The Heart's Witness Against Muhammad: Concubines for the Perfect Man

By Andrew M. Greenwell, Esq.
11/1/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Where Muhammad has a need, Allah conveniently provides. Behold, a new revelation! Recite!

Under any ordinary moral standard, sex with concubines is considered adultery and not consonant with the ends of marriage. Under Muhammadan logic, however, sex with concubines is right because Allah revealed it to be so and because his messenger had sex with concubines. Muhammad's treatment of women alone should disabuse any conclusion of a prophetic charism, much less a legitimate claim to being the "seal of the prophets," the khatamun nabiyyin.

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CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - Muhammad's moral travesties are legion, and include, as we have related in prior articles on the subject, polygamy, incest, pedophilia, concubinage, and divorce and remarriage. In this article, we will focus on Muhammad's relationships with his slave-women, his concubines. It will be the last in this series that will focus on sexual sins. We will then take leave of the sixth commandment and look at other commandments.

Under any ordinary moral standard, sex with concubines is considered adultery and not consonant with the ends of marriage. Under Muhammadan logic, however, sex with concubines is right because Allah revealed it to be so and because his messenger had sex with concubines. Allah locutus, causa finita est. Mahometus fecit, causa finita est. Allah has spoken, the case is closed. Muhammad has done it, the case is closed. That's the reasoning: pure divine positivism, the natural moral law be damned.

Muhammad's treatment of women alone should disabuse any human of concluding this man to have a legitimate prophetic bone in his body, much less a legitimate claim to being the "seal of the prophets," the khatamun nabiyyin. Muhammad's rank disregard of natural moral law, his blindness to it in the area of marriage and family life, is proof positive that his message is inauthentic. His inability to control his sexual faculties makes Muhammad more a prophet of Priapus than a prophet of the Most High God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Jesus. As man, Muhammad is not exempt from the natural moral law. As a supposed prophet, he is bound to the natural moral law a fortiori. As a supposed perfect man, al-insan al-kamil, he is to bound to exhibit in an excellent way virtues consonant with the natural law.

This, perhaps, is the reason traditionalist Muslims are so suspicious of practical reason as a source of morals, and why they cannot brook any opposition or criticism to their alleged prophet. The moment natural moral law steps into the picture, the entirety of Islam falls like a deck of cards. If Islam is no better than its prophet, then Islam suffers from serious problems.

Islam is founded entirely upon sheer moral positivism: the positivism of Allah and the positivism of Muhammad's actions. The moment the blinders of Islam's positivism are removed and the witness of one's heart is accessed, one sees the raunchy character of Muhammad.

In assessing Muhammad's activities with his concubines, we start, of course, with that part of the Qur΄an, the Surat Al-Ahzab, known as "The Confederates," or "The Allies," specifically, the fiftieth ayah, which was so generous and accommodating to the sexual life of this pseudo-prophet: "O Prophet!" the ayah begins, "Verily, We have made lawful to you . . . those (captives or slaves) whom your right hand possesses-whom Allah has given to you." These are the ma malakat aymanukum, the ones which are possessed by a man's right hand, a euphemism for concubines captured during war (or bought from men who captured them during war). Qur΄an 33:50.

This privilege was not reserved for Muhammad alone: all Muslim men, in imitatio Muhammedi, enjoy the privileges associated with those whom their "right hand possess." So we find in the Surat An-Nisa' that Muslim men in general enjoy the sexual benefits of those women whom their right hand possess. Qur΄an 4:4.

Muhammad's right hand possessed many such female concubines, and we know that he exercised his sexual rights freely with at least two of them, Mariya al-Qibtiya and Rihanah, respectively, his Christian and Jewish concubines. The former, to the consternation of Muhammad's legal wives, even gave him a child, whom Muhammad called Ibrahim (Abraham), but who died young.

At the outset, so that we are not accused of slighting Muhammad and accusing him of sex with concubines when he was innocent of that moral lapse, we might quote from the popular Islamic biography of Muhammad, Ar-Rahiq Al-Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar) by Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri (translated by Issam Diab):

"Besides these [Muhammad's wives], he had two concubines. The first was Mariyah, the Coptic (an Egyptian Christian), a present gift from Al-Muqauqis, vicegerent of Egypt - she gave birth to his ...

