Thursday 9 April 2009

Does the Qur’an allow Muhammad to marry more than the “usual “four wives?

No. it doesn’t. Of how Muhammad goes against Allah’s commandment and thus exposes the irrational Muslim logic                                    

Islamic sources show that Muhammad continued to marry or betroth women long after the prohibition of Q. 33:52 had been imposed. This has led some scholars to conclude that Q. 33:50 abrogated Q. 33:52, even though the former verse was composed and came before the latter text was ever given! How, then, can a verse that came later be abrogated by an injunction which came before it?

Muhammad broke his own rules concerning polygynous marriages:

For more on these points and the confusion surrounding the composition of these specific references we suggest the following articles: (Link; Link.)


With Jesus Christ, monogamy becomes the standard for all marriages (Link ).

Surah 33.50 tells to Muhammad that he had no limits in taking wifes, while Surah 33:52 prohibits Muhammad for taking more wifes than he already had. Since Muhammad, at the time of the revelation had more thanthe allowed “set” of wifes, either he went against the Qur’an, or Surah 33:50 abrogates a successive ayah (33:50). In both cases, the situation for Mulslims doesn’t seem very rosy.


Let’s first read both ayah:

O Prophet! We have made lawful to thee thy wives to whom thou has paid their cowers; and those whom they right hand possesses out of the captives of war whom Allah has assigned to thee; and daughters of thy paternal uncles and aunts, and daughters of thy maternal uncles and aunts, who migrated with thee; and any believing woman who gives herself to the Prophet if the Prophet wishes to wed her - this only for thee, and not for the believers [at large]; We know what We have appointed for them as to their wives and the captives whom their right hands possess - in order that there should be no difficulty for thee.” (Suraht Al-Ahzab 33:50).

It is not lawful for thee [to marry more] women after this, nor to change them for [other] wives, even though their beauty attract thee, except any thy right hand should possess [as handmaidens]: and Allah cloth watch over all” (Suraht Al-Ahzab 33:52).

Generally, the Qur’an limits the number of wives that a Muslim can have to four (Surah 4:3):

On at least two occasions Muhammad forced certain man who had more than four wives to divorce some of them:

Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar: Ghaylan ibn Salamah ath-Thaqafi accepted Islam and that he had ten wives in the pre-Islamic period who accepted Islam along with him; so the Prophet (peace be upon him) told him to keep four and separate from the rest of them. Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah transmitted it. (Al-Tirmidhi, Number 945 taken from the Alim CD-ROM Version)

Narrated Al-Harith ibn Qays al-Asadi: I embraced Islam while I had eight wives. So I mentioned it to the Prophet (peace be upon him). The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Select four of them. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 12, Number 2233)

Yet Muhammad failed to live up to his own standards since he had more than 4 wives and didn’t treat them all fairly:

Narrated Qatada: Anas bin Malik said, "The Prophet used to visit all his wives in a round, during the day and night and they were ELEVEN IN NUMBER." I asked Anas, "Had the Prophet the strength for it?" Anas replied, "We used to say that the Prophet was given the strength of thirty (men)." And Sa'id said on the authority of Qatada that Anas had told him about nine wives only (not eleven). (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 5, Number 268)

Narrated 'Ata: …walk smoothly because the Prophet had NINE WIVES and he used to observe the night turns with eight of them, AND FOR ONE OF THEM THERE WAS NO NIGHT TURN." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 5)

Narrated Anas bin Malik: The Prophet used to pass by (have sexual relation with) all his wives in one night, and at that time he had NINE wives. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 142)

Al-Mubarakpuri says regarding Muhammad’s marriage to his adopted son’s divorcee that: Hypocrites aroused a lot of suspicions and made a broad false propaganda against that marriage. Their acts and talks about that marriage had ill-effects on those Muslims whose Faith was still weak, particularly that Zainab was the fifth wifeand the Noble Qur’ân limited the number up to four only; Zaid was traditionally his son, and so a father marrying his son’s divorcee was a heinous sin in the eyes of the Arabians. Al-Ahzab Surah was revealed to shed full light on the two issues, i.e. Islam does not recognize adoption of children, and the Prophet [pbuh] is given (by Allâh) more freedom as regards the number of wives he can hold than other Muslims in order to achieve noble and honourable purposes. [Za'd Al-Ma'ad 1/29] (Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum (THE SEALED NECTAR) Biography of the Noble Prophet, Saif-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri [Maktaba Dar-us-Salam Publishers & Distributors, First Edition 1995], "The Prophetic Household", pp. 489-490; online source)

Is this not exhibiting an astonishing measure of hypocrisy on the part of Muhammad?

