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Most Common Lies Told About Muhammad

Never Had Sex With A Child  

Shortly after taking power, Ayatollah Khomeini lowered the age at which girls could be married off, from eighteen to nine, to conform to Islamic law. In 2006, the Iranian Parliament voted to overturn Khomeini's decree and made it compulsory for girls under the age of 15 and boys under 18 to have court approval to get married. The Guardian Council of the Constitution quashed the initiative, and reinstated Khomeini's ruling. What the legislature voted for was an unacceptable innovation in the religion.

Narrated Aisha:

Allah's Apostle said, "If somebody innovates something which is not in harmony with the principles of our religion, that thing is rejected."

Bukhari 49.861

No man has had more of an impact on an imperfect world than the embodiment of the perfect human being whose every action is to be emulated as closely as possible.

33:21 You have had a good example in Allah’s Messenger; surely for him who hopes for Allah and the Last Day and remembers Allah often.

Narrated Aisha:

The Prophet did something and allowed his people to do it, but some people refrained from doing it. When the Prophet learned of that, he delivered a sermon, and after having sent Praises to Allah, he said, "What is wrong with such people as refrain from doing a thing that I do? By Allah, I know Allah better than they, and I am more afraid of Him than they."

Bukhari 73.123

What the perfect human being did to a child 1,400 years ago is now common practice in many parts of the Muslim world, with disastrous consequences. Where Islam is making the greatest advances, such as in Africa, we are seeing an extraordinary increase in a condition called vesicovaginal fistula or VVF where the inflicted experience "the continuous involuntary discharge of urine into the vaginal vault."

In Nigeria's Islamist north, for example, according to ModernGhana, “thousands of underage child-wives are abandoned by their pedophile husbands when these little girls develop VVF and dribble urine, a complication of obstructed labour during underage child birth.” These child-mothers and their female offspring, when they, as children give birth to children and are also mutilated by giving birth before their time, are largely doomed to a short, miserable existence and an ignominious death.

To save future children from Muhammad’s example, Islam would have to admit that what he did was wrong. That would effectively destroy the myth of the perfect human being. Not about to happen. The evidence in the hadiths that God's spokesman married Aisha when she was six and had sex with her when he was fifty-three-years of age and she was nine, is overwhelming.

Narrated Aisha:

The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girlfriends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became all right, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women (women of Medina) who said, "Best wishes and Allah's Blessing and a good luck." Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah's Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age.

Bukhari 58.234

Narrated Ursa:

The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death).

Bukhari 62.88

Narrated Aisha:

That the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e., till his death).

Bukhari 62.64

Narrated Aisha:

When the Prophet married me, my mother came to me and made me enter the house (of the Prophet) and nothing surprised me but the coming of Allah's Apostle to me in the forenoon.

Bukhari 62.90

Narrated Hisham's father:

Khadija (also spelled Khadijah, Muhammad's first wife) died three years before the Prophet departed to Medina. He stayed there for two years or so and then he married Aisha when she was a girl of six years of age, and he consumed that marriage when she was nine years old.

Bukhari 58.236

Al-Tabari [838 - 923], author of the definitive history of Islam from Creation to 915 A.D., The History of the Prophets and Kings, quotes Aisha about the blessed day. According to the eminent Muslim historian, Aisha first had sex with Muhammad in her parent’s house.

My mother came to me while I was being swung on a swing between two branches and got me down. My nurse took over and wiped my face with some water and started leading me. When I was at the door she stopped so I could catch my breath. I was brought in while Muhammad was sitting on a bed in our house. My mother made me sit on his lap. The other men and women got up and left. The Prophet consummated his marriage with me in my house when I was nine years old. Neither a camel nor a sheep was slaughtered on behalf of me.

Tabari IX:131

There was no wedding celebration, the meaning of "Neither a camel nor a sheep was slaughtered on behalf of me.” What an unseemly sight that would have been: a bearded, past middle-age man marrying a nine-year-old child who still played with dolls, to be followed by a public exit by the bride and groom to consummate, in private, their union.

A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) married her when she was seven (sic) years old, and she was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she was eighteen years old.

Sahih Muslim 8.3311

A'isha reported that she used to play with dolls in the presence of Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and when her playmates came to her they left (the house) because they felt shy of Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him), whereas Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) sent them to her.