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1 - 5 of 5 Comments

RichStine
5 months ago
Insightful article.
Let us not forget too easily that our own, beloved King David (of slewing Goliath fame), also had concubines. So did King Solomon, and quite a few other patriarchs of note.

Women and girls have been considered property, trophies, and objects by all religious (except for a few Christian sects, (like the Shakers, whose vows of celibacy, among other things, challenged their numbers greatly. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers ), and some non-Christian religions, like Sikhism, (see: http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Sikh_Women ).

Although the Catholic Church and other Christian churches adhere, for the most part, that sex of any kind, outside marriage, and with any one woman is wrong, like it or not, especially men have been blanketed with a sort of non-committal tolerance for other than righteous behavior when it comes to behaving themselves around the opposite sex. (not ostracizing or being mean, here. Just making a point)

In part, this is due to the acknowledgement that great men of God, have a rich history that clearly shows a pattern of tolerated (even encouraged) infidelity, rape, usery, whoredom (though the woman was always the one castigated, sometimes killed as the sole wrongdoer, never mind the man buying her for a moment.

Islam is very patriarchal. And its women are at the mercies of the men and the mindset to which they've been raised. Nobody should be taught that they are only here for the wanton pleasures of another of their kind, equally imperfect, and clearly less able to restrain themselves.

Even in 2012, our own civilized country, who loves equality so very much, does not think that one person's efforts and quality of work, even if as good as or better than anyone else, should be paid equally, because of gender.
I personally thought the wage inequality thing was long over, with women's lib, the right to vote. In 2008, the President of the US signed the Lilly Ledbetter Act, because a woman who had worked all her life was unfairly treated, in this day and age. Who knew? I sure didn't.

When we tolerate bad behavior long enough, we accept it as--maybe not okay, but the way things are. By doing that, we do a disservice to ourselves, each other, and our faith.

I really appreciated this article, because it brings to the forefront issues that are dear to my heart. It educates on the thought processes behind the practices of Islam regarding women. And it provokes us as followers of Christ, to check ourselves.

Thanks so much for this.

Regards,
RichStine
Mrs. Rene O'Riordan
6 months ago
And the Quran is force fed to young children!!!! Andrew thank you so much for doing this. I am hoping many, many people read this. All the time muslims are putting down the West as being immoral, and people have no choice but to agree. We have wandered far from our Christian roots and anyone with an ounce of honesty would have to admit that. BUT the majority of people in the West do not realize that it is in fact the pot calling the kettle black and far from being the answer islam is a matter of going from the frying pan into the fire. Islam is not the answer - when islamists speak of morals this is what they mean, the acceptance of - polygamy, concubinage, temporary marriage (Shiite islam teaches of a mutah (pleasure) marriage; it can last a couple of hours, days etc. the man simply gives a gift of some kind to the woman and then it's over ) we call it prostitution! - What you are doing is a great step in catechesis for Catholics on islam. Again blessings on you and yours Andrew and thanks - Rene
Mrs. Rene O'Riordan
6 months ago
And the Quran is force fed to young children!!!! Andrew thank you so much for doing this. I am hoping many, many people read this. All the time muslims are putting down the West as being immoral, and people have no choice but to agree. We have wandered far from our Christian roots and anyone with an ounce of honesty would have to admit that. BUT the majority of people in the West do not realize that it is in fact the pot calling the kettle black and far from being the answer islam is a matter of going from the frying pan into the fire. Islam is not the answer - when islamists speak of morals this is what they mean, the acceptance of - polygamy, concubinage, temporary marriage (Shiite islam teaches of a mutah (pleasure) marriage; it can last a couple of hours, days etc. the man simply gives a gift of some kind to the woman and then it's over ) we call it prostitution! - What you are doing is a great step in catechesis for Catholics on islam. Again blessings on you and yours Andrew and thanks - Rene
Jorge
6 months ago
This article is a serious blow against evil , cowardice, appeasal and curruption.Kudos!
Barbara Logan
6 months ago
You are a courageous man! Today, when being politically correct even if it means lying, you have the courage to expose the truth about a religion that we are told is one of peace. May God bless and protect you and all those associated with you.

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