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Muhammad: A Rapist

Muhammad allowed his men to rape the women captured in raids. However, after capturing the women, Muslims faced a dilemma.  They wanted to have sex with them but also wanted to return them for ransom and therefore did not want to make them pregnant.  Some of these women were already married.  Their husbands had managed to escape when taken by surprise and were still alive.  The raiders considered the possibility of coitus interruptus (withdrawing from intercourse prior to ejaculation).  Unsure of the best course of action, they went to Muhammad for counsel. Bukhari reports:

Abu Saeed said: �We went out with All�h's Apostle for the Ghazwa of Banu Al-Mustaliq and we received captives from among the Arab captives and we desired women and celibacy became hard on us and we loved to do coitus interruptus.  So when we intended to do coitus interruptus, we said, 'How can we do coitus interruptus before asking All�h's Apostle who is present among us?"  We asked (him) about it and he said, 'It is better for you not to do so, for if any soul (till the Day of Resurrection) is predestined to exist, it will exist." [1]

Notice that Muhammad does not forbid raping women captured in war.  Instead, he indicates that when All�h intends to create anything, nothing can prevent it.  In other words, not even the absence of semen can prevent it.  So Muhammad is telling his men that coitus interruptus would be futile and ill-advised because it would be an attempt to thwart the irresistible will of All�h.  Muhammad does not say a word against the forced insemination of these captive females. In fact, by criticizing coitus interruptus, in effect he supported forced insemination.

In the Qur�an, Muhammad�s god made it legal to have intercourse with slave women, the so-called �right hand possessions,� even if they were married before their capture.[2]  

Juwairiya:

Ibn Aun has narrated: �I wrote a letter to Nafi and Nafi wrote in reply to my letter that the Prophet had suddenly attacked Bani Mustaliq without warning while they were heedless and their cattle were being watered at the places of water. Their fighting men were killed and their women and children were taken as captives; the Prophet got Juwairiya on that day. Nafi said that Ibn 'Umar had told him the above narration and that Ibn 'Umar was in that army.� Bukhari 3.46.717    (see also Muslim 019. 4292) 

Muhammad sent one of his companions; Bareeda bin Haseeb, to spy on the Bani al-Mustaliq and after assessing the situation he ordered his men to attack. Muslims came out of Madina on 2nd Shaban of 5 A.H. and encamped at Muraisa, a place at a distance of 9 marches from Medina.   

Juwairiya was one of the captives during the raid of Banu Mustaliq. When all the prisoners were made slaves and distributed among the victorious Muslim soldiers, Juwairiyah fell to the lot of Thabit bin Qais. She was the daughter of Haris, the leader of the clan.

The Islamic site muslims.ws writes: �She was the daughter of the leader of the clan, and therefore, very much felt the discomfiture and disgrace of being made slave of an ordinary Muslim soldier. Therefore, she requested him to release her on payment of ransom. Thabit agreed to this, if she could pay him 9 Auqias of gold. Hazrat Juwairiyah had no ready money with her. She tried to raise this amount through contributions, and approached the Holy Prophet also in this connection. She said to him "0' Prophet of Allah! I am the daughter of Al Haris bin Zarar, the Lord (chief) of his people. You know that it is by chance that our people have fallen captive and I have fallen to the share of Thabit bin Qais and have requested him to release me considering my status, but he has refused. Please do an act of kindness and save me from humiliation". The Holy Prophet was moved and asked the captive woman if she would like a thing still better. She asked as to what was that thing. He said that he was ready to pay her ransom and marry her if she liked. She agreed to this proposal. So the Holy Prophet paid the amount of ransom and married her.�  

First he raids a population without warning because they were easy targets and wealthy. As usual he kills the unarmed able-bodied men, plunders their belongings, then enslaves the rest. The narrator says,  �According to the prevailing practice all the prisoners were made slaves and distributed among the victorious Muslim soldiers.�  Prevailing practice?  Didn�t Muhammad come to show people the right way?  Why should he follow the evil prevailing practices of a people whom he called ignorant?  By doing so, he set the example and those evil practices became standard practices of the Muslims for ever.

The narrator says that upon seeing Juwairiyah the Prophet was �moved�. Methinks that movement must have happened in his male organ because his heart seems to have remained cold and unmoved. Although Muslims call this marriage, I call it rape.

 

Safiyah 

Safiyah was a beautiful 17 years old Jewish woman who was captured when Muhammad�s troops raided Kheibar. She was the daughter or Huyeiy Ibn Akhtab, the chief of the Banu Nadir, a Jewish tribe of Medina , whom Muhammad had beheaded two years earlier along with the men of Banu Quriaza. The tribe of Banu Nadir had been already banished from Medina and their properties were confiscated.