Sahih Muslim 31.5981

Scholars and clerics maintain that a grateful Abu Bakr offered his pre-pubescent daughter, with whom Muhammad had fallen in love, to cement his relationship with the Prophet. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, in The Caged Virgin, writes that Aisha’s father pleaded with Muhammad to wait until his daughter reached adulthood before consummating the marriage.

He fell in love with Aisha, his best friend's nine-year-old daughter. Her father said: "Please wait until she has reached adulthood." But Muhammad would not wait... By our Western standards Muhammad is a perverse man.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Caged Virgin, p. 81

The following hadith would appear to confirm Hirsi Ali’s assertion that Aisha's father was not keen on marrying his young daughter to a man of his generation:

Narrated Ursa:

The Prophet asked Abu Bakr for Aisha's hand in marriage.

Abu Bakr said "But I am your brother."

The Prophet said, "You are my brother in Allah's religion and His Book, but she (Aisha) is lawful for me to marry."

Bukhari 62.18

Muhammad was not a pervert for the child had given her consent.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, "A matron should not be given in marriage except after consulting her; and a virgin should not be given in marriage except after her permission."

The people asked, "O Allah's Apostle! How can we know her permission?"

He said, "Her silence (indicates her permission)."

Bukhari 62.67

Muhammad’s lust knew no bounds. He walked in on his cousin and daughter-in-law Zaynab when she was almost naked and he just had to have her. Zayd, his adopted son, quickly and prudently divorced her so that the man he considered his father could marry her. Revelations concerning the righteousness of the whole thing were duly received confirming that it was all God’s idea, thereby setting another inviolate precedent just like when His spokesman had sex with a nine-year-old.

33:37 And [remember] when you said to him whom Allah favoured and you favoured: (this is addressed to Zayd regarding his wife Zaynab) “Hold on to your wife and fear Allah”, while you concealed within yourself what Allah would reveal and feared other men, whereas Allah had a better right to be feared by you. Then, when Zayd had satisfied his desire for her, We gave her to you in marriage; so that the believers should not be at fault, regarding the wives of their adopted sons, once they have satisfied their desire for them. For Allah’s Command must be accomplished.

33:38 The Prophet was not at fault regarding what Allah prescribed for him as was His Way with those who were gone before. And Allah’s Command is a pre-ordained decree.

Before God could give Zaynab to Muhammad once “Zayd had satisfied his desire for her” for him to do the same, He had to change the status of adopted sons so that it was not father and son having had sex with the same female.

Orphaned boys were almost unknown in the Arab world until Allah changed their status to the equivalent of someone you provided with free room and board, so that His spokesman could also satisfy his lust for Zaynab as Zayd had done. Before this seismic change that made what had been immoral moral, Arab fathers made no distinction between adopted sons and those they had fathered.

33:4 Allah did not create two hearts within the breast of any man; and He did not make your wives, whom you compare to your mothers’ backs; and He did not make your [adopted] sons your sons in fact. That is your own claim, by your words of mouth. Allah speaks the truth and He guides to the Right Path.

It became a sin for even boys who had never known their real father to adopt their benefactor’s identity.

33:5 Assign them to their own fathers. That is more equitable in the sight of Allah; but if you do not know their real fathers, then they are your brothers in religion, your adopted fellow Muslims. You are not at fault if you err therein; but only in what your hearts intend. Allah is ever All-Forgiving, All-Merciful.

The change in status also meant that adopted sons were no longer eligible to a share of an inheritance.

Narrated Aisha:

Abu Hudhaifa, one of those who fought the battle of Badr with Allah's Apostle, adopted Salim as his son and married his niece Hind bint Al-Wahd bin Utba to him and Salim was a freed slave of an Ansari woman. Allah's Apostle also adopted Zaid as his son.

In the Pre-Islamic period of ignorance the custom was that, if one adopted a son, the people would call him by the name of the adopted-father [from] whom he would inherit as well, till Allah revealed: "Call them (adopted sons) By (the names of) their fathers." (33:5)

Bukhari 59.335

The fact that a man could no longer raise a fatherless son as one of his own made their adoption a lot less attractive with predicable depressing results that a god, not consumed with catering to a favourite’s every self-indulgent desire, would have foreseen. As Aisha would tell her husband in Bukhari 60.675: “"I feel that your Lord hastens in fulfilling your wishes and desires."

