Ali Sina: Women in Islam; Was Muhammad a Misogynist?

The pre-eminent thinker and former Muslim, Ali Sina, had a discussion with Atiyah Khan, a Pakistani television producer on Twittter. She thinks she has refuted his claims regarding Muhammad. He responds to her in the following article.

Women in Islam;

Was Muhammad a Misogynist?

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By Ali Sina

Ms. Atiya Khan is a Pakistani television personality who after 9/11, instead of wondering what derives her co-religionist to commit such crimes against other humans and deepen her knowledge, which would have likely led her to leave Islam she decided to deepen her faith instead.  When good people learn the truth about Islam they can no longer believe in it. Islam attracts people inclined towards violence.  From the biographies of Muhammad we learn that most early Muslims were thugs and criminals prior to their conversion. They did not reform, they used their traits to raid, rape and promote Islam. They found in Islam justification for their actions. 

The fact that Muslims’ faith is strengthened after some of them commit an act of terror is strange, but it goes back to the time of Muhammad.  Ibn Ishaq writes that the Quraish ignored Muhammad until he began insulting their and telling them that their forefathers are in hell. ^[[1]] As the result, tension in Mecca was high and hostility was ready to erupt into violence.

One day, a group of youths from Mecca found a few Muslims of their age praying in a glen outside the town. They mocked them and Muslims jumped at them and Sa’d ibn Abu Waqas smote and wounded one of the Meccans with a camel jawbone. It’s well known that Muslim feel free to ridicule and malign all other faiths but have zero tolerance if their religion is slighted. Ibn Ishaq says, “This was the first blood to be shed in Islam.” ^[[2]] He also claims that as the result of this aggression, Muslims became stronger.

Another story is when Hamza, the rugged uncle of Muhammad, went to the mosque in Mecca, took Abul Hakam who was sitting with a few other men off guard, and smote his head with his bow, which made his head to bleed and again Ibn Ishaq gloats that as the result everyone feared Muslims and the believers’ faith increased.

Other cases are the assassinations of Ka’b ibn Ashraf, the centenarian Abu Afak, and Asma bint Marwan, a mother of five children in Medina. After Asma was brutally murdered at night, Muhammad wanted to show off his power. He ordered her assassin, Salim ibn Umayr, to go back and taunt her small children for everyone to see the strength of Islam.  Ibn Ishaq says, “Now there was a great commotion among Bani Khatma that day about the affair of Bint Marwan. She had five children, and when Umayr went to them from the apostle he said, ‘I have killed Bint Marwan, That was the first day that Islam became powerful among Bani Khatma; before that those who were Muslims concealed the fact… The day after Bint Marwan was killed the men of Bani Khatma became Muslims because they saw the power of Islam.”^[[3]]

The above stories, not only shows how Islam expanded — through fear and threat of violence — it also tells us about the society in which it had emerged. Although cultures are different, human nature is the same everywhere. Those of us who live in free societies find it incomprehensible to submit to a religion or any ideology by force. That is only a delusion. Under duress and threat of death, almost anyone will eventually surrender and submit to force.

The fact that Muslims’ faith increase as Islamic terrorism grows is a psychological phenomenon. In my Book Understanding Muhammad and Muslims I demonstrated that Muhammad was a psychopath narcissist and his followers, to the extent that they believe in him and try to emulate him, evince his psychopathology.  The psychopath becomes bolder with every victory and will increase his violence. On the other hand defeat makes him recoil. The psychopath is a bully when strong but a coward in heart. 

The reason for the rise of Islamic zealotry today is the victory of Islam in many fronts, starting with the 1979 revolution in Iran, the defeat of the Russians in Afghanistan and the massacre of 3000 innocent people in 9/11. All these victories make Muslims more resolute and as the result more terror and violence ensue.  The reverse is also true. Nothing dampens the bully’s zealotry more than defeat. The response to a bully who slaps you is not turning the other cheek nor to slap him back, but to cut off his hand so can slap you no more.  The bully cannot help it. If he is not under your boot he will be at your throat.  He speaks and understands only the language of violence. To stop, he must be utterly crushed.

Back to Ms. Khan!  After watching the savagery of her co-religionists, this modern Canadian raised lady became so enthusiastic about Islam that donned the veil and became its ardent promoter.  In an interview she disclosed that the reason she decided to cover her hair is because by looking at women’s hair non-maharam men will rob her energy.  I am sure an Islamic university must have scientifically proven this phenomenon.

