Boreal
Remembering Uzza
If Islam Was Explained to Me in a Pub
Wife Management Difficulties Resolved
Bob:
[trying to change the subject] Was it after the battle of Uhud that
Allah said that women cover up just to be sure holy warriors did not get
distracted when they should be busy killing people?
Uzza: No. Many of Allah's revelations pertaining to how women and girls must dress and behave were received after Muhammad had accumulated perhaps a dozen wives and began experiencing wife management difficulties, especially with his teenaged acquisitions, for example Aisha.
Archie: The dream baby!
Uzza: The lovely Aisha wandered into the desert and got lost, only to be rescued by a young man who brought her back to Medina the next day. Needless to say, this started people talking. Talk, if the revelations pertaining to this incident are to be believed, that severely distressed Muhammad. So much so that Allah intervened, not only to vouch for Aisha’s faithfulness[161], but also to make sure that none of Muhammad's wives would ever put His favourite spokesperson in an embarrassing situation again. In a position where Muhammad would be the object of gossip, or “chatter” Allah calls it[162]. The revelation to which I think you are referring about staying home, concealing bosoms and private parts and not stamping your feet[163] is part of this package of revealed truths which were really meant to help Muhammad with his wife management problems.
Gerry: Then, what many Muslim women who don't abide by the Islamic dress code have said is true; it was meant for the Prophet's wives, not females in general.
Uzza: Before what Muhammad said and did became an example to emulate, undoubtedly. But remember, Muhammad was not the only one who enjoyed being surrounded by a bevy of wives, concubines and slave-girls. The solution to Muhammad's wife management problems, putting the fear of God into them[164], became a solution for every hoarder of females, and a cheap solution at that, getting the women to police themselves.
Gerry: When women say that the veil is another way for men to control them, they are correct. It has nothing to do with piety.
Uzza: I would not go that far. Allah's solution to Muhammad's wife management problem did what the Indians have not managed to do, and that is to protect women from being gang-raped by young men whose lust they have aroused and who see rape as the only way they will ever experience what it is like to be inside a woman.
Archie: Or a child.
Footnotes
[161] Narrated Aisha:
Whenever Allah's Apostle intended to go on a journey, he would draw lots amongst his wives and would take with him the one upon whom the lot fell. During a Ghazwa (military expedition) of his, he drew lots amongst us and the lot fell upon me, and I proceeded with him after Allah had decreed the use of the veil by women. I was carried in a Howdah (on the camel) and dismounted while still in it.
When Allah's Apostle was through with his Ghazwa and returned home, and we approached the city of Medina, Allah's Apostle ordered us to proceed at night.
When the order of setting off was given, I walked till I was past the army to answer the call of nature. After finishing I returned (to the camp) to depart (with the others) and suddenly realized that my necklace over my chest was missing. So, I returned to look for it and was delayed because of that.
The people who used to carry me on the camel, came to my Howdah and put it on the back of the camel, thinking that I was in it, as, at that time, women were light in weight, and thin and lean, and did not use to eat much. So, those people did not feel the difference in the heaviness of the Howdah while lifting it, and they put it over the camel. At that time I was a young lady.
They set the camel moving and proceeded on. I found my necklace after the army had gone, and came to their camp to find nobody. So, I went to the place where I used to stay, thinking that they would discover my absence and come back in my search. While in that state, I felt sleepy and slept.
Safwan bin Mu'attal As-Sulami Adh-Dhakwani was behind the army and reached my abode in the morning. When he saw a sleeping person, he came to me, and he used to see me before veiling. So, I got up when I heard him saying, "Inna lil-lah-wa inn a ilaihi rajiun (We are for Allah, and we will return to Him)."
He made his camel kneel down. He got down from his camel, and put his leg on the front legs of the camel and then I rode and sat over it.
Safwan set out walking, leading the camel by the rope till we reached the army who had halted to take rest at midday. Then whoever was meant for destruction, fell into destruction, (some people accused me falsely) and the leader of the false accusers was 'Abdullah bin Ubai bin Salul.
