Post by Danahttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/05/wosse605.xml
'Innocent religion is now a message of hate'
(Filed: 05/09/2004)
It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally
certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.
The hostage-takers of children in Beslan, North Ossetia, were Muslims. The
other hostage-takers and subsequent murderers of the Nepalese chefs and
workers in Iraq were also Muslims. Those involved in rape and murder in
Darfur, Sudan, are Muslims, with other Muslims chosen to be their victims.
Those responsible for the attacks on residential towers in Riyadh and Khobar
were Muslims. The two women who crashed two airliners last week were also
Muslims.
Bin Laden is a Muslim. The majority of those who manned the suicide bombings
against buses, vehicles, schools, houses and buildings, all over the world,
were Muslim.
What a pathetic record. What an abominable "achievement". Does all this tell
us anything about ourselves, our societies and our culture?
These images, when put together, or taken separately, are shameful and
degrading. But let us start with putting an end to a history of denial. Let
us acknowledge their reality, instead of denying them and seeking to justify
them with sound and fury signifying nothing.
For it would be easy to cure ourselves if we realise the seriousness of our
sickness. Self-cure starts with self-realisation and confession. We should
then run after our terrorist sons, in the full knowledge that they are the
sour grapes of a deformed culture.
Let us listen to Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Sheikh - the Qatar-based radical
Egyptian cleric - and hear him recite his "fatwa" about the religious
permissibility of killing civilian Americans in Iraq. Let us contemplate the
incident of this religious Sheikh allowing, nay even calling for, the murder
of civilians.
This ailing Sheikh, in his last days, with two daughters studying in
"infidel" Britain, soliciting children to kill innocent civilians.
How could this Sheikh face the mother of the youthful Nick Berg, who was
slaughtered in Iraq because he wanted to build communication towers in that
ravished country? How can we believe him when he tells us that Islam is the
religion of mercy and peace while he is turning it into a religion of blood
and slaughter?
In a different era, we used to consider the extremists, with nationalist or
Leftist leanings, a menace and a source of corruption because of their
adoption of violence as a means of discourse and their involvement in murder
as an easy shortcut to their objectives.
At that time, the mosque used to be a haven, and the voice of religion used
to be that of peace and reconciliation. Religious sermons were warm behests
for a moral order and an ethical life.
Then came the Neo-Muslims. An innocent and benevolent religion, whose verses
prohibit the felling of trees in the absence of urgent necessity, that calls
murder the most heinous of crimes, that says explicitly that if you kill one
person you have killed humanity as a whole, has been turned into a global
message of hate and a universal war cry.
We can't call those who take schoolchildren as hostages our own.
We cannot tolerate in our midst those who abduct journalists, murder
civilians, explode buses; we cannot accept them as related to us, whatever
the sufferings they claim to justify their criminal deeds. These are the
people who have smeared Islam and stained its image.
We cannot clear our names unless we own up to the shameful fact that
terrorism has become an Islamic enterprise; an almost exclusive monopoly,
implemented by Muslim men and women.
We cannot redeem our extremist youths, who commit all these heinous crimes,
without confronting the Sheikhs who thought it ennobling to re-invent
themselves as revolutionary ideologues, sending other people's sons and
daughters to certain death, while sending their own children to European and
American schools and colleges.
bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem, alhamdu li-lLahi Rabbi-l'alamien
wa-shshalatu wa-ssalamu 'ala asyrafi-lAnbiyai wa-lMursalien,
wa man tabiahu ila yaumi-ddien. NastaienuHu wa nastaghfiruHu min
sayyiati anfusina wa sayyiati amalina, ma-yyahdli-lLahu
fala mudlillalah wama-yyudlli-lLahu fala hadiyalah. 'amma bad
a-ssalamu 'alaikum wa rahmatu-lLahi wa barakatuH,
i pray that this meets you all in the best of health and in strong
ieman insya Allah. i also pray that you are all fervently
preparing for Ramadlan which seems to be getting closer more quickly
that we (well, at least most of us) expected. may Allah azza wa
jalla allow us all to be able to perform the shaum in the blessed month
and make it a means for us to gain closeness to Him - may He
also pardon us of our shortcomings and accept our deeds, no matter how
small or insignificant they may seem to us, amien.
furthermore, i would like to share a better understanding about Rasulu-
lLah's SAW marriage. it is likely the best information i heve ever read.
Was Ayesha A Six-Year-Old Bride?