Ms. Khan is not an exception. Thousands of young Muslim women have in recent years joined the jihad to provide sexual service for Muslim fighters.  Fortunately Ms. Khan was already married and with children when she became a fundamentalist Muslim and therefore sex jihad was not an option for her. 

To a rational person, this is not comprehensible, but Islam is not a faith based on reason. It is based on bravado and vain glory.  All it takes for a moderate Muslim to become radicalized is the news that Islam is winning, for them to jump on the bandwagon of jihad. 

This is happening again, as the terrorist of ISIS, have taken a part of Iraq butchering innocent people, many Muslim youths from all over the world have gained a new zeal to join them. The parents of these youths are shocked to learn that their kids have become terrorists, but they should not be.  Moderate Islam is a breeding ground for terrorism. All the terrorists were once moderate.   Even those who are Muslim by name alone and nothing else are in danger.  Ms. Khan is a good example. She was not a practicing Muslim, until 9/11. Today she runs a television show dedicated to promote Islam.

I have repeatedly stated that moderate Islam is the cradle of radical Islam. Islam is radical and once the seed of this faith is sown, it will eventually grow into terrorism. Anyone who believes Muhammad was a prophet of God can become radicalized and even a terrorist.  Give me a young impressionable secular Muslim and I will transform him into a terrorist in one day. All I will do is to show him the teachings of Muhammad in the Quran and hadith and show him if he wants to be a true Muslim he has to kill the non-Muslims. Of course there is no guarantee, because humans are free to choose good or evil.  After seeing the truth about Muhammad, he may decide to leave Islam. That was what I did and millions of others have done. 

Meanwhile she is sowing the seed of terrorism in her kids.  Her children are still young. When they grow up, it will take no effort for someone to show them that a true Muslim is one who fights for Allah and Ms. Khan may join the list of countless other distraught parents whose children become suicide bombers and terrorists. If that happens, and why it shouldn’t, she will have no one to blame but herself.  It was she who misled her children into accepting Muhammad as a prophet of God and groomed them to be scooped by the terrorists who can easily show them the real Islam is in fighting and killing non-Muslims and make Islam dominant.

As far as I can see Ms. Khan is not a scholar of Islam.  Like most Muslims however, she believes her conviction and zealotry make scholarship redundant. It doesn’t. 

I generally don’t debate enthusiastic Muslims who have not read my book nor have any knowledge of their religion.  I make an exception this time since Ms. Khan is public figure in Pakistan. She seems to have been in search of meaning and spirituality, but unfortunately in wrong places.  My duty ends by showing her the truth. The rest is up to her.

Ms. Khan replied to several of my charges.  Here I am going to her rebuttal of the charge of misogyny that I laid on Muhammad. She wrote,

“(Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Misogyny can be manifested in numerous ways, including sexual discrimination, denigration of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification of women.” (From Wikipedia)

He [Muhammad] gave women the right to inherit property, right to divorce, right to choose a partner, right to work,  right to public life, [and] he was loved by his wives and children, he gave [to] what woman said great importance and respect, [and] he was kind and playful with them.

He called his daughter Umma Abiha meaning mother of her father. He got up every time she entered the room gave her his seat and asked her to finish his sermons. He said that Fatima is of me and I am of Fatima. Whoever hurts her hurts me and whoever hurts me hurts God. This does not sound like a misogynist to me.”

Ms. Khan’s rebuttals are all short and shallow like the above.  You can read them in here:

https://www.facebook.com/atiya.khan.524596/posts/10151974301671637

She says Muhammad gave women the right to inherit property.  Didn’t women in Arabia, have that right before? Khadijah inherited the wealth of her two deceased husbands and continued their business hiring men to work for her. Muhammad reduced that inheritance and the power of women. Contrary to what Muslims claim, Islam did not improve the status of women in Arabia. It actually took everything they had and denigrated them to such an extent that some year after his death Aisha complained, “Do you make us (women) equal to dogs and donkeys?” ^[[4]]

The following story, narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas reveals how Arab women lost their freedom thanks to Islam.

 “I asked Umar, “O Chief of the believers! Who were the two ladies from among the wives of the Prophet to whom Allah said: ‘If you two return in repentance (66.4)? He said, “I am astonished at your question, O Ibn ‘Abbas. They were Aisha and Hafsa. Then ‘Umar explained, “We, the people of Quraish, used to have authority over women, but when we came to live with the Ansar, we noticed that the Ansari women had the upper hand over their men, so our women started acquiring the habits of the Ansari women. Once I shouted at my wife and she paid me back in my coin and I disliked that she should answer me back. She said, ‘Why do you take it ill that I retort upon you? By Allah, the wives of the Prophet retort upon him, and some of them may not speak with him for the whole day till night.’ What she said scared me and I said to her, ‘Whoever amongst them does so, will be a great loser.’” ^[[5]]

This is a long Hadith. Umar expressed his concern that the women of Medina were influencing the women of Quraish and teaching them to be more independent. 

