on a noble idea (?) that adoption should be
prohibited. What a merciful Allah!
Prohibiting
adoption is no way a moral action. Prohibitions of alcohol drinking,
smoking, gambling, sorceress, killing, etc., could be a moral action. But why was this prohibition of adoption necessary?
I don't know how in the world Allah or any God could dislike
such noble deeds. I am not sure what percentages of Muslims actually know
this unethical divine law. I do admit that I never knew this and, I was
stunned when I first learnt this from a real Mullah. How and why was this
noble custom among human being prohibited? I wonder why millions of
Muslims do practice adoption of an orphan child? Do they know that Allah
will punish them for adopting an orphan child? I urge Mr. Pervez or any
other Islamists to make us convinced how the practice of adoption can be
harmful business to anybody!
Pre-Islamic
Arab Custom: Adoption of orphan/helpless child was a very popular and
moral practice amongst pre-Islamic Arabs. By adopting orphan/helpless
child, they used to consider adopted child as their own. And they used to
pass onto them the adopter's genealogy and name, his investment of them
with all the rights of the legitimate son including that of inheritance
and the prohibition of marriage on grounds of consanguinity.
Post-Islamic
Custom: Dr. M.H. Haykal writes: “The all-wise legislator of Islam
willed to undo the above mentioned Arab practice of adopting children. The
divine legislator willed to give the adopted son only
the right of a client and co-religionist. For that reason a verse
was revealed: "God
did not make your adopted son as your own sons. To declare them so is your
empty claim. God's word is righteous and constitute true guidance. (Quran:
33:4). Question
is why Allah had to this nonsense for?
Actual history
of this scandalous marriage--Critical (Orientalist) version:
“Muhammad fell in love with Zainab, daughter of
Jahsh, while she was the wife of Zayd bin Harithah, his own adopted son.
Once, when he passed by the house of Zayd in the latter's absence, he was
met by Zainab wearing clothes which exposed her beauty. Muhammad's heart
was inflamed. It is reported that when his eyes fell upon her, he
exclaimed, "Praise be to God who changes the hearts of men" and
he repeated this expression at the time of his departure from her home.
Zainab heard him say this and noticed desire in his eye. Zainab proudly
reported this happening to her husband. Zayd immediately went to see the
Prophet and offered to divorce his wife. Muhammad answered, "Hold to
your wife and fear God." Thereafter, Zainab was no longer a docile
wife and Zayd had to divorce her. Prophet Muhammad married Zainab Bint
Jahsh who was his daughter-in-law. That was definitely taboo in
pre-Islamic Arabia, and the Prophet of Islam lifted this taboo in order to
satisfy his own lust and fulfill his own desire. They also relate that
when Muhammad saw her she was half-naked, that her fine black hair was
covering half of her body, and that every curve of her body was full of
desire and passion. Others relate that when Muhammad opened the door of
the house of Zayd the breeze played with the curtains of the room of
Zainab, thus permitting Muhammad to catch a glimpse of her stretched out
on her mattress in a nightgown.”
Help from
Allah:
Immediately after this scandal of Prophet Muhammad
marrying his adopted son’s wife Merciful Allah did not delay to jump on
the business of helping out His favorite prophet. Allah’s Oohi
(revelation) started to arrive with some necessary Quranic verses:
(Sura al-Ahzab 33:40): "Muhammad is not the father of any of your
men, but [he is] God's Messenger and the Seal of the Prophets. God is
Aware of everything!"
(Sura al-Ahzab 33:37): "We married her off to
you so that there would be no objection for believers in respect to their
adopted sons' wives once they have accomplished their purpose with them.
God's command must be done!"