And there is more.

Some Muslims claim that Surah 33:52 forbade Muhammad from marrying any more wives. This explanation does nothing to refute the fact that Muhammad still had more than four wives. Furthermore, some Muslim scholars say that Surah 33:52 was actually abrogated by 33:50. Here are renowned Sunni scholar Ibn Kathir’s comments:

“…THEN ALLAH LIFTED THE RESTRICTION STATED IN THIS AYAH AND PERMITTED HIM TO MARRY MORE WOMEN…” (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Abridged, Volume 8, Suraht Al-Ahzab, Verse 51 to the end of Suraht Ad-Dukhan, p. 21; bold and capital emphasis ours)

Ibn Kathir’s comments presuppose that there is a contradiction, i.e. that the passages directly conflict with one another. After all, there would be no need for Muslims to argue that one of the passages had been abrogated if these texts were not contradicting!

What is even more astonishing is that Surah 33:50 is supposed to have come before 33:52, which means that an earlier verse canceled one that came afterwards! The late Iranian Muslim scholar Ali Dashti noted regarding this strange phenomenon:

"In Zamakhshari's opinion, ‘A’esha’s words show that verse 52 was abrogated by custom and by verse 49 (‘O Prophet, We have made lawful for you …’). But an abrogating verse ought to come after the abrogated one. Nevertheless Soyuti, in his treatise on Qor’anic problems entitled ol-Etqan, maintains that in this case the earlier verse abrogated the later one." (Dashti, 23 Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad [Mazda Publishers Costa Mesa, CA 1994; ISBN: 1568590296], p. 128; bold emphasis ours)

Talk about confusion! In light of the foregoing it comes as no surprise that the hadiths record Aisha as mockingly saying regarding Muhammad’s marital privileges:

Narrated Aisha: “…I feel that your Lord hastens in fulfilling your wishes and desires." (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number 311)

And not only: What contrast to the Bible!

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." Exodus 20:17

"You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." Deuteronomy 5:21 NIV

It also says that those who have lustful desires for another man’s wife are guilty of adultery:

"You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matthew 5:27-28 NIV

God’s pure Word, the Holy Bible, condemns the coveting of another man’s wife.

The Qur’an mentions that Allah wed Muhammad to Zaid’s ibn Haritha (a former slave of Muhammad’s first wife, Khadijah, whom Muhammad emancipated and adopted as his son) wife after the latter had divorced her. Muslim sources say that Muhammad went to visit Zaid and found his wife, Zaid b. Jash, unveiled and admired her beauty. Zainab heard Muhammad praise her beauty and shared it with her husband. This made Zaid uncomfortable and decided to divorce her in order that Muhammad could then marry her.

For more on that please consider:
Link ; Link 

Thus, Allah granted Muhammad certain privileges, even the privilege of breaking Allah’s own commandments such as marrying more than four wives. But the most troubling privilege in the list is the one where Muhammad could cause a man to divorce his wife if Muhammad desired her and wanted to marry her.

To further complicate things, the Qur’an makes adultery permissible in specific cases:

Also (prohibited are) women already married, except those whom your right hands possess: Thus hath God ordained (Prohibitions) against you S. 4:24 Yusuf Ali

“whom your right hand possess” means slave women, and those captured in warfare (on the issue of the permission of slavery and treatment of captured wives, a post will soon follow). Since this command applied to Muhammad and all the Muslims, this means that Muhammad and the others were allowed to have sex with married women whom they had either taken captive or owned as slaves.

The sad and tragic thing about this is that this command hasn't been rescinded, which means that Muslims are still allowed to rape married women they take captive or possess as slaves.

Thus, Allah allows Muhammad along with the other men (as well as Muslims of today) to commit adultery with married women whom they have enslaved or taken captive.

Is this the true Word of God, the true God?

Recommended Reading
http://answering-islam.org/Responses/Menj/zaynab.htm
http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/zaid_zaynab.htm
http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/mhd_marriages.htm
http://answering-islam.org/Responses/Osama/lesbian.htm

Source:
http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/mhd_marriages.htm
http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/privileges.htm

IHS

No comments:

Post a Comment