Last night for a few brief shining television moments (captured here [3]), Wafa Sultan, courageous author of the indispensable jeremiad “A God Who Hates [4],” strove gamely to educate Bill O’Reilly—often seemingly impenetrable [5]
by facts regarding Sharia—about how Islamic Law, patterned on the
“perfect example” of Islam’s prophet Muhammad, sanctions rape.
The news “hook” for Wafa’s unfortunately rare appearance was the
recent alleged rape of a Libyan woman, Iman Al-Obeidi by Qadaffi’s
minions.
As a working physician in her native Syria, Wafa noted that she was familiar with “many such crimes” committed with the sanction of Sharia—Islamic Law. She elaborated that under Sharia,
Any sexual activity is considered the give right of a male…A
Muslim woman cannot report being raped because she will be asked to
provide four witnesses otherwise she will be accused of committing
adultery, and she will be stoned to death.
The scholar Ibn Warraq [6] affirms this “iniquitous situation.” He notes that Koran 24.4 [7] states: “And
those who accuse honourable women but bring not four witnesses, scourge
them (with) eighty stripes and never (afterward) accept their testimony
– They indeed are evil-doers.” But Warraq elaborates how this injunction renders women defenseless under misogynistic Islamic Law, past and present:
Muslim jurists will only accept four male witnesses. These
witnesses must declare that they have “seen the parties in the very act
of carnal conjunction.” Once an accusation of fornication and adultery
has been made, the accuser himself or herself risks punishment if he or
she does not furnish the necessary legal proofs. Witnesses are in the
same situation. If a man were to break into a woman’s dormitory and rape
half a dozen women, he would risk nothing since there would be no male
witnesses. Indeed the victim of a rape would hesitate before going in
front of the law, since she would risk being condemned herself and have
little chance of obtaining justice. “If the woman’s words were
sufficient in such cases,” explains Judge Zharoor ul Haq of Pakistan,
“then no man would be safe.”
Responding to Wafa Sultan’s remarks, Mr. O’Reilly expressed his
(uninformed) incredulity regarding the teaching, and example of Islam’s
prophet:
I find it hard to believe that the prophet Muhammad would
preach a doctrine where any woman can be abused at any time by any
Muslim man and be held not accountable.
And Wafa replied, appropriately
You need to get familiar with Muhammad’s life and how he
treated women in his life…Don’t forget, Muhammad is the role model for
every Muslim man.
Notwithstanding the predictable American Muslim Brotherhood
taqiyya O’Reilly is likely to air in the coming days as a “fair and
balanced” riposte to Wafa’s irrefragable presentation, some salient
details merit review.
What was Muhammad’s “perfect” role model? And what do Islam’s
canonical texts, especially the Koran and the hadith (Muhammad’s
“guiding” words and deeds as recorded by his pious Muslim companions),
opine on these matters?
Using the Koranic “revelation” as justification, Muhammad
insists that he is entitled, not simply his own wives, but those
captured in battle, and cousins as well, as per Allah’s grant in Koran 33:50 [8].
O Prophet, We have made lawful for thee thy wives whom thou
hast given their wages and what thy right hand owns, spoils of war that
God has given thee, and the daughters of thy uncles paternal and aunts
paternal, thy uncles maternal and aunts maternal, who have emigrated
with thee, and any woman believer, if she give herself to the Prophet
and if the Prophet desire to take her in marriage, for thee exclusively,
apart from the believers — We know what We have imposed upon them
touching their wives and what their right hands own — that there may be
no fault in thee; God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.
Koran 4:24 [9] extends the “privilege” of having sexual intercourse with captured slave women to all Muslim men.
For example, Muhammad and his minions attacked and subdued the
prosperous Jewish tribe Banu-Mustaliq in a surprise raid (during 626
A.D.). The Banu al-Mustaliq males were slaughtered and the “booty”
included the victims’ women. Juwayriyya, the most beautiful captive and
daughter of the leader of the Banu al-Mustaliq was taken as a “bride”
for Muhammad himself. The mass rape by “coitus interruptus” of the
captured women—as sanctioned by Muhammad—was described in a canonical
hadith, thusly:
(Sunan Abu Dawud 2167)—Muhairiz said: I entered the
mosque and saw Abu Sa’id al-Khudri. I sat with him and asked about
withdrawing the penis (while having intercourse). Abu Sa’id said: We
went out with the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) on the
expedition to Banu al-Mustaliq, and took some Arab women captive, and we
desired the women, for we were suffering from the absence of our wives,
and we wanted ransom; so we intended to withdraw the penis (while
having intercourse with the slave-women). But we asked ourselves: Can we
draw the penis when the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) is
among us before asking him about it? So we asked him about it. He said:
It does not matter if you do not do it, for every soul that is to be
born up to the Day of Resurrection will be born.”
Moreover, according to modern Western law (for example this Canadian law [10]),
statutory rape is sexual intercourse with anyone under the age of 14 — a
punishable offense unless both parties are aged within two years of
each other, or the accused is aged 12 to 13. Here is how the two most important canonical hadith collections [11]
describe Muhammad’s “relationship” with Aisha — their “marriage
contract” and its sexual consummation — when the Muslim prophet was some
four decades older than his child bride (aged 6-7 at the time of her
“marriage”):
Sahih Muslim, Book 008, Number 3311 [12]:
Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah’s Apostle (may
peace be upon him) married her when she was seven 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 Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 88 [13]:
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).
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 73, Number 151 [14]:
Narrated Aisha: I used to play with the dolls in the presence of the
Prophet, and my girl friends also used to play with me. When Allah’s
Apostle used to enter (my dwelling place) they used to hide themselves,
but the Prophet would call them to join and play with me. (The playing
with the dolls and similar images is forbidden, but it was allowed for
Aisha at that time, as she was a little girl, who had not yet reached
the age of puberty.)
Sahih Muslim, Book 031, Number 5981 [15]:
Aisha 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.
continued @ http://www.andrewbostom.org/