If you are easily perturbed in matters of faith or sexuality, stop reading now.
And if perturbed…
know that the facts presented here can also be found in the lectures of popular Traditional scholars like Shk. Yasir Qadhi and others, although they contextualize and conclude very differently.
A Much Maligned Prophet
The beloved Prophet ﷺ was an amazing role model, al-Insān al-Kāmil, for the people of his time, as were prior Prophets like Ibrahim (Abraham), Moosa (Moses), David (Dawood) and Isa (Jesus), upon whom all be peace. BioMuslims believe that although there is much to learn from them, but we cannot easily do so since we cannot be certain of what lives they led and the specific context and circumstances of their lives since the textual sources about all of them have been corrupted.
In stark contrast, the Traditional ulama have made up a messy, muddled and much maligned role model since they subscribe to a cult of certitude. They rely on detailed reports of his life, as reported in the Sahih Hadith and Sirah books, to closely model their own lives. As we shall describe below, this results in very negative characterizations of the Prophet ﷺ not just by the values of today but by the moral arc of the Quran.
As noted in Five Simple Axioms, BioMuslims only accept those post-Quranic factoids that are strongly compatible with, and hence illuminate, the Quranic LPs. These include the numerous descriptions of the Prophet as a spiritual, honest, just, merciful, ecumenical, egalitarian, generous and harmonious person, characteristics that also define prior Prophets from Abraham to Jesus, upon whom be peace. However, BioMuslims acknowledge that we simply cannot accurately know the details of the life of Muhammad ﷺ, given that the earliest documents about his life were written about two centuries after his passing, as discussed in None In the First Century. While we must learn to live with that ambiguity, we know that many details about the Prophet’s life, as determined by the ulama, are false because they are shockingly incompatible with the Quranic edicts and ethos.
David, Isiah, Micah, the Jewish Prophets are similarly maligned. According to the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament, as viewed by Christians) prophets committed acts which are shockingly at odds with the high ethical standards that one expects of true Prophets. For example, David committed adultery with Bathsheba, a married woman no less (2 Samuels 11), Isiah and Micah preached while fully naked in Jerusalem (Isaiah 20:1 – 2, Micah 1:8). This is not to indulge in interfaith polemics or tarnish the legacy of those respected Prophets, upon whom be peace, but to highlight the general problem of uncertainty associated with ancient figures. Traditional Muslims cannot explain away the alleged unsavory actions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ by claiming it is no different from the actions of some prior Prophets, because unlike the distant relationship Jews and Christians have to David or Isaiah or Micah, all Traditional Muslims revere Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as an evergreen al-Insān al-Kāmil.
Unlike BioMuslims, most eminent scholars of Traditional Islam believe the following about the Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ …
An analysis and rebuttal of these unfortunate mischaracterizations follows.
Nine Parallel Wives
That he was married to 9 women at one time despite the Quran’s clear limit of 4.
Traditional Muslims believe that he exceeded the limit of four in order to fulfill certain Prophetic responsibilities. Further, they underline that those marriages were not hedonistic since they occurred in the last third of his life, and especially since his first wife, Khadijah, could not have been too physically attractive, since he was aged 25 and she 40. Her mature age of 40 is one of the most cited facts in Traditional storytelling, repeated in countless hagiographies. However, as noted in Historical Truth, the age of Khadijah at marriage was 28, a stunning revision now agreed upon by most leading scholars.
BioMuslims believe the Prophet ﷺ would never have violated the Quranic edict of a maximum of four wives and, therefore, some or many of the details of his marriages are simply untrue. Even the most patriarchal interpreters of the Quran agree that men are not allowed more than four wives at a time, while feminist interpreters believe the maximum is one. Did the Prophet act in direct contradiction to Quranic edicts or did God/Allah ﷻ grant him special leave? If it was the latter, it would likely have been revealed in the Quran, or at least in the sahih Hadith Qudsi. But it was not.
BioMuslims believe some or many of the details of his marriages are possibly untrue. Specifically, we cannot know with certainty whether he was married to women bearing names like Khadijah, Aisha, Zaynab, etc. and stories of these marriages could have been added into the Sirah decades later by the elites to justify their acquiring multiple wives. BioIslam claims we simply do not know, and can not know, as much about his personal life as Traditionalists think they do.
Sex at Nine
That when he was 52 years old had sex with a 9 year old wife, Aisha, a 40-year age gap.
