The following lengthy excerpt is taken from Iranian Muslim
scholar Ali Dashti’s book, “23
Years: A Study of Prophetic Career of Mohammad”. This happens to be
one of the best treatments on Muhammad and Islam ever produced. In what
follows, Dashti highlights the fact of Muhammad being a womanizer who used his
god to give himself a license to indulge his carnal, lustful passions.
Ignaz Goldziher remarked
that no other religion’s scriptures and records contain anything like the frank
and detailed information which the Qur’an, the Hadith, and the biographies give
about the career and private life of Islam’s founder. The remark is made
appreciatively in Goldziher’s valuable book Le dogme et la loi de
1’1slam, in the course of a chapter in which the historical and
well documented fact of the Prophet Mohammad’s growing appetite for women is
mentioned. About the lives of Jesus and Moses, let alone Abraham and Noah,
whatever information we possess is clouded by dusts of popular mythology and
religious and racial prejudice. About the life of Mohammad, hundreds of reports
which have not undergone tendentious deformation are available to us in
Qur’anic verses, reliable Hadiths, and early biographies. The most important of
these sources is the Qur’an, through which knowledge of many contemporary
events can be obtained both directly, from certain verses, and indirectly, from
the accounts of occasions of revelations given by commentators. The number of
verses concerning the Prophet’s private life is quite large.
All the commentators agree
that verse 57 of sura 4 (on-Nesa) was sent down after
the Jews had criticized Mohammad’s appetite for women, alleging that he had
nothing to do except to take wives. The verse says, “Or do they envy the people
for what God in His bounty has given them? We gave scripture and wisdom to
Abraham’s descendants, and We gave them a great realm.” The Jews were jealous
of Mohammad for God’s gifts of prophethood and many wives to him. The second
sentence replies to their argument that a genuine prophet would not take so
many wives, and obviously refers to the prophets David and Solomon, who were
supposed to have had ninety nine wives and a harem of one thousand women
respectively, but had not suffered any consequent loss of prophetic status.
These suppositions, like other stories of the kings of the children of Israel,
were of course embroidered with the exaggerations of fable.
European critics have
viewed this appetite for women as excessive and irreconcilable with the
spiritual role of a man who preached moderation and renunciation. Some have
surmised that Mohammad’s fondness for women prompted those elements of the
Islamic legislation which improved women’s status and rights.
Such objections lose weight
when the matter is considered from a purely rational, and not emotional,
viewpoint. Mohammad was a human, and no human is without weak points. The sexual
appetite is a necessary human instinct and an important factor in any person’s
thinking and behaviour toward others; it is only reprehensible when it induces
socially harmful behaviour. Otherwise there is no point in discussing merits
and demerits, or strengths and weaknesses, of a person’s private life. The
ideas of Socrates radiated from Athens to all of Greece and to all of mankind;
the question whether he led a perverted private life is irrelevant unless he
thereby did harm to society. Adolf Hitler could be called chaste because he
either lacked or had only a feeble sexual instinct, but instead he had
pernicious notions which plunged the world into bloodshed and ruin.
The Prophet Mohammad saw
himself as a human who had submitted to God and undertaken to rescue his people
from the sink of idolatry. His fondness for women and his marriages to many
wives did not impair the validity of his mission or infringe the rights of
other persons. The actions and ideas of great leaders of communities should be
assessed in the context of the social environment and by the criteria of their
benefit to the community and to mankind. Seen in this light, the denial of
intellectual and religious freedom to others, which results from giving them
only the choice between acceptance of Islam and payment of tribute on
humiliating terms, is much more open to question. Moslems also have made
misappraisals, but of a very different kind. In order to glorify Islam’s
founder, they have said and written things which contradict clear verses in the
Qur’an and reports in the reliable early sources. The learned modern Egyptian
author Mohammad Hosayn Haykal, who in his Life of Mohammad set
out to examine matters with the methods of twentieth century scholarship, took
such umbrage at the Western criticisms that in one chapter he even tried to
defend the Prophet by denying that he had any great fondness for women at all.
A passage from the chapter is quoted below: “Mohammad had twenty years of
conjugal life with Khadija and did not then desire to take another wife. . . .
