CHAPTER 2
THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD
Abu al-Qasim Muhammad Ibn Abd al Muttalib Ibn
Hashim, the founder of Islam and the Arab Empire, was born in Mecca c. 570 A.D.
after the death of his father. At first, he was under the care of his paternal
grandfather, and after his death, Abu Talib, his uncle, took over his
guardianship. When he was six, his mother, Amina departed from this world.
Muhammad belonged to the clan of Hashim, which was a part of the tribe of
Quresh and inhabited Mecca where Muhammad was born. Though Mecca was a small
town, it was a mercantile centre, and was respected for its sanctuary known as
the Kaaba. The Quresh were descendants of Ishmael, son of Abraham, the Jewish
patriarch, and claimed that it was Abraham, accompanied by Ishmael, who rebuilt
the temple of Kaaba for worship of God but it became the focus of idolatry,
which lasted for many centuries. Muhammad died on June 8, 632 A.D.
Since Kaaba was a temple organised on the Indian principle of statue-worship,
and Hashimites, the immediate family of the Prophet Muhammad, were its trustees,
not only were they all idolaters but also protectors of idol-worship. It is,
therefore, not surprising that when Muhammad was born, his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib
*"took the young child in his arms, and went to the Kaaba, and as he stood
beside the Holy house, he gave thanks to God. The child was called
Muhammad." Obviously, the infant was initiated into life according to the
pagan rites of his family.
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* The Life of Mahomet by Sir William Muir, page 5.
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Surely, the boy-Muhammad would have regularly accompanied his elders to
the temple of Kaaba. The hadith no. 5654 (Muslim) states, on the authority of
Jabir b. Samura, that the Prophet Muhammad said: "I recognise the stone in
Kaaba which used to pay me salutations before my advent as a Prophet and I
recognise that even now."
The stone mentioned here certainly means the Black Stone of Kaaba; it could
not have paid salutations to Muhammad if he had not been a visitor to this Holy
Temple adorned with some 350 statues belonging to different Arab tribes. It goes
without saying that Muhammad used to visit Kaaba for the same purpose as did his
family members, who were pagans, and are roasting in hell for their disbelief.
His fatherly uncle, Abu Talib, according to Hadith no. 408 (Muslim) is burning
in the shallow part of hell despite the fact that Muhammad could not have
preached Islam without his most benevolent support. Surah IX: 113 of the Koran
illustrates this fact by forbidding the Prophet to beg pardon for any polytheist
including his closest relations such as mother (father) or uncles.
One should also bear in mind that, during 605 A.D. the violent floods that
swept down the valley, shattered the Kaaba and necessitated its reconstruction.
It was Muhammad who sagaciously arranged the fixing of the Black Stone in its
proper place. Obviously, he was one of the worshippers of the Temple. There is
nothing improper in it because people follow the religion of their parents
unless they feel a marked change in their attitude towards the ancestral faith.
It did not happen to Muhammad until he was forty when he claimed to have
received his first revelation from Allah.
My narrative collides with the well propagated statements to be found in the
Islamic books and on people's tongues. In fact, extraordinary tales have been
forged to bestow supernatural grandeur on Muhammad with a view to exploiting the
appeal of his name. This is a clever stratagem of the religious and political
sharks, who draw attention to themselves by pretending to be the true devotees
of the Prophet but, in reality, they are seasoned hypocrites; the more
skillfully they praise Muhammad, the greater their chances to fool his followers
with their false piety.
It has been claimed:
1. God, first created the light of Muhammad, out of which He then proceeded to
create everything which constitutes this world.
2. When Muhammad was born, the angels started singing; idols everywhere
fell on their faces, and fires of all fire-worshippers in Persia and India
became cold.
3. These miracles, including many more, took place because it is claimed
that Muhammad was a prophet before birth.
This is all false publicity. If this was true, Muhammad would not have been
fathered by an idolater; nor a *pagan woman could have borne him. Again, it
totally negates the Koranic evidence, which says that Muhammad received his
first revelation when he was meditating in a desert cave called Hira. He was
forty years old at that time. Obviously, he had a religion before this event. It
could not have been anything but the faith of his ancestors, which
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* Hadith no. 2129 (Muslim) clearly states that Allah forbade Muhammad to beg
forgiveness for his mother owing to her unbelief.