Zayd would be killed in one of the innumerable bloody battles to convert the people of the Peninsula. Muhammad ordered that the woman mourning his adopted son’s passing a little too loudly be silenced. That proved impossible.

Narrated Aisha:

When the news of the martyrdom of Zaid bin Haritha, Ja'far and Abdullah bin Rawaha came, the Prophet sat down looking sad, and I was looking through the chink of the door. A man came and said, "O Allah's Apostle! The women of Ja'far," and then he mentioned their crying.

The Prophet (p.b.u.h) ordered him to stop them from crying.

The man went and came back and said, "I tried to stop them but they disobeyed."

The Prophet (p.b.u.h) ordered him for the second time to forbid them. He went again and came back and said, "They did not listen to me, (or "us": the sub-narrator Muhammad bin Haushab is in doubt as to which is right)."

Aisha added: The Prophet said, "Put dust in their mouths."

I said (to that man), "May Allah stick your nose in the dust (i.e. humiliate you). By Allah, you could not (stop the women from crying) to fulfill the order, besides you did not relieve Allah's Apostle from fatigue."

Bukhari 23.392

Muhammad’s lustful nature also meant he quickly exceeded God’s mandated limit of four wives per believer. Not a problem; a revelation was duly sent making the whole thing legal, in this instance for him and him only.

33:50 O Prophet, we have made lawful, for you, your wives, whose dowry you have paid, what your right hand owns (slave-girls) out of the spoils of war that Allah gave you, the daughters of your paternal uncles, the daughters of your paternal aunts, the daughters of your maternal uncles, the daughters of your maternal aunts who emigrated with you, and any believing woman who gives herself freely to the Prophet, if the Prophet desires to marry her, granted exclusively to you, but not the believers. We know what We have prescribed for them regarding their wives and what their right hands own, so that you may not be at fault. Allah is All-Forgiving, Merciful.

A Prophet of Mercy

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

Allah's Apostle entered Mecca in the year of its Conquest wearing an Arabian helmet on his head and when the Prophet took it off, a person came and said, "Ibn Khatal is holding the covering of the Ka'ba (taking refuge in the Ka'ba)."

The Prophet said, "Kill him."

Bukhari 29.72

Khatal was one of the Muhammad’s Zakat collectors who later abandoned Islam and returned to Mecca. Khatal sought the protection of the Ka’ba to no avail when the Meccans surrendered without a fight after having been promised that they could continue worshipping three goddesses they considered the daughters of God.

In January 630, on the pretence that the Meccans had supplied arms to the Banu Bakr, a tribe allied with the Meccans that had been fighting a tribe allied with the Muslims, the Banu Khuzah, Muhammad, at the head of an army numbering at least ten thousand, marched on Mecca.

When he arrived at nightfall, he parked his army just outside the city. Countless campfires were lit to confuse the enemy as to the size of his forces. He then invited the hapless Meccan commander Abu Sufyan for a visit. During his time among the believers, Muhammad made sure Sufyan was constantly surrounded by heavily armed holy warriors, some on parade, others executing mock attacks in the shimmering firelight, making them even more menacing. They would spontaneously stop whatever they were doing to shout that blood-curdling cry, Allahu Akbar, announcing an imminent slaughter in Allah's Cause, as it does today.

The Meccans, on the advice of Sufyan who tells them the situation is hopeless, surrendered en masse and agreed to become Muslim, but not before obtaining a concession, ostensibly from God, that they may continue worshipping the goddesses al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat.

These are the exalted cranes (al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat) Whose intercession [with Allah] is to be hoped for.

The next day, after he had complete control of their city, Muhammad informed the Meccans that it was all the devil’s doing, that Satan had intruded on his conversations with God the previous night, and that in the morning Allah had set him straight and the so-called Satanic Verses were stricken from the Koran.

22:52 We have not sent a Messenger or Prophet before you but when he recited the Devil would intrude into his recitation. Yet Allah annuls what the Devil had cast. Then Allah establishes His Revelations. Allah is All-Knowing and Wise.

On the night of the city’s surrender, Muhammad discreetly ordered the murder of six defenceless men, including Khatal, and five girls, while pardoning the well-armed, for which he earned the unlikely moniker Prophet of Mercy. One of the girls assassinated was a former slave by the name of Sara, who had allegedly insulted the Prophet of Mercy at one time and four girls who had sung satirical songs about his claim to be acting and speaking on God’s behalf. One of the singing girls managed to get away while her sister was being slaughtered, bringing the total number of known unfortunates the Prophet of Mercy had assassinated on the night of Mecca’s peaceful surrender to ten.