Mecca was a religious hub. In religious centers, people are often more fanatic and in patriarchal religion, women are discriminated. Mecca was no exception. It was natural that women in Mecca had a lower status than other Arab women. When these women migrated to Medina and saw the freedom that women enjoyed there, they wanted it too. This did not sit well with Umar and Muhammad, the two misogynist men of Mecca. The above conversation between these two central figures of Islam shows that they were not pleased to see their wives enjoying the taste of freedom.

Arabs were not used to write their history. Very little is left of their pre Islamic culture and way of life. Whatever was written, Muslims destroyed.  What Muslim historian wrote of that time is all derogatory. Muhammad called anything pre Islamic “jahiliya” (days of ignorance) and claimed that until he started his religion all Arabs (in fact all mankind) were barbarians. Muslims think Arabs buried their daughters alive and were constantly in war. They say that women prior to Islam were worth less than camel and it was the Prophet who gave them the status of human being. The above hadith depicts a different story. We can see that Arab women had more rights prior to Islam. 

Muhammad was old and impotent and as a paranoid that he was, he was strict with his wives, fearing the rivalry of a young virile man.  The verses that he revealed to frighten his wives lest they go astray became norm for all the women.  Islam is a misogynistic religion because Muhammad was a misogynist.

Anytime that the Prophet needed to say the ultimate word and make others shut up, he would make his Allah reveal a verse. He was an old man, having a harem of a score of wives and concubines. His wives were young and beautiful. In his old age he became the chieftain and very powerful. So he could afford to marry anyone and some even came and offered themselves to him. He would choose only the young and the pretty. But political power is not a substitute to physical stamina. The Prophet was fully aware of the age gap between his young wives and himself. He was jealous and would warn his wives to not betray him.

30 “O Consorts of the Prophet! If any of you were guilty of evident unseemly conduct, the Punishment would be doubled to her, and that is easy for Allah. 31.  But any of you that is devout in the service of Allah and His Messenger, and works righteousness,- to her shall We grant her reward twice: and We have prepared for her a generous Sustenance. ^[[6]]

He would often remind his wives to behave in a way as not to attract the attention of other men and cover themselves so they don’t become desired by strangers.

32.  O Consorts of the Prophet! Ye are not like any of the (other) women: if ye do fear (Allah), be not too complacent of speech, lest one in whose heart is a disease should be moved with desire: but speak ye a speech (that is) just. 33.  And stay quietly in your houses, and make not a dazzling display, like that of the former Times of Ignorance; and establish regular Prayer, and give regular Charity; and obey Allah and His Messenger. And Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, ye members of the Family, and to make you pure and spotless.^[[7]]

Are these verses from God or the concerns of an impotent aging man with a bevy of young and attractive wives? Muhammad needed to control his wives and that is the reason behind the Islamic veil.  What was originally meant for his wives became part of the Sharia and is imposed in all Islamic countries on all Muslim women.

Muhammad repeatedly emphasized the importance that of women obeying their husbands. Did this have something to do with the fact that most of his wives were teenagers that he needed to control?  His wives were uppity, as all teenagers are.  To frighten them into submission he made his own wishes expressed by his imaginary friend in the heavens.  Any time he had some domestic problems his Allah would rush to his rescue and reveal a verse or two to help him out. The following is to put his wives in their places.

“It may be if he divorced you (all) that his Lord will give him instead of you, wives better than you, Muslims (who submit to Allâh), believers, obedient to Allah, turning to Allâh in repentance, worshipping Allah sincerely, fasting or emigrants (for Allah’s sake), previously married and virgins.” ^[[8]]

Is really the maker of the universe so petty to be concerned about the domestic affairs of Muhammad and his wives?

The truth that women in Arabia had more liberty and authority before Islam than after it can also be evinced from the fact that Khadijah, Muhammad’s first wife, had a business of her own and had men at her service. Muhammad, was but one of her employees. Do we have any tale of women after Islam, running their own business and hiring men to work for them?