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was idolatry. This statement appears blasphemous but it happens to be the
truth, which the Muslim scholars and divines are determined to hide, yet they
call themselves "pious believers." The Koran candidly testifies to
what I have just mentioned. It says:
"We have revealed to thee (Muhammad) a
Spirit of Our (Allah's) bidding. Thou knewest
not what the Book was, nor belief;
but We (Allah) made it a light, whereby, We
(Allah) guide whom We will of our servants."
(Counsel, XLII: 50)
In a nutshell, Allah is telling Muhammad:
1. He (Muhammad) did not know anything about the Koran until he started
receiving revelations.
2. Therefore, he did not possess the right faith i.e. Islam, before the
commencement of revelations.
3. It is Allah who made His revelations a source of light for Muhammad.
4. Allah guides whom he likes, and Muhammad is one of those lucky servants
of Allah.
It is crystal clear that Muhammad was not born guided. Therefore, he was not a
prophet before birth; neither the world was created from his light. Since he was
born as an ordinary human, the miracles ascribed to his birth are sheer
fabrications.
If he was really a Prophet before birth, why did he not preach Islam for
forty years, and thus deliberately neglected Allah's command?
The Koran makes it clear that Muhammad is a mortal, who is endowed with human
nature and therefore subject to the natural law, which states: "to err is
human." Here is the testimony:
".... God may forgive thee (Muhammad) thy former
and thy latter sins, and complete his blessings upon
thee, and guide thee
on a straight path,
and that may help thee
with mighty help." (Victory, XLVIII: I)
In view of the above verses, can anyone deny the fact that being a human,
Muhammad had committed sins in the past, and was likely to repeat them in
future? He needed Allah's help and guidance to go straight.
Also note: "(Muhammad) ask forgiveness for thy sins and
for the believers, men and women. God
knows your going to and fro, and
your lodging." (Muhammad, XLVII: 20)
If Muhammad was not a human, he could not commit sins, and Allah would not have
commanded him to ask forgiveness for his wrong doings. How could such a person
be the Light of God to serve as the source of creation?
Faith is the source of irrationality because it commands its followers to
believe in what is illogical, ludicrous and unbecoming. If we take off
spectacles of faith and look at the life of Muhammad, we realise that he was a
human because like all other mortals, he felt hungry and thirsty; both cold and
hot affected him; he had human passions, experienced delight and disgust,
desired women and made love to them, fell ill and needed medication. He was born
through exactly the same physical process as other humans, and enjoyed a normal
span of life. He also died the same way as other humans do. In fact, we are
likely to discount all those tales which have been ascribed to him when we read
the following in the books of hadith. Here are quotations from Sunun Ibne Majah,
volume one:
Aisha, the Prophet's youngest wife said, "I have not seen anyone in such
a state of agony (in death-bed) as was the Holy Prophet" (Hadith no. 1685).
Another hadith ascribed to Aisha, states: "At the time of death, the
Holy Prophet rubbed water on his face from a jar and begged Allah to help him in
his agony" (Hadith no. 1686).
Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet, seeing the state of her father during
his death, cried ruefully, "O, my father's excruciating pain!" The
Prophet replied, "your father has suffered such a torture that no one else
shall experience it until the Day of Judgement" (Hadith no. 1692).
These hadiths clearly demonstrate that, as Muhammad was born and died like
other mortals, he could not claim to be superhuman. The Koran also testifies to
the fact that Muhammad's living was not free from human weaknesses. Here is the
Koranic story of Zaid and Zainab to prove the case, though the Muslim scholars
have deliberately misinterpreted it to prove their "piety."
ZAID AND ZAINAB
One is surprised to note that there is no such thing as adoption of
sons and daughters in Islam though it claims to be the perfect way of life. This
omission becomes more pronounced when we realise that even the legal codes of
antiquity such as Roman Law, acknowledged it as a basic human right to adopt
someone as a son or daughter and treat him or her as one's true child. It is
because pining for children is a feature of mankind. As every one cannot have a
natural son or daughter, people have the right to adopt someone else's child and
treat him/her as his own.
Why is there no legal adoption in Islam? To understand this fact we must
refer to Zaid and Zainab:
Zaid was kidnapped during his childhood. When eight years' old, he was
offered as a slave in the market of Akkaz. Hakeem bin Hazzam bin Khawelid bought
him for four hundred dirhams on behalf of his aunt, Khadija bin Khawelid, who
married Muhammad and gave him Zaid as a gift. It is said that when the boy's
father, Harith, and uncle Kaab, heard of it, they approached Muhammad with the
necessary ransom to free him. Thereupon, it is claimed, Muhammad gave the boy
complete choice either to stay in his ownership or be free and go with his
father and uncle. The boy is said to have opted for Muhammad.