The apostle had instructed his commanders when they entered Mecca only to fight those who resisted them, except a small number who were to be killed even if they were found beneath the curtains of the Ka'ba. Among them was Abdullah b. Sa'd, brother of the B. ‘Amir b. Lu’ayy. The reason he ordered him to be killed was that he had been a Muslim and used to write down revelation[s]; then he apostatized and returned to Quraysh and fled to Uthman b. 'Affan whose foster-brother he was; The latter hid him until he brought him to the apostle after the situation in Mecca was tranquil, and asked that he might be granted immunity.

They allege that the apostle remained silent for a long time till finally he said yes. When Uthman had left he said to his companions who were sitting around him, ‘I kept silent so that one of you might get up and strike off his head!’

One of the Ansar said, ‘Then why didn’t you give me a sign, O Apostle of God?’ He answered that a prophet does not kill by pointing.

Another was Abdullah b. Khatal of B. Taym b. Ghalib. He had two singing-girls Fartana and her friend who used to sing satirical songs about the apostle, so he ordered that they should be killed with him. Another was al-Huvvayrith b. Nuqaydh b. Wahb b. 'Abd b. Qusayy, one of those who used to insult him in Mecca (804).

Another was Miqyas b. Hubaba because he had killed an Ansar] who had killed his brother accidentally, and returned to Quraysh as a polytheist. And Sara, freed slave of one of the B. Abdu’l-Muttalib; and Ikrima b. Abu Jahl. Sara had insulted him in Mecca. As for Tkrima, he fled to the Yaman. As for Ibn Khatal’s two singing-girls, one was killed and the other ran away.

A. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad: A translation of ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, Oxford University Press, p. 550-551

Muhammad, like the god for whom he spoke, was a thin-skinned vengeful human being. This was evident early on. On the run from his Meccan kin who wanted to kill him for preaching what they considered a hateful, intolerant liturgy that liberally insulted their ancestors, God's spokesman sought refuge in Medina. From the strategically located city, that became a Muslim stronghold, the believers ambushed Meccan caravans passing between the Red Sea and Medina on their way to and from Syria igniting a brutal civil war that would see all Arabs of the Peninsula prostrating themselves before Allah, killed or enslaved.

It all began at a place called Badr when the Muslims attacked a Meccan detachment sent to protect a large caravan the Muslims intended to plunder (recommended: “Battle of Badr” Jihad in the Koran, Boreal Books). It was after his success at Badr that the Prophet of Mercy felt confident enough to begin exacting revenge and silencing his most vocal critics: the poets who had bested or criticised him in rhyme, including a poetess nursing her baby. These brutal acts of retribution serve to this day as an example of what is to be done to critics of Islam.

The first poet to be killed was al-Nadr. The Meccans had praised his verses as superior to those of Muhammad. Al-Nadr was among the prisoners captured at Badr. He was beheaded along with another captive by the name of Uqbah on orders from the Prophet of Mercy. The next to die was the oldest poet, if not the oldest man of Medina, centenarian Abu Afak.

He waited for an opportunity until a hot night came, and Abu Afak slept in an open place. Salim b. Umayr knew it, so he placed the sword on his liver and pressed it till it reached his bed. The enemy of Allah screamed and the people, who were his followers rushed him, took him to his house and interred him.

Ibn S’ad, a companion of the Prophet

The courageous poetess Asma bint Marwan condemned, in verse, the murder of the old wordsmith. In the tradition of every despot through the ages, she then became the target of the assassin’s blade. With an infant suckling at her breast, whom her killer pushed aside, she too was stabbed to death while sleeping. After every murder, the assassin would return to the mosque to inform Muhammad and be praised for what he had done at his insistence.

Umayr Ibn Adi came to her in the night and entered her house. Her children were sleeping around her. There was one whom she was suckling. He searched her with his hand because he was blind, and separated the child from her. He thrust his sword in her chest till it pierced up to her back. Then he offered the morning prayers with the Prophet at Medina.

The apostle of Allah said to him: "Have you slain the daughter of Marwan?"

When Umayr replied that the job had been carried out with success, Muhammad said, "You have helped God and His apostle, O Umayr!"