For Muhammad women were nothing more than sex objects. It is reported that he refused to shake hands with them. To get their allegiance he plunged his hand in a bowl of water and then asked the women to do the same.  What is so sexual about a simple handshake? Was he torn between his sexual impulses and his religious ideals? Something must have happened in his mind that made him feel guilty when he touched women.

Women are Deficient in Intelligence

He said women are deficient in intelligence and the majority of them will go to hell because they are ungrateful to their husbands.

Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri, “On ‘Id ul Fitr or ‘Id ul Adha Allah’s Apostle went out to the Musalla. After finishing the prayer, he delivered the sermon and ordered the people to give alms. He said, “O people! Give alms.” Then he went towards the women and said. “O women! Give alms, for I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-Fire were you (women).” The women asked, “O Allah’s Apostle! What is the reason for it?” He replied, “O women! You curse frequently, and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you. O women, some of you can lead a cautious wise man astray.” ^[[9]]

Does a man who thinks women are responsible for leading men astray, that the majority of them go to hell because they are ungrateful to their husbands and that they are deficient in intelligence, respect women? Various versions of this Hadith are repeated in several places. In another hadith he explained the reason for which he believed women are deficient in intelligence. When women asked, “O Allah’s Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?” He said, “Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?” They replied in the affirmative. He said, “This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn’t it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?” The women replied in the affirmative. He said, “This is the deficiency in her religion.” ^[[10]]

So according to Muhammad, women are deficient in intelligence because the witness of two of them is equal to the witness of one man. And they are deficient in religion because during their menses they cannot pray or fast. What did he mean by “deficient in religion?” Perhaps he meant that women are spiritually less evolved than men.

The question is that who made these laws?  Wasn’t he the one who said that women cannot pray during their menses and that their testimony is worthless? With this in mind his reasoning can be summarized as women are deficient in intelligence and religion because I say so. His logical fallacy consists in trying to prove one absurdity by the authority of another.

Hell is filled with women

Muhammad used fear as a mean to drive home his point. His Allah would send women to hell for the most trivial things like displeasing their husbands.

He said, “I also saw the Hell-fire and I had never seen such a horrible sight. I saw that most of the inhabitants were women.” The people asked, “O Allah’s Apostle! Why is it so?” The Prophet replied, “Because of their ungratefulness.” It was asked whether they are ungrateful to Allah. The Prophet said, “They are ungrateful to their husbands and ungrateful to good deeds. If you are benevolent to one of them throughout the life and if she sees anything (undesirable) in you, she will say, ‘I have never had any good from you.’ “^[[11]]

He must have said this to intimidate his own wives who most likely were reluctant to have sex with an old infirm man, who sweated and smelled foul, as I have shown in my book Understanding Muhammad. There is no mention of men going to suffer any consequence for mistreating their wives.

Jabir ibn Abdullah narrated when Muhammad told women that the majority of the inhabitants of hell were women and they asked why:  “Messenger of Allah said: For you grumble often and show ingratitude to your spouse. And then they began to give alms out of their ornaments such as their earrings and rings which they threw on to the cloth of Bilal. ^[[12]]

 

Beating Women

Men are allowed to abuse their wives verbally, emotionally and physically. The Quran says:

“Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High.” ^[[13]]

This verse established the position of women in Islam. It denies their independence, makes them subservient to men, states that men are masters and owners because they are the breadwinners.  It implies that women are incapable of and should not be allowed to work and become providers. It assumes women’s work at home and taking care of children and house is worth nothing and she must be grateful for the food that her husband gives her.

Note that a woman does not have to disobey her husband to be beaten.  She may not have to even think of it. The mere fact that he fears that she is thinking of disobeying him licenses him to beat the hell out of her.  Will he be answered for beating her? No!  Umar narrated, “The Prophet said, ‘A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife.’” ^[[14]]

Several hadiths report that Muhammad and his close companions beat their wives. 

Aisha narrated, “He (Muhammad) struck me on the chest which caused me pain”^[[15]].

Umar found the Prophet sitting sad and silent with his wives around him. … (He) decided to say something which would make the Prophet laugh, so he said, “Messenger of God, I wish you had seen (the treatment I meted out to) 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 Aisha and slapped her on the neck, and Umar did the same to Hafsa. ^[[16]]

Narrated Aisha: A necklace of mine was lost at Al-Baida’ and we were on our way to Medina. Abu Bakr came to me and hit me violently on the chest and said, “You have detained the people because of a necklace.” ^[[17]]

Iyas ibn Abdullah reported God’s messenger as saying, “Do not beat God’s handmaidens;” but when `Umar came to God’s messenger and said, “The women have become emboldened towards their husbands,” he gave license to beat them. Then many women went round God’s messenger’s family complaining of their husbands, and he said, “Many women have gone around complaining of their husbands. Those are not the best among you.” ^[[18]]

When a woman who was beaten severely by her husband went to Muhammad to complain he reproached her and ignored her request.