This is shocking but unambiguously stated in Sahih Bukhari, and is considered a very strong hadith by leading hadith scholars. This hadith cannot be explained away since it has multiple strong chains of transmission (isnad) and is reliably and widely transmitted (mutawatir). No reputed Traditional scholar disagrees, although they bashfully prefer the word ‘consummate’ not ‘sex’. Although this fact was widely known, this was not viewed as a problem until inimical European scholars raised it as an issue about a century ago. Would it be any less problematic if unbiased scholars had questioned its moral implication?
Most Traditional Muslims don’t want to acknowledge this and are deeply embarrassed by it. Others will assert she could not have been only 9 years old at that time but was perhaps 19. In doing so, they are effectively saying Imam Bukhari was terribly wrong but they don’t have the intellectual or social courage to explicitly say so. If he was wrong about this, what else might he have erred on, especially this is a super strong hadith with multiple isnad?
Most importantly, the best of the intellectually honest Traditionalist scholars, like Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi and Prof. Jonathan Brown, plainly state that in that era it was no big deal for a 52 year old man to have sex with a 9 year old bride. They believe we should not engage in ‘presentism’ , i.e. not apply our present day values to judge the past. Yet they do not recommend that practice today, which contradicts the purpose of the Prophet being insaan al-kamil. Some conservative Imam’s in the Middle East continue to expressly permit such a marriage in our modern era, as long as the girl is judged as ready, arguing strongly that since it was done by the Prophet it remains a valid practice. When rulers in a major Muslim country tried to ban this recently, ulama strenuously objected arguing what was expressly permitted by God/Allah ﷻ should not be banned.
BioIslam’s position — BioMuslims believe that there is something innately and deeply disgusting about this age gap and it clearly clashes with the Quranic ethos, hence it is extremely unlikely to have occurred in the manner described in the Sahih books, i.e. that Imam Bukhari got this very wrong. Or that such a hadith was added posthumously and mischievously to Bukhari’s book, which would not have been all that difficult to do in an era that preceded the printing press, one where books were transcribed by hand and only a few copies existed given the high cost of paper (the same argument does not apply to the Quran since it was committed to memory at an early date). More importantly, since in BioIslam we are uncertain about the name(s) of the Prophet’s wife (wives) we don’t really know for sure whether Aisha was a real wife, or perhaps might have been a later invention in the 2nd century of Islam, and that such knowledge is irrelevant to BioIslam’s prescription for a better ummah.
Another possibility – Perhaps the falsehood of the 40 year age gap is really a topos, a figure of speech of that era.? There are other instances of Traditionalist topos based on the number 40, such as the notion that a person becomes wise at age 40, the period of mourning is 40 days, a woman’s iddat period is 40 days, etc.
To conclude, BioMuslims dismiss this as Dark Matter even though it is based on a sahih mutawatir hadith.
Marrying Zaynab
That he married his first cousin Zaynab, who was his adopted son Zayd’s ex-wife.
This is unabashedly stated by most Traditionalist scholars who acknowledge it was an event that was then viewed as very controversial. They explain it away using the Quranic verse that they claim was revealed on this occasion, that an adopted son is not the same as a biological one (33:4-5). Most Traditional Muslims do not want to discuss this and are deeply embarrassed by it — not that he married her, but that it was the Prophet’s inclination for her that led to her divorcing his adopted son. They reject or ridicule anyone who cites this. However, most major Traditionalist scholars of the first four centuries of Islam agree on a version of the story that the Prophet ﷺ “liked” Zaynab and realizing this Zayd divorced her, a decision made easier by his preexisting marital discord.
Liked morphs to Sanitized — The opinion of Traditionalist scholars regarding this version of the story changes to a “Sanitized” version over time as it becomes more inconvenient to defend it. This adds to the Inconvenient Implications discussed earlier.
In the first three or four centuries of Islam the above Liked version of the story dominates the Sirah narrative. Proponents include an early biographical storyteller Mukatib ibn Sulayman (d. 150/767), the famous historian at-Tabari (d. 310/923) and the famous Quranic commentary (tafsir) writer, ibn ‘Atiyyah (d. 541/1146). The inconvenience of the Liked version lies in the nod it gives to human emotion, not to mention further validation by a new Quranic revelation, ideas unacceptable to most early people who viewed the institution of marriage as a pragmatic necessity rather the modern-day romantic one.
Later, in the fifth and sixth centuries of Islam, a Sanitized version of the story emerges that this divorce and remarriage to the Prophet was preordained by Allah ﷻ and since the Liked version is not befitting a Prophet. The Sanitized version was first proposed by the famous tafsir commentator al-Baghawi (d. 516/1146) and further validated by later famous scholars like al-Jawzi (d. 597/1201) and al-Qurtubi (d. 671/1273) who do not deny the Liked version but prefer the Sanitized one. By the time we get to the eighth century of Islam, scholars have “disappeared” the Liked version and only cite the Sanitized version, such as in the tafsir works of the famous ibn Kathir (d. 774/1372) and ibn Hajar (d. 852/1448). An excellent and honest assessment of this evolution is offered by the popular Traditionalist scholar, Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi on Youtube.