When Umayr asked if he would have to bear any evil consequences, the apostle said, “Two goats won’t butt their heads about her."

Muhammad then praised Umayr in front of all gathered for prayer for his act of murder, and Umayr went back to his people.

Ibn S’ad

Muhammad dared the men of her tribe to seek revenge for her murder, as was the custom. Knowing that there was nothing this man was not capable of, they avoided their own destruction by becoming Muslims. The next unfortunate poet murdered on the Prophet of Mercy’s instructions was Abu-Rafi.

Narrated Al-Bara bin Azib:

Allah's Apostle sent a group of Ansari men to kill Abu-Rafi. One of them set out and entered their (i.e. the enemy’s) fort. That man said, "I hid myself in a stable for their animals. They closed the fort gate. Later they lost a donkey of theirs, so they went out in its search. I, too, went out along with them, pretending to look for it. They found the donkey and entered their fort. And I, too, entered along with them.

They closed the gate of the fort at night, and kept its keys in a small window where I could see them. When those people slept, I took the keys and opened the gate of the fort and came upon Abu Rafi and said, 'O Abu Rafi.’

When he replied me, I proceeded towards the voice and hit him. He shouted and I came out to come back, pretending to be a helper.

I said, 'O Abu Rafi’, changing the tone of my voice.

He asked me, 'What do you want; woe to your mother?'

I asked him, 'What has happened to you?'

He said, 'I don't know who came to me and hit me.' Then I drove my sword into his belly and pushed it forcibly till it touched the bone. Then I came out, filled with puzzlement and went towards a ladder of theirs in order to get down but I fell down and sprained my foot.

I came to my companions and said, 'I will not leave till I hear the wailing of the women.' So, I did not leave till I heard the women bewailing Abu Rafi, the merchant of Hijaz. Then I got up, feeling no ailment, (and we proceeded) till we came upon the Prophet and informed him."

Bukhari 52.264

The murder of the poet Ka'b bin Al-Ashraf:

Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah:

Allah's Apostle said, "Who would kill Ka'b bin Al-Ashraf (Ka'b, a poet, who wrote poems lampooning of Allah's Messenger) as he has harmed Allah and His Apostle?"

Muhammad bin Maslama (got up and) said, "I will kill him."

So, Muhammad bin Maslama went to Ka'b and said, "I want a loan of one or two Wasqs of food grains."

Ka'b said, "Mortgage your women to me."

Muhammad bin Maslama said, "How can we mortgage our women, and you are the most handsome among the Arabs?"

He said, "Then mortgage your sons to me."

Muhammad said, "How can we mortgage our sons, as the people will abuse them for being mortgaged for one or two Wasqs of food grains? It is shameful for us. But we will mortgage our arms to you."

So, Muhammad bin Maslama promised him that he would come to him next time. They (Muhammad bin Maslama and his companions) came to him as promised and murdered him. Then they went to the Prophet and told him about it.

Bukhari 45.687

Then there is the cold-blooded mass murder of the remaining Jews of Medina. After the successful defense of the city during the first Arab civil war (see Chapter “Battle of the Ditch”, Jihad in the Koran, Boreal Books), Muhammad received an order from the angel Gabriel to attack the Banu Qurayzah (also spelled Quraiza), the last remaining Jewish tribe of Medina:

Narrated Aisha:

When Allah's Apostle returned on the day (of the battle) of Al-Khandaq (i.e. Trench), he put down his arms and took a bath. Then Gabriel, whose head was covered with dust, came to him saying, "You have put down your arms!

By Allah, I have not put down my arms yet." Allah's Apostle said, "Where (to go now)?"

Gabriel said, "This way," pointing towards the tribe of Bani Quraiza. So Allah's Apostle went out towards them.

Bukhari 52.68

He marched on their fortress just outside Medina with three thousand men. When he neared the fortress, he called out to its defenders: “O brothers of monkeys and pigs! Fear me, fear me.” The simian reference would make its way into the Koran for future generations of the righteous to ponder.

2:65 And you surely know those of you who violated the Sabbath; We said to them: “Be [like] dejected apes.”

2:66 Thus We made an example to their contemporaries and to those after them, and an admonition to the righteous.

After twenty five days, judging their situation hopeless, the Banu Qurayzah asked for a mediator. Muhammad sent Abu Lubabah who matter-of-factly informed the Jews that his boss had slaughter on his mind.