 Aisha said, “I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes!” When ‘AbdurRahman heard that his wife had gone to the Prophet, he came with his two sons from another wife. She said, “By Allah! I have done no wrong to him but he is impotent and is as useless to me as this,” holding and showing the fringe of her garment, ‘Abdur-Rahman said, “By Allah, O Allah’s Apostle! She has told a lie! I am very strong and can satisfy her but she is disobedient and wants to go back to Rifa’a.” Allah’s Apostle said, to her, “If that is your intention, then know that it is unlawful for you to remarry Rifa’a unless Abdur-Rahman has had sexual intercourse with you.” Then the Prophet saw two boys with ‘Abdur-Rahman and asked (him), “Are these your sons?” On that ‘AbdurRahman said, “Yes.” The Prophet said, “You claim what you claim (i.e.. that he is impotent)? But by Allah, these boys resemble him as a crow resembles a crow,” ^[[19]]

So the fact that this woman was beaten to such extent that her bod had turned greed was not enough excuse for her to ask for divorce. The only time a woman is entitled to ask for divorce is when her husband is impotent.  The good news is however, that a woman has the right not to be hit in the face.

Hakim ibn Muawiya al-Qushairi quoted his father as telling that he asked, “Messenger of God, what right can any wife demand of her husband?” He replied, “That you should give her food to eat, clothe her when you clothe yourself, not strike her on the face, and do not revile her or separate from her except in the house.” ^[[20]]

To be fair, we should be grateful to Muhammad for saying women should not be reviled in public. At home it is okay. 

Women are toys

Umar was once talking when his wife interjected, so he said to her: ‘You are a toy, if you are needed we will call you.'”^[[21]]

And ‘Amru Bin al-‘Aas, also a Khalif, said: “Women are toys, so choose.”^[[22]]

According to the great Islamic philosopher Imam al Ghazali, “In the company of women, looking at them, and playing with them, the soul is refreshed, the heart is rested, and the man is strengthened to the worship of God…this is why God said: ‘That he might rest in her.’ (Q. 7:189)”^[[23]]

These men were not stating their personal opinions but rather echoing that of their prophet who said, ‘The woman is a toy, whoever takes her let him care for her (or do not lose her).”^[[24]]

Barra’a narrated, “The Prophet sent message to Sauda informing her that he had divorced her.” He married her in Mecca. No one among the Quraish would marry him and Sauda was the only woman eligible among his followers.  Barra’s says, “When Sauda heard the news, she sat in the way of the Prophet to Aisha’s house. When she saw the Prophet she told him, I beseech you by the one who has revealed to you the Quran and has exalted you above all the creation to tell me why you divorced me. Have I done something wrong that has offended you? The Prophet said no! Sauda said, I then beg you for the sake of the same God to not divorce me. I am getting old; I don’t need to be with a man. You can use my turn to stay with Aisha, but I wish that in the day of resurrection to be counted amongst your wives. The Prophet agreed and Sauda said that since then the Prophet spent the nights that were her turn with his favorite wife Aisha.” ^[[25]]

Muhammad decided to divorce Sauda because she was not attractive.  He had now a harem of young wives and did not Sauda had outworn her usefulness. No mention of Sauda’s age is made.  Ibn Sa’d says she died during the rule of Muaviyah in the year 54 Hijra.^[[26]] Muhammad married her about a month after the death of Khadijah, i.e. three years before Hijra. Therefore, Sauda died 57 years after she married Muhammad. What is the normal age of a person? Larger overweigh people don’t live long. But let us say Sauda died at the age of eighty.  80-57=23.  This means she was 23 years old when she married Muhammad who was 50 years old at that time. She must have been young since despite having become a widow, she still did not have a child. If she died at the age of 90, which is unlikely, she could not have been older than 33 years when she married Muhammad.

We can see how Muhammad viewed his wives and women in general. When greatest scholars of Islam said women are toys, it is because Muhammad said it.

