In the name of Allah (God),
I have decided to dedicate sincere and honest endeavour in helping to establish the Truth by helping to defend the good name of the last Prophet (pbuh) of Allah as well as refuting many other lies and misconceptions that are being disseminated by the insincere, wicked, deceptive, intellectually and morally bankrupted individuals as well as the ignorant individuals who all share a faulty characteristic; a blatant disregard for the Truth.
I ask Allah to purify my intentions and save me from doing any good action for self-aggrandizement, as all actions are judged by intentions. May Allah Love me, and bless this work. My message to any non-Muslim reading this is thus:
Please give Islam a chance, research it for yourself and allow Muslims and Muslim sources to be your primary resources you refer to when studying Islam rather than basing your views on agenda-motivated Islamophobic sources.
O Allah, You are Al-Wadud (The Loving)...please O Allah love me and bless all those Muslims and non-Muslims who read this.
Ameen
In the Middle Ages, getting married was easy for Christians living in western Europe...Marriage was the only acceptable place for sex and as a result Christians were allowed to marry from puberty onwards, generally seen at the time as age 12 for women and 14 for men. Parental consent was not required. When this law finally changed in England in the 18th century, the old rules still applied in Scotland [Emma Mason]
Beth Grove begins by offending two Muslim gentlemen by a comment about stealing. She then talks about translations of the Scriptures confusing the fact that the actual language of the Scripture is what is considered Scripture as highlighted by Dr Ben Witherington. She then misunderstands a Hadith and claims Prophet Muhammad hit Aisha (despite the fact Aisha herself taught that the Prophet never hit any of his wives!)
Lizzie Schofield Witnesses Rude Beth Grove Arguments at Speakers Corner - Pfander Centre for Apologetics Refuted
If this vide does not play, please see here and here
The hand imposition of the prophet Muhammed (pbuh) it is a gesture driving away evil influence (waswas) and conferring blessings, it’s nothing bad at all. The intent of the Prophet Muhammed (p) was to drive away ‘evil influence’ from Aisha. Proof from the following Hadiths that the prophet Muhammed (p) pushed Aisha (Ra) and never hit her:
Aisha said:“Allaah’s Messenger (pbuh) never hit anything with his hand ever, except when fighting in the path of Allaah. Nor did he ever hit a servant or a woman.”[Recorded In Ibn Majah. Al-Albani graded it Sahih.]
Aisha reports:”Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) did not hit Anything with his hands, besides the time when he made Jihaad in the Path of Allah.He did not hit a servant nor a woman (wife, girl etc.)”. [Shamaail‐e‐Tirmidhi (331) Hadith Number 6.]
‘Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her) reported: Messenger of Allah (pbuh) never hit anything with his hand neither a servant nor a womanbut of course, he did fight in the Cause of Allah. He never took revenge upon anyone for the wrong done to him, but of course, he exacted retribution for the sake of Allah in case the Injunctions of Allah about unlawful acts were violated.[Muslim Arabic/English book reference : Book 1, Hadith 644]
As you have read from the above Hadith reported in three different Hadith Books , the prophet never hit any woman nor a servant, these statement(s) that the Prophet never hit any woman are from Aisha own mouth. So, the correct translation is that the Prophet pushed Aisha, to drive away evil influence, as Aisha makes it evidently clear that he NEVER hit any woman or servant. That statement from Aisha alone shows that Prophet Muhammed (p) was never abusive in any shape or form, to any of his wives. This proves that the translation for the Hadith that says Muhammed ‘struck’ Aisha is false.
This excerpt from Dr Jonathan Brown is insightful and important for many on the internet as there are misconceptions and Islamophobic allegations swirling around the internet.
Some of the take home points:
Muslim scholars historically have forbade sex with girls who are not of physical capability to undergo it on the basis that sex could be physically harmful. Thus really, if we transfer this historical scholarship and thought, then stories of young girls dying or being harmed through sex because they weren't physically ready for it would be in contradiction with Muslim scholarly views.
If somebody did have sex with a girl who was pre-pubescent, the Shariah courts considered it despicable and censured it. It was socially condemned too thus showing that Muslim communities considered this act to be despicable.
The legacy of Prophet Muhammad's (p) marriage to Aisha (ra) is the Muslim teaching that sexual relations cannot be had with anybody not physically mature enough.
Islam, contrary to what some Islamophobic bigots may say, does not allow sex if it is physically harmful for the girl. And of course, that is an outright opposition to paedophilia (sex with prepubescent girls).