In the verse (33:37) there is stated a particular
purpose for this revelation and action of Muhammad. It is not for himself,
but it is for the future of the Muslim community. It is so that in future
there may not be a problem if anybody (father-in-law) wants to marry the
divorced wife of an adopted son. “We permitted you to marry her so that
it may hence be legitimate and morally blameless for a believer to marry
the wife of his adopted son.” Without
adoption, there cannot
be
any adopted son either. Therefore, the explicitly stated reason for the
revelation of this verse does not exist. Muhammad himself dissolved the
original adoption of Zaid when the above revelation came. Also, it is a
mystery why in the world, any father-in law will need to marry his adopted
son's wife. Could Mr. Pervez or any other Mullahs give us any good reason
why in the world any father-in-law should need to marry his son’s wife?
Is it anyway a respectful or ethical practice to marry the adopted son’s
wife?
Allah’s
interference in such an un-ethical/immoral practice of Prophet Muhammad:
There is a considerable moral problem with such a
self-serving revelation. It is quite clear that Prophet Muhammad was
attracted to Zainab before Zaid divorced her and it might well have been
the true reason for the divorce itself. And Qur'anic verses do make clear
that there was something going on before Zaid divorced Zainab.
The entire
melodrama: Zaid's divorce of Zainab, Muhammad's marriage with Zainab
and subsequent revelations of several Qur'anic Ayats from Allah to purify
this scandalous happening is something to ponder very seriously. To summarize, the logical difficulty is that Allah (?) causes
a scandal and then sends Gabriel to officially justify the scandalous
action of Prophet Muhammad with Qur'anic revelations is ridiculous,
morally incorrect and too much of a coincidence. No wonder why
Muhammad’s youngest wife Aisha once teasingly said: “You (Prophet) are so lucky that every time you are in a mess Allah
immediately jumps on rescuing you from the mess.”
Some after
thoughts: Prophet Muhammad cannot get away from the culpability of
this salacious behavior of his with Zainab. If he had this forthrightness
in his mind, he would have vigorously fight with his conscience and not
allow this marriage to go through. But the reality was quite the opposite.
He had surrendered to his passion and thus had marred his
"unblemished" character. If all the Muslims in the present-day
world follow Muhammad's inglorious example, seduce theirs daughter-in-law,
and then cause a divorce and then to add insult to the injury marry her,
what would happen then? Just think the consequences. In more enlightened
society if a man does what Mohammad did with Zainab he would be looked up
as a lascivious character. Not all the Qur'anic Ayats of this world will
be able to change that.
Muslims are repeatedly told (By Allah) that Prophet
Muhammad is the “ideal” person and all Muslim should pattern their
lives using his life as a blueprint. Muslims are required to accept and
adhere to all of "the Codes Of
Life" that were set by the last Prophet (pbuh). As Allah told in
the Quran: O you who believe ! Answer Allah
(by obeying Him) and His messenger when he calls you to that which will
give you life .(8:24). Shall
we then follow his footprints? I
am certain about one thing that is if all Muslim men would follow in the
Prophet’s footstep (to quench the organic thirst), there would be
scarcity of marriageable Muslim women in the entire world.
Sometimes I wonder - Why the perfect person in the entire Ashraf-ul-Moklukat had to set up such a bad example!
Any comments?
References
1. The Holy Qur’an, Translated by A. Yousuf Ali, Published by Amana
Corporation, Brentwood, Maryland, 1983
2. Buchari Sharif, Bengali
Translation by Maulana Muhammad Mustafizur Rahman, Sulemani Printers and
Publishers, Dhaka, Second edition-1999
3. Holy Qur’an, Bengali translation by Maulana Muhiuddin khan,
Khademu Harmain
Sharifain, Saudi Arabia, Madina Mannwara, 1413 Hijri.
- Annals
of al-Tabari 3:173
5. Ansab al-ashraf-1:407
6. Tabaqat Ibn Sa’d 8:50
7. Al-Sira al-nabawiyya 4:296ff.
8. Al-Nasai Khail 2
9. A-Tirmidsi, Janna
10.Muslim, Radha,59
11. The life of Muhammad By: M. H. Haykal, 8th ed. 1982
12. ibid
4:43
13. Nisa'
al-Nabi, 13th ed.
|