After that we returned to Medina, and I became ill for one month while the people were spreading the forged statements of the false accusers. I was feeling during my ailment as if I were not receiving the usual kindness from the Prophet which I used to receive from him when I got sick. But he would come, greet and say, 'How is that (girl)?'
I did not know anything of what was going on till I recovered from my ailment and went out with Um Mistah to the Manasi where we used to answer the call of nature, and we used not to go to answer the call of nature except from night to night and that was before we had lavatories near to our houses. And this habit of ours was similar to the habit of the old 'Arabs in the open country (or away from houses).
So. I and Um Mistah bint Ruhm went out walking. Um Mistah stumbled because of her long dress and on that she said, 'Let Mistah (cousin of Abu Bakr) be ruined.' I said, 'You are saying a bad word. Why are you abusing a man who took part in (the battle of) Badr?'
She said, 'O Hanata (you there) didn't you hear what they said?' Then she told me the rumors of the false accusers.
My sickness was aggravated, and when I returned home, Allah's Apostle came to me, and after greeting he said, 'How is that (girl)?' I requested him to allow me to go to my parents. I wanted then to be sure of the news through them.
Allah's Apostle allowed me, and I went to my parents and asked my mother, 'What are the people talking about?' She said, 'O my daughter! Don't worry much about this matter. By Allah, never is there a charming woman loved by her husband who has other wives, but the women would forge false news about her.'
I said, 'Glorified be Allah! Are the people really taking of this matter?' That night I kept on weeping and could not sleep till morning.
In the morning Allah's Apostle called Ali bin Abu Talib and Usama bin Zaid when he saw the Divine Inspiration delayed, to consult them about divorcing his wife (i.e. 'Aisha). Usama bin Zaid said what he knew of the good reputation of his wives and added, 'O Allah's Apostle! Keep your wife, for, by Allah, we know nothing about her but good.'
'Ali bin Abu Talib said, 'O Allah's Apostle! Allah has no imposed restrictions on you, and there are many women other than she, yet you may ask the woman-servant who will tell you the truth.'
On that Allah's Apostle called Buraira and said, 'O Burair. Did you ever see anything which roused your suspicions about her?'
Buraira said, 'No, by Allah Who has sent you with the Truth, I have never seen in her anything faulty except that she is a girl of immature age, who sometimes sleeps and leaves the dough for the goats to eat.'
On that day Allah's Apostle ascended the pulpit and requested that somebody support him in punishing 'Abdullah bin Ubai bin Salul. Allah's Apostle said, 'Who will support me to punish that person ('Abdullah bin Ubai bin Salul) who has hurt me by slandering the reputation of my family? By Allah, I know nothing about my family but good, and they have accused a person about whom I know nothing except good, and he never entered my house except in my company.'
Sad bin Mu'adh got up and said, 'O Allah's Apostle! by Allah, I will relieve you from him. If that man is from the tribe of the Aus, then we will chop his head off, and if he is from our brothers, the Khazraj, then order us, and we will fulfill your order.'
On that Sad bin 'Ubada, the chief of the Khazraj and before this incident, he had been a pious man, got up, motivated by his zeal for his tribe and said, 'By Allah, you have told a lie; you cannot kill him, and you will never be able to kill him.'
On that Usaid bin Al-Hadir got up and said (to Sad bin 'Ubada), 'By Allah! you are a liar. By Allah, we will kill him; and you are a hypocrite, defending the hypocrites.'
On this the two tribes of Aus and Khazraj got excited and were about to fight each other, while Allah's Apostle was standing on the pulpit. He got down and quietened them till they became silent and he kept quiet.
On that day I kept on weeping so much so that neither did my tears stop, nor could I sleep. In the morning my parents were with me and I had wept for two nights and a day, till I thought my liver would burst from weeping.