The Ancient Myth Exposed
by T.O. Shanavas
A Christian friend asked me once, “Will you marry your seven year old
daughter to a fifty year old man?” I kept my silence. He continued, “If
you would not, how can you approve the marriage of an innocent seven
year old, Ayesha, with your Prophet?” I told him, “I don’t have an
answer to your question at this time.” My friend smiled and left me with
a thorn in the heart of my faith. Most Muslims answer that such
marriages were accepted in those days. Otherwise, people would have
objected to Prophet’s marriage with Ayesha.
However, such an explanation would be gullible only for those who are
naive enough to believe it. But unfortunately, I was not satisfied with
the answer.
The Prophet was an exemplary man. All his actions were most virtuous so
that we, Muslims, can emulate them. However, most people in our Islamic
Center of Toledo, including me, would not think of betrothing our seven
years daughter to a fifty-two year-old man. If a parent agrees to such a
wedding, most people, if not all, would look down upon the father and
the old husband.
In 1923, registrars of marriage in Egypt were instructed not to register
and issue official certificates of marriage for brides less than
sixteen and grooms less than eighteen years of age. Eight years later,
the Law of the Organization and Procedure of Sheriah courts of 1931
consolidated the above provision by not hearing the marriage disputes
involving brides less than sixteen and grooms less than eighteen years
old. (Women in Muslim Family Law, John Esposito, 1982). It shows that
even in the Muslim majority country of Egypt the child marriages are
unacceptable.
So, I believed, without solid evidence other than my reverence to my
Prophet, that the stories of the marriage of seven-year-old Ayesha to
50-year-old Prophet are only myths. However, my long pursuit in search of
the truth on this matter proved my intuition correct. My Prophet was a
gentleman.
And he did not marry an innocent seven or nine year old girl. The age
of Ayesha has been erroneously reported in the hadith literature.
Furthermore, I think that the narratives reporting this event are highly
unreliable. Some of the hadith (traditions of the Prophet) regarding
Ayesha’s age at the time of her wedding with prophet are problematic. I
present the following evidences against the acceptance of the fictitious
story by Hisham ibn ‘Urwah and to clear the name of my Prophet as an
irresponsible old man preying on an innocent little girl.
EVIDENCE #1: Reliability of Source
Most of the narratives printed in the books of hadith are reported only
by Hisham ibn `Urwah, who was reporting on the authority of his father.
First of all, more people than just one, two or three should logically
have reported. It is strange that no one from Medina, where Hisham ibn
`Urwah lived the first 71 years of his life narrated the event, despite the
fact that his Medinan pupils included the well-respected Malik ibn Anas.
The origins of the report of the narratives of this event are people
from Iraq, where Hisham is reported to have shifted after living in
Medina for most of his life.
Tehzibu’l-Tehzib, one of the most well known books on the life and
reliability of the narrators of the traditions of the Prophet, reports
that according to Yaqub ibn Shaibah: “He [Hisham] is highly reliable,
his narratives are acceptable, except what he narrated after moving over
to Iraq” (Tehzi’bu’l-tehzi’b, Ibn Hajar Al-`asqala’ni, Dar Ihya al-turath
al-Islami, 15th century. Vol 11, p. 50).
It further states that Malik ibn Anas objected on those narratives of
Hisham which were reported through people in Iraq: “I have been told
that Malik objected on those narratives of Hisham which were reported
through people of Iraq” (Tehzi’b u’l-tehzi’b, Ibn Hajar Al-`asqala’ni,
Dar Ihya al-turath al-Islami, Vol.11, p. 50).
Mizanu’l-ai`tidal, another book on the life sketches of the narrators of
the traditions of the Prophet reports: “When he was old, Hisham’s
memory suffered quite badly” (Mizanu’l-ai`tidal, Al-Zahbi, Al-Maktabatu’
l-athriyyah, Sheikhupura, Pakistan, Vol. 4, p. 301).
CONCLUSION: Based on these references, Hisham’s memory was failing and
his narratives while in Iraq were unreliable. So, his narrative of
Ayesha’s marriage and age are unreliable.
CHRONOLOGY: It is vital also to keep in mind some of the pertinent dates
in the history of Islam:
pre-610 CE: Jahiliya (pre-Islamic age) before revelation
610 CE: First revelation
610 CE: AbuBakr accepts Islam
613 CE: Prophet Muhammad begins preaching publicly.
615 CE: Emigration to Abyssinia
616 CE: Umar bin al Khattab accepts Islam
620 CE: Generally accepted betrothal of Ayesha to the Prophet
622 CE: Hijrah (emigation to Yathrib, later renamed Medina)
623/624 CE: Generally accepted year of Ayesha living with the Prophet
EVIDENCE #2: The Betrothal
According to Tabari (also according to Hisham ibn ‘Urwah, Ibn Hunbal and
Ibn Sad), Ayesha was betrothed at seven years of age and began to
cohabit with the Prophet at the age of nine years.