. . This was natural and inevitable. Khadija was a wealthy and distinguished
woman who had married a poor, but hard-working and honest, employee. She had
taken him into her house because, either by nature or by dint of his straitened
circumstances, he was free from the frivolous and licentious proclivities of
other Qorayshite youths. It was for these reasons that the mature and
experienced Khadija devotedly cared for her husband, who was fifteen years
younger than herself, and from her own resources helped him to achieve a
prosperity in which he could forget his childhood experiences of hardship and
dependence on his uncle. The peace and comfort of Khadija’s house enabled him
to ripen the thoughts which he had been nurturing for ten or twelve years.
Khadija herself certainly concurred with his austere ideas, because as a cousin
of Waraqa b. Nawfal she sympathized with ascetics (hanifs) 68 After Mohammad’s
appointment to the prophethood, she believed in the truth and divine inspiration
of his vision, and became the first convert to Islam. Furthermore Khadija was
the mother of the Prophet’s four daughters, Zaynab, Roqayya, Omm Kolthum, and
Fatema.69 In such a situation, how could Mohammad take another wife while
Khadija was living? Only after her death did he proceed to ask for the hand of
A’esha, and as A’esha was then a seven year-old child, to marry Sawda, the
widow of os-Sakran b. Amr.” Haykal then states, in an evident attempt to
absolve Mohammad of desire for women, that “Sawda possessed neither beauty nor
wealth. The Prophet’s marriage to her was an act of charity and helpfulness to
the lonely widow of one of the Moslem emigrants to Abyssinia.”
Surely Haykal would have
done better to write that the Prophet married Sawda because, being a
mature person, she was well fitted to do his housekeeping and look after his
four young daughters; though this theory is open to the objection that the
Prophet first thought of A’esha, a child whom he could not marry until
two years later because she was so young, and then married Sawda because he
could not live without a wife– a reason which is in no way
blameworthy. Perhaps a further reason was the lack of any other
available women at that time, when the Qorayshites would have been unwilling to
give a daughter to Mohammad and the Moslems probably did not have any
marriageable daughters. The time was the period of two or three years in
which the Prophet remained at Mecca after Khadija’s death.
After the move to Madina,
however, opportunities arose and the Prophet Mohammad’s strong appetite
for women found ample scope. This fact cannot be denied and is sufficiently
demonstrated by the following more or less complete list of his wives:
1 Khadija, daughter of
Khowayled. She was a distinguished and wealthy woman, and Mohammad was her
third husband. She bore him four daughters as well as two sons, named (ol-)
Qasem and (ot- )Taher, both of whom died in infancy.
2 Sawda, daughter of Zam’a.
She was the widow of a Meccan Moslem emigrant who had died in Abyssinia. M. H.
Haykal’s opinion that the Prophet married her out of compassion for a lonely
Moslem widow has been discussed above.
3 A’esha, daughter of Abu
Bakr os-Seddiq. She was seven years old when she was betrothed and nine years
old when she was married to the Prophet, the gap between them being more than
forty years. Her age when he died in 11 A.H./632 was sixteen or seventeen
years. She was the Prophet’s favourite wife. She was also one of the persons
who learned the Qur’an by heart. She was considered an important source of
information on words and deeds of the Prophet (Hadith) and customs of the
Moslems (Sanna). After the assassination of Othman, she opposed the accession
of Ali b. Abi Taleb to the caliphate and was one of the prime movers of the
force which unsuccessfully challenged Ali at the battle of the camel in 36/656.
4 Omm Salama, the widow of
a Meccan Moslem emigrant to Madina who had died of wounds suffered in the
battle of Ohod.
5 Hafsa, daughter of Omar
b. al-Khattab. She too was married to the Prophet after she had been left a
widow. There is evidence that this marriage had a pragmatic aspect.
6 Zaynab, daughter of
Jahsh and former wife of the Prophet’s adopted son Zayd b. Haretha.
This marriage can be counted as one of the Prophet’s love-matches. There
is a long narrative poem about Zayd and Zaynab. The Prophet’s affection and
care for Zaynab were such as to make her a rival of A’esha.
7 Jowayriya, daughter of
ol-Hareth b. Abi Derar, the chief of the Mostaleq tribe, and former wife of
Mosafe’ b. Safwan. She had been taken prisoner at the time of the
defeat of the Banu’l- Mostaleq in 5A.H./627 and given to one of the
Moslem warriors as his share of the booty. Her owner wanted to ransom her for a
certain price, but she found the price too high and beyond her means. She
therefore went to the Prophet’s house to plead for his intercession to get the
price lowered. What happened next has been told by A’esha: “Jowayriya was so
beautiful and charming that anyone who caught sight of her was captivated.