It is an extraordinary event that an eight-year-old child chooses his master
in preference to his parents. One is led to believe that there had developed a
strong bond of affection between the two, and it must have grown stronger with
the passage of time because all Muhammad's real sons had died during their
earlier years. This is confirmed by the fact that Muhammad took Zaid to the
Place of Hajar, and presenting him to a gathering, declared: "O people,
witness the fact that I have adopted Zaid as my own son. From now on, he
inherits me and I inherit him."
(Mishkat, Volume 3, p. 340)
It certainly proves that Muhammad not only adopted Zaid as his son but also
loved him as a father should.
Who was Zainab?
She was the daughter of Ummaya, who was a daughter of Abdul Muttalib, the
grandfather of Muhammad. This made her a paternal cousin of the Prophet. Her
real name was "Barrah," which Muhammad changed to Zainab when she
became his wife.
The Hadith 3330 (Muslim) narrates that, as the Prophet wanted to set an
example of social equality, he approached his aunt to give Zainab in marriage to
his son, Zaid. She agreed and they became a wedded couple but things did not
work out because she was conscious of her noble birth in comparison to Zaid, who
was a freed slave. In arranging this marriage, the Prophet played the role of a
father, as prescribed by the Eastern tradition. After all, he was called Zaid
bin Muhammad (Zaid the son of Muhammad).
The note no. 1876 on page 723 of Muslim, Volume two, claims that
"marriage had come almost to the breaking point and he (the Holy Prophet)
had been convinced of the fact that, with this glaring difference in their
temperaments, they could not get on as husband and wife. They, therefore, took
to the last resort - divorce - and secured separation from each other."
I am afraid that the annotator of the said note i.e. 1876, has resorted to
misrepresentation here because the act of separation does not constitute divorce
when this process is completed in three stages. There is no evidence that they
had separated. It is only an assumption of the zealots. Even if it were treated
as a fact, the act of separation does prove that Zaid and Zainab were still
married, and not finally divorced according to the Islamic Law. In fact, the
word "divorce" does not occur in this context at all.
The annotator further adds: 'The Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) owed
great responsibility to Zainab and her family. It was he who had arranged her
marriage with Zaid when the whole of her family was opposed to it. It was the
magnanimity on the part of the Holy prophet to marry her himself and thus
retrieve for her and her family the lost prestige and remove the false
conception that the divorce of a woman at the hand of a freed slave ever
degraded her social status."
This is another far-fetched explanation. At that time when Arabia experienced
the highest temperature of faith, it must have been a great honour to be married
to the adopted son of the Prophet.
May be, we should look to the Koran for further annotation. In it, Allah
addresses Muhammad as follows: "When thou (1) saidst to him (Zaid) whom God
had blessed and thou hadst favoured, 'Keep thy *wife to thyself and fear God,
and thou was concealing within thyself what God should reveal, fearing other
men; and God has a better right for thee to fear Him. So when Zaid had (2)
accomplished what he would of her, then We (Allah) gave her in marriage to thee
(Muhammad) so that there should not be any fault in the believers, touching the
wives of their (3) adopted sons, when they have accomplished what they would of
them: and God's commandments must be performed.
There is no (4) fault in the Prophet, touching what God has ordained for him
- God's wont with those who passed away before; and God's commandment is doom
decreed."
(The Confederates: XXXIII: 37)
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* The Koran has quite candidly stated that Zanib was Zaid's wife by referring to
her as Zojaka i.e. your wife, but the Mullahs, for expressing their cheap
enthusiasm defy the Koran through deliberate misinterpretations.
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I have numbered various parts of this revelation for easy understanding:
1. The words: "Keep Thy wife to Thyself" clearly show that Muhammad
desired Zainab when she was still Zaid's wife, otherwise, God could not have
told Muhammad that he was concealing the truth, and warned him to fear Him
(Allah) and not people.
On the strength of this wording, some annotators have remarked that Zaid,
knowing the Prophet's desire, had offered to divorce Zainab in his favour, but
the Prophet told him to keep her, and with a view to keeping appearance, added
"fear God" as if Zaid was doing an ungodly thing.
2. One cannot doubt the fact that, at the start of the episode, Zaid and
Zainab were not divorced as yet. There is no mention of separation here.
Therefore, they were still living together as man and wife. This becomes quite
clear when read in conjunction with the preceeding note ( 1 ) .