However, in another work, Al-Tabari says: “All four of his [Abu Bakr’s]
children were born of his two wives during the pre-Islamic period”
(Tarikhu’l-umam wa’l-mamlu’k, Al-Tabari (died 922), Vol. 4, p. 50, Arabic,
Dara’l-fikr, Beirut, 1979).
If Ayesha was betrothed in 620 CE (at the age of seven) and started to
live with the Prophet in 624 CE (at the age of nine), that would
indicate that she was born in 613 CE and was nine when she began living
with the Prophet. Therefore, based on one account of Al-Tabari, the
numbers show that Ayesha must have born in 613 CE, three years after the
beginning of revelation (610 CE). Tabari also states that Ayesha was
born in the pre-Islamic era (in Jahiliya). If she was born before 610 CE,
she would have been at least 14 years old when she began living with
the Prophet. Essentially, Tabari contradicts himself.
CONCLUSION: Al-Tabari is unreliable in the matter of determining Ayesha’s
age.
EVIDENCE # 3: The Age of Ayesha in Relation to the Age of Fatima
According to Ibn Hajar, “Fatima was born at the time the Ka`bah was
rebuilt, when the Prophet was 35 years old... she was five years older
that Ayesha” (Al-isabah fi tamyizi’l-sahabah, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Vol.
4, p. 377, Maktabatu’l-Riyadh al-haditha, al-Riyadh, 1978).
If Ibn Hajar’s statement is factual, Ayesha was born when the Prophet
was 40 years old. If Ayesha was married to the Prophet when he was 52
years old, Ayesha’s age at marriage would be 12 years.
CONCLUSION: Ibn Hajar, Tabari an Ibn Hisham and Ibn Humbal contradict
each other. So, the marriage of Ayesha at seven years of age is a myth.
EVIDENCE #4: Ayesha’s Age in relation to Asma’s Age
According to Abda’l-Rahman ibn abi zanna’d: “Asma was 10 years older
than Ayesha (Siyar A`la’ma’l-nubala’, Al-Zahabi, Vol. 2, p. 289, Arabic,
Mu’assasatu’l-risalah, Beirut, 1992).
According to Ibn Kathir: “She [Asma] was elder to her sister [Ayesha] by
10 years” (Al-Bidayah wa’l-nihayah, Ibn Kathir, Vol. 8, p. 371, Dar
al-fikr al-`arabi, Al-jizah, 1933).
According to Ibn Kathir: “She [Asma] saw the killing of her son during
that year [73 AH], as we have already mentioned, and five days later she
herself died. According to other narratives, she died not after five
days but 10 or 20, or a few days over 20, or 100 days later. The most
well known narrative is that of 100 days later. At the time of her death,
she was 100 years old.” (Al-Bidayah wa’l-nihayah, Ibn Kathir, Vol. 8, p.
372, Dar al-fikr al-`arabi, Al-jizah, 1933)
According to Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani: “She [Asma] lived a hundred years
and died in 73 or 74 AH.” (Taqribu’l-tehzib, Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani, p.
654, Arabic, Bab fi’l-nisa’, al-harfu’l-alif, Lucknow).
According to almost all the historians, Asma, the elder sister of Ayesha
was 10 years older than Ayesha. If Asma was 100 years old in 73 AH, she
should have been 27 or 28 years old at the time of the hijrah.
If Asma was 27 or 28 years old at the time of hijrah, Ayesha should have
been 17 or 18 years old. Thus, Ayesha, being 17 or 18 years of at the
time of Hijra, she started to cohabit with the Prophet between at either
19 to 20 years of age.
Based on Hajar, Ibn Katir, and Abda’l-Rahman ibn abi zanna’d, Ayesha’s
age at the time she began living with the Prophet would be 19 or 20. In
Evidence # 3, Ibn Hajar suggests that Ayesha was 12 years old and in
Evidence #4 he contradicts himself with a 17 or 18-year-old Ayesha. What
is the correct age, twelve or eighteen?
CONCLUSION: Ibn Hajar is an unreliable source for Ayesha’s age.