...the medieval ulama considered the point at which a girl was fit for intercourse to be too varied to be firmly legislated for. It was most appropriate for the bride, groom and the bride's guardian to determine the appropriate age for intercourse. The norm that the ulama did come to consensus on was only a general guideline: they prohibited sexual intercourse for girls 'not able to undergo it,' on the basis that otherwise sex could be physically harmful. If the groom and his wife or her guardian disagreed about her capacity for sex, a Shariah court judge would decide, perhaps after a female expert witness examined her. This was also based on the Prophet's marriage to Aisha. The couple had concluded the marriage contract when Aisha was only six but waited to consummate the marriage until she reached physical maturity. In the case of the Hanbali tradition followed by the Mufti of Saudi Arabia, sex was allowed when the bride was 'at the age which others like her have intercourse,' specifying nine as the norm for suitability on the basis of Aisha's Hadith. A Scottish physician resident in Aleppo in the mid 1700s noted how families endeavoured to marry their children off (i.e. complete the marriage contract) at a young age but that they would not consummate the marriage until the girl 'had come of age''. Historical evidence from nineteenth-century Ottoman Palestine suggests that the husbands having sexual intercourse with wives before they reached puberty did sometimes occur. But it was rare, condemned socially and censured by Shariah court judges. Shariah courts in French Algeria in the 1850s considered it equally despicable.
'Misquoting Muhammad', Jonathan A.C Brown, Kindle p143
Here's an important video featuring Shaikh Muhammad Salah, Dr Jonathan Brown, Hamza Yusuf, Dr Bilal Philips, Shaikh Imran Hossein and Dr Yasir Qadhi which all go towards destroying the Islamophobic claim against the idea of Aisha having reached puberty.
Dishonest claims about Islam are rife on the internet. I really hope Christians will start to reign in the dishonest missionaries within their communities who spread such falsehoods about Islam. Here we see two internet Islamophobes, David Wood and Sam Shamoun, having their dishonesty stomped out. I really hope those who donate money to these folk will stop - don't pay for dishonesty.
The Truth about Prophet Muhammad's marriage to Aisha
Peace be on all of the Prophets of God. Ameen.
Invitation to Islam
Jesus taught people to do the Will of God (according to Mark 3:35) in order to become his brothers, mothers or sisters. A Muslim means one who submits to the Will of God. Do you want to become a brother of Jesus? If yes, become a Muslim. Now is the time.
The Definitive Word on the Marriage of the Prophet Muhammad (s) to Aisha (r)
An amazing lecture with PowerPoint given by Dr. Ali Shehata on Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) Marriage to Aisha (ra). Dr. Ali discusses the noble character of the Prophet (pbuh), the authentic historical record of this matter, the cultural views in his era, the medical aspects related to puberty, a better understand of what constitutes pedophilia and the reasons behind the recent surge of relentless attacks on the Prophet (pbuh).
.:
A MUST SEE FOR EVERYONE :.
"Of all the world's great men none has been so much maligned as Muhammad." - British author and University of Edinburgh professor emeritus, W. Montgomery Watt
Dr. Ali Shehata is an Emergency and Family Medicine physician currently living in the central Florida area. He was born in Maryland to parents who had immigrated to the US from Egypt. He has studied Islam mainly through traditional methods among various scholars, du'aat and students of knowledge here in the US.
Dr. Ali Shehata has written a book available on Amazon:
Demystifying Islam: Your Guide to the Most Misunderstood Religion of the 21st Century
Earnest inquiry as to the age of Mary at the time of her betrothal (and marriage) to Joseph as well as the virginal conception (and birth) of Jesus (p) is clouded by the revisionist claims of Christian evangelists who are intent on representing a 21st century understanding of such customs. This is another reason why consulting scholarship in any enquiry is of paramount importance. Here we have the Jesus scholar, Professor Geza Vermes, breaking the barriers of evangelical revisionism with proper contextualisation of suchlike.
Christians and Jews: Arranged Marriages
Arranged marriages were the norm within Jewish societies prior to and contemporaneous to Jesus’ time. Thus, scholars like Geza Vermes are led to believe Mary’s betrothal to Joseph would have been arranged by a male relative at a young age.
To begin with betrothal, in Matthew (as in Luke) Joseph and Mary are said to be engaged. To appreciate properly the meaning of betrothal, it is to be remembered that in the Jewish society of the age of Jesus, arranged marriage was the established custom. The betrothal of a young girl was the prerogative of her father. If the father was no longer alive, his place was taken by the girl’s brother or some other male relative. The head of the family negotiated the financial settlement with the groom and his parents. The girl had no say whatever in the matter.