While they were sitting with me and I was weeping, an Ansari woman asked my permission to enter, and I allowed her to come in. She sat down and started weeping with me. While we were in this state, Allah's Apostle came and sat down and he had never sat with me since the day they forged the accusation.
No revelation regarding my case came to him for a month. He recited Tashah-hud (i.e. None has the right to be worshipped but Allah and Muhammad is His Apostle) and then said, 'O 'Aisha! I have been informed such-and-such about you; if you are innocent, then Allah will soon reveal your innocence, and if you have committed a sin, then repent to Allah and ask Him to forgive you, for when a person confesses his sin and asks Allah for forgiveness, Allah accepts his repentance.'
When Allah's Apostle finished his speech my tears ceased completely and there remained not even a single drop of it.
I requested my father to reply to Allah's Apostle on my behalf. My father said, ‘By Allah, I do not know what to say to Allah's Apostle.'
I said to my mother, 'Talk to Allah's Apostle on my behalf.' She said, 'By Allah, I do not know what to say to Allah's Apostle.'
I was a young girl and did not have much knowledge of the Quran. I said. 'I know, by Allah, that you have listened to what people are saying and that has been planted in your minds and you have taken it as a truth. Now, if I told you that I am innocent and Allah knows that I am innocent, you would not believe me and if I confessed to you falsely that I am guilty, and Allah knows that I am innocent you would believe me. By Allah, I don't compare my situation with you except to the situation of Joseph's father (i.e. Jacob) who said, 'So (for me) patience is most fitting against that which you assert and it is Allah (Alone) whose help can be sought.' Then I turned to the other side of my bed hoping that Allah would prove my innocence.
By Allah I never thought that Allah would reveal Divine Inspiration in my case, as I considered myself too inferior to be talked of in the Holy Qur'an. I had hoped that Allah's Apostle might have a dream in which Allah would prove my innocence.
By Allah, Allah's Apostle had not got up and nobody had left the house before the Divine Inspiration came to Allah's Apostle. So, there overtook him the same state which used to overtake him, (when he used to have, on being inspired divinely). He was sweating so much so that the drops of the sweat were dropping like pearls though it was a (cold) wintry day.
When that state of Allah's Apostle was over, he was smiling and the first word he said, 'Aisha! Thank Allah, for Allah has declared your innocence.'
My mother told me to go to Allah's Apostle.
I replied, 'By Allah I will not go to him and will not thank but Allah.' So Allah revealed: "Verily! They who spread the slander are a gang among you . . ." (24:11)
When Allah gave the declaration of my Innocence, Abu Bakr, who used to provide for Mistah bin Uthatha for he was his relative, said, 'By Allah, I will never provide Mistah with anything because of what he said about Aisha.' But Allah later revealed: "And let not those who are good and wealthy among you swear not to help their kinsmen, those in need and those who left their homes in Allah's Cause. Let them forgive and overlook. Do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? Verily! Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful." (24:22)
After that Abu Bakr said, 'Yes! By Allah! I like that Allah should forgive me,' and resumed helping Mistah whom he used to help before.
Allah's Apostle also asked Zainab bint Jahsh (another wife of the Prophet) about me saying, 'What do you know and what did you see?'
She replied, 'O Allah's Apostle! I refrain to claim hearing or seeing what I have not heard or seen. By Allah, I know nothing except goodness about Aisha.'
Aisha further added "Zainab was competing with me (in her beauty and the Prophet's love), yet Allah protected her (from being malicious), for she had piety."
Bukhari 48.829
24:10 And, but for Allah’s Bounty towards you and His Mercy and that Allah is a remitter of sins and is All-Wise;
24:11 Those who spread the slander (against Aisha, wife of the Prophet, according to the commentators) are a band of you. Do not reckon it an evil for you; rather it is a good thing for you. Everyone of them will be credited with the sin he has earned, and he who bore the brunt of it shall have a terrible punishment.
