In one of the most important topics related to Islam and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) some of my friends put and highlighted very important questions that includes; Did Prophet Muhammad had slaves? Does Islam encourage Slavery? What about Sex with Captives and Slaves? Does Islam allow that? Did Prophet Muhammad have sex with his female captives? Why Did the Prophet Have So Many Wives?
It is constantly said by people from other religions that Prophet Muhammad ordered sex with Captives of war and promoted slavery. The allegation also includes; Prophet Muhammad had many female slaves whom he had sexual intercourse with. But are these claims are not true, if we were to look all the evidence.
The Quran tells to free slaves in several places:
It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces Towards east or West; but it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfill the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the Allah-fearing. ( Quran 2:177)
Prophet Muhammad ordered that slaves be free several places in the canonical Hadith. Here are some examples:
Narrated Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari: "The Prophet said, "Give food to the hungry, pay a visit to the sick and release (set free) the one in captivity (by paying his ransom)." (Bukhari,Volume 7, Book 65, Number 286)"
Narrated Abu Musa: The Prophet said, "Set free the captives and accept invitations." (Bukhari Volume 9, Book 89, Number 285)
Narrated Asma: "No doubt the Prophet ordered people to manumit slaves during the solar eclipse. (Bukhari, Volume 2, Book 18, Number 163)"
Slavery already existed long before Islam. It was a system whereby a human captured in wars or kidnapped could be sold as a “possession.” That term applied to both sexes, not to women only. In some cultures slaves were considered subhuman and treated brutally. In Europe, for example, Romans threw Christian slaves to the lions while the public cheered; female slaves were thought to have no souls and were tortured mercilessly; slaves lived in degrading conditions; both sexes were forced to offer sexual favors to their masters; and as “possessions” they had no choice, no will, and no rights.
Islam recognized the human rights of slaves and encouraged Muslims to set slaves free. Islam prohibited adultery,forced sex, and prevented forcing female slaves into sexual acts against their will. Islam encouraged educating them, setting them free, then legally marrying them with their consent,not forceblyand giving them their moral and financial rights. The reward for this—as mentioned in Prophetic Hadith—is eternal residence in Paradise.
Allegation on Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) of having Sex Slave
As for Prophet Muhammad having slave girls or female slaves and having sexual intercourse with them, that’s simply not true.
Prophet Muhammad only had wives, not concubines.
Nowhere in the Hadith literature of any of the reliable biogrpahies of Prophet Muhammad have I ever read such a thing (and NO ‘Ibn Ishaq’ is NOT a reliable biography of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)). All the Hadith say The Prophet had wives. And Muslims only accept Hadith to be authentic. Rather what happened was Prophet Muhammad had 4 women slaves; however he freed and married three of them with their consent (they became his wives) and the other he gave away. Here is a list:
- Maria-al-Qibtiyya: Maria (may Allah be pleased with her) was not a concubine; she was a slave owned by Egypt’s Christian governor, who offered her and her sister Serine—among other presents—as a “gift of good will” to the Prophet in reply to his envoys inviting him to Islam. On her way from Egypt to Madinah, she was curious to learn about “her new master” and listened to his Companions talk about him. As a result, she became Muslim before meeting Muhammad. Scholars’ opinions vary of her status afterwards; here is the opinion I support: One of the prominent Al-Azhar scholars, Sheikh Abdul Majid Subh, states: “Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), instead of taking concubines, entered into lawful marriages based on reason and wisdom. Maria the Copt was given to him as a present, but rather than taking her as a concubine, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) married her, thus elevating her status by marriage.
- Sirin: Was Maria's sister. Sirin was also sent by the Patriarch of Alexandria to the Prophet as a gift. Prophet Muhammad gave her to the poet Hassan Ibn Thabit , and she was later freed and married by Hassan with her consent.
- Safiyyah bint Huyayy: Safiyya was captured during the seize of Bani Nadir Safiyya was a Jew who later converted to Islam She had been previously divorced and widowed at the time of her conversion to Islam. The Prophet later set her free and married her with her free will and consent.
- Rayhana: Was a captive from the Banu Qurayza. She was later freed and married by Prophet Muhammad with her consent.
So Prophet Muhammad freed and married His women slaves with their consent, they immediately became his wives, hereby ended the title of Slaves for these Nobel ladies.
Neither of above mentioned Nobel ladies were forced to marry Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and were entered into wedlock with their free will and consent.
The next question that arose after this debate is mostly why Prophet performed Polygamy, so let’s clear misconception about that as well;
Stages of the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) married Life
First, let’s remember that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) led a life supported only by the bare minimum of necessities although he belongs to a rich and stable family and clan right from childhood. His wives were not idly wasting away the hours in a luxurious harem but led a life of labor and sacrifice, while he was mostly busy away from home overseeing his numerous duties as a Prophet. So, obviously, lust was not a factor, as he wasn’t even at home most of the time. Further, most of his marriages occurred at an age when lust is not a major factor in any man’s life:
- He remained single until age 25.