3. It was an unwritten law of Arabia dictated by custom that people did not
marry the (widowed or divorced) wives of their adopted sons. Allah, as in many
other cases, abrogated this rule to arrange Muhammad's marriage with Zainab. I
shall explain Allah's laws in relation to the Prophet at the end of this
discussion.
4. To vouch for the holiness of the Prophet, this event is made to look as if
it were ordained by Allah, and Muhammad had no choice but to obey! What an
innovation it is!
One wonders if Allah has a separate identity of his own. He appears to be the
shadow of Muhammad. Look at the following verse:
"It is not for any believer, man or
woman, when God and His Messenger
have decreed a matter, to have the choice
in the affair. Whoever disobeys
God and His Messenger has gone astray
into manifest error. " (Confederates: XXXIII: 36)
It proves beyond a shadow of doubt that Allah and Muhammad are one and the same
person because they decide and command together; again, disobedience to Muhammad
is disobedience to Allah, and vice versa.
However there is a missing bit which is supplied by hadith 3330 (Muslim). It
says:
"Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said to Zaid to make a
mention to her (Zanib) about him (Messenger i.e. the Prophet Muhammad)."
What does it mean? The note 1877 to this hadith says: "Note the crystal
clear conscience of Muhammad (may peace be upon him) that he deputed Zaid to
convey his proposal of marriage to her."
One wonders at the moral sense of the commentator: how does it represent
"crystal clear conscience" to persuade a husband to carry someone
else's message of love or marriage to his own wife (or even ex-wife)?
However, for better understanding of this episode, I may repeat the hadith
3450 (Muslim, volume 2) which says that the apostle had nine wives and he had
appointed a particular night to be with each wife though "all his wives
used to gather every night in the house of one where he had to come (and stay
that night.)"
One night when the Prophet was in Aisha's house, Zainab went there. While he
(the Holy prophet) slept with Aisha, he stretched his hand towards her (Zainab)
to hold it, whereupon she (Aisha) said (out of curiosity): "Is it Zainab?"
Allah's apostle (may peace be upon him) withdrew his hand. There was an
altercation between the two until their voices became loud .."
In plain English, it means that when the Prophet slept with Aisha, he also
quietly held Zainab's hand in the darkness of night. As Aisha noticed it, she
became angry and a noisy row broke out between the two. However, the commentator
in note 1914 states: "this shows the sense of keen justice of the Holy
Prophet (may peace be upon him)."
It is a strange definition of justice. On Aisha's night, she should have had
her husband to herself exclusively. Holding Zainab's hand at the same time is a
violation of her rights. The fact that she did not like it and became truculent,
proves the point.
This episode clearly demonstrates the Prophet's partiality for Zainab. She
was not only a beautiful woman but also his cousin. Obviously, the Prophet
married Zainab because he was attracted to her. One wonders why Allah thought it
necessary to change the customary law of adoption that prevailed in Arabia at
that time.
Of course, an adopted child is not a blood relation, yet he or she is legally
considered a son or daughter. By the same token a step mother is not a blood
relation yet a step son looks upon her as mother and does not marry her.
How is it that the Prophet's wives were legally treated as Mothers of
Believers (XXXIII: 5) despite having no blood relationship with them whereas the
Prophet could marry any believer's widow or divorcee? What kind of law is this?
Law is law only when it applies to everyone equally, irrespective of social
distinction. Abolishing the law of adoption to suit convenience of the Prophet
is contempt of Allah, who claims to be the Best of Judges (The Fig, XCV - 8).
That the law must be neutral i.e. apply to the lowly and the lofty, the meek
and the mighty, the pious and the profane, with complete impartiality, is also
advocated by the Koran:
"O believers, be you securers of
justice, witnesses for God, even though
it be against yourselves, or your parents
and kinsmen, whether the man be rich
or poor, God stands closest to either.
Then follow not caprice, so as to swerve;
for if you twist or turn, God is aware of
the things you do."
(Women, IV: 130)
Also note the following:
"O believers, be you securers of
justice, witnesses for God. Let not
detestation for a people move you
not to be equitable -
that is nearer to God-fearing.
And fear God; surely God is aware of
the things you do." (The Table, V - 10)
These are surely the noblest principles of justice, which must apply to Muhammad
with greater strictness and punctuality because he claimed to have been sent by
Allah as the Model of Behaviour:
"You (people) have a good example in God's
Messenger ( Muhammad ) for whosoever hopes for
God and the Last Day, and remembers God oft."
