Boreal

Love, Sex and Islam

Sex in the Here-And-Now

Cancer Girl

I did not know it then, but after almost five years, my time in Montréal was almost up when I met a young woman to whom I will refer as cancer girl. Just like Norm from Cheers, I had my favourite seat at the bar. When I made it to Thursdays after work that day, the stool next to me was occupied by a young woman who didn’t seem interested in talking to anyone.

She may have been there most of the afternoon, judging from the way she was slumped over her drink. She wasn’t drunk, though; just despondent. That morning, she had received confirmation that she had cancer, one of those below-the-belt types. Her prognosis, she was told, was good but there were no guarantees. She might need to wear a wig at some point during her treatment. If that was all, she was fortunate. Muslim women may not, under any circumstances, add to their God-given hair, even if God decides to take most of it back.

Muhammad’s decision to ban wigs and hair extensions for women had again to do with his falling out with the Jews of Medina after they refused to accept him as a legitimate spokesman for the Almighty, that honour being reserved for the Chosen People. This break was formerly recognized by Allah in a series of revelations where He goes to great lengths to explain His decision to have Muslims prostrate themselves in the direction of Mecca instead of Jerusalem.

2:142 The ignorant among the people (among the Jews and polytheist Arabs) will say: “What caused them (the Prophet Muhammad and the believers) to turn away from the former Qibla towards which they used to turn (Jerusalem)?” Say: “To Allah belongs the East and the West. He guides whom He wills towards the Right Path.”

2:143 And thus We have made you (the Muslim nation) a just nation, so that you may bear witness unto the rest of mankind, and that the Messenger may bear witness unto you. We did not ordain your former Qibla except that We may distinguish those who follow the Messenger from those who turn on their heels (return to disbelief). It was indeed a hard test except for those whom Allah guided. Allah would not allow your faith to be in vain. He is Clement and Merciful to mankind.

2:144 Surely, We see your face turned towards heaven (yearning for guidance through revelation). We shall turn you towards a Qibla that will please you. Turn your face then towards the Sacred Mosque (the Sacred Mosque of Mecca, the Ka’ba); and wherever you are turn your faces towards it. Those who were given the Book (the Jews and Christians) certainly know this to be the Truth from their Lord. Allah is not unaware of what they do.

Muhammad considered the Jews’ use of wigs and hair extensions cheating.

Narrated Sa'id bin Al-Musaiyab:

Mu'awiya came to Medina for the last time and delivered a sermon. He took out a tuft of hair and said, "I thought that none used to do this (i.e. use false hair) except Jews.

The Prophet labelled such practice, (i.e. the use of false hair), as cheating."

Bukhari 72.821

God’s spokesperson cursed an unfortunate woman who only wanted to improve her appearance after a sickness caused her hair to fall out.

Narrated Asma (the daughter of Abu' Bakr):

A woman came to Allah's Apostle and said, "I married my daughter to someone, but she became sick and all her hair fell out, and (because of that) her husband does not like her. May I let her use false hair?"

On that the Prophet cursed such a lady as artificially lengthening (her or someone else's) hair or got her hair lengthened artificially.

Bukhari 72.818

In another account of the poor woman’s plea to allow her daughter to wear a wig to save her marriage, it is an equally insensitive God who will curse her if she does.

Narrated Aisha:

An Ansari woman gave her daughter in marriage and the hair of the latter started falling out. The Ansari women came to the Prophet and mentioned that to him and said, "Her (my daughter's) husband suggested that I should let her wear false hair."

The Prophet said, "No, (don't do that) for Allah sends His curses upon such ladies who lengthen their hair artificially."

Bukhari 62.133

Allah will also curse the one who assists in lengthening the hair of another. Don’t do it; it’s not worth it!

Narrated Aisha:

An Ansari girl was married and she became sick and all her hair fell out intending to provide her with false hair. They asked the Prophet who said, "Allah has cursed the lady who artificially lengthens (her or someone else's) hair and also the one who gets her hair lengthened."

Bukhari 72.817

Muhammad, on more than one occasion, banned both wigs and tattoos in the same breath.

Narrated Ibn Umar:

Allah's Apostle said, "Allah has cursed such a lady as lengthens (her or someone else's) hair artificially or gets it lengthened, and also a lady who tattoos (herself or someone else) or gets herself tattooed."