BioIslam’s position – BioIslam rejects this claim as being Dark Matter. BioMuslims believe that there is something deeply disgusting about both the Liked and Sanitized versions. They clearly clash with the Quranic ethos, hence are extremely unlikely to have occurred. That verse regarding adoption was likely revealed for a different purpose than to defend this marriage; perhaps its purpose was to set inheritance boundaries and in doing so encourage the manumission of slaves and their subsequent adoption as children, as was the case with Zayd based on those same Traditionalist sources.
Most importantly, since in BioIslam we remain uncertain about the name(s) of the Prophet’s wife (wives) we don’t really know for sure whether Zaynab was a real wife, or perhaps a later invention in the 2nd century of Islam. As such, all speculation about this event, even if it at all occurred, are a distraction from BioIslam’s goal of solving the Big Five problems.
Concubine Mariah
That he had at least one concubine, Mariah, and possibly another, Rayhana. And that other paragons of Traditionalism had concubines, including the Khulfa-e-Rashideen Umar and Ali, and centuries later Imam Hanbal.
Most Traditional Muslims don’t want to acknowledge this and are deeply embarrassed by it. They reject or ridicule anyone who cites this. But this is unambiguously stated in excellent sources that Traditionalists rely on, such as the famous commentary on the Quran, by Imam Abul Ala Maududi.1 “The woman who came into his possession from among the slave-girls granted by Allah. According to this the Holy Prophet selected for himself Hadrat Raihanah from among the prisoners of war taken at the raid against the Bani Quraizah, Hadrat Juwairiyah from among the prisoners of war taken at the raid against the Bani al-Mustaliq, Hadrat Safiyyah out of the prisoners of war captured at Khaiber, and Hadrat Mariah the Copt, who was presented by Maqauqis of Egypt. Out of these he set three of them free and married them, but had conjugal relations with Mariah on the ground of her being his slave-girl. In her case there is no proof that the Holy Prophet set her free and married her.” The last sentence is the most problematic for Traditionalists.
The eminent Oxford professor Tariq Ramadan suggests there were possible two concubines. On Mariah he states, “Events were to accelerate after the arrival of Mariyah, gifted to the Prophet by Muqawqis. Mariyah was exceptionally beautiful, and the Prophet visited her frequently. Jealousy took hold of the Prophet’s wives, and Aisha and Hafsh did not hesitate to criticize Mariyah and the Prophet’s attitude when they talked together in his absence”. On Rayhanah, he states, “As part of his share of the spoils, Muhammad selected one of the women, Rayhana, for himself and took her as part of his booty. Muhammad offered to free and marry her and according to some sources she accepted his proposal, while according to others she rejected it and remained Muhammad’s slave”.2 The opinion of some scholars that Rayhana chose to remain a slave is also cited by Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi in his popular YouTube series, the ‘Seerah of the Prophet’.
Major Traditional scholars, at least those who are intellectually honest like Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi, do not disagree with the concubinage claims. He says, “no amount of sugar coating removes this reality“. His defense is that many prior Prophets had concubines, including Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) ﷺ had at least one, Hajjar, from whom Muslims claim descent. More colorfully, some like Prophet Dawood (David) ﷺ had over 700 wives and concubines, and Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon) ﷺ had a thousand, according to the Hebrew Bible (i.e. the Christian Old Testament). Even if those high numbers are topos, there is no doubt about the prevalence of concubines in the Judeo-Islamic tradition. Shaykh Qadhi gallantly defends the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ noting he had “only one” concubine, and is being held to an unfair standard versus prior Prophets, and that the best defense is that “all we can say is that was a different time and different custom and a different place”.