When they saw him (Lubabah), the men rose to meet him, and the women and children rushed to grab hold of him, weeping before him, so that he felt pity for them. They said to him, “Abu Lubabah, do you think that we should submit to Muhammad’s judgment?”

“Yes”, he said, but he pointed with his hand to his throat, that it would be slaughter.

Tabari

The Banu Qurayzah asked to be allowed to go into exile. Muhammad rejected that out of hand and suggested that a mortally wounded believer by the name of Sad bin Mu’adh decide their fate. Ignoring Lubabah’s warning, they agreed and surrendered without a fight.

Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:

Some people (the Banu Qurayzah) agreed to accept the verdict of Sad bin Mu’adh so the Prophet sent for him. He came riding a donkey, and when he approached the Mosque, the Prophet said, "Get up for the best amongst you." or said, "Get up for your chief."

Then the Prophet said, "O Sad! These people have agreed to accept your verdict."

Sad said, "I judge that their warriors should be killed and their children and women should be taken as captives."

The Prophet said, "You have given a judgment similar to Allah's Judgment."

Bukhari 58.148

A trench was dug in Medina’s marketplace and the men and post-pubescent boys of the Banu Qurayzah were beheaded with the Prophet of Mercy looking on.

The messenger of God commanded that furrows should be dug in the ground for the B. Qurayzah. Then he sat down, and Ali and al-Zubayr began cutting off their heads in his presence.

-----

They numbered 600 or 700—the largest estimate says they were between 800 and 900. The affair continued until the Messenger of God had finished with them.

Tabari

How Muhammad’s men ascertained that a young male was old enough to be beheaded:

Narrated Atiyyah al-Qurazi:

I was among the captives of Banu Qurayzah. They examined us, and those who had begun to grow hair (pubes) were killed, and those who had not were not killed. I was among those who had not grown hair.

Abu Dawud 38.4390

The dead men’s wives, daughters and surviving boys were sold into slavery, except for the beautiful widow Rayhanah whom Muhammad made his concubine.

***

The most doleful story of a woman taken as booty by Muhammad has to be that of Rayhanah (or Rayhana). He had the audacity to ask her to marry him after overseeing the killing of her father and her husband. She declined, so he made her his concubine.

Rayhanah’s life with God’s spokesman, according to Tamam Kahn, author of Untold - A History of the Wives of Prophet Muhammad was short and tumultuous. Some say she converted to Islam, others that she died as Muhammad’s slave, and still others that she was allowed to rejoin her Jewish community—somewhat unlikely as she is buried, along with many of the Prophet’s other wives, in Baqi cemetery of Medina. She died a short two years after joining the Prophet’s collection of wives, and slave-girls. How she died remains a mystery. All we know is that the beautiful, tragic Rayhanah died young. I would not exclude suicide.

***

The Banu Qurayzah were the last of the three Jewish tribes of Medina—the other two having been forced into exile (Appendix: Jewish Tribes Exiled From Medina)—that, along with the Arabs of the oasis city had welcomed Muhammad when his Meccan kin were bent on killing him. Had the Jews of Medina not signed on to the newly drafted Constitution of Medina (one of, if not the first of its kind) in which they, along with their Arab neighbours, accepted Muhammad as arbitrator, Islam might have been short-lived.

God’s spokesman would prove himself a ruthless arbitrator where women accused of illegal intercourse were concerned. One of the more wretched decisions of the Prophet of Mercy:

Malik related to me from Yaqub ibn Zayd ibn Talha from his father Zayd ibn Talha that Abdullah ibn Abi Mulayka informed him that a woman came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and informed him that she had committed adultery and was pregnant.

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to her, "Go away until you give birth."

When she had given birth, she came to him. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to her, "Go away until you have suckled and weaned the baby."

When she had weaned the baby, she came to him. He said, "Go and entrust the baby to someone."

She entrusted the baby to someone and then came to him. He gave the order and she was stoned.

Malik's Muwatta 41.41.1.5

In another hadith about a defenceless woman put to death on orders from the Prophet of Mercy, Muhammad simply sent a trusted assassin to enquire whether the woman had committed illegal intercourse and, if she answered in the affirmative, to stone her.

Narrated Zaid bin Khalid and Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, "O Unais! Go to the wife of this (man) and if she confesses (that she has committed illegal sexual intercourse), then stone her to death."

