|
Muhammad's Marriages
by Nashid Abdul-Khaaliq
If someone were to lie about the American Constitution and say
that it is a document that justified the KKK, crime, high divorce rates,
immorality in America and other vices, I am sure ALL of us who are Americans,
will rise to the occasion to defend the Constitution. If someone were to lie
about you, your children or your family, I am sure you would want to correct the
lie so that the truth would be known. I believe as Americans, we should want to
know the truth about EVERYTHING!!! Why walk in darkness with a head full of lies
about other people and their religions? Knowing the truth about someone else and
their beliefs is simple common human courtesy. It will be a very evil thing if
we were to fight and even kill others, only to find out we hated and killed each
other as a result of LIES!
In an atmosphere where war is being pushed against Islamic
countries, much is being done to demonize Muslims so that good Christians will
feel in their hearts that deaths and even slaughter of thousands of Muslims is
justified. Distorting what Muslims believe and practice as it relates to their
Prophet, marriage and morality helps fuel the fire of hatred and indifference in
good Christians. As a result we have the ugly charges against Islam implied in
the questions above. In an effort to combat these ugly distortions, I offer the
following explanations:
- How many wives did Prophet Muhammad have?
The most reliable sources
in the Islamic world has said that the number is 15 not 25. Compared to the
hundreds of wives and consorts that David and Solomon had, according to the
Old Testament, the war mongers and distorters of Islam should not be
complaining. Among the 15 wives, 9 of them were widows with most of them
having children, none of them had wealth -- except Khadijah his first wife
-- and 2 of them not much is known about but nuptial relations could not be
established as a result of death or other circumstances. The Prophet first
got married at the age of 25 to Khadijah who was 40. He remained married
ONLY to her for 25 years until her death. Please be aware that this was
significantly contrary to the customs of the day, in which the Arabs married
as many women as they wanted.
- Why did he marry so many women?
The Christian Zionists and war
mongers want you to believe that he was a sex maniac like Jimmy Swaggart.
Keep in mind that the Prophet was the leader of the Muslim society and came
from the wealthiest and noblest tribe. He could have had any woman and as
many as he wanted. But most of his marriages were to women who needed
support. Remember that in those days there were no welfare or government
handouts to poor women. There was no support agencies established for women
in distress. To survive many women took up prostitution and other vices.
Rather than see women suffer and turn to prostitution or other social vices,
the Prophet took them in and supported them. Some of the women were with
children and not wanted by other men.The reasons for the number of marriages are varied. Here is a listing of
some of those reasons. I will briefly comment on some but if needed I could
point out the wives and circumstances regarding each reason:
Quote:
To win over enemies of Al-Islam. The Prophet had 4 marriages for this
reason with one of them being to a Jew. The effect of these marriages had
the power to stop wars between the Muslims and the people to whom the
Prophet's wives belonged to. Many times a single marriage achieved what a
dozen wars could not.
To establish diplomatic relations. These were marriages that established
good relations between the Muslims and other nations -- which they were not
at war with. The marriages were not requests by Muhammad but gestures by the
other nations.
To abolish slaves and war-captives. Al-Islam chose to abolish slavery.
Many of the things done by the Prophet were aimed at showing the equality of
a slave to anyone in society. Through marriage and other means he gave
slaves the most honorable positions in society.
To fight evil customs.
To ameliorate the plight of women.
To help the helpless.
To crystallize the formalities and legalities of marriage. Through
marriage he gave legal rights and responsibilities to women that were not
there in Arab society for women before.
To check crime and establish order.
To look after children and take care of the household.
To demonstrate how to lead married life.
- Did Muhammad fornicate with a 9 year old girl, Aisha?
Boy, what
would you Zionist and dupes think of next??? Please be aware that the
customs of the people in the time of Muhammad was much different than what
it is today. As was the practice of that day, the marriage was not
consummated until Aisha reached puberty years later. This marital
relationship turned out to be one of the most beneficial occurrences for
Al-Islam. The Prophet was able to train Aisha at an early age and as a
result she became the most erudite, of the profoundest knowledge, of the
maturest brain in her time. In fact no better woman-jurist than her has been
produced by the world before or after. As a historian, as an orator she had
few parallels. She left the largest number of Hadiths (sayings and practices
of the Prophet Muhammad), 2210 in all. To the unenlightened, after the
Qur’an the Hadiths is the most important authority for Muslims.
- Can a Muslim father give his daughter in marriage without her consent?
Keep in mind that this is not a Muslim practice. It is more a cultural
practice of many societies that may or may not be Muslim. The motivation
behind this is that parents know their child better than anyone else and
have the best interest of their child in mind. They, knowing other parents,
are able to learn about the natures and tendencies in their children and
therefore better able to match their child with others. When you compare the
divorce rates from this kind of marriages, to the divorce rates of the
western world, this method of marriage produces significantly less divorce.
It makes you wonder about the judgment of adults in our society. But
nevertheless a marriage that is agreeable by both parties is the most
desired method in Al-Islam.
- Did Muhammad have an Egyptian concubine?
No, he had an Egyptian
wife! This Egyptian wife was a gift sent by the Egyptian leader to establish
good diplomatic relations with the Muslims of Arabia. Sending girls as gifts
had great diplomatic significance in those days. This was supposed to be the
best token and best pledge of mutual peace, goodwill and good relations
between nations.
- Did Muhammad authorize his soldiers and himself to marry the wives of
other soldiers killed in war?
Emphatically yes! He did so himself and
took these women and their children in rather than see them suffer or turn
to vices as a result of not having husbands around to support them.
- Does Muslim law allow temporary 3 day marriages to satisfy lusts?
There is nothing in the Qur’an that supports that. Yes, it is true that some
Muslims practiced that. But still it is not sanctioned by Al-Islam. The
Qur’an describes marriage as a sacred relationship and one that should be
entered in to please Allah. In fact Al-Islam teaches that half of our
religion is completed when we get married. Men and women are described as
help-mates to each other. Their purpose in this lifetime is to help each
other in this life and in their meeting with G’d. It describes divorce as
one of the most hated actions by G’d and encourages the married couple to do
all they can to keep their marriage together. These temporary lustful
marriages are contrary to all the teachings about marriage in the Qur’an.
-
Lastly the Qur’an was revealed over a period of time. Some of the
Prophet's wives died before him and some of the marriages only lasted a few
months as a result of death. The Arabs at that time were taking on
limitless wives. The revelation received by the Prophet limited that number
to 4. After that revelation the Prophet did not take on anymore wives.
But is polygamy the rule in Al-Islam or monogamy? There is only one verse in
the Qur’an which discusses polygamy. It is:
Quote:
"If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly
with the orphans, marry women of your choice - two or three or four. But
if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then
only one or whom your right hand possesses. That will be more suitable
to prevent ye from doing injustice". (An-Nisa, 3)
This verse shows that the Qur’an favors monogamy as an easier way for a
man to deal justly with women. In fact monogamy is the current practice
of most Muslims in the world today. This verse is aimed at making
Muslims feel that they need not worry about the upshot of orphans due to
martyrdom or Muslim men being killed in wars, that it was an easy
solution to resort to polygamy which was permissible from before.
|