Bukhari 72.820

Just like with my nurse, I ended up at my apartment with my cancer girl but on the couch, me on my back and her on top, both fully dressed and talking late into the evening. I had to work the next morning, so at some point I had to get to bed. She said she would rather sleep on the couch if that was okay. Getting a pillow and a blanket, I made her as comfortable as I could. She kept her clothes on, if only temporarily.

I don’t know how long I had been asleep when I was awakened by the light from the bathroom. She was standing in my doorway naked, the light from the bathroom behind her silhouetting her pleasantly curvy figure. She turned around to switch off the light and crawled into bed with me.

I don’t usually sleep on my back but that is how I greeted her. She stretched out next to me and put her head on my chest. I know women don’t usually join you in bed with nothing on because they just want to cuddle, but sex was not where my mind was at, and I was dead tired. I fell back asleep almost immediately, only to be awakened with her on top, riding me as if her life depended on it.

There was no mistaking the urgency, but I didn’t let her finish. Maybe I was dreaming of my Lucette making love to me, which my cancer girl took advantage of. That would explain my reaction when I was woken up by her frenzied lovemaking and didn’t see the woman I expected. I literally picked her up and pushed her aside. I am sorry for that. I should have let her finish and then taken her in my arms and told her everything was going to be alright.

When my Lucette was mistakenly diagnosed with an aggressive cancer in both lungs and given four to six months to live, then too, making love took on a renewed urgency while she awaited the result of a second biopsy that would reveal that she only had cancer in one lung and an infection in the other. When her father died, through tears, she had also asked me to make love to her; the same happened when her mother died.

What my cancer girl and my Lucette wanted to do at a time when death was in the air was celebrate life. A man from the Dark Ages and the god for whom he claimed to speak perverted the celebration of life that is consensual sex, transforming it into sex that will be there for the taking in Paradise as an incentive to kill and be killed on behalf of a pitiless, thin-skinned deity who can’t be bothered to do his own dirty work.

3:140 If you have been afflicted by a wound, a similar wound has afflicted the others (the unbelievers). Such are the times; We alternate them among the people, so that Allah may know who are the believers and choose martyrs from among you. Allah does not like the evildoers!

3:141 And that Allah might purify the believers and annihilate the unbelievers.

3:142 Or did you suppose that you will enter Paradise, before Allah has known who were those of you who have struggled, and those who are steadfast.

3:143 You were yearning for death before you actually met it. Now you have seen it and you are beholding it.

Kill and die on behalf of Allah, and you will be beholden to death for the promised reward of female facsimiles that will provide you with assembly-line sex for an eternity.

56:22 And wide-eyed houris,

56:23 Like hidden pearls;

56:24 As a reward for what they used to do.

Muhammad’s praise of houris was unrestrained and, like the god he spoke for, shameless in using their appeal to get gullible young men to kill and be killed on their behalf.

Narrated Anas:

The Prophet said, "A single endeavor (of fighting) in Allah's Cause in the afternoon or in the forenoon is better than all the world and whatever is in it. A place in Paradise as small as the bow or lash of one of you is better than all the world and whatever is in it. And if a houri from Paradise appeared to the people of the earth, she would fill the space between Heaven and the Earth with light and pleasant scent and her head cover is better than the world and whatever is in it."

Bukhari 52.53

For the cold-blooded killers in Allah’s Cause, the so-called holy warriors, it’s a win-win situation whether they live or die.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "The example of a Mujahid (Muslim fighter) in Allah's Cause—and Allah knows better who really strives in His Cause—is like a person who fasts and prays continuously. Allah guarantees that He will admit the Mujahid in His Cause into Paradise if he is killed, otherwise He will return him to his home safely with rewards and war booty."

Bukhari 52.46

Islam is the only mainstream religion that promises limitless fornication opportunities in exchange for the murder of its detractors. The immorality of killing those who refuse to accept your god as their own and being rewarded for it plumbed new depths of depravity. Claiming that it brings dignity from on High only makes the incitement to murder more disgusting, if that is even possible.

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

The Prophet said, "Nobody who enters Paradise likes to go back to the world even if he got everything on the earth, except a Mujahid who wishes to return to the world so that he may be martyred ten times because of the dignity he receives (from Allah)."

Bukhari 52.72