Betrothal of minors was a Jewish norm
Contrary to some of the apologetic material emanating from various Christian ministries, standard Jewish practice at the time was the betrothal of minors – females attained maturity at the age of twelve. Quite apart from the subordinate status of women in Jewish Law, in the rabbinic era and no doubt earlier too, the bride-to-be was by definition a minor, a person not yet of age. It should be noted that in the Mishnaic-Talmudic legislation girls attained majority when they started to menstruate, or on the day after their twelfth birthday, whichever came first. In the rabbinic perspective, majority and attainment of puberty were coterminous. By the age of twelve years and six months a young woman became, in the terminology of the rabbis ‘mature’ (bogeret), and was expected already to be married. In any case, by then her father no longer had the right unilaterally to betroth her.
Vermes: Mary was no more than twelve (12) or a little younger
Again, cutting through some of the evangelical revisionism, according to Geza Vermes, Mary would have been twelve years of age (or a little less) at the time of her betrothal/marriage to Joseph and at the time of her giving birth to Jesus (p)
Once the preliminary requirements laid down in the agreement of betrothal were satisfied, nuptials followed: they were presumed to take place within twelve months from the date of agreement. Then the bridegroom led his bride to his own home amid solemn festivities attended by family, friends and neighbours. The Gospels contain various parables about Jewish weddings (see for example Mt 25:1-13). It would follow from these rules, which appear standard and long standing, and not some kind of innovation by the redactors of the Mishnah, that at the time of the incidents described in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Mary was no more than twelve years old or conceivably a little less, and by the standards of her society and age, mature enough for marriage
Jesus’ views + Christian fundamentalist hypocrisy and folly
Christian evangelists should note there is no recorded condemnation of such practices from Jesus thus suggesting Jesus gave (at the very least) tacit approval of such marital customs.
Some of the riff-raff amongst Christian evangelists readily de-contextualise the marriages of Muhammad (p) to Aisha (ra) in order to direct an intellectually dishonest character-assassination attempt of Prophet Muhammad (p) yet fail to recognise this marriage was in similar vein to the Jewish customs at the time of Jesus. These evangelists fail to attack the Jews for such practices whilst attacking Muslims and Mormons (Joseph Smith) for the same custom.
Further still, the riff-raff amongst Western Christian evangelists fail to attack their fellow ‘Bible-believing’ forefathers as they were following similar marital customs:
Age is an additional requirement. Every jurisdiction mandates that a man and a woman must be old enough to wed. In the 1800s, the legal age was as low as 12 years old for females. Modern statutes ordinarily provide that females may marry at age 16 and males at age 18. Sometimes a lower age is permitted with the written consent of the parents. A number of states allow for marriage below the minimum age if the female is pregnant and a judge grants permission [Marriage: Legal Dictionary - http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/marriage]
Quotes taken from Jesus, Geza Vermes, Penguin Books, 2010, p. 64-65
May Allah send more Blessings upong Mary, Jesus and Muhammad. Ameen.
It appears some people are slow learners; David Wood of Acts 17 appears to be amongst the slow learners. Wood has recently been repeating his malicious claims of Islam allowing sex with prepubescent girls. Those who are familiar with this issue will now begin to move away from the idea of him being ignorant and move to the idea of him being disingenuous.
I have ALREADY explained this issue to him via a debate which can be viewed here, thus he has no excuse for his continual propagation of falsehood.
David Wood, once again combines two Verses from the Quran (33:49 with 64:5) and comes up with a conclusion NO school of thought ever entertained. All four schools of Islamic Jurisprudence disallow sex with prepubescent girls. I have previously discussed this claim here
Look, this is OLD territory and David Wood knows he has been thoroughly refuted and embarrassed in the past; so much so that he was found to be DISTORTING Tafsir literature see here.
Wood’s conflation of (33:49 and 64:5 from the Quran) and his subsequent erroneous conclusions have been dealt with here.
Jesus Gave Tacit Approval?
Before moving onto a new Hadith he has incorporated into his repertoire I will remind you the famous Jesus scholar Geza Vermes suggested the Jewish practice at the time of Jesus was that of marrying girls prior to puberty and once they had reached the biological sign (puberty) marriage would be consummated [5]. A similar practice took place in Arab societies of the past. Both Jesus and Muhammad never prohibited such practices; however, Islam will only allow consummation when the female is physically capable. This was explained to David Wood previously, so we are in fact going over old ground.
He has added this into the following Hadith repertoire
Sahih al-Bukhari 5236—“Narrated Aishah: The Prophet was screening me with his Rida . . . So you may deduce from this event how a little girl (who has not reached the age of puberty) . . . should be treated in this respect.”