- From age 25 to 50 he was faithful to only one wife, Khadijah, who bore all his children except one. She was 15 years older than him, with children from two previous marriages. She was his greatest ally when he received the Call at age 40 until she died when he was 50 years old. He remained in love with her until he died and often talked of his life with her with great nostalgia.
- Between ages 50 and 52 he remained unmarried and mourning his late beloved wife. He lived alone with his daughters.
- Between ages 53 and 60 he married all his other wives for many noble reasons detailed below. It’s unimaginable for a man to suddenly turn lustful at this age, especially as he was constantly traveling, with bloodthirsty enemies on his heels.
- At age 60, Allah revealed to him verse preventing him from marrying any more until he died, which was at age 63.
The Qur’an says what means:
It is not lawful for you (Prophet Muhammad) to marry other women after this, nor to change them for other wives.(Al-Ahzab 33:52)
Reasons for the Prophet’s Marriages
We can categorize all his marriages under two aspects of his personality:
- Muhammad the man who needed a loving wife, children, and a stable home, so he married Khadijah and remained with only her for 20 years until she died.
- Muhammad the Prophet who married the other wives for reasons pertaining to his duty to deliver the Message to the world. Those particular women were carefully selected, not just haphazardly “acquired” for carnal reasons, as suggested
Here are some of the reasons for which Muhammad married:
1-To pass on Islam to the next generations as a practical legacy
Prophet Muhammad is the only prophet without any privacy, and with a meticulously preserved tradition in speech and actions in all minute details of his public and private life. Preserved in the sharp minds of his wives and his Companions, those narrations comprise the “daily life manual” for Muslims to follow until the end of time. The fact that Islam was spread on the shoulders of women and preserved in their hearts is a great honor to the females of this Ummah. The books of authentic Hadith attribute more than 3,000 narrations and Prophetic traditions to his wives alone.
2-To cement the relations of the budding nation
In a tribal society, it was customary to seal treaties through marrying into tribes. Muhammad’s closest Companions later became the four caliphs who led Islam at the critical stage after his death. Two of them were the fathers of his wives `A’ishah (daughter of Abu Bakr) and Hafsa (daughter of `Umar); the other two married his daughters (`Uthman married Ruqayyah and Zaynab in succession, and `Ali married Fatimah).
3-To teach Muslims compassion with women
He taught them to be compassionate not just to the young and beautiful maidens, but more so to the weak and destitute widows, divorcees, orphans, and elderly women. Islam teaches that women are to be respected, protected, and cared for by their men folk. They’re not to be cast out to face a harsh life alone while able men around them just pity them and do nothing to help, or worse, use their weakness to take them as mistresses!
4-To offer a practical role model to Muslims until the end of time
Although many believing women often approached Muhammad offering him themselves in marriage, he politely turned down their offers. Most of his wives after the death of Khadijah were old, devoid of beauty, and previously married, except `A’ishah, who was the only young virgin. He married from other nations and religions; some were the daughters of his worst enemies, and his marriage to one woman won all her people into Islam. Regardless of his neutral feelings towards many of them, he was a model example of equal justice and kindness to them all, and he would never discriminate among them.
None of Prophets sent on earth performed any act without any wisdom involved in it so cut this cult and practice to allegate and question all respected Prophets without logical and authentic evidence.
Women’s Rights in Islam Surpass Modern Systems
If women in the Muslim World today don’t have their rights, it is not because Islam didn’t give them rights. Alien traditions have overshadowed the teachings of Islam, either through ignorance or the impact of colonialism.
In England and America less than fifty years ago, a woman could not buy a house or car without the co-signature of a male “guardian”! In Contrast, Islamic Law guaranteed rights to women over 1400 years ago that were unheard of in the West until the 1900s.
Numerous verses of the Qur’an state that men and women are equal in the site of Allah; the only thing that distinguishes people in His site is their level of God-consciousness.
- Islam teaches that a woman is a full person under the law, and is the spiritual equal of a male.
- Women have the right to own property, to operate a business, and to receive equal pay for equal work.
- Women are allowed total control of their wealth.
- Under Islam women cannot be married against their will, and they are allowed to keep their own name when married.
- They have the right to inherit property and to have their marriage dissolved in the case of neglect or mistreatment.
- Islam does not consider woman an “evil temptress,” and thus does not blame woman for Original Sin (a doctrine that Islam rejects).
I am under deep pain to see that we the Muslim around the Globe are not practicing what the true Islam is and becoming the reason of d
isrespect of our Prophet and Religion.This is our ignorance that has caused ISIS and other illogical organisation to raise as some groups who annex their anti Islam illogical acts to Islam and Prophet.
Prophet Muhammad’s mission stopped many of the horrible practices against women that were present in the society of his time. He actually harnessed the unrestricted polygamy of the Arabs of the time, and put many laws in place to protect the well-being of women. In his Farewell Sermon just weeks before his death, he summarized the teachings of Islam to the believers in a final farewell.
His last words were “Be kind to women!”
0 comments:
Post a Comment