Also, it is not possible for Traditionalists to dismiss concubinage as reserved for Prophets in the service of some higher noble objective, since there are credible scholars who assert that other icons of Traditionalism had concubines. The Khalifa Umar in Traditionalist sources to have had two concubines who bore him children, Fakiah and Layiah, although some sources claim it is only one, the former. To his credit, Umar is reported as decreeing the manumission of a slave girl when she bears him a child. More shockingly, the famous Imam al Ghazali cites that Khalifa Ali had 17 concubines.3 This report begs the question, could this be the exaggerated partisan report of a great Sunni scholar who is not generally labeled as sectarian; however, as some scholars have noted, al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111) was aligned with the Seljuk state (1037-1194), which was at war with the Shi’i Buyid dynasty (1034-1062). Could that have prompted Ghazali to inflate the number of concubines of Khalifa Ali? Probably not, since there was no demerit associated with a high number in that era. Finally, there appears to be scant information available on the wives or children of most great Imams such as Imam Bukhari, Muslim, Hanifa, Malik, and Shafi’i, but a biography of Imam Hanbal by an eminent scholar mentions that he had at least one concubine, Husn, and possibly another, Rayhanah, in addition to at least one wife.4
BioIslam’s position — BioIslam rejects these Traditionalist claims as being Dark Matter. Since in BioIslam we remain uncertain about the name(s) of the Prophet’s wife (wives) we don’t really know for sure whether Mariyah or Rayhanah entered his life in any form, or perhaps a later invention in the 2nd century of Islam. All speculation about this, even if it at all occurred, is a distraction from BioIslam’s goal of solving the Big Five problems.
Sexual Appetite
That he had sexual relations with all his 9 wives in the same night (not a one-time event).
This is unambiguously stated in books that Traditionalists strongly rely on, such as Sahih Bukhari. The nocturnal visits were expressly sexual in nature as further confirmed through discussion of post-coital ghusl requirements in the books of Tahara, i.e. bathing rituals for purification. BioMuslims believe this is bizarrely inconsistent with the Quranic message and was most likely invented by later generations to clothe the Prophet in machismo.
BioIslam’s position — BioIslam rejects this claim as being Dark Matter since we remain uncertain about the details of the Prophet’s wife (wives), hence any purported knowledge of his interaction with them is dubious.
Collective Punishment
The Banu Qurayza incident of collective punishment – that he authorized a large group of Jewish men to be executed for treason and sold their wives and children into slavery, in keeping with Hebrew law.
The Quranic verses on this topic (33:25-26, 8:55-58) do not support the claim above. It is entirely possible that the Banu Qurayza never existed in Yathrib/Medina and were invented decades later by the ulama (and centuries later it makes it way into the seminal history of at-Tabari), perhaps to justify conquest of Jewish lands. The main reason to believe the Banu Qurayza is a fiction: the crucial umma or sahifa (treaty) document, aka the Constitution of Medina, which most scholars deem as authentic, does not mention the existence of the Banu Qurayza, or Banu Qaynuqa or Banu Nadir (the three main Jewish clans according to later sources), whereas it does mention the existence of other Jews, such as the Banu Awf who feature prominently.5
BioIslam’s position – BioIslam rejects this claim as being Dark Matter. Although it is likely that the Prophet’s battles for survival resulted in casualties, it is unlikely that he was either an active or passive party to killing men outside the battlefield and enslaving their families — such a scenario is drastically at odds with Quranic latent principles.
Debt
That when he died he was in debt (to a Jewish pawn broker).
This is also cited in Sahih Bukhari (#2068 or Book 34, hadith 21, and #2916 or Book 56, #129) and other reliable books, and will come as a shock to most Traditionalists. Since his armor was mortgaged in exchange for food, Traditionalists suggest this positively reflects on both his pacifism and poverty.
BioIslam’s position — BioIslam rejects this claim as being Dark Matter. The Quranic ethos would preclude the Prophet ﷺ from piling on debt to an extent where he had not discharged his earthly obligations before passing.
Conclusion
To conclude, in all of the above cases, major Traditional scholars do not disagree. Yet the regular Traditional Muslim finds these implications inconvenient. Most Traditional Muslims don’t want to acknowledge this and are deeply embarrassed of it. They reject or ridicule anyone who cites this. If you feel shame about this, read “Why Play the Shame Game?” in the FAQ.
BioMuslims reject the above information as erroneous, since it is sourced from fallible Hadith and Sirah books, and incompatible with Quranic edicts and ethos. In the final analysis, these taboo claims of Traditionalism are dismissed as Dark Matter since they are incompatible with the Inside Pillars of BioIslam, and fail to illuminate the Quranic LPs.
Footnotes
- Maududi, Tahfeem al Quran, in the notes on ayat 33:50.
- Tariq Ramadan, In the Footsteps of the Prophet, p. 146.
- Etiquette of Marriage, second book in The Revival of the Religious Sciences, al Ghazali, translated by Madelain Farah, Univ. of Utah Press, First Edition, 1984), p.51.
- Melchert, C., Ahmad ibn Hanbal (Makers of the Muslim World), p.5.
- The integrity of the umma document, and the absence of Banu Qurayza in it, is discussed by Fred Donner, Muhammad and the Believers, p. 72-3 and p. 228-32.