When I saw Jowayriya outside the door of my room, I felt worried
because I was sure that God’s Apostle would be carried awayas soon as his eye
fell on her. And so he was. After she had gained admission to the Prophet’s
presence and made her plea, he said that he would do something better for her;
he would pay for her ransom himself and then ask her to marry him. Jowayriya
was pleased, and she consented. Asa result of her marriage to the Prophet, the
Moslems freed many of the Mostaleq captives because they had become the
Prophet’s brothers and sisters in law. I can think of no other woman who did so
much good and caused so many blessings for her own kinsfolk.”
8 Omm Habiba, daughter of
Abu Sofyan. She had been left a widow when her first husband Obaydollah b.
Jahsh died in Abyssinia.
9 Safiya, daughter of
Hoyayy b. Akhtab and former wife of Kenana b. Abi Rabi’, one of the leaders of
the Jews at Khaybar. After being taken prisoner, she was selected
by the Prophet as his share of the booty. He married her on the eve of his
return from Khaybar to Madina.
10 Maymuna, daughter of
ol-Hareth of the Helal tribe. One sister of hers was married to Abu Sofyan, and
another to Abbas b. Abd ol-Mottaleb. Maymuna was the maternal aunt of Khaled b.
ol-Walid (the future conqueror of Syria); reportedly it was after her marriage
to the Prophet that Khaled walked into the Moslem camp and professed Islam, and
the Prophet made a gift of horses to Khaled.
11 Fatema, daughter of
Shorayh.
12 Hend, daughter of Yazid.
13 Asma, daughter of Saba.
14 Zaynab, daughter of
Khozayma.
15 Habla, daughter of Qays
and sister of ol-Ash’ath b. Qays (a South Arabian chief, subsequently prominent
in the conquest of Iran).70
16 Asma, daughter of No’
man. The Prophet did not consummate this marriage.
17 Fatema, daughter of
od-Dahhak. This marriage was also left unconsummated.
18 Mariya the Copt, a
slave-girl who was sent from Egypt as a gift to the Prophet.71 She bore him a
son, Ebrahim, who died in infancy.
19 Rayhana, like
Mariya the Copt, fell into the Qur’anic category of “those whom your right
hands have acquired”, i.e. she was a slave-girl with whom contractual marriage
was unnecessary but concubinage was permissible. She was one of the captives
from the Jewish Banu Qorayza and the Prophet’s share of the booty taken from
that tribe. She was unwilling to profess Islam and enter into a contractual
marriage with the Prophet, preferring to retain the status of a slave
in his house.
20 Omm Sharik, of the Daws
tribe, was one of four women who gave themselves to the Prophet. In
addition to contractual wives and concubines, there were some women in
the Prophet’s harem who fell into this third category. Marriage to
contractual wives, up to the limit of four, requires formalities such as the
provision of dower, the presence of witnesses, and the approval of the woman’s
father or other guardian. Concubinage with slave-women is permissible to
Moslems if the woman’s husband was a polytheist or other unbeliever. For
the Prophet only, marriage to a woman who gave herself was permitted by the
last part of verse 49 of sura 33 (ol-Ahztib). The other three women who gave
themselves to the Prophet were Maymuna, Zaynab, and Khawla.
Omm Sharik’s gift of
herself disturbed A’esha, because Omm Sharik was so beautiful that the Prophet
immediately accepted the gift. In
extreme jealousy and indignation, A’esha reportedly said, “I wonder what a
woman who gives herself to a man is worth.” The incident is cited as the
occasion of the revelation of the last part of verse 49, which sanctioned Omm
Sharik’s gift and the Prophet’s acceptance. On hearing this, A’esha was
reportedly so impertinent as to say, “I see that your Lord is quick to grant
your wishes.” Another well authenticated report, quoted by the “Two
Shaykhs” Jalal od-Din ol-Mahalli and Jalal od-Din os-Soyuti) in the Tafsir
ol-Jalalayn, gives a different version of A’esha’s row with the Prophet.
According to this, it was after the affair of Omm Sharik and the revelation of
verse 49 that A’esha indignantly said, “I wonder what a woman who gives
herself to a man is worth.” Verse 51 was then sent down to rebuke her, and it
was after the revelation of verse 51 that she made her remark about the Lord’s
quickness to grant the Prophet’s wishes.