Here is another (more detailed) Hadith I found:
Narrated 'Aisha: Once I saw Allah's Apostle at the door of my house while some Ethiopians were playing in the mosque (displaying their skill with spears). Allah's Apostle was screening me with his rida' so as to enable me to see their display. ('Urwa said that 'Aisha said, "I saw the Prophet and the Ethiopians were playing with their spears.") (Book 8, Hadith 445)
Firstly, David Wood tries to get us to believe the Hadith cited proves Aisha was prepubescent at the time of consummation (and living with the Prophet). This could not be further from the truth.
This Hadith is referring to the time prior to consummation - Aisha had not begun living with the Prophet at this time. The marriage was formally drawn when Aisha was six and then consummated in the year 1 AH in Madinah after a period of roughly three years [1] [2]. Aisha having reached puberty at the time of consummation is confirmed by the classical scholars [3]
Again, the question is asked WHY did the Prophet wait for three years before consummating the marriage? Surely, if he thought having sex with prepubescent girls was allowed then he would not have waited three years. Obviously he waited for her to reach physical and mental maturity.
Going back to the Hadith the Islamophobe cites; it is referring to time during the wait for her to reach maturity – an acceptable condition for consummation. Sadly David Wood, hides this from his readers
I will allow Sheikh Moustafa Zayed to explain (perhaps he will get through to the slow learners out there; the ones who cling onto this malicious polemic in attempts to demonise Prophet Muhammad, Islam and all Muslims):
The most important rule as to marriage of females as per the majority of Muslim scholars is that the female had reached puberty and that she can mentally carry the responsibility of marriage. She has to be physically and mentally able to fulfil the duties of marriage…why was the Prophet waiting to consummate the marriage for three years? The answer is simple; for Aisha to reach the acceptable combination of conditions for her to be accepted as a wife. [4]
Like I say, Wood’s material is old hat and he is sounding like a stuck record; I guess even his small fanatical following are tiring of his regurgitated and tired arguments.
Please do visit the links presented above to ensure Wood’s disingenuous ways do not mislead you. If you are a supporter of the Acts 17 group then you need to have a long hard rethink.
David Wood’s partner, Nabeel Qureshi, is a slow learner too - he repeats misinformation here
There are other materials out there to aid the truth seeker on this subject. I’m sure you have had enough with ill-informed anti-Muslim characters. Here is an expert, Sheikh Hamza Yusuf speaking on the topic of Mohammad’s marriage to Aisha and educating us all in a very noble and erudite fashion. Do not be fooled by the charlatans on the internet who waste their lives spreading falsehood about Islam!
[1] Ar-Raheequl-Makhtum by Safi-ur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri, Darussalam, 2002 pg 176-177
[2] Sahih Al Bukhari 1/551, Talqih Fuhum Ahlil-Athar, p10
[3]Explanation of Muslim by Imam Nawawi, Book of Marriage, Hadeeth 75, Vol 9, p.207 Aisha said: ‘Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) engaged me when I was six years old, and consummated the marriage when I was a girl of nine years old.’... And Malik and Shafii and Abu Hanifa said: ‘The limit for that (consummation) is her (the female’s) capability for (sexual) intercourse.’ Dawudi said: ‘And Aisha then had physically matured well indeed’.”
[4] The Lies About Muhammad, Moustafa Zayed, 2010, pg 333
[5] Jesus the Jew, by Geza Vermes, 1973, William Collins sons and Co Ltd, pages 219-222
Appendix
Qur’an 65:4 (Hilali-Khan)—And those of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the 'Iddah (prescribed period), if you have doubt (about their period), is three months, and for those who have no courses [(i.e. they are still immature) their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is three months likewise, except in case of death] . And for those who are pregnant (whether they are divorced or their husbands are dead), their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is until they lay down (their burdens), and whosoever fears Allah and keeps his duty to Him, He will make his matter easy for him.
Qur’an 33:49 (Hilali-Khan)—O you who believe! When you marry believing women, and then divorce them before you have sexual intercourse with them, no 'Iddah [divorce prescribed period, see (V.65:4)] have you to count in respect of them. So give them a present, and set them free i.e. divorce, in a handsome manner.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 2
It appears David Wood's partner has also been informed on this issue in the past by 1MoreMuslim...yet it appears Qureshi has not passed the info onto Wood.
1moremuslim said... A week ago, I have sent references to Nabeel Qureshi, about the evolution of age of consent in the west, through the centuries. Take for example, at the end of 19th century, in Delaware (US), the age of consent was 7 year old!!! Nabeel Qureishi replied my email saying : " Interesting, thanks". We see here that he was not interested at all.
The missionaries will not give up their "best" tools against Islam, they don't have other solid arguments to persuade the less educated masses. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