Jabir bin ‘Abdullah, one of the companions of Muhammad narrated “I was with the Prophet in a Ghazwa (raid/terrorist ambush). He asked me, have you got married?” I replied in the affirmative. He asked, “A virgin or a matron?” I replied, “I married a matron.” The Prophet said, “Why have you not married a virgin, so that you may play with her and she may play with you?” Jabir replied, “I have sisters (young in age) so I liked to marry a matron who could collect them all and comb their hair and look after them.”^[[27]]

Women are inferior

The superiority of men over women is ratified in verse 2:228 where it says: “and men are a degree above them (women).”

While the Quran recognizes that the works of men and women are interdependent, it does not regard them as having equal worth.  Men are a step above the women and superior to them

“And it is for the women to act as they (the husbands) act by them, in all fairness; but the men are a step above them.“^[[28]]  

Commenting of the verse (Q. 4:34) Ibn Kathir says, “Men are superior to women, and a man is better than a woman.”

Razi, commenting on Q. 4:11, says, “(The males share is that of two females). Man is more perfect than the woman in creation, and intelligence, and in the religious sphere, such as the suitability to be a judge, and a leader in worship. Also, the testimony of the man is twice that of the woman. So that whoever is given great responsibilities must be given correspondingly great privileges. As the woman is deficient in intelligence and of great lust, if she is given much money, much corruption will be the result. The male is mentioned first in Q. 4:11 because the male is better than the female.”

This superiority as Razi understands the Quran, is due to man’s natural superiority in “knowledge and power, and because the man gives his wife the dowry and spends on her.”

 

Women are sex objects

Jabir also reported that Allah’s Messenger saw a woman, and so he came to his wife, Zainab, as she was tanning leather and had sexual intercourse with her. He then went to his Companions and told them: the woman advances and retires in the shape of a devil, so when one of you sees a woman, he should come to his wife, for that will repel what he feels in his heart. ^[[29]]

I wonder how a wife would feel knowing her husband is fancying another woman and is using her to relieve himself.  This is the morality of the prophet of 1.2 billion people!

The Quran and hadith are full of derogatory remarks on women. The following Hadith, in my opinion, takes the cake.

Narrated Abu Huraira: “Allah’s Apostle said, “If a husband calls his wife to his bed (i.e. to have sexual relation) and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning.” ^[[30]]

Doesn’t Allah have anything better to do than worrying about the sexual pleasures of his male servants? It seems quiet absurd that God would employ so many angels to sit around and curse the women who do not please their husbands sexually. Hadiths like this are repeated so many times that one start to suspect whether Allah is a dirty old pervert voyeur who gets pleasure watching people having sex.

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: By Him in Whose Hand is my life, when a man calls his wife to his bed, and she does not respond, the One Who is in the heaven is displeased with her until he (her husband) is pleased with her. ^[[31]]

And

He said, “If a woman spends the night deserting her husband’s bed (does not sleep with him), then the angels send their curses on her till she comes back (to her husband).” ^[[32]]

The Quran says, “Women are your fields: go, then, into your fields whence you please. ^[[33]]

Why Muhammad was so concerned about sex? It’s because he was an old man, his teeth were decaying and at least two of them were broken. His mouth had a foul smell. (These are not wild claims. I have backed them all in Understanding Muhammad.)  But his wives were attractive courtesans. They must have enjoyed their status as the wives of the Prophet and the first ladies of Arabia, but as I have shown in my upcoming book The Life of Muhammad under the Light of Reason they were reluctant to sleep with him. The warnings about the angels’ curses and Allah’s wraths were to coerce his wives to sleep with him.

Here is another of his obscene statements regarding women.  He said, “After me I have not left any affliction more harmful to men than women.” ^[[34]]

In every occasion he found an excuse to poison the minds of his followers with ridiculous talks like the following.

 “Woman is like a rib. When you attempt to straighten it, you would break it. And if you leave her alone you would benefit by her, and crookedness will remain in her. ^[[35]]

How can Muslims respect their women when their prophet was so scornful of them, so contemptuous of their faith, so derisive of their intelligence, so dismissive of their rights and so disdainful of their status?

He said, “Many amongst men reached (the level of) perfection but none amongst the women reached this level except Asia, Pharaoh’s wife, and Mary, the daughter of ‘Imran. And no doubt, the superiority of ‘Aisha to other women is like the superiority of Tharid (i.e. a meat and bread dish) to other meals.”^[[36]]

Here Mohammad is confusing Miriam, (in Arabic Maryam) daughter of Imran and sister of Moses and Aaron with Mary (also Maryam in Arabic) mother of Jesus. He made the same mistake in the Quran. Miriam is not an important religious figure. She even disobeyed God once. We also don’t know who is this Asia the Pharaoh’s wife. It must have been part of a fable known at the time of Muhammad, which is now forgotten.