EVIDENCE #5: The Battles of Badr and Uhud
A narrative regarding Ayesha’s participation in Badr is given in the
hadith of Muslim, (Kitabu’l-jihad wa’l-siyar, Bab karahiyati’l-isti`anah
fi’l-ghazwi bikafir). Ayesha, while narrating the journey to Badr and
one of the important events that took place in that journey, says: “when
we reached Shajarah”. Obviously, Ayesha was with the group travelling
towards Badr. A narrative regarding Ayesha’s participation in the Battle
of Uhud is given in Bukhari (Kitabu’l-jihad wa’l-siyar, Bab Ghazwi’l-nisa’
wa qitalihinna ma`a’lrijal): “Anas reports that on the day of Uhud,
people could not stand their ground around the Prophet. [On that day,] I
saw Ayesha and Umm-i-Sulaim, they had pulled their dress up from their
feet [to avoid any hindrance in their movement].” Again, this indicates
that Ayesha was present in the Battles of Uhud and Badr.
It is narrated in Bukhari (Kitabu’l-maghazi, Bab Ghazwati’l-khandaq wa
hiya’l-ahza’b): “Ibn `Umar states that the Prophet did not permit me to
participate in Uhud, as at that time, I was 14 years old. But on the day
of Khandaq, when I was 15 years old, the Prophet permitted my
participation.”
Based on the above narratives, (a) the children below 15 years were sent
back and were not allowed to participate in the Battle of Uhud, and (b)
Ayesha participated in the Battles of Badr and Uhud
CONCLUSION: Ayesha’s participation in the Battles of Badr and Uhud
clearly indicates that she was not nine years old but at least 15 years
old. After all, women used to accompany men to the battlefields to help
them, not to be a burden on them. This account is another contradiction
regarding Ayesha’s age.
EVIDENCE #6: Surat al-Qamar (The Moon)
According to the generally accepted tradition, Ayesha was born about
eight years before hijrah. But according to another narrative in Bukhari,
Ayesha is reported to have said: “I was a young girl (jariyah in Arabic)”
when Surah Al-Qamar was revealed (Sahih Bukhari, kitabu’l-tafsir, Bab
Qaulihi Bal al-sa`atu Maw`iduhum wa’l-sa`atu adha’ wa amarr).
Chapter 54 of the Quran was revealed eight years before hijrah (The
Bounteous Koran, M.M. Khatib, 1985), indicating that it was revealed in
614 CE. If Ayesha started living with the Prophet at the age of nine in
623 CE or 624 CE, she was a newborn infant (sibyah in Arabic) at the
time that Surah Al-Qamar (The Moon) was revealed. According to the above
tradition, Ayesha was actually a young girl, not an infant in the year
of revelation of Al-Qamar. Jariyah means young playful girl (Lane’s
Arabic English Lexicon). So, Ayesha, being a jariyah not a sibyah (infant),
must be somewhere between 6-13 years old at the time of revelation of
Al-Qamar, and therefore must have been 14-21 years at the time she
married the Prophet.
CONCLUSION: This tradition also contradicts the marriage of Ayesha at
the age of nine.
EVIDENCE #7: Arabic Terminology
According to a narrative reported by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, after the death
of the Prophet’s first wife Khadijah, when Khaulah came to the Prophet
advising him to marry again, the Prophet asked her regarding the choices
she had in mind. Khaulah said: “You can marry a virgin (bikr) or a
woman who has already been married (thayyib)”. When the Prophet asked
the identity of the bikr (virgin), Khaulah mentioned Ayesha’s name.
All those who know the Arabic language are aware that the word bikr in
the Arabic language is not used for an immature nine-year-old girl. The
correct word for a young playful girl, as stated earlier, is jariyah.
Bikr on the other hand, is used for an unmarried lady without conjugal
experience prior to marriage, as we understand the word “virgin” in
English. Therefore, obviously a nine-year-old girl is not a “lady” (bikr)
(Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Vol. 6, p. .210, Arabic, Dar Ihya al-turath
al-`arabi, Beirut).
CONCLUSION: The literal meaning of the word, bikr (virgin), in the above
hadith is “adult woman with no sexual experience prior to marriage.”
Therefore, Ayesha was an adult woman at the time of her marriage.
EVIDENCE #8. The Qur’anic Text
All Muslims agree that the Quran is the book of guidance. So, we need to
seek the guidance from the Quran to clear the smoke and confusion
created by the eminent men of the classical period of Islam in the
matter of Ayesha’s age at her marriage. Does the Quran allow or disallow
marriage of an immature child of seven years of age?
There are no verses that explicitly allow such marriage. There is a
verse, however, that guides Muslims in their duty to raise an orphaned
child. The Quran’s guidance on the topic of raising orphans is also
valid in the case of our own children. The verse states: “And make not
over your property (property of the orphan), which Allah had made a (means
of) support for you, to the weak of understanding, and maintain them
out of it, clothe them and give them good education. And test them until
they reach the age of marriage. Then if you find them maturity of
intellect, make over them their property...” (Quran, 4:5-6).