Bukhari 38.508

For more examples of Muhammad’s rulings in cases of illegal sex I invite you to read Chapter “Stoning”, A Thousand and One Sayings and Deeds of the Prophet Muhammad, Boreal Books.

An Illiterate

Who cares, you say? It shouldn’t matter, but it is dogma and to deny it would diminish his purported achievement: memorizing what the Angel Gabriel, the Messenger to the Messenger, revealed to him piecemeal—17:106 It is a Qur’an which we have divided into parts that you may recite it with deliberation, and We revealed it piecemeal—and repeating, word for word, what he usually had been told the night before to an assembly of believers and sceptics the next day or days later, without missing a beat.

We have proof that he knew how to read and write, not in the fact that he was a successful merchant, but in an authenticated hadith about the signing of the Treaty of Hudaibiyah, a ten year non-aggression pact between Mecca and Medina that the Prophet, with God’s approval, broke when he had amassed sufficient forces to attack Mecca. Prior to the signing, Muhammad, the alleged illiterate, rewrote a section of the treaty to which the Meccans objected after his scribe refused to make the modification.

Narrated Al-Bara:

When the Prophet intended to perform Umra in the month of Dhul-Qada, the people of Mecca did not let him enter Mecca till he settled the matter with them by promising to stay in it for three days only. When the document of treaty was written, the following was mentioned: "These are the terms on which Muhammad, Allah's Apostle agreed (to make peace)."

They said, "We will not agree to this, for if we believed that you are Allah's Apostle we would not prevent you, but you are Muhammad bin Abdullah."

The Prophet said, "I am Allah's Apostle and also Muhammad bin Abdullah."

Then he said to Ali, "Rub off (the words) 'Allah's Apostle'", but Ali said, "No, by Allah, I will never rub off your name." So, Allah's Apostle took the document and wrote, "This is what Muhammad bin Abdullah has agreed upon: No arms will be brought into Mecca except in their cases, and nobody from the people of Mecca will be allowed to go with him (i.e. the Prophet) even if he wished to follow him and he (the Prophet) will not prevent any of his companions from staying in Mecca if the latter wants to stay."

Bukhari 49.863

There is no denying, however, Muhammad’s power of observation:

Narrated Abu Ishaq-Ash-Shaibani:

I asked Zir bin Hubaish regarding the Statement of Allah: "And was at a distance of but two bow-lengths or (even) nearer; So did (Allah) convey The Inspiration to His slave (Gabriel) and then he (Gabriel) Conveyed (that to Muhammad)." (53;9-10) On that, Zir said, "Ibn Mas'ud informed us that the Prophet had seen Gabriel having 600 wings."

Bukhari 54.455

Not a Wife Beater

Ottawa imam condemns ‘honour killings’… The imam of the Ottawa Mosque has condemned so-called honour killing, saying the practice speaks to a perverse sense of honour that is alien to Islam, and has no place in society… In his sermon, Metwally urged a packed Ottawa Mosque to look to the examples of the Prophet Muhammad, who never hit or abused his wives in any form.”

National post, Dec 11, 2011

I am sure the imam meant well, but this is simply not the case. The following hadith is from The Book of Prayers (Kitab Al-Salat) of Sahih Muslim. It begins with a typical introduction with the narrator identifying himself, followed by some atypical comments from his audience (no quotation marks were in the original translation and I have chosen not to add any).

Muhammad b. Qais said (to the people): Should I not narrate to you (a hadith of the Holy Prophet) on my authority and on the authority of my mother? We thought that he meant the mother who had given him birth. He (Muhammad b. Qais) then reported that it was Aisha who had narrated this: Should I not narrate to you about myself and about the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him)? We said: Yes.

From Aisha we learn that it all started when her husband joined her for an intimate moment, after which, thinking she is asleep, he leaves her side.

She said: When it was my turn for Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) to spend the night with me, he turned his side, put on his mantle and took off his shoes and placed them near his feet, and spread the corner of his shawl on his bed and then lay down till he thought that I had gone to sleep. He took hold of his mantle slowly and put on the shoes slowly, and opened the door and went out and then closed it lightly.

Aisha is not asleep and decides to follow her husband outside where she observes him doing hand gestures, after which they both return to the house, Aisha rushing ahead and hopping into bed hoping her spouse is none the wiser.