Safiyah had married to her cousin Kinana, who was a young Jewish leader of Kheibar. When Muhammad raided that fortress, he killed its unarmed men and captured the rest. A Jewish traitor, (reminds me of Noam Chomsky) to gain Muhammad�s favor and be spared from death, told him that Kinana was the treasurer of the town and that he used to hide the money in some ruins. Muhammad ordered Kinana to be tortured to reveal the whereabouts of the treasures and killed him.

Then he asked the prettiest woman from amongst that captives to be brought to him. Ibn Ishaq writes: "The apostle occupied the Jewish forts one after the other, taking prisoners as he went.  Among these were Safiya, the wife of Kinana, the Khaibar chief, and two female cousins: [sisters of Kinana] the apostle chose Safiya for himself.  The other prisoners were distributed among the Muslims.  Bilal brought Safiya to the apostle, and they passed the bodies of several Jews on the way.  Safiya's female companions lamented and strewed dust on their heads.  When the apostle of All�h observed this scene, he said, 'Remove these she devils from me.'  But he ordered Safiya to remain, and threw his reda [cloak] over her.  So the Muslims knew he had reserved her for his own.  The apostle reprimanded Bilal, saying, 'Hast thou lost all feelings of mercy, to make women pass by the corpses of their husbands?'�

Safiyah was taken to Muhammad�s tent. Muhammad wanted to have sex with her on that very night, only hours after torturing to death her husband. She resisted his advances. That night Abu Ayyub al-Ansari guarded the tent of Muhammad. When, in the early dawn,  Muhammad saw Abu Ayyub strolling up and down, he asked him what he meant by this sentry-go; he replied: "I was afraid for you with this young lady. You had killed her father, her husband and many of her relatives, I was really afraid for you on her account". (Ibn Ishaq, p. 766)

The next day Muhammad covered Safiyah with his mantle, an act signifying that she is now his. Safiyah was groomed and made-up for Muhammad by Umm Sulaim, the mother of Anas ibn Malik and was taken to Muhammad who married her in a mock marriage ceremony and raped her that night. Muslims call this marriage. I call that rape. I am certain not many young women would like to jump into bed with an old man who happens to be the murderer of their father and husband and many other relatives. That poor woman had no choice; therefore that marriage was nothing but a mockery of this sacred institution. At that time Muhammad was close to sixty years old.

Rayhanah

Another victim of Muhammad was Rayhana, a 15 year old girl from the tribe of Banu Quraiza. Muhammad massacred all the men of that tribe. Then women were brought to him to pick and he chose Rayhana. Rayhana never married Muhammad and unlike Juwairiyah and Safiyah never feigned being a Muslim to have an easier life. She preferred to remain a sex slave rather the wife of the murderer of her father, brothers and uncles. .  

 

[1] Bukhari, Volume 5, Book59, Number 459.  Many other canonical hadiths recount how Muhammad approved intercourse with slave women, but said coitus interruptus was unnecessary because if All�h willed someone to be born, that soul would be born regardless of coitus interruptus.   See the following:

Bukhari 3.34.432:  �Narrated Abu Saeed Al-Khudri: that while he was sitting with All�h's Apostle he said, "O All�h's Apostle!  We get female captives as our share of booty, and we are interested in their prices, what is your opinion about coitus interruptus?"  The Prophet said, "Do you really do that? It is better for you not to do it.  No soul that which All�h has destined to exist, but will surely come into existence.�

Sahih Muslim is another source considered factual and accurate by virtually all Muslims.  Here is Sahih Muslim 8.3381:  �All�h's Messenger (may peace be upon him) was asked about 'azl, (coitus interruptus) whereupon he said: The child does not come from all the liquid (semen) and when All�h intends to create anything nothing can prevent it (from coming into existence).�

Muslims also consider Abu Dawood highly accurate and factual.  Here is Abu Dawood, 29.29.32.100:  �Yahya related to me from Malik from Humayd ibn Qays al-Makki that a man called Dhafif said that Ibn Abbas was asked about coitus interruptus.  He called a slave-girl of his and said, �Tell them.�  She was embarrassed.  He said, �It is alright, and I do it myself.�  Malik said, �A man does not practise coitus interruptus with a free woman unless she gives her permission.  There is no harm in practicing coitus interruptus with a slave-girl without her permission.  Someone who has someone else's slave-girl as a wife does not practice coitus interruptus with her unless her people give him permission.�"

See also Bukhari 3.46.718, 5.59.4597.62.1357.62.1367.62.1378.77.6009.93.506  Sahih Muslim 8.3383, 8.3388, 8.3376, 8.3377, and several more. 

[2] Qur�an, 4:24: �Also (prohibited are) women already married, except those whom your right hands possess: Thus hath All�h ordained (Prohibitions) against you.� 
 Qur�an, 33:50):  �O Prophet!  We have made lawful to thee thy wives to whom thou hast paid their dowers; and those whom thy right hand possesses out of the prisoners of war whom All�h has assigned to thee.�
 Qur�an, 4:3:  �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 (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.� 

 

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