In the matter of children who have lost a parent, a Muslim is ordered to
(a) feed them, (b) clothe them, (c) educate them, and (d) test them for
maturity “until the age of marriage” before entrusting them with
management of finances.
Here the Quranic verse demands meticulous proof of their intellectual
and physical maturity by objective test results before the age of
marriage in order to entrust their property to them.
In light of the above verses, no responsible Muslim would hand over
financial management to a seven- or nine-year-old immature girl. If we
cannot trust a seven-year-old to manage financial matters, she cannot be
intellectually or physically fit for marriage. Ibn Hambal (Musnad Ahmad
ibn Hambal, vol.6, p. 33 and 99) claims that nine-year-old Ayesha was
rather more interested in playing with toy-horses than taking up the
responsible task of a wife. It is difficult to believe, therefore, that
AbuBakr, a great believer among Muslims, would betroth his immature
seven-year-old daughter to the 50-year-old Prophet. Equally difficult to
imagine is that the Prophet would marry an immature seven-year-old girl.
Another important duty demanded from the guardian of a child is to
educate them. Let us ask the question, “How many of us believe that we
can educate our children satisfactorily before they reach the age of
seven or nine years?” The answer is none. Logically, it is an impossible
task to educate a child satisfactorily before the child attains the age
of seven. Then, how can we believe that Ayesha was educated
satisfactorily at the claimed age of seven at the time of her marriage?
AbuBakr was a more judicious man than all of us. So, he definitely would
have judged that Ayesha was a child at heart and was not satisfactorily
educated as demanded by the Quran. He would not have married her to
anyone. If a proposal of marrying the immature and yet to be educated
seven-year-old Ayesha came to the Prophet, he would have rejected it
outright because neither the Prophet nor AbuBakr would violate any
clause in the Quran.
CONCLUSION: The marriage of Ayesha at the age of seven years would
violate the maturity clause or requirement of the Quran. Therefore, the
story of the marriage of the seven-year-old immature Ayesha is a myth.
EVIDENCE #9: Consent in Marriage
A women must be consulted and must agree in order to make a marriage
valid (Mishakat al Masabiah, translation by James Robson, Vol. I, p. 665).
Islamically, credible permission from women is a prerequisite for a
marriage to be valid.
By any stretch of the imagination, the permission given by an immature
seven-year-old girl cannot be valid authorization for marriage.
It is inconceivable that AbuBakr, an intelligent man, would take
seriously the permission of a seven-year-old girl to marry a 50-year-old
man.
Similarly, the Prophet would not have accepted the permission given by a
girl who, according to the hadith of Muslim, took her toys with her
when she went live with Prophet.
CONCLUSION: The Prophet did not marry a seven-year-old Ayesha because it
would have violated the requirement of the valid permission clause of
the Islamic Marriage Decree. Therefore, the Prophet married an
intellectually and physically mature lady Ayesha.
SUMMARY:
It was neither an Arab tradition to give away girls in marriage at an
age as young as seven or nine years, nor did the Prophet marry Ayesha at
such a young age. The people of Arabia did not object to this marriage
because it never happened in the manner it has been narrated.
Obviously, the narrative of the marriage of nine-year-old Ayesha by
Hisham ibn `Urwah cannot be held true when it is contradicted by many
other reported narratives. Moreover, there is absolutely no reason to
accept the narrative of Hisham ibn `Urwah as true when other scholars,
including Malik ibn Anas, view his narrative while in Iraq, as
unreliable. The quotations from Tabari, Bukhari and Muslim show they
contradict each other regarding Ayesha’s age. Furthermore, many of these
scholars contradict themselves in their own records. Thus, the
narrative of Ayesha’s age at the time of the marriage is not reliable
due to the clear contradictions seen in the works of classical scholars
of Islam.
Therefore, there is absolutely no reason to believe that the information
on Ayesha’s age is accepted as true when there are adequate grounds to
reject it as myth. Moreover, the Quran rejects the marriage of immature
girls and boys as well as entrusting them with responsibilities.
hadana-lLahu wa iyyakum ajma`in, wa-lLahu 'alam bi-shshawab, wa
bi-lLahi-ttaufiq wa-lhidayah baraka-lLahu fiekum wa
shalla-lLahu wa-ssallamuH 'ala Nabiyyina Muhammad, subhanaka-
lLahumma wabihamdiKa asyhadu alla Ilaha illa Anta,
astaghfiruKa wa atubu ilaiK.
wa ssalamu 'alaikum wa rahmatu-lLahi wa-barakatuH.
Leo Imanov