24:12 Would that the believers, men and women, when you heard it (the slander), had though well of themselves saying: “This is manifest slander!”
24:13 And would that they had brought forth four witnesses [to vouch for it]! But since they did not bring any witnesses, those are, in Allah’s sight, the real liars.
24:14 And but for Allah’s Bounty to you and His Mercy, in this world and the next, you would have been visited, due to your chatter, by a terrible punishment.
24:31 And tell believing women to cast down their eyes and guard their private parts and not show their finery, except for the outward part of it. And let them drape their bosoms with their veils and not show their finery, except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, the sons of their husbands, their brothers, the sons of their brothers, the sons of their sisters, their women, their maid-servants, the men-followers who have no sexual desires, or infants who have no knowledge of women’s sexual parts yet. Let them, also, not stamp their feet, so that what they have concealed of their finery might be known. Repent to Allah, all of you, O believers, that perchance you may prosper.
Allah, in His Koran, has quite a few instructions which appear to be for His spokesperson’s wives only. In a book for the ages this seems out of place.
Muhammad’s wives are, of course, in a class by themselves. As befitting their exalted status, if they make a fool of Allah’s spokesperson they will suffer double the punishment of an ordinary wife, revelation 33:30, and He will see to it personally.
33:28 O Prophet, say to your wives: “If you desire the present life and its finery, so come along that I might provide for you and set you free kindly.
33:29 “But if you desire Allah, His Messenger and the life to come, surely Allah has prepared for the beneficent among you a great wage.”
33:30 O wives of the Prophet, whomever of you commits a flagrant foul act, her punishment will be doubled; and that for Allah is an easy matter.
If the fear of double the punishment for putting His spokesperson in an embarrassing situation is not enough, Allah is not beneath offering a little monetary incentive.
33:31 Whoever of you obeys Allah and His Messenger and does the righteous deed, We shall pay her wage twice over, and we have prepared for her a generous provision.
Being the wife of Muhammad may not have been all that fulfilling for some of the women and girls confined to his household for Allah to admonish them to “not be abject in speech,” e.g., expressing hopelessness when talking about their lives with the greatest of them all.
They may have even expressed a wish that their husband might give them their freedom, which would explain why Allah revealed that “he in whose heart is a sickness may covet you.”
Hope springs eternal. The “sickness” alluded to by Allah may simply have been young men expressing the desire that, because a wife of Muhammad may have secretly wished to be free of her husband, they might one day get a share of his bounty of beautiful women and girls.
33:32 O wives of the Prophet, you are not like any other women. If you are God-fearing, do not be abject in speech, so that he in whose heart is a sickness may covet you, but speak in an honourable way.
Some may, as girls and young women are wont to do, look for validation of their attractiveness in a young man’s eyes. This would explain Allah’s demand that they stay inside and out of sight so as not to expose their "finery” and keep busy with prayers and giving "the alms." As to how they could give "the alms" if they were not allowed to leave the house is problematic.
Allah justified the extreme restrictions He imposed on His spokesperson’s females, effectively making them invisible to the outside world, so as to turn away abomination − young men of their generation is assumed − and to purify them “fully,” whatever that means.
33:33 Stay in your homes and do not display your finery as the pagans of old did; perform the prayer, give the alms and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah only wishes to turn away abomination from you and purify you fully, O People of the House.
33:34 And remember what is recited in your homes of Allah’s Signs and of wisdom. Indeed, Allah is Subtle, Well-Informed.
33:35 Men and women who have submitted, believed, obeyed, are truthful, steadfast, reverend, giving in charity, fasting, guarding their private parts and remembering Allah often, Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a great reward.
Because of the beautiful, young Aisha’s alleged sexual indiscretion and Allah’s concern about His favourite spokesperson being ridiculed for not being able to control his young brood, women everywhere in the conservative Muslim world are forced into seclusion to this day. Allah admonished His Messenger’s wives to stay at home, and conservative Muslim men have been enjoining their wives and daughters to do the same ever since.