Verse 49 of sura 33 defines
the Prophet’s rights in the acquisition of wives and concubines: “O Prophet, We
have made lawful for you your wives to whom you have paid their rewards, those
whom your right hand has acquired out of the booty which God gave you,
daughters of your paternal uncles and aunts and daughters of your maternal
uncles and aunts who emigrated with you, and (any) female believer if she gives
herself to the Prophet (and) if the Prophet wishes to enter into marriage with
her – for you only, not for (other) believers.”
Verse 50 continues: “We
know well what duties We have imposed on them in the matter of their wives and
those whom their right hands have acquired. (This exemption is) in order that
no blame shall fall on you. And God is forgiving, merciful.”
A’esha’s protest against
the last part of verse 49 brought down the warning in verse 51, which sets forth, or rather sets no limits on, the Prophet’s
powers over his wives, depriving them of any sort of right or redress against
him: “You may postpone (the turns) of whomsoever of them you will, and you may
take to bed whomsoever you will. And if you want (back) any of those whom you
have laid off, it will not be a sin (held) against you. That is more likely to
make them happy, not sad, and to make all of them content with what you give
them. God knows what is in your hearts, and God is knowing, forbearing.”
Zamakhshari, in his
Qur’an-commentary entitled ol-Kashshaf, explains the revelation of
verse 51 as follows. The Prophet’s wives, who were jealous rivals of each other,
began to demand higher subsistence allowances. (This was after the massacre of
the men of the Qorayza tribe, when the Moslems had acquired much booty and the
Prophet’s wives naturally hoped that part of his one fifth share of this booty
might be spent on them). According to A’esha’s account, which Zamakhshari
quotes, the Prophet then boycotted his wives for one month until the revelation
of verse 51 gave him a free hand in his relations with them. The wives became
apprehensive and asked him to give them whatever personal attention and
financial help he pleased.
This means that the wives
acknowledged the Prophet’s absolute discretion to deal with each of them in any
way that he might choose. Zamakhshari in his detailed study interprets verse
51 as giving the Prophet freedom to approach, shun, retain, or divorce
each or all of his wives and to marry other women of his community whenever he
pleased. Furthermore, according to a statement by Hasan b. Ali which
Zamakhshari quotes, if the Prophet wanted a woman’s hand, no other man would
have the right to pay court to that woman unless the Prophet changed his mind.
Zamakhshari adds that at that time the Prophet had nine wives and was
not taking turns regularly or at all with five of them, namely Sawda, Jowayriya,
Safiya, Maymuna, and Omm Habiba, but was granting favour and regular turns to
the other four, namely A’esha, Hafsa, Omm Salama, and Zaynab. A’esha is
again quoted as saying, “There were few days when the Prophet did not call on
each of us, but he showed special consideration to the one whose turn had come
and with whom he would be spending the night. Sawda b. Zam’a feared
that the Prophet might divorce her and therefore said to him, ‘Do not keep my
turn! I have given up hope of conjugal relations with you, and I cede my night
to A’esha. But do not divorce me, because I would like to be counted as a wife
of yours on the Judgement Day!’”
The point of the last part
of verse 51 is that deprivation of conjugal rights would make the Prophet’s
wives happier. Even though the divine command had endowed him with absolute
discretion and deprived them of any right to claim their due from him, the new
dispensation was better for them because it would end their rivalry and make
them contented in future.
Perhaps it was to soothe
the hurt feelings and wounded pride of the wives that verse 52 of sura 33
was sent down, as the words certainly seem to be a message of consolation and
reassurance to them: “It is not permissible for you (to marry) women hereafter,
nor to replace them with (other) wives even if their beauty pleases you, with
the exception of those whom your right hand has acquired. And God is watchful
over everything.” This verse presents a problem, because in the
words of A’esha, which every Hadith compiler quotes and deems authentic, “the
Prophet did not die without all his wives being permissible for him” (i.e. all
his marriages were permissible for him). 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 Qur’anic problems entitled ol-Etqan, maintains
that in this case the earlier verse abrogated the later one.
When the Prophet’s marital
privileges, specified in numerous verses of sura 33, are added
up, their astonishing range becomes apparent. He could have more than four
wives, the maximum allowed to other believers; he was permitted to marry first
cousins who had emigrated to Madina with him; he could take as a wife, without
payment of dower and presence of witnesses, any female believer who gave
herself to him; he was exempt from the obligation of respect for the equal
rights of co-wives; he might postpone or terminate the turns of any of his
wives; if he sought a woman’s hand, any other suitor must desist; and after his
death, no other men might marry his widows. Moreover the Prophet’s wives had no
right to demand higher subsistence allowances.
In contrast with the
privileges and freedoms given to the Prophet, exceptional restrictions were
imposed on his wives. They were not like other women; they must not let
themselves be seen by the people; they must speak to men from behind curtains;
they must abstain from wearing ornaments customary in pagan times; they must be
content with whatever subsistence allowances might be granted to them; they
must not complain if their turns were not kept; and they must never remarry.
The last sentence of verse 53, which is addressed to male believers, states
categorically: “It would not be (right) for you to offend God’s Apostle by
marrying his wives after him at any future time. That would be an enormity in
God’s sight.” In the Talmud there is a similar ban on remarriage of widows of
Jewish kings.
Abdolah b. ol-Abbas72 is
reported to have said that a man went to see one of the Prophet’s wives, and
the Prophet ordered him not to do so again. The man protested that she was the
daughter of his paternal uncle and that he and she had no wrong intentions. The
Prophet replied, “I am well aware of that, but there are none so jealous as the
Lord and myself.” The man took umbrage and walked out, muttering “He forbids me
to speak to my cousin. Anyway I shall marry her after his death.” It
was then that the revelation of verse 53 of sura 33 took place.
(Dashti, pp. 90-95; bold emphasis mine)
One of the verses that
Dashti commented on is the following:
Or do they envy men
(Muhammad and his followers) for what Allah has given them of His Bounty? Then
We had already given the family of Ibrahim (Abraham) the Book and Al-Hikmah (As-Sunnah
– Divine Inspiration to those Prophets not written in the form of a book), and
conferred upon them a great kingdom.S. 4:54 Hilali-Khan
Here’s how the Muslim expositors
interpreted this text:
Or nay are they jealous of
people namely of the Prophet for the bounty that God has bestowed upon them in
the way of prophethood and abundance of women? In other words they
wish that he be deprived of such things saying ‘If he were truly a prophet
he would not be concerned with women’. For We gave the House of Abraham his
forefather the likes of Moses David and Solomon the Book and wisdom and
prophethood and We gave them a mighty kingdom David had ninety–nine
women and Solomon had a thousand free women and slavegirls. (Tafsir
al-Jalalayn https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=74&tSoraNo=4&tAyahNo=54&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2; bold emphasis ours)
(Or are they jealous) nay,
they are jealous (of mankind) of Muhammad and his Companions (because of that
which Allah of His bounty hath bestowed upon them?) the Scripture, prophethood
and marrying many wives. (For We bestowed upon the house of Abraham)
David and Solomon ((of old) the Scripture and Wisdom) knowledge, understanding
and prophethood, (and We bestowed on them a mighty kingdom) We honoured them
with prophethood and Islam and bestowed upon them sovereignty over the Children
of Israel. David had 100 legitimate wives, and Solomon had 300
legitimate wives plus 700 concubines. (Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn
‘Abbâs https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=73&tSoraNo=4&tAyahNo=54&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2; bold emphasis mine)
The problem with appealing
to the examples of David and Solomon is that this ignores the further
revelation brought by the Lord Jesus and his inspired emissaries:
“Now it came to pass, when
Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the
region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And great multitudes followed Him, and He
healed them there. The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to
Him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’ And He
answered and said to them, ‘Have you not read that He who made them at the
beginning “made them male and female,” and said, “For this reason a man shall
leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the TWO
shall become one flesh”? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.’ They
said to Him, ‘Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and
to put her away?’ He said to them, ‘Moses, BECAUSE OF THE HARDNESS
OF YOUR HEARTS, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it
was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual
immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who
is divorced commits adultery.’ His disciples said to Him, ‘If such is
the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.’ But He said to them,
‘All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given:For
there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs
who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves
eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him
accept it.’” Matthew 19:1-12 New King James Version (NKJV)
The words of the Lord here
clearly indicate that God didn’t approve of such marriages, not even divorce,
but simply tolerated them for the time being until the complete and perfect
revelation would arrive. This is why the blessed Apostle Paul would write that
a man is to have only one wife, in the same way that a woman is to have only
one husband:
“Now concerning the things
of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his
own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to
his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The
wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And
likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife
does. Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that
you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that
Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But I say this
as a concession, not as a commandment. For I wish that all men were even as I
myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another
in that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if
they remain even as I am; but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them
marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” 1 Corinthians
7:1-9 NKJV
Besides, the Hebrew
Scriptures themselves testify that God was not pleased with what Solomon did,
and even chastened him for having so many women that enticed his heart away
from the worship of the one true God:
“But King Solomon loved
many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites,
Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites—from the nations of whom the LORD
had said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not intermarry with them, nor
they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.’
Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and
three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so,
when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his
heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom
the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD,
and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David. Then Solomon built
a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of
Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did
likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their
gods. So the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had
turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and
had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other
gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded. Therefore the LORD said
to Solomon, ‘Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My
statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from
you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days,
for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your
son for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I
have chosen.’” 1 Kings 11:1-13 NKJV
This is precisely why God
had forewarned that Israel’s kings should not multiply wives, lest their hearts
turn away from Jehovah their God:
“When you come to the land
which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say,
‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall
surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your
brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you,
who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause
the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you,
‘You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply
wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly
multiply silver and gold for himself. Also it shall be, when he sits on the
throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a
book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him,
and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the
LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these
statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not
turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he
may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of
Israel.” Deuteronomy 17:14-20 NKJV
To, therefore, appeal to
the example of the Old Testament prophets, merely highlights how desperate
Muslims are in justifying Muhammad’s lustful, perverted sexual escapades, and
further demonstrates the imperfection and backwardness of their prophet’s
so-called revelations.
Finally, even the Islamic
sources testify that Muhammad’s contemporaries accused him of being a
womanizer, whose god seemed to rush to fulfill his prophet’s sexual passions
and fantasies:
“… Layla bt. al-Khatim b.
‘Adi b. ‘Amr b. Sawad b. Zafar b. al-Harith b. al-Khazraj approached the
Prophet while his back was to the sun, and clapped him on his shoulder. He
asked who it was, and she replied, ‘I am the daughter of one who competes with
the wind. I am Layla bt. al-Khatim. I have come to offer myself [in marriage]
to you, so marry me.’ He replied, ‘I accept.’ She went back to her people and
said that the Messenger of God had married her. They said, ‘What a bad thing
you have done! You are a self-respecting woman, but the Prophet is a
womanizer. Seek an annulment from him.’ She went back to the Prophet and
asked him to revoke the marriage and he complied with [her request]…” (The
History of Al-Tabari: The Last Years of the Prophet, translated and
annotated by Ismail K. Poonawala [State University of New York Press, Albany,
1990], Volume IX (9), p. 139; bold emphasis ours)
Even Muhammad’s childbride
Aisha noticed this to be the case:
Narrated Muadha:
’Aisha said, “Allah’s
Apostle used to take the permission of that wife with whom he was supposed to
stay overnight if he wanted to go to one other than her, after this Verse was
revealed:–
‘You (O Muhammad) can
postpone (the turn of) whom you will of them (your wives) and you may receive
any (of them) whom you will; and there is no blame on you if you invite one
whose turn you have set aside (temporarily).’” (33.51) I asked Aisha, “What did
you use to say (in this case)?” She said, “I used to say to him, ‘If I
could deny you the permission (to go to your other wives) I would not allow
your favor to be bestowed on any other person.’” (Sahih al-Bukhari,
Volume 6, Book 60, Number 312 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=60&translator=1&start=0&number=312)
The foregoing makes it very
hard to avoid coming to the conclusion that the main purpose of Allah’s
existence was to satisfy Muhammad’s perverted desires and sexual lusts.
FURTHER READING
Muhammad’s Sexual
Privileges (https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2019/07/03/muhammads-sexual-privileges/)
Revisiting the Age of Aisha Pt. 4 (https://www.answering-islam.org/authors/shamoun/rebuttals/jonathan_brown/aisha_age_4.html)
Muhammad’s multiple marriages
Never Shall He Be Satisfied
Muhammad’s Marriage to
Safiyyah: A Case Study in Allah’s Mercy
Muhammad’s Marriage to
Safiyyah Revisited
Muhammad and Safiyyah
Revisited 3a, 3b
Source: https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2019/10/25/muhammad-the-womanizing-sensualist/
IHS