I covered my head, put on my veil and tightened my waist wrapper, and then went out following his steps till he reached Baqi. He stood there and he stood for a long time. He then lifted his hands three times, and then returned and I also returned. He hastened his steps and I also hastened my steps. He ran and I too ran. He came (to the house) and I also came (to the house). I, however, preceded him and I entered (the house), and as I lay down in the bed, he (the Holy Prophet) entered the (house), and said: Why is it, O Aisha, that you are out of breath?

Muhammad asked the obvious question. She better tell the truth or Allah will tell on her.

I said: There is nothing.

He said: Tell me or the Subtle and the Aware would inform me.

Aisha tells whatever she tells her husband, swearing it is the truth, and this is when he strikes her.

I said: Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be ransom for you, and then I told him (the whole story).

He said: Was it the darkness (of your shadow) that I saw in front of me?

I said: Yes.

He struck me on the chest which caused me pain, and then said: Did you think that Allah and His Apostle would deal unjustly with you?

She said: Whatsoever the people conceal, Allah will know it.

At this point, Muhammad feels compelled to explain to an obviously skeptical teenager why she did not see Gabriel.

He said: Gabriel came to me when you saw me. He called me and he concealed it from you. I responded to his call, but I too concealed it from you (for he did not come to you), as you were not fully dressed. I thought that you had gone to sleep, and I did not like to awaken you, fearing that you may be frightened.

The hadith ends with Muhammad, on Gabriel's order, instructing his wife to go to a graveyard, where he will join her later, and pray for the dead as penance for having spied on him.

He (Gabriel) said: Your Lord has commanded you to go to the inhabitants of Baqi (to those lying in the graves) and beg pardon for them.

I said: Messenger of Allah, how should I pray for them (How should I beg forgiveness for them)?

He said: Say, Peace be upon the inhabitants of this city (graveyard) from among the Believers and the Muslims, and may Allah have mercy on those who have gone ahead of us, and those who come later on, and we shall, God willing, join you.

Sahih Muslim 4.2127

This punching of Aisha was probably an isolated incident. Nonetheless, this did not stop her husband from encouraging others to physically admonish wives and daughters. In one hadith, God’s spokesman gave his silent approval—this is the same as if he had verbally given his blessing to an action taken in his presence—to striking a female asking for money.

Umar then came forward, and when he had asked and had been granted permission he found the Prophet sitting sad and silent with his wives around him. He told that he decided to say something which would make the Prophet laugh, so he said, "Messenger of God, I wish you had seen the daughter of Kharija when she asked me for extra money and I got up and slapped her on the neck."

God's messenger laughed and said, "They are around me as you see asking for extra money."

Abu Bakr then got up, went to A'isha and slapped her on the neck, and Umar did the same to Hafsa...

Sahih Muslim 9.3506

God, after all, did sanction a husband beating a spouse, even before the fact.

4:34 Men are in charge of women, because Allah has made some of them excel the others, and because they spend some of their wealth. Hence righteous women are obedient, guarding the unseen (their sex) which Allah has guarded. And those of them that you fear might rebel, admonish them and abandon them in their beds and beat them. Should they obey you, do not seek ways of harming them; for Allah is Sublime and Great.

It is Muhammad who made it impossible for Sharia courts to find a husband guilty of beating his wife unless he beats her about the face.

Narrated Umar ibn al-Khattab:

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife.

Abu Dawud 11.2142

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, "If somebody fights (or beats somebody) then he should avoid the face."

Bukhari 46.734

I would also not dismiss Muhammad’s disparaging remarks about a women’s mind, comparing them to farm animals that you slap to get their attention or to get them to behave, as not encouraging husbands to do the same to their wives.

Narrated abu Said al-Khudri:

The Prophet said, "Isn’t the witness of a woman equal half that of a man?"

The women said, "Yes."

He said: "This is because of the deficiency of the woman’s mind."

Bukhari 48.286

Narrated Aisha:

The things which annul the prayers were mentioned before me. They said, Prayer is annulled by a dog, a donkey and a woman (if they pass in front of the praying people).

I said, "You have made us (i.e. women) dogs.

Bukhari 9.490

Al-Aswad reported that A'isha said [to Muhammad]: "You have made us equal to the dogs and the asses whereas I lay on the bedstead and the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) came there and stood in the middle of the bedstead and said prayer."

Sahih Muslim 4.1039