I've always been puzzled by a verse in Revelation. LOL, more than one verse, but this one really gets me. At the fall of Babylon, we see in the threefold woes that are uttered, that a healthy economy in luxuries had been ongoing. Far from the economy being dead, as many suppose, it traded in all the world's luxuries as if nothing untoward was happening. The rich still exist but the poor comprise most of the world. We also know that the economy is massively different, being under the control of one man, the Beast (antichrist) as revealed in Revelation 13. But the rich still buy things. We know from Revelation 6 that many are not rich but are really are devastatingly poor, unable to even afford more than a loaf of bread which equals a whole day's pay. For the rich, they keep on keeping on with their consumerism of ridiculously luxurious items. Except for one particular luxury item in the verse at the end:
Revelation 18: 9-13
Threefold Woe Over Babylon’s Fall
“When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry:
“‘Woe! Woe to you, great city,
you mighty city of Babylon!
In one hour your doom has come!’
“The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore— cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves."
I could not understand how this could be, though I believe it totally because God's word is inerrant. But I had thought slavery was pretty much stamped out. There is indentured servitude in informal form, and children sold as sex slaves. But organized slavery today, though it exists is the smallest number than it ever has been in history, is rare. 12-27 million people are purported to be slaves today. Most are debt slaves, largely in South Asia, who are under debt bondage incurred by lenders, sometimes even for generations, according to Wikipedia. But then again, I don't know why I am surprised that slavery as indicated in the Revelation verse would not be a going boom to the economy. It is the natural end to the philosophy of Darwin, and simply an extension of abortion and euthanasia. There is no regard for life if you adhere to those philosophies or engage in those activities. Life means nothing. Further, the bible tells us that life will mean less than nothing:
"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. (Mark 13:12)
"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
Jesus said, "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold." (Matthew 24:12). Lawlessness here in this verse translated from the Greek is 'sin' or total and complete disregard for God's laws. People who totally dismiss God will be more liable to disregard the soul of the person inhabiting the body, and just kill it. Or sell it. It's an "it," not a person. Then today I read this:
Egyptian Cleric: Poverty Can be Solved by Selling Humans ‘Like Groceries’
"Over the past week, a video has surfaced featuring prominent Egyptian cleric Salafi Shaykh Abi-Ishaq al-Huwayni. In a translation posted by Al Mutarjim on his blog Translating Jihad, al-Huwayni is quoted as advocating jihad (he says it’s “a real pleasure”) and encouraging listeners to ease financial problems through the capture and sale of human beings (he says they can be sold “like groceries”)."
Here is a translation from the video which is at the link. Sounds like he has thought long and hard about this. I mean, he has a mini-economy in people going on there in that twisted head of his:
Here’s the translation in copy form:
"We are in the era of jihad. The era of jihad has come over us, and jihad in the path of Allah is a pleasure. It is a real pleasure. The companions (of the Prophet) used to compete to (perform jihad). The poverty that we’re in—is it not due to our abandonment of jihad? But if we could conduct one, two, or three jihadist operations every year, many people throughout the earth would become Muslims. And whoever rejected this da’wa, or stood in our way, we would fight against him and take him prisoner, and confiscate his wealth, his children, and his women—all of this means money. Every mujahid who returned from jihad, his pockets would be full. He would return with 3 or 4 slaves, 3 or 4 women, and 3 or 4 children. Multiply each head by 300 dirhams, or 300 dinar, and you have a good amount of profit. If he were to go to the West and work on a commercial deal, he would not make that much money. Whenever things became difficult (financially), he could take the head (i.e. the prisoner) and sell it, and ease his (financial) crisis. He would sell it like groceries. Of those who are–" and the video is abruptly cut off.
I am writing about that verse for the first time, and inevitably the Spirit gives deeper understanding each time I read it. But for now, we take at face value that there will be an economy in human commerce in the Tribulation. Slavery. Dead ahead.
I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hell was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. Revelation 6:8
6/04/2011
Slavery in the Tribulation? Muslim cleric proposes it as solution to economic woes
3/28/2011
Slavery in Islam
Slavery, making one human the property of another, was widely practiced in the past by many societies. Regrettably, even in the 21st Century, the horrid practice continues in certain areas, most notably among Muslims.
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Islam’s genesis was the Arabian peninsula of the seventh century AD, known for its primitive beliefs and savage practices. So, it is of no surprise that Islam incorporated slavery and much of the ethos of the culture of its birthplace.
Is discussing slavery beating a dead horse? Regrettably, it is not. The Anti-Slavery Society has documented numerous contemporary instances, most of them from Islamic countries. The repugnant practice of slavery presents a real threat to human dignity as Islamic fundamentalism is surging. The Islamic law—the Shariah—is based on the provisions of the Quran.
And the Quran explicitly and implicitly condones slavery in dozens of suras (chapters). Muhammad himself took numerous slaves, mostly women, as spoils of war. Some of the women Muhammad took for himself he called concubines, hardly a consolation to the helpless enslaved women.
Documents show that in the heyday of slavery, Muslims took just as many slaves from East Africa as did the Christians from West Africa.
Slavery is a matter of degrees. On one extreme is the absolute right of the owner to do whatever he wishes to the slave. This form of slavery is no longer prevalent. Yet disenfranchising people from any provisions of the Charter of Human Rights constitutes a form of enslavement.
Slavery seamlessly became a part of Islam, since it was widely practiced by the Arabs. Slavery is repeatedly approved in the Quran. The Old Testament also sanctioned slavery. Yet, Jewish and Christian societies have long banned slavery while the Muslims consider every verse and word of the Quran as those of Allah that can never be revised, discarded or violated. Therefore, with the resurgence of Islam, more and more Islamic laws and ethos, including slavery of various types and degrees, are implemented. One clear validation of the practice of slavery is the sura below:
[Q 16.75] Allah sets forth a parable: (consider) a slave, the property of another, (who) has no power over anything, and one whom We have granted from ourselves a goodly sustenance so he spends from it secretly and openly; are the two alike? (All) praise is due to Allah!
Slavery, discrimination, exclusivity and many more unjust provisions are systemic to Islam without any possibility for reformation. Muslims revere the Quran as the eternal immutable words of Allah. They accept the Hadith, Muhammad’s sayings, as further elucidation of their faith and emulate the Sunna the way Muhammad, the perfect practitioner of Allah’s teachings, conducted his life.
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Muslims believe that Allah himself is the author of the Quran, that he wrote each chapter himself and had the angel Gabriel deliver it to Muhammad, who was illiterate. Muhammad must have been endowed with perfect memory in order to transmit each verse of the Quran exactly as written by Allah. What Muhammad revealed bit-by-bit over twenty years, not a voluminous work by any measure, was recorded by various people on all manner of bones, parchments, and bark. At least four major versions of the Quran eventually emerged. So, Allah’s words were revealed by a perfect unerring messenger and were recorded by a number of imperfect humans in different versions. It remained for other imperfect humans, the Caliphs, to choose the one version they believed to be the literal perfect words of Allah and ordered the rest destroyed.
Based on the Quran itself, a number of Islamic precepts and practices clearly violate the provisions of human rights, institutionalize discrimination, and constrain liberty. A partial list of these violations is supplied below:
- Freedom of assembly, expression, and worship is either denied or severely restricted in every Islamic country.
- Women are relegated to a second class status, depriving them of many rights enjoyed by men.
- Religious minorities are often harassed, their properties are confiscated, their holy places destroyed, their cemeteries leveled, and even their persons harmed without receiving justice.
- “People of the book,” Jews and Christians, are treated as “tolerable,” since they together with Muslims are considered to be followers of the only three divine religions, while members of other religions, or no religion at all, are deemed ineligible for fair treatment under the law. Egypt, for instance, requires its citizens to obtain identity cards to be eligible for all the rights of citizenship, such as education, employment and medical care. Yet, gallingly, the same government denies these rights to those who are not members of the three divine religions or those who have no religious affiliation at all.
- The Islamic Republic of Iran officially bars its largest non-Muslim minority, the Baha’is, from many rights of citizenship, including access to higher education solely for the “sin” of practicing a different faith.
- Censorship of all sort are systemic to Islam. It is its way of mind control: an atrocious practice of keeping the mind in bondage. The press is required to parrot the approved line, and the violators are shut down and their staff imprisoned; Internet access to undesirable sites is routinely blocked; and, book publications pre-screened, and much much more.
- Women, by the very nature of their second class status expressly stipulated in the Quran, are occasionally allowed a token high position in government, while non-Muslim minority citizens are virtually barred from securing any positions at all.
To better understand Islam, a brief reference to its birth may be helpful. The founder of Islam, Muhammad, worked for and married a wealthy woman many years his senior named Khadija. One day, alone in a secluded place, Muhammad had a revelation and reported the experience to Khadija. Khadija assured him that he had been chosen by Allah as his messenger. From that point on, Muhammad proceeded to reveal the Quran and the carved-in-granite Islam and its dogma was born.
Presently, with each passing day Islam is making inroads into both the traditionally Muslim lands as well as much of the non-Muslim world where Islam is beginning to run deep roots and vie with the laws and cultures of its hosts. Muslims are taking advantage of the freedom that democracies grant. They use the same provisions of the law that are intended to protect and enhance liberty to subvert democracy and freedom.
Islam is indeed a dangerous comprehensive form of slavery. Its very name, Islam, means submission or surrender. True to its name, Islam strives for nothing short of enslavement of the body of humanity as well as the bondage of its mind.
Complacency and appeasement on the part of free people can only serve Islam. There is no chance for co-existence with Islam. All one needs to know is to see what is happening in Islamic countries. That is exactly what is in store for the presently free people of the world if Islam is not held in check.
There is a hope that Muslims themselves may leave this Bedouin slaveholder religion. Yet, the hope is slim. Islam has a stranglehold on its slaves and will neither let them go, nor do the Muslims seem to have the insight or the will to leave it in large numbers. But hope, as slim as it is, keeps me sounding the alarm before the fire of Islam engulfs us all.
Warning to free people: Don't bank on the politicians, the master practitioners of the art of the politically correct, to protect liberty. Politicians must be urged by the citizens to safeguard liberty, scrutinized closely that they do the work, and be held accountable if they fail to do so. You, a citizen, also have a job to do. Take a few minutes a day and do what you can to protect freedom. “Freedom is not free,” may be a cliché. Yet, it is the most profound four-word sentence in the lexicon of the free.
3/13/2011
Islam's Disturbing Legacy of Slavery
In the wake of the first U.S. Congressional hearing on "radical Islam," perhaps Representatives Al Green, Shirley Jackson Lee, Keith Ellison and others should read this article and watch these videos. Hearings, "Islamophobia" and the KKK are more dangerous than this - really?
"Slavery is a part of Islam... Slavery is part of jihad, and jihad will remain as long there is Islam... [Those who argue that slavery has been abolished are] ignorant, not scholars. They are merely writers. Whoever says such things is an infidel."
Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan, member of Senior Council of Clerics, Saudi Arabia's highest religious body (2003)
"Slavery still exists in a host of majority-Muslim countries (especially Sudan and Mauritania, also Saudi Arabia and Pakistan)...."
Dr. Daniel Pipes, New York Post (July 30, 2002)
"Besides being practiced more or less openly today in Sudan and Mauritania, there is evidence that slavery still continues beneath the surface in some majority-Muslim countries as well - notably Saudi Arabia, which only abolished slavery in 1962, Yemen and Oman, both of which ended legal slavery in 1970, and Niger, which didn't abolish slavery until 2004. In Niger, the ban is widely ignored, and as many as one million people remain in bondage. Slaves are bred, often raped, and generally treated like animals."
Robert Spencer, "The Persistence of Islamic Slavery"
"...the worst, most inhumane and most diabolical institution of the black African slave trade was initiated, refined, perpetrated and implemented by the Mohammedan Arabs and later by aided and abetted by the black converts to Mohammedan Islam."
John Alembillah Alembillah Azumah, Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa
"Historically, the major juristic schools of Islam traditionally accepted the institution of slavery. The Islamic prophet Muhammad and many of his companions bought, sold, freed and captured slaves. ...The Qur'an includes multiple references to slaves, slave women, slave concubinage, and the freeing of slaves. It accepts the institution of slavery.... Slaves are mentioned in at least twenty-nine verses of the Qur'an... Slavery was also perceived as a means of converting non-Muslims to Islam... According to some jurists - especially among the Shi'a - only Muslim slaves should be liberated... Evidence from slaves is rarely viable in a court of law [since] slaves are regarded as inferior in Islamic law... Slaves are not permitted to possess or inherit property, or conduct independent business, and may conduct financial dealings only as a representative of the master.... Slave women were required mainly as concubines and menials. A Muslim slaveholder was entitled by law to the sexual enjoyment of his slave women.... There is no limit on the number of concubines a master may possess.... There was a high death toll among all classes of slaves. Slaves usually came from remote places and, lacking immunities, died in large numbers.... the Islamic market demand for children was much greater than the American one.... According to multiple sources, religious calls have also been made to capture and enslave Jewish women.... Organized criminal gangs smuggle children into Saudi Arabia where they are enslaved, sometimes mutilated, and forced to work as beggars."
Slavery has been justified by Mohammed's example, as laid out in the Koran and in the records of the Islamic prophet's words and deeds called the "hadiths."
"A believing slave is better than an idolater..."
Muhammad, Quran 2:221
"...you may marry other women who seem good to you: two, three, or four of them. But if you fear that you cannot maintain equality among them marry one only or any slave-girls you may own."
Muhammad, Quran 4:3
"Blessed are the believers...who restrain their carnal desires (except with their wives and slave-girls, for these are lawful to them...)..."
Muhammad, Quran 23:1
"Prophet, We have made lawful for you the wives to whom you have granted dowries and the slave-girls whom God has given you as booty..."
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Zad al-Ma'ad (1.160)
"So Muhammad began seizing their herds and their property bit by bit. He conquered home by home. The Messenger took some people captive, including Safiyah and her two cousins. The Prophet chose Safiyah for himself."
"We conquered Khaibar, took the captives, and the booty was collected. Dihya came and said, 'O Allah's Prophet! Give me a slave girl from the captives.' The Prophet said, 'Go and take any slave girl.'"
"...Khaibar is destroyed... Then the inhabitants of Khaibar came out running on the roads. The Prophet had their warriors killed, their offspring and woman taken as captives."
"The Prophet Muhammad was heard saying: 'The smallest reward for the people of paradise is an abode where there are 80,000 servants and 72 wives...'"
Commentary by Ibn Kathir on Koranic chapter Al-Rahman (55), verse 72
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"A man from the Ansar called Basrah said: I married a virgin woman in her veil. When I entered upon her, I found her pregnant. (I mentioned this to the Prophet). The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: She will get the dower ["morning gift"], for you made her vagina lawful for you. The child will be your slave. When she has begotten (a child), flog her..."
"Muhammad took pains in urging the faithful to free their slaves as a way of expiating their sins. Some Muslim scholars have taken this mean that his true motive was to bring about a gradual elimination of slavery. Far more persuasive is the argument that by lending the moral authority of Islam to slavery, Muhammad assured its legitimacy. Thus, in lightening the fetter, he riveted it ever more firmly in place." -- Murray Gordon, Slavery in the Arab World (19)
There are many more such quotes from Islamic texts and authorities that validate the practice of slavery. It is estimated that over the past 1,400 years at least 112 million black Africans were enslaved by Muslim slavers. Hundreds of thousands of white Europeans also ended up in Islamic slave markets, the women being a particular favorite of Arab slavers.
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3/06/2011
In Islam, Slavery is Allah's Eternal Design and Blessing for Humanity
Slavery is a divine institution, which Allah has made integral to Islamic society; it was practised my prophet Muhammad and later Muslims on a grand scale until Europe forced Islamic countries to stop it...
While growing up as a Muslim, I have always hated the West mainly for three reasons: 1) its past imperialism and slavery (which affected the Muslim world most); and 2) its ongoing support for Israel's oppression of the Palestinians.
| Depiction of Prophet Muhammad's slaughter of the adult men of Banu |
I always thought that Islam had no such role, namely imperialism and slavery, to play in history; Islam, unlike Christianity, is untouched by such horrible practices. Then when I started reading Islamic theology (Quran, Hadith and Sira) and history, I was shocked to discover that Islam has not only engaged in imperialism and slavery, but these are also divinely sanctioned institutions in Islam. Moreover, the Christian West was only a smaller player as compared to Islam in the practice of imperialism and slavery.
I have felt pain on many instances while reading cruelties in history, but nothing has pained me more than Islam's barbaric exercise of slavery, which was initiated by Prophet Muhammad himself. For example, Prophet Muhammad attacked the Jewish communities of Banu Quraiza, Mustaliq and Khaybar for no reason or on flimsy accusations; and after defeating them, he slaughtered all of their grown-up males except rare ones who embraced Islam, and took their women and children as slaves.
The female-slaves were used as sex-slaves. Prophet Muhammad used to choose the prettiest and noblest of the young captive women in the lot to be his own sex-slave. Amongst such great catches were Raihana of Banu Quraiza, Juwariya of Banu Mustaliq and Safiyah of Banu Nadir (at Khaybar). (See Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, Oxford University Press, Karachi; p. 461-70, 490-93, 509-23). Following the Prophet's protocol, Sultan Mahmud, one of the great heroes of Indian Muslims, left with 500,000 enslaved women and children from his attack to India in 1001-02 and brought them to his capital in Ghazni, while Amir Timur (Taimur Long) returned to his capital Samarkand from his barbaric invasion of India in 1399 with about 2.5 million enslaved women and children.
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Despite all these horror stories of Islam's perpetration of slavery, you will hear from Muslims that there is no place of slavery in Islam. Instead, Islam was the first to abolish slavery.
How? Because the Quran says -- according to our Muslim brothers like Strange Love -- that "And what will explain to thee the path that is steep?- (It is:) freeing the bondman…" (Quran 90:12-13).
It is true that the Quran (4.92) advises Muslims to free a slave for getting relief from sins of criminal actions such as killing a Muslim (for killing a non-Muslim, it doesn't apply. In other words: If you kill a Muslim, free a slave; that's it.).
To Muslims like Strange Love, only this verse about slavery in the Quran matters. There are dozens of other verses that deal with slavery, but to this brand of Muslims, those verses don't count.
Now if you ask such Muslims, where one finds a slave for setting free, if Islam has abolished slavery, they will reply: "Slavery existed in Arab society before; many Muslims owned slaves; this verse talks about freeing those slaves."
Makes sense! With those slaves Muslims entered Islam, if freed, as the above verse urges -- slavery indeed becomes abolished by Islam.
 Arab slave-hunters returning with their booty of Black slaves. |
But the verses of the Quran are timeless; they must apply to Muslims at all time. Doesn't Allah sound stupid to tell me today, or Muslims 10,000 years later from today, to free slaves -- when slavery was abolished 1400 years ago and when there are no traces of slavery on earth for so many centuries?
Allah does appear, thanks to Muslims like Strange Love, to be stupid. But Allah, the Almighty Creator of the Universe and the most Judicious, cannot be stupid. It's the shortcomings of mortal followers of Him, such as Strange Love, who make Allah appear stupid.
Slavery: Allah's eternal design for humanity!
Allah will continue advising Muslims, through the Quran, to free slaves until the end of the world, because Allah has made slavery an "eternal institution" in Islam. Author M. A. Khan in his "Islamic Jihad" has done a fine analysis of the foundational concepts of slavery in Islam. I'm taking liberty to quote the relevant section from Khan's book:
Quranic sanction of slavery
The institution of slavery in Islam was formalized in the following Quranic verse, in which Allah distinguishes free human beings or masters, who exercise justice and righteousness, from the dumb, useless and burdensome ones, the slaves:
Allah sets forth (another) Parable of two men: one of them dumb, with no power of any sort; a wearisome burden is he to his master; whichever way he directs him, he brings no good: is such a man equal with one who commands Justice, and is on a Straight Way? [Quran 16:76]
Allah warns the believers against taking the slaves as equal partner in status and in sharing their wealth, lest they have to fear them as anyone else:
…do ye have partners among those whom your right hands possess (i.e., slaves, captives) to share as equals in the wealth We have bestowed on you? Do ye fear them as ye fear each other? [Quran 30:28][1]
Allah recognizes some human beings, namely the masters, as more blessed by Himself than the less favored slaves as part of His divine plan. He warns Muslims against sharing His gifts to them equally with their slaves. Those who would take slaves as equal, warns Allah, would deny Him:
Allah has bestowed His gifts of sustenance more freely on some of you than on others: those more favoured are not going to throw back their gifts to those whom their right hands possess, so as to be equal in that respect. Will they then deny the favours of Allah? [Quran 16:71]
Allah does not only sanction the institution of slavery, He also gave divine blessing to masters (Muslim men only can own slaves) to have sex with the female slaves:
And those who guard their private parts, Except in the case of their wives or those whom their right hands possess—for these surely are not to be blamed [Quran 70:29–30]
And who guard their private parts, Except before their mates or those whom their right hands possess, for they surely are not blameable [Quran 23:5–6]
Therefore, if there are women amongst the captives or slaves, Muslims are divinely sanctioned to have sex with them as they do with their wives. This verdict of Allah founded the institution of sex-slavery or slave-concubinage in Islam, which was widespread in the pre-colonial Muslim world and continued well into the mid-twentieth century. As far as legal marriage is concerned, there is a limitation of four wives for a man at one time [Quran 4:3], but no such limitation on the number of sex-slaves.
Allah also gave a divine sanction to Muslims for acquiring female slaves for sexual engagement by waging wars against the infidels:
O Prophet! surely We have made lawful to you your wives whom you have given their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses out of those whom Allah has given to you as prisoners of war… [Quran 33:50]
And here is how Allah commands Muslims to capture slaves:
‘(Allah) brought those of the People of the Scripture… and cast panic into their hearts. Some (adult males) ye slew, and ye made captive some (women and children).’ (Quran 33:26–27)
In other words, to help Muslims to fulfill Allah's command of engaging in slavery, Allah will strike terror into heart of the infidels (Jews, Christians and others) -- so that Muslims can easily defeat them. After defeating, commands Allah, Muslims will slay some of the surrendered, namely the men, and make the rest, the women and children, captives (i.e. slaves).
And that's exactly the protocol Prophet Muhammad had put into action in his lifetime -- a few instances of which have been cited above. And later Muslims could not ignore Allah's command and Prophet Muhammad's examples, emulating which is incumbent upon Muslims at all times. Islamic history, since Muhammad, has witnessed exactly that until the West, having abolished slavery in their own backyards, worked hard and diligently to suppress slavery in the Muslim world, and later banned it globally through the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Europe banned slavery in 1815, but Saudi Arabia banned it only in 1962 and Islamic Mauritania in 1980. Yet, beyond what Islamic nations have accepted on pen and paper, slavery still exists in Saudi Arabia and Mauritania, while it has been revived in Sudan after Islamists took power in 1985; Sudanese government-sponsored Islamic militia have raided and enslaved tens of thousands of the predominantly Christian women and children in Southern Sudan, just as did Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad is, indeed, an ideal example for Muslims to follow at all time as says Allah (Quran 68:4, 33:21).
[1]. Famous scholar Abu Ala Maududi in his interpretation of this verse notes: “When you do not make your own slaves partners in your wealth, how do you think and believe that Allah will make His creatures partner in His Godhead?” [Maududi AA, Towards Understanding the Quran, Markazi Muktaba Islami Publishers, New Delhi, Vol. VIII]. In other words, associating partners with Allah, which is the most abhorrent thing to do in Islam, is tantamount for a man to take his slaves as equal partner.
3/05/2011
Humanitarian Muhammad: Did Muhammad Abolish Slavery?
That is the grossest lie and only Muslim can claim so, because lying to mislead the kafirs in the interest of Islam is a religiously-sanctioned doctrine in Islam, called Taqiyya, for which they will be richly rewarded by Allah.
Slavery and Islam
It has been mentioned in the previous article, The True Color of Humanitarian Muhammad, that the Bengali Muslim author Kazi Masum Akhtar wrote in his essay, “Manabatabadi Hajrat Muhammad (S)” (i.e. Humanitarian Hajrat Muhammad):“Abolition of slavery was one of his declared policy. But his most important step was to declare jihad for liberating the women by breaking the stubborn wall of gender apartheid of the dark middle ages.”
Mr. Akhtar tries to impress upon his readers that Muhammad abolished slavery. In reality, Muhammad approved slavery as Allah considered slavery as a social and lawful institution. Justifying slavery Allah says in the Koran: “Prophet, We have made lawful to you the wives to whom you have granted dowries and the slave-girls whom God has given you as booty." (33:50) This verse clearly mentions that, for a Muslim, taking slaves, or more pointedly sex-slaves, in war is a God-given right; and it certainly impossible for Muhammad to disobey Allah’s will.
In fact is:
"Islam institutionalized slavery. Muhammad began to take slaves after he moved to Medina, and had power. Slaves were usually taken in raids on nearby (non-Muslim) Arab tribes, or war, either through offensive or defensive actions. Islam allows the taking of slaves as "booty", or reward for fighting. This has led to numerous "jihads" by Muslim states and tribes to attack other non-Muslim groups and obtain slaves. Islamic jurisprudence laid down regulations for the proper treatment of slaves. However, abuses have occurred throughout history”, says Silas (real name unknown). He also says, “From the days that Muhammad drew his sword to rob and conquer non-Muslims to this very day, Muslims have been taking non-Muslims, and even other black Muslims, as slaves.”[i]
According to scholar says K S Lal:
“Slaves were mainly prisoners of war, but destitutes, debtors and convicted criminals were also sometimes drafted into slavery and commandeered for specific assignments. …In ancient Egypt, as elsewhere, slaves supplied the labour force and were used in any capacity and for any type of work. An almost fabulous number of slaves were employed for the building the Pyramids of Egypt dating from 3000 B.C. to 2300 B.C. According to Herodotus,(the ancient Greek historian) the Great Pyramid (of Cheops) took 100,000 men for ten years to make a causeway 3000 feet long in order to facilitate the transport of stone from the quarries, and the same number of men for twenty years more to complete the pyramid itself. Modern research considers these figures to be exaggerated as Herodotus inquired from people during his journeys and depended on hearsay. What is important in this regard is that the nine pyramids existing at present, are supposed to have been built by respective kings as tombs and memorials of themselves by a very substantial labour force. Slaves in Egypt were also employed on various other jobs."[ii]
Lal adds:
“Among the Greeks also slavery was a rooted institution. In two city states or poleis (singular polis means a city plus its environment) of Athens and Sparta slavery prevailed as also in other lesser known city states. Ancient Greek society was divided into three classes. …In Rome also slavery was extensively prevalent. There the great landed estates were accumulated in a few hands and the cultivation of these lands was done mostly by swarms of slaves leaving war as the chief occupation of honour for the elitist citizens. …The Prophet (Muhammad) himself had made slaves in war and peace. …The Islamised Arabs started taking pride in keeping male and female slaves.”
Historically, the major juristic schools of Islam traditionally have accepted slavery as religiously sanctioned institution. The Islamic prophet Muhammad and many of his companions bought, sold, freed, and captured slaves. It has been mentioned in the previous article that after defeating Banu Koraiza Jews, a community of some 2000 heads in Medina, Muhammad had enslaved the 1200 women and children and distributed amongsy Muslims after massacring about 800 of their adult men. The Prophet took one-fifth of them as his own share of the booty. He distributed some of them among his closest followers and sent the rest to the slave-market at Nejd, to be sold as slaves.
On one occasion, Muhammad took a male-slave to his daughter Fatema’s house to present the slave to her. At that moment, Fatema was not properly dressed and she became busy to cover herself with her veil. But Muhammad told her that though he was a male, but a slave and it was not necessary for her to cover herself in before a slave. After the battle of Badr, Muslims could capture many of the defeated Koreish army. All of them were turned into slaves and freed in exchange of fat ransom. All these incidents reflect that, Muhammad accepted slavery as an established social custom and he neither said word against slavery and nor he took any step to stop this inhuman practice.
Furthermore,
“In Islamic law the topic of slavery is covered at great length. The Qur'an (the holy book) and the hadith (the sayings of Muhammad) see slavery as an exceptional condition that can be entered into under certain limited circumstances. Only children of slaves or non-Muslim prisoners of war could become slaves, never a freeborn Muslim. They also consider manumission of a slave to be one of many meritorious deeds available for the expiation of sins. According to Sharia, slaves are considered human beings and possessed of some rights on the basis of their humanity. In addition, a Muslim slave is equal to a Muslim freeman in religious issues and superior to the free non-Muslim.”
“Muslims were enslaving black Africans long before any slave ships sailed for the New World. Muslims were taking and making slaves all over the lands they had conquered. Later, when slave ships were loaded with black slaves, often, a Muslim slave broker had the human cargo all ready to go. American slavers rarely had to go into inland to capture slaves, they were already waiting there, courtesy of some Muslim ruler, and/or slave broker! In many cases, if the black slaves were not sent to the New World, they were sent to the Mideast to be enslaved by Arabs, or kept by other black Muslims as slaves.” [ref. 1]
Koran approves slavery
From the following verses of the Koran, it becomes evident that Allah approves slavery as a standard social practice:
“The believers truly believe in the Day of Judgement and dread the punishment of their Lord, for none is secure from the punishment of their Lord, and restrain their carnal desire, save with their wives and slave-girls, for these are lawful to them.” (70:26-30) Also “Marry of the women, who seem good to you, two, three or four of them. But if you fear that you cannot maintain equality -among them, marry one only or any slave-girls you may own.” (4: 3) [The term “slave-girls” in the above two verses stands for women purchased in lieu of money, as any other commodity of commerce; and also non Moslem women captured as captives by the Muslims in a battle.]
This verse tells how Muslim males are allowed to have sexual relations with their wives and slave-girls. Implicit in this is that Muslim males can have slave-concubines. The verse (23.5) also tells an almost similar story. Mariyah and her sister Sirin were slave-girls given as gifts to Muhammad by Egyptian governor. Muhammad gave Sirin to Hasan Thabit, the poet. Ibn Sa'd says that Muhammad "liked Mariyah, who was of white complexion, with curly hair and pretty." Ibn Sa'd's "Tabaqat", gives a clear description of Muhammad having sexual relations with Mariyah, his Coptic slave.
Elsewhere the Quran says: “You are forbidden to take in marriage married women, except those(captives) whom you own as slaves (your right hands possess). Such is the decree of Allah.” (4: 24) [The term “married women” in this verse stands for believing married women. As for the non-believing women, whether married or un-married, the Muslims can do anything to them; in fact Muslims have a divine right to even kill those disbelieving women, and as such to enjoy them sexually , even by force, is a much less punishment to them— it is rather a mercy.]
A subset of other verses of Allah that support slavery are:
- “If any of you cannot afford to marry a free believing woman, let him marry a slave-girl who is a believer.” (4:25) “Show kindness to the slaves, whom you own.” (4:36)
- “He (a believer) that accidentally kills a believer must free one Muslim slave.” (4:92)
- “O Prophet! Lo! We have made lawful unto thee thy wives unto whom thou hast paid their dowries, and those whom thy right hand possesseth of those whom Allah hath given thee as spoils of war. We well know the duties We have imposed on the faithful concerning their wives and those whom they own as slave-girls.” (33:50) [The spoil of war means women captured by them as booty. A Captive woman, as per Islamic law, automatically becomes a slave. This verse clearly shows that Muslims believe that taking slaves in war was a God-given right. These slaves were considered 'booty' or the spoils of war. As the saying goes, “to the victors go the spoils.”
- “It shall be unlawful for you (Muhammad) to take more wives or to change your present wives for other women, though their beauty pleases you, except where slave-girls are concerned.” (33:52)
The Quran also instructs Muslims not to force their female slaves into prostitution (24:34), and even allows Muslims to marry slaves if they so desire, and to free them at times as a penalty for crime or sin (4:92, 5:89, 58:3) and even allows slaves to buy their liberty, if they meet certain of their master's conditions (24:33). “While I think it's nice to allow a slave to obtain his freedom, (at his master's discretion) it is tragic that Islam allows them to be enslaved in the first place. That's like robbing a bank and giving some of the money back to the bank, and thinking you did the right thing,” says author Silas. Silashas quoted several hadiths Bukhari and others in his article to show that the hadiths also support slavery. (ref. 1)
Muhammad supported and patronized slavery
Kazi Masum Akhtar claims that Muhammad abolished slavery. But his deeds bear witness that he supported and patronized slavery for the benefit of Islam; more importantly, for his personal benefits. In the 82 raids and wars on non-Muslim settlements, which Muhammad had organized and/or led in his 10-year-stay in Medina, his main aim was to obtain spoils or war-booty. Men and women captured in such raids were also considered war-booty and were kept or sold as slaves. The young and charming girls were used as sex-slaves by Muhammad and his companions. Muhammad used to take one-fifth of the booty as holy khoom and he used to pick the most charming girls in the lot as his personal sex-slave, with whom he usually had sex with on the same night.
In one instance, the Muslims attacked the Banu Mustaliq, and took the women and children slaves after slaughtering their men. The female-slaves were distributed amongst his Muslim soldiers. Being away from home for long, the soldiers were craving for sex and wanted to have sex with the female captives. But they were also worried that if they fell pregnant from the sex-act, their market-value will drop. So, they went to Muhammad and asked if they could do coitus interruptus (i.e. release the semen outside). He advised them to have sex with the slaves, but not to practice coitus interruptus. In effect, Muhammad okayed the rape of the female prisoners. Muhammad took Juwareya, the prettiest young captive in the lot and forced her to have sex with him on the same night.
Muhammad used to barter his slaves, obtained as war booty, in exchange of horses and other weapons for launching jihad or organizing raids against non-Muslim Arab settlements for capturing more.
After Muhammad's death, his cousin Jubair became filthy rich and left 1000 slaves behind when he died.
Above discussion makes it crystal-clear that neither Muhammad did, nor Islam does, take any step to abolish slavery. On the contrary, Muhammad engaged in slavery in his founding years of Islam. Moreover, Muhammad himself used the young and pretty female-captives Rihana (of Banu Koreiza), Juweria (of Banu Mustaliq), Safiya (of Banu Nadir, Khaybar) and others as sex-slaves; indeed, he raped them on the same night he had massacred all their husbands and other male family members. So the idea of Muhammad abolishing slavery cannot arise; any allusions to such a possibility are pure lies.
And following the legacy of Muhammad, Arab Muslims carried out lucrative slave-trade from 8th century to 19th century, across the world. As a matter of fact, slave-trade continued in Sudan till 2005. The Islamist government in Sudan used the state machinery to organize raids in predominantly Christian southern Sudan to capture unarmed common villagers and transport them as slaves to the Arab and Gulf countries. This oppression on the people of southern Sudan went on up to 2005.
So Kazi Masum Akhtar's claim that Muhammad abolished slavery is not supported by facts; instead Muhammad did exactly the opposite vis-à-vis slavery. But Mr. Akhtar has not committed any offence by telling such blatant lies, because telling such lies to deceive infidels in the interested of Islam is a religiously sanctioned doctrine in Islam, called taqiyyah, and he will be rewarded by Allah.
[i] Slavery in Islam: http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/slavery.htm)
[ii] K S Lal, Muslim Slave System in Mediaeval India. Library- www.islam-watch.org
11/23/2009
Sexual Slavery and Concubinage in Islam
It’s quite surprising what you find blatantly expressed in the Islamic texts that few Muslims actually give a thought about.
I am guilty of that myself.
As a child I had always recited verses that mentioned ‘right hand possessions’, but it was only a few years ago that I wondered what that meant. Looking through the related hadiths and tafseers (exegeses), I was shocked to learn that it referred to sexual slaves. It seems that widows and children of non-Muslim men, who were killed in battles waged by Muslims during the Islamic prophet, Muhammad’s time, were taken in as sexual slaves. (More than 70 battles were waged. All but one were offensive.)
In denial the way a child would deny his father is a rapist, I counselled fellow religious friends from the Muslims Student Association about the issue (I later realized that the MSA is an Islamic supremacist group with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi Arabia). I asked them innocently what the term ‘right hand possessions’ means in the Quran. The ‘brothers’ confirmed what I wished not to hear. And, with absolutely no shame about it and a grin on their faces, they told me it’s a matter that should never be brought up in front of kafirs (infidels).
This concept of concealing your faith to protect or propagate Islam is called taqiyyah. Muslims in Europe are not as concerned about that anymore and are more brazen about what they want to do to European women.
This really should have been no surprise to me, though, given the fact that the Islamic prophet himself had sex slaves, or forced widows to marry him:
Rayhana bint Zaid bin Amru was 15 and Muhammad was 56 years old when he attached the Jewish tribe of Banu Qariiza. He took her as a sex slave after she refused to convert to Islam to be his wife.
Juwayriya bint al-Harith was 20 and Muhammad was 58 years old when the Muslims attacked her Jewish tribe, the Banu Mustaliq. She was taken as a sex slave for one of the Muslims. She begged Muhammad to free her, and he allowed that on the condition she marry him.
Safiyyah bint Huyayy was 17 and Muhammad was 60 years old when he attacked the Jews of Khaybar and tortured her husband to death. On their first night, she was a right hand possession, and was lately swiftly made to marry him (as if the mock marriage makes it all morally justifiable...)
Maria the Copt was a Christian slave Muhammad received as a gift from a ruler in Egypt.
A video made by Zaki Ameen that shows the naked truth as it is. Warning: Sexually explicit content!
At the end of this article is a comprehensive list of verses and supporting hadiths that indicate clearly that not only were concubines permitted and encouraged, but that the rapists (no euphemism here) were discouraged by Muhammad from performing coitus interruptus. Yes, they actually had to keep their penises inside while ejaculating, thus potentially adding a permanent memory of the rape.
The list is comprehensive, but I am no genius here. Not long ago, I happened to run into an interesting series of Arabic YouTube videos on the matter (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3).
The videos show an interview an Iqra channel hostess had with two Islamic scholars. She is asking them how Muslims can respond to accusations that Islam permits concubinage. The scholars’ reactions are rather telling, with one sheikh engaging in mental gymnastics and beating around the bush, and the other scowling at her, scolding her, and even walking off the show for a while in order to avoid answering.
This interview is not run by a bunch of Islam bashers or haters or Jews, or whatever fake demons a Muslim has in his or her mind. It's run by a religious presenter with two sheikh guests, on a Saudi channel. Their reaction reminds me of how the following Quranic verses (5:101-2):
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَسْأَلُوا عَنْ أَشْيَاءَ إِنْ تُبْدَ لَكُمْ تَسُؤْكُمْ وَإِنْ تَسْأَلُوا عَنْهَا حِينَ يُنَزَّلُ الْقُرْآنُ تُبْدَ لَكُمْ عَفَا اللَّهُ عَنْهَا ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ حَلِيمٌ قَدْ سَأَلَهَا قَوْمٌ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ ثُمَّ أَصْبَحُوا بِهَا كَافِرِينَ
O you who believe! do not put questions about things which if declared to you may trouble you, and if you question about them when the Quran is being revealed, they shall be declared to you; Allah pardons this, and Allah is Forgiving, Forbearing.
A people before you indeed asked such questions, and then became disbelievers on account of them.The hostess, Basma Wahba, eventually removed her hijab. People can only tolerate stupidity to a certain level, and to Basma Wahba, she saw the stupidity she lived in under the hijab after her revealing experience with those scholars.
I had the evidence below and the videos shown to some Muslim sisters, who reacted in denial and anger at me. My sin was to quote the Islamic passages they regard as sancrosanct, and yet they shoot me, the messenger.
My message to my angry Muslim sisters is this: Truth stands against doubt, so don't fear doubt. God will never punish you for using your minds.
Compilation
Each verse and hadith is first shown in original Arabic, followed by an English translation.
النساء #3:وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلاَّ تُقْسِطُواْ فِي الْيَتَامَى فَانكِحُواْ مَا طَابَ لَكُم مِّنَ النِّسَاء مَثْنَى وَثُلاَثَ وَرُبَاعَ فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلاَّ تَعْدِلُواْ فَوَاحِدَةً أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَلاَّ تَعُولُواْ
Quran 4:3:And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course.
The above verse says that if you cannot be just to your wives, then marry only one or an unlimited number of concubines. This is corroborated by the following two sahih hadiths:
يا ابن أختي اليتيمة تكون في حجر وليها فيرغب في مالهاحَدَّثَنَا عَلِيٌّ سَمِعَ حَسَّانَ بْنَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَنْ يُونُسَ بْنِ يَزِيدَ عَنْ الزُّهْرِيِّ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي عُرْوَةُ أَنَّهُ سَأَلَ عَائِشَةَ عَنْ قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا تُقْسِطُوا فِي الْيَتَامَى فَانْكِحُوا مَا طَابَ لَكُمْ مِنْ النِّسَاءِ مَثْنَى وَثُلَاثَ وَرُبَاعَ فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا فَوَاحِدَةً أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَلَّا تَعُولُوا قَالَتْ يَا ابْنَ أُخْتِي الْيَتِيمَةُ تَكُونُ فِي حَجْرِ وَلِيِّهَا فَيَرْغَبُ فِي مَالِهَا وَجَمَالِهَا يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتَزَوَّجَهَا بِأَدْنَى مِنْ سُنَّةِ صَدَاقِهَا فَنُهُوا أَنْ يَنْكِحُوهُنَّ إِلَّا أَنْ يُقْسِطُوا لَهُنَّ فَيُكْمِلُوا الصَّدَاقَ وَأُمِرُوا بِنِكَاحِ مَنْ سِوَاهُنَّ مِنْ النِّسَاءِ
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 2:Narrated 'Urwa: that he asked 'Aisha about the Statement of Allah: 'If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry (other) women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (the captives) that your right hands possess. That will be nearer to prevent you from doing injustice.' (4.3) 'Aisha said, "O my nephew! (This Verse has been revealed in connection with) an orphan girl under the guardianship of her guardian who is attracted by her wealth and beauty and intends to marry her with a Mahr less than what other women of her standard deserve. So they (such guardians) have been forbidden to marry them unless they do justice to them and give them their full Mahr, and they are ordered to marry other women instead of them."
تزويج اليتيمةحَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الْيَمَانِ أَخْبَرَنَا شُعَيْبٌ عَنْ الزُّهْرِيِّ وَقَالَ اللَّيْثُ حَدَّثَنِي عُقَيْلٌ عَنْ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ أَخْبَرَنِي عُرْوَةُ بْنُ الزُّبَيْرِ أَنَّهُ سَأَلَ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا
قَالَ لَهَا يَا أُمَّتَاهْ وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا تُقْسِطُوا فِي الْيَتَامَى إِلَى قَوْلِهِ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ قَالَتْ عَائِشَةُ يَا ابْنَ أُخْتِي هَذِهِ الْيَتِيمَةُ تَكُونُ فِي حَجْرِ وَلِيِّهَا فَيَرْغَبُ فِي جَمَالِهَا وَمَالِهَا وَيُرِيدُ أَنْ يَنْتَقِصَ مِنْ صَدَاقِهَا فَنُهُوا عَنْ نِكَاحِهِنَّ إِلَّا أَنْ يُقْسِطُوا لَهُنَّ فِي إِكْمَالِ الصَّدَاقِ وَأُمِرُوا بِنِكَاحِ مَنْ سِوَاهُنَّ مِنْ النِّسَاءِ قَالَتْ عَائِشَةُ اسْتَفْتَى النَّاسُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَيَسْتَفْتُونَكَ فِي النِّسَاءِ إِلَى قَوْلِهِ وَتَرْغَبُونَ أَنْ تَنْكِحُوهُنَّ فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ لَهُمْ فِي هَذِهِ الْآيَةِ أَنَّ الْيَتِيمَةَ إِذَا كَانَتْ ذَاتَ مَالٍ وَجَمَالٍ رَغِبُوا فِي نِكَاحِهَا وَنَسَبِهَا وَالصَّدَاقِ وَإِذَا كَانَتْ مَرْغُوبًا عَنْهَا فِي قِلَّةِ الْمَالِ وَالْجَمَالِ تَرَكُوهَا وَأَخَذُوا غَيْرَهَا مِنْ النِّسَاءِ قَالَتْ فَكَمَا يَتْرُكُونَهَا حِينَ يَرْغَبُونَ عَنْهَا فَلَيْسَ لَهُمْ أَنْ يَنْكِحُوهَا إِذَا رَغِبُوا فِيهَا إِلَّا أَنْ يُقْسِطُوا لَهَا وَيُعْطُوهَا حَقَّهَا الْأَوْفَى مِنْ الصَّدَاقِ
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 71:Narrated 'Urwa bin Az-Zubair: that he asked 'Aisha, saying to her, "O Mother! (In what connection was this Verse revealed): 'If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with orphan girls (to the end of the verse) that your right hands possess?" (4.3) Aisha said, "O my nephew! It was about the female orphan under the protection of her guardian who was interested in her beauty and wealth and wanted to marry her with a little or reduced Mahr. So such guardians were forbidden to marry female orphans unless they deal with them justly and give their full Mahr; and they were ordered to marry women other than them."'Aisha added, "(Later) the people asked Allah's Apostle, for instructions, and then Allah revealed: 'They ask your instruction concerning the women . . . And yet whom you desire to marry.' (4.127) So Allah revealed to them in this Verse that-if a female orphan had wealth and beauty, they desired to marry her and were interested in her noble descent and the reduction of her Mahr; but if she was not desired by them because of her lack in fortune and beauty they left her and married some other woman. So, as they used to leave her when they had no interest in her, they had no right to marry her if they had the desire to do so, unless they deal justly with her and gave her a full amount of Mahr." النساء #25 وَمَن لَّمْ يَسْتَطِعْ مِنكُمْ طَوْلاً أَن يَنكِحَ الْمُحْصَنَاتِ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ فَمِن مِّا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُم مِّن فَتَيَاتِكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَاللّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَانِكُمْ بَعْضُكُم مِّن بَعْضٍ فَانكِحُوهُنَّ بِإِذْنِ أَهْلِهِنَّ وَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ مُحْصَنَاتٍ غَيْرَ مُسَافِحَاتٍ وَلاَ مُتَّخِذَاتِ أَخْدَانٍ فَإِذَا أُحْصِنَّ فَإِنْ أَتَيْنَ بِفَاحِشَةٍ فَعَلَيْهِنَّ نِصْفُ مَا عَلَى الْمُحْصَنَاتِ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ خَشِيَ الْعَنَتَ مِنْكُمْ وَأَن تَصْبِرُواْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Quran 4:25:And whoever among you has not within his power ampleness of means to marry free believing women, then (he may marry) of those whom your right hands possess from among your believing* maidens; and Allah knows best your faith: you are (sprung) the one from the other; so marry them with the permission of their masters, and give them their dowries justly, they being chaste, not fornicating, nor receiving paramours; and when they are taken in marriage, then if they are guilty of indecency, they shall suffer half the punishment which is (inflicted) upon free women. This is for him among you who fears falling into evil; and that you abstain is better for you, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."
What the verse is saying is that, if you have slave girls, you can marry them if you wish because, under Islamic law, their marriages to their actually husbands are annulled once they became sex slaves.The verse was revealed because some of the female ‘war booty’ were already married and the rapists told the their prophet that they disliked having relations with them if they are already married.(*According to the tafseer Al-Jami li-Ahkam al-Qur'an (Tafseer Al-Qurtubi) ‘believing women’ refers to the ‘People of the Book’, Jews and Christians. Muslim men are now allowed to married women who are non-adherents to any of the Abrahamic faiths.)This verse is confirmed by the following sahih hadith:
بعث جيشا إلى أوطاس فلقوا عدوا فقاتلوهم فظهروا عليهمحَدَّثَنَا عُبَيْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عُمَرَ بْنِ مَيْسَرَةَ الْقَوَارِيرِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا يَزِيدُ بْنُ زُرَيْعٍ حَدَّثَنَا سَعِيدُ بْنُ أَبِي عَرُوبَةَ عَنْ قَتَادَةَ عَنْ صَالِحٍ أَبِي الْخَلِيلِ عَنْ أَبِي عَلْقَمَةَ الْهَاشِمِيِّ عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَوْمَ حُنَيْنٍ بَعَثَ جَيْشًا إِلَى أَوْطَاسَ فَلَقُوا عَدُوًّا فَقَاتَلُوهُمْ فَظَهَرُوا عَلَيْهِمْ وَأَصَابُوا لَهُمْ سَبَايَا فَكَأَنَّ نَاسًا مِنْ أَصْحَابِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَحَرَّجُوا مِنْ غِشْيَانِهِنَّ مِنْ أَجْلِ أَزْوَاجِهِنَّ مِنْ الْمُشْرِكِينَ فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ فِي ذَلِكَ وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنْ النِّسَاءِ إِلَّا مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ أَيْ فَهُنَّ لَكُمْ حَلَالٌ إِذَا انْقَضَتْ عِدَّتُهُنَّ و حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْمُثَنَّى وَابْنُ بَشَّارٍ قَالُوا حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْأَعْلَى عَنْ سَعِيدٍ عَنْ قَتَادَةَ عَنْ أَبِي الْخَلِيلِ أَنَّ أَبَا عَلْقَمَةَ الْهَاشِمِيَّ حَدَّثَ أَنَّ أَبَا سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيَّ حَدَّثَهُمْ أَنَّ نَبِيَّ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بَعَثَ يَوْمَ حُنَيْنٍ سَرِيَّةً بِمَعْنَى حَدِيثِ يَزِيدَ بْنِ زُرَيْعٍ غَيْرَ أَنَّهُ قَالَ إِلَّا مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ مِنْهُنَّ فَحَلَالٌ لَكُمْ وَلَمْ يَذْكُرْ إِذَا انْقَضَتْ عِدَّتُهُنَّ و حَدَّثَنِيهِ يَحْيَى بْنُ حَبِيبٍ الْحَارِثِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا خَالِدٌ يَعْنِي ابْنَ الْحَارِثِ حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ عَنْ قَتَادَةَ بِهَذَا الْإِسْنَادِ نَحْوَهُ
Sahih Muslim, Book 8, Number 3432:Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (Allah her pleased with him) reported that at the Battle of Hanain Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) sent an army to Autas and encountered the enemy and fought with them. Having overcome them and taken them captives, the Companions of Allah's Messenger (may peace te [sic] upon him) seemed to refrain from having intercourse with captive women because of their husbands being polytheists. Then Allah, Most High, sent down regarding that:" And women already married, except those whom your right hands possess (iv. 24)" (i. e. they were lawful for them when their 'Idda period came to an end).
The hadith is repeated twice in Sahih Muslim in Sahih Muslim, Book 8, Number 3433 and Sahih Muslim, Book 8, Number 3434.
سورة المؤمنون #1-6 قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ (1) الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ (2) وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنِ اللَّغْوِ مُعْرِضُونَ (3) وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ لِلزَّكَاةِ فَاعِلُونَ (4) وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ لِفُرُوجِهِمْ حَافِظُونَ (5) إِلَّا عَلَى أَزْوَاجِهِمْ أوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ غَيْرُ مَلُومِينَ (6)
Quran 23:1–6(1) Successful indeed are the believers,(2) Who are humble in their prayers, (3) And who keep aloof from what is vain, (4) And who are givers of poor-rate, (5) And who guard their private parts, (6) Except before their mates or those whom their right hands possess, for they surely are not blameable,
النور #31وَقُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَغْضُضْنَ مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِنَّ وَيَحْفَظْنَ فُرُوجَهُنَّ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَى جُيُوبِهِنَّ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا لِبُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ آبَائِهِنَّ أَوْ آبَاء بُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ أَبْنَائِهِنَّ أَوْ أَبْنَاء بُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ إِخْوَانِهِنَّ أَوْ بَنِي إِخْوَانِهِنَّ أَوْ بَنِي أَخَوَاتِهِنَّ أَوْ نِسَائِهِنَّ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُنَّ أَوِ التَّابِعِينَ غَيْرِ أُوْلِي الْإِرْبَةِ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ أَوِ الطِّفْلِ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يَظْهَرُوا عَلَى عَوْرَاتِ النِّسَاء وَلَا يَضْرِبْنَ بِأَرْجُلِهِنَّ لِيُعْلَمَ مَا يُخْفِينَ مِن زِينَتِهِنَّ وَتُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ جَمِيعاً أَيُّهَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُون
Quran 24:31:And say to the believing women that they cast down their looks and guard their private parts and do not display their ornaments except what appears thereof, and let them wear their head-coverings over their bosoms, and not display their ornaments except to their husbands or their fathers, or the fathers of their husbands, or their sons, or the sons of their husbands, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or those whom their right hands possess, or the male servants not having need (of women), or the children who have not attained knowledge of what is hidden of women; and let them not strike their feet so that what they hide of their ornaments may be known; and turn to Allah all of you, O believers! so that you may be successful.
النور #58 يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لِيَسْتَأْذِنكُمُ الَّذِينَ مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ لَمْ يَبْلُغُوا الْحُلُمَ مِنكُمْ ثَلَاثَ مَرَّاتٍ مِن قَبْلِ صَلَاةِ الْفَجْرِ وَحِينَ تَضَعُونَ ثِيَابَكُم مِّنَ الظَّهِيرَةِ وَمِن بَعْدِ صَلَاةِ الْعِشَاء ثَلَاثُ عَوْرَاتٍ لَّكُمْ لَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَلَا عَلَيْهِمْ جُنَاحٌ بَعْدَهُنَّ طَوَّافُونَ عَلَيْكُم بَعْضُكُمْ عَلَى بَعْضٍ كَذَلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمُ الْآيَاتِ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ
Quran 24:58:O you who believe! let those whom your right hands possess and those of you who have not attained to puberty ask permission of you three times; before the morning prayer, and when you put off your clothes at midday in summer, and after the prayer of the nightfall; these are three times of privacy for you; neither is it a sin for you nor for them besides these, some of you must go round about (waiting) upon others; thus does Allah make clear to you the communications, and Allah is Knowing, Wise.
The above verse forbids concubines and children from entering the male’s private room with permission during three times of the day. Mentioning concubines casually infers they were not forbidden.
الأحزاب # 50 – 52يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِنَّا أَحْلَلْنَا لَكَ أَزْوَاجَكَ اللَّاتِي آتَيْتَ أُجُورَهُنَّ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينُكَ مِمَّا أَفَاء اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ وَبَنَاتِ عَمِّكَ وَبَنَاتِ عَمَّاتِكَ وَبَنَاتِ خَالِكَ وَبَنَاتِ خَالَاتِكَ اللَّاتِي هَاجَرْنَ مَعَكَ وَامْرَأَةً مُّؤْمِنَةً إِن وَهَبَتْ نَفْسَهَا لِلنَّبِيِّ إِنْ أَرَادَ النَّبِيُّ أَن يَسْتَنكِحَهَا خَالِصَةً لَّكَ مِن دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ قَدْ عَلِمْنَا مَا فَرَضْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ فِي أَزْوَاجِهِمْ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُمْ لِكَيْلَا يَكُونَ عَلَيْكَ حَرَجٌ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُوراً رَّحِيماً (50) تُرْجِي مَن تَشَاء مِنْهُنَّ وَتُؤْوِي إِلَيْكَ مَن تَشَاء وَمَنِ ابْتَغَيْتَ مِمَّنْ عَزَلْتَ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكَ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَن تَقَرَّ أَعْيُنُهُنَّ وَلَا يَحْزَنَّ وَيَرْضَيْنَ بِمَا آتَيْتَهُنَّ كُلُّهُنَّ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلِيماً حَلِيماً (51) لَا يَحِلُّ لَكَ النِّسَاء مِن بَعْدُ وَلَا أَن تَبَدَّلَ بِهِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَاجٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ حُسْنُهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينُكَ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ رَّقِيباً (52
Quran 33:50–52:(50) O Prophet! surely We have made lawful to you your wives whom you have given their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses out of those whom Allah has given to you as prisoners of war, and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts, and the daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts who fled with you; and a believing woman if she gave herself to the Prophet, if the Prophet desired to marry her-- specially for you, not for the (rest of) believers; We know what We have ordained for them concerning their wives and those whom their right hands possess in order that no blame may attach to you; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
(51) You may put off whom you please of them, and you may take to you whom you please, and whom you desire of those whom you had separated provisionally; no blame attaches to you; this is most proper, so that their eyes may be cool and they may not grieve, and that they should be pleased, all of them with what you give them, and Allah knows what is in your hearts; and Allah is Knowing, Forbearing.
(52) It is not allowed to you to take women afterwards, nor that you should change them for other wives, though their beauty be pleasing to you, except what your right hand possesses and Allah is Watchful over all things.
المعارج #30إِلَّا عَلَى أَزْوَاجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ غَيْرُ مَلُومِينَ
Quran 70:30:Except in the case of their wives or those whom their right hands possess-- for these surely are not to be blamed..
The above verse has a similar implication to 23:6, which was previously shown and explained.
Below are sahih hadiths on having coitus interruptus with female war captives. While the Islamic prophet forbade coitus interruptus, he also said that they should not worry about whether the woman would become pregnant, because that would be part of the qadar (predetermination). Hence, he did forbid coitus interruptus but implied that it’s okay to have intercourse with the female captives without withdrawing the genitals upon ejaculation.
أوإنكم تفعلون ذلك لا عليكم أن لا تفعلوا ذلكم فإنهاحَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الْيَمَانِ أَخْبَرَنَا شُعَيْبٌ عَنْ الزُّهْرِيِّ قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي ابْنُ مُحَيْرِيزٍ أَنَّ أَبَا سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيَّ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ أَخْبَرَهُ أَنَّهُ بَيْنَمَا هُوَ جَالِسٌ عِنْدَ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنَّا نُصِيبُ سَبْيًا فَنُحِبُّ الْأَثْمَانَ فَكَيْفَ تَرَى فِي الْعَزْلِ فَقَالَ أَوَإِنَّكُمْ تَفْعَلُونَ ذَلِكَ لَا عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ لَا تَفْعَلُوا ذَلِكُمْ فَإِنَّهَا لَيْسَتْ نَسَمَةٌ كَتَبَ اللَّهُ أَنْ تَخْرُجَ إِلَّا هِيَ خَارِجَةٌ
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 34, Number 432:Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri: that while he was sitting with Allah's Apostle he said, "O Allah's Apostle! We get femalecaptives as our share of booty, and we are interested in their prices, what is your opinion about coitus interrupt us [sic][?" The Prophet said, "Do you really do that? It is better for you not to do it. No soul that which Allah has destined to exist, but will surely come into existence.
ما عليكم أن لا تفعلوا ما من نسمة كائنة إلى يوم القيامةحَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ يُوسُفَ أَخْبَرَنَا مَالِكٌ عَنْ رَبِيعَةَ بْنِ أَبِي عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ يَحْيَى بْنِ حَبَّانَ عَنْ ابْنِ مُحَيْرِيزٍ قَالَ رَأَيْتُ أَبَا سَعِيدٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ فَسَأَلْتُهُ فَقَالَ خَرَجْنَا مَعَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي غَزْوَةِ بَنِي الْمُصْطَلِقِ فَأَصَبْنَا سَبْيًا مِنْ سَبْيِ الْعَرَبِ فَاشْتَهَيْنَا النِّسَاءَ فَاشْتَدَّتْ عَلَيْنَا الْعُزْبَةُ وَأَحْبَبْنَا الْعَزْلَ فَسَأَلْنَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَقَالَ مَا عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ لَا تَفْعَلُوا مَا مِنْ نَسَمَةٍ كَائِنَةٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ إِلَّا وَهِيَ كَائِنَةٌ
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 46, Number 718:I saw Abu Said and asked him about coitus interruptus. Abu Said said, "We went with Allah's Apostle, in the Ghazwa of Barli Al-Mustaliq and we captured some of the 'Arabs as captives, and the long separation from our wives was pressing us hard and we wanted to practice coitus interruptus. We asked Allah's Apostle (whether it was permissible). He said, "It is better for you not to do so. No soul, (that which Allah has) destined to exist, up to the Day of Resurrection, but will definitely come, into existence."
ما عليكم أن لا تفعلوا ما من نسمة كائنة إلى يوم القيامةحَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ أَخْبَرَنَا إِسْمَاعِيلُ بْنُ جَعْفَرٍ عَنْ رَبِيعَةَ بْنِ أَبِي عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ يَحْيَى بْنِ حَبَّانَ عَنْ ابْنِ مُحَيْرِيزٍ أَنَّهُ قَالَ دَخَلْتُ الْمَسْجِدَ فَرَأَيْتُ أَبَا سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيَّ فَجَلَسْتُ إِلَيْهِ فَسَأَلْتُهُ عَنْ الْعَزْلِ قَالَ أَبُو سَعِيدٍ خَرَجْنَا مَعَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي غَزْوَةِ بَنِي الْمُصْطَلِقِ فَأَصَبْنَا سَبْيًا مِنْ سَبْيِ الْعَرَبِ فَاشْتَهَيْنَا النِّسَاءَ وَاشْتَدَّتْ عَلَيْنَا الْعُزْبَةُ وَأَحْبَبْنَا الْعَزْلَ فَأَرَدْنَا أَنْ نَعْزِلَ وَقُلْنَا نَعْزِلُ وَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بَيْنَ أَظْهُرِنَا قَبْلَ أَنْ نَسْأَلَهُ فَسَأَلْنَاهُ عَنْ ذَلِكَ فَقَالَ مَا عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ لَا تَفْعَلُوا مَا مِنْ نَسَمَةٍ كَائِنَةٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ إِلَّا وَهِيَ كَائِنَةٌ
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 59, Number 459:Narrated Ibn Muhairiz: I entered the Mosque and saw Abu Said Al-Khudri and sat beside him and asked him about Al-Azl (i.e. coitus interruptus). Abu Said said, "We went out with Allah's Apostle for the Ghazwa of Banu Al-Mustaliq and we received captives from among the Arab captives and we desired women and celibacy became hard on us and we loved to do coitus interruptus. So when we intended to do coitus interrupt us, we said, 'How can we do coitus interruptus before asking Allah's Apostle who is present among us?" We asked (him) about it and he said, 'It is better for you not to do so, for if any soul (till the Day of Resurrection) is predestined to exist, it will exist."
أوإنكم لتفعلون قالها ثلاثا ما من نسمة كائنة إلى يومحَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ أَسْمَاءَ حَدَّثَنَا جُوَيْرِيَةُ عَنْ مَالِكِ بْنِ أَنَسٍ عَنْ الزُّهْرِيِّ عَنْ ابْنِ مُحَيْرِيزٍ عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ قَالَ أَصَبْنَا سَبْيًا فَكُنَّا نَعْزِلُ فَسَأَلْنَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَقَالَ أَوَإِنَّكُمْ لَتَفْعَلُونَ قَالَهَا ثَلَاثًا مَا مِنْ نَسَمَةٍ كَائِنَةٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ إِلَّا هِيَ كَائِنَةٌ
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 137:Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri: We got female captives in the war booty and we used to do coitus interruptus with them. So we asked Allah's Apostle about it and he said, "Do you really do that?" repeating the question thrice, "There is no soul that is destined to exist but will come into existence, till the Day of Resurrection."
ما عليكم أن لا تفعلوا فإن الله قد كتب من هو خالقحَدَّثَنَا إِسْحَاقُ حَدَّثَنَا عَفَّانُ حَدَّثَنَا وُهَيْبٌ حَدَّثَنَا مُوسَى هُوَ ابْنُ عُقْبَةَ حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى بