Note: The topic of today’s post may make some people profoundly uncomfortable, as it deals with sexual violence, and I apologise in advance for that.
A very disturbing feature of the recent carnage unleashed by HAMAS, was the fact that they raped and humiliated many of their female captives. Some commentators, trying to cover for Islam by clutching at straws, commented that this means that they are not primarily motivated by religious motives. This is because these commentators cannot conceive of a religious system in which such acts would be condoned.
Astounding as it may seem, however, such actions receive direct divine sanction in the Qur’an and Islamic traditions.
The two most trusted sources of Islamic traditions (ahadith) Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari both relate an incident where some Muslim fighters were raping captive women (whom they intended to sell for ransom) while taking care to observe 'coitus interruptus' (the withdrawal of the penis before the moment of climax). They came to Muhammad to ask him whether this was lawful. His answer was staggering in its callousness and its implications for later Muslim conduct during war: "It does not matter if you do not do it (withdraw before climaxing), for every soul that is to be born up to the Day of Resurrection will be born." (Sahih Muslim 3371, see also Sahih Bukhari 34:176:2229)
Muhammad's reaction beggars belief. Instead of furiously commanding them to stop such vile conduct and taking the women into his protection, Muhammad (the 'perfect example', Qur’an 33:21) cheerfully instructs his followers to do to the women whatever they desired!
To make matters even worse, Muslim tradition states that the following verse of the Qur'an was revealed precisely to ease the qualms of Muslim warriors about having sex with enslaved captives: "Also (prohibited are) women already married, except those whom your right hands possess" (Qur'an 4:24) So according to the word of Allah if "your right hand possesses" a woman, sex with her is totally lawful even if she is married to someone else. This is something of a theme in the Qur'an, with four verses in total assuring Muslims that sex with captives is lawful, while there are no verses mandating the number of daily prayers (Muslims have to turn to the hadiths for this)!
The images coming from Israel are deeply confronting. What is astounding is that those who engage in the acts of barbarity that we observed will point to ‘chapter and verse’ of the Qur’an and hadiths to justify their actions. It is time that we come to terms with the fact that Islam teaches such things and that we begin to ask questions about how the Islamic belief system can be undermined.
For more on some of the uncomfortable questions that should be asked about the core teachings of the Qur’an, and how the truth claims of Islam can be challenged, see my book: “Questioning Islam – Tough Questions and Honest Answers About the Muslim Religion’
Kind regards,
Peter
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