Muhammad had no regard for women. To him women were sex objects created only to satisfy men.

 

Women are like domestic animals

In his last sermon Muhammad said, “Now then, O people, you have a right over your wives and they have a right over you. You have [the right] that they should not cause any one of whom you dislike to tread on your beds; and that they should not commit any open indecency (fāḥishah). If they do, then God permits you to shut them in separate rooms and to beat them, but not severely. If they abstain from [evil], they have the right to their food and clothing in accordance with custom (bi’l-ma‘rūf). Treat women well, for they are [like] domestic animals (‘awānⁱⁿ) with you and do not possess anything for themselves. You have taken them only as a trust from God, and you have made the enjoyment of their persons lawful by the word of God” ^[[37]]

Commenting on the Quranic verse Q. 30:21 which states “And of His signs is that He created for you, of yourselves, spouses, that you may repose in them” Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi wrote:

“His saying ‘created for you’ is a proof that women were created like animals and plants and other useful things, just as the Most High has said ‘He created for you what is on earth’ and that necessitates the woman not to be created for worship and carrying the Divine commands. We say creating the women is one of the graces bestowed upon us and charging them with Divine commands to complete the graces bestowed upon us, not that they are charged as we men are charged. For women are not charged with many commands as we are charged, because the woman is weak, silly, in one sense she is like a child, and no commands are laid upon a child, but for the grace of Allah upon us to be complete, women had to be charged so that they may fear the torment of punishment and so follow her husband, and keep away from what is forbidden, otherwise corruption would be rampant.”^[[38]]

Another eminent Muslim thinker, Hadi Sabzevari, in his commentary on Sadr al-Mote’alihin wrote:

“That Sadr ad-Deen Shirazi classifies women as animals is a delicate allusion to the fact that women, due to the deficiency in their intelligence and understanding of intricacies, and due to their fondness of the adornments of the world, are truly and justly among the mute animals [al-haywanti al-samita]. They have the nature of beasts [ad-dawwab], but they have been given the disguise of human beings so that men would not be loath to talk to them and be compelled to have sexual intercourse with them. That is why our immaculate Law [shar’ina al-mutahhar] takes men’s side and gives them superiority in most matters, including divorce, “nushuz,” etc.” ^[[39]]

 

 

Women are the symbol of disease and affliction

When Muhamad dreamed a black woman, he interpreted it as the sign of disease.

Narrated Salim’s father “The Prophet said, “I saw (in a dream) a black woman with unkempt hair going out of Medina and settling in Mahai’a. I interpreted that as (a symbol of) epidemic of Medina being transferred to Mahai’a, namely, Al-Juhfa.” ^[[40]]

Even in religious matters he asserted the symbolic inferiority of women.

Narrated Sahl bin Sa’d: “The people used to pray with the Prophet tying their Izars around their necks because of their small sizes and the women were directed that they should not raise their heads from the prostrations till the men had sat straight. ^[[41]]

In the following hadith he sealed the eternal enslavement of women.

Narrated Abu Huraira: “The Prophet said, “It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel for one day and night except with a Mahram.”^[[42]]

As for Muhammad’s great respect for her daughter Fatima, which Ms. Khan stated, it is all made up by Shiites.  The historians report that while Muhammad had given Aisha a slave girl, she gave none to Fatima. She came to complain but Muhammad was not home. His wife Zeinab bint Jahsh told him about it and he went to her home at night. Ali and Fatima were in bed. He told them not to get up. He then placed his foot on the chest of Ali and told the couple that they have no right to complain.  This was the source of enmity between Fatima and Aisha who was ten years her junior.

Muhammad had no respect for Fatima or her husband Ali.  Ali knew it. When Muhammad was in his deathbed, his uncle Abbas pulled Ali aside and said, “Ali, three nights hence you will be a slave. I swear by God that I recognized death in the apostle’s face as I used to recognize it in the faces of the sons of Abdu’l-Muttalib. So let us go to him; if authority is to be with us, we shall know it, and if it is to be with others we will request him to enjoin the people to treat us well.’ ‘Ali answered: ‘By God, I will not. If it is withheld from us none after him will give it to us.’ The apostle died with the heat of noon that day.” ^[[43]]

This story should put to rest any claim that Shiites have regarding Ali. It also answers Ms. Khan’s unsubstantiated and undocumented claim that Muhammad had a lot of respect and love for his daughter. Narcissists don’t love anyone. They use people.

I can write a book on Muhammad’s misogyny. How can any self-respecting woman believe in a man who called her deficient in intelligence and faith, a crooked rib, inferior by degrees, and a tilt upon which her man can enter from whichever way he likes?

My question to Ms. Khan is whether she agrees with the above statements of her prophet.  If she does then there is no point to continue this debate. No one is interested to read the opinion of one who is deficient in intelligence. And if she does not agree, then why she is still a Muslim!

Ali Sina is the founder of faithfreedom.org, a site created to help Muslims see the reality of Islam. He is the author of Understanding Muhammad and Muslims. He is looking for a publisher for his new book The Life of Muhammad under the Light of Reason. 

 

Figure 3 Women in Islamic Republic of Iran beaten for exposing their hair

 

 

Figure 4 Afghani Women under Taliban Regime

Figure 5 Pre Islamic Arabs had such high regards for women that they worshipped three female deities. As with all triple goddesses, a religious concept found worldwide, Al Lat has three manifestations, each one connected to a phase of the moon and simultaneously to a phase in a woman’s life.  The waxing, crescent moon is represented by the maiden Qur,  the young girl and virgin (the Greek Kore, from which Quraish is derived); Al Uzza (the strong one) is the full moon or mother aspect (the mature woman corresponding to the Greek Demeter); and Al Menat is the waning moon or the crone, a wise old woman concerned with fate and skilled in prophecy and divination.. 

Figure 6 The sacred black stone was a symbol of al Lat’s Yoni. The Goddess resided in her aspect of Earth Mother, creatrix of life and helper of women in childbirth.  People came to pray, to ask for offspring and protection, and to celebrate life.

Figure 7 Saudi Women

Figure 8 Under the Sharia a man has complete power over his wives and his right hand possessions (slaves)

 

---

[1] Ibn Ishaq p. 118

[2] Ibn Ishaq p.118

[3] Ibn Ishaq, 676; Ibn Hisham p. 582

[4] Bukhari,  1: 9: 486

[5] Bukhari, 3:43:648

[6] Quran 33.30

[7] Quran 33.32

[8] Q. 66: 5

[9] Bukhari 2: 24: 541

[10] Bukhari 6: 301

[11] Bukhari 2: 18: 161

[12] Sahih Muslim 4: 1926

[13] Q.4:34

[14] Dawud 11:2142

[15] Muslim:  4: 2127

[16] Mishkat Al-Masabih: vol. 2, p. 690; Muslim: 9: 3506

[17] Bukhari, 6: 60: 132

[18] Mishkat Al-Masabih: vol. 2, p. 692

[19] Bukhari, 7: 72: 715

[20] Mishkat Al-Masabih: vol. 2, p. 691

[21] Al-Musanaf by Abu Bakr Ahmad Ibn ‘Abd Allah Ibn Mousa Al-Kanadi who lived 557H., Vol. 1 Part 2, p. 263. See also Ihy’a ‘Uloum ed-Din by Ghazali, Dar al-Kotob al-‘Elmeyah, Beirut, Vol II, Kitab Adab al-Nikah, p. 52.

[22] Kanz-el-‘Ummal, Vol. 21, Hadith No. 919

[23] Ihy’a ‘Uloum ed-Din by Ghazali, Dar al-Kotob al-‘Elmeyah, Beirut, Vol II, Kitab Adab al-Nikah, p. 34.

[24] Tuffaha, Ahmad Zaky, Al-Mar’ah wal-Islam, Dar al-Kitab al-Lubnani, Beirut, first edition, 1985, p. 180.

[25] Tabaqat V. 8 p. 53-54

[26] Tabaqat V.8  page 56

[27] Bukhari: 3: 34: 310

[28] Q. 2:228

[29] Bukhari 1:  6: 301

[30] Bukhari 4:  54:  460

[31] Sahih Muslim 8:  3367

[32] Bukhari 7:  62: 122

[33] Qur’an 2:223

[34] Bukhari 7:  62: 33

[35] Sahih Muslim 8;  3466

[36] Bukhari 4:  55:  623

[37] Ṭabarī, The Last Years of the Prophet

[38] Tafsir al-Kabir, Razi, commenting on Q. 30:21

[39] Quoted in Soroush, Abdolkarim, _Farbehtar az ideoloji_, Serat, Tehran, 1373 A.H.S.

[40] Bukhari  9:  87: 163

[41] Sahih Bukhari 1.778

[42] Sahih Bukhari 2.194

[43] Ibn Ishaq 682

 

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