(The Confederates, XXXIII: 20)
Now, it is obvious that the Prophet, who is Allah's representative on earth,
must demonstrate the wisdom and infallibility of the Divine Law through his own
action. If he does not do so then it implies:
a. He is neither a representative of God nor the Model of Action, for being
above Allah's Law, and secondly,
b. If Allah gives the Prophet dispensation from His own Law, then Allah's
Law is no more than a joke because if the Prophet himself cannot carry it out,
then how can Allah expect the ordinary believers to obey His commandments?
In fact, there are many instances where Allah has excepted Muhammad from His
basic laws and given him dispensation. This is mockery of the law and proves
that the Koran is not the Divine Code as it claims to be. Instead, it is the
composition of Muhammad, and thus, he can treat himself as he wishes and Allah
is only a supposition to serve his purpose. For details, one ought to refer to
my article: "Is Islamic Law a Fact or Fiction?" However, to complete
this discussion, I may give two examples to prove the point:
1. " ... a believing woman if she gives herself unto
the prophet and the Prophet desires to take her
in marriage - a privilege for thee only
(Muhammad) not for the (rest of) believers."
(The Clans, XXXIII - 50)
As we know, the Koran allows a believer only four wives at a lime. According to
this verse, the Prophet is privileged to have as many wives as he likes without
any restriction of numbers. This is the reason that he had at least nine wives
at the same time, though some of his biographers put the number at 22.
2. " ... marry such women
as seem good to you two, three, four;
but if you fear you will not be equitable,
then only one, or what your right hand owns;
so it is likelier you will not be partial."
(Women, IV: 3)
Here fairness i.e. equal and just treatment of all wives is the basic condition
of polygamy i.e. having more than one wife. The Koran expressly states that if a
man cannot maintain equality of treatment among his wives, he must have one wife
only.
In fact, it is not possible to be equally inclined towards all of one's wives
owing to their personal accomplishments and attitudes. The Prophet was not able
to maintain the balance among his wives, who addressed him impolitely. The Koran
testifies to this fact:
"Wives of the prophet, you are not as other women,
if you are Godfearing, be not
abject in your speech (towards the Prophet)
.....but speak honourable words."
(The Confederates, XXXIII: 30)
It is clear that the prophet's wives spoke to him in a crude and dishonourable
manner. According to a tradition associated with surah LXVI (Banning):
"Hafsah found the prophet in her room with *Marya - the Coptic girl,
presented to him by the ruler of Egypt on the day that the prophet had assigned
to Aisha according to the fixed rota system. Hafsah threatened the prophet to
tell Aisha what she had seen. It caused him extreme distress and he #vowed to
sever all his relationship with Marya. So great was the domestic upheaval that
the prophet threatened to divorce (Forbidding, LXVI: 5) all his wives and walked
out on them to live with Marya exclusively, for about one month. Even the
prophet's close followers did not approve of leaving his Quresh wives to cohabit
with an Egyptian slave-girl. The Prophet's critics maintain that deserting wives
under threat of divorcing them was just a pretext of the Prophet to enjoy the
unrestricted company of the young and beautiful Marya.
Hafsah was the daughter of Omar, who became the second Caliph. One day, he
had to rebuke his daughter for answering back the Prophet disrespectfully.
Instead of apologising to him, she told him that all Prophet's wives spoke to
him in the same manner. The prophet's wives did not like Omar's interference and
told him to mind his own business. He was horrified by the Prophet's domestic
state of affairs.
The cause of this situation was the Prophet's inequitable treatment of his
wives. Of course, economically, they all were dealt with equally, but
emotionally, it was an impossibility. A family discord of so high proportions
demanded the Koranic legal solution i.e. the prophet must have one wife only,
but this is not what happened. See for yourself:
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* She became the mother of the Prophet's son, Ibrahim.
# This event demonstrates that the Prophet was not only partial towards Aisha
but also afraid of his wives; otherwise, he would not have pleaded with Hafsah
to keep the secret. In fact, it reveals that the Prophet was not quite candid in
dealing with his wives.
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"Thou canst suspend whom thou wilt of them and
receive unto thee whom thou wilt, and whomsoever
thou desirest of those whom thou hast set aside. It is
no sin for thee ..."
(The Confederates, XXXIII: 51 )
In simple English, these verses mean that the Prophet was not bound by the Law
of Fairness. Instead of enforcing it, Allah gave dispensation to the prophet,
authorising him to treat his wives at will.
The issues discussed in this chapter are thought- provoking and demand a
serious enquiry into the nature and purpose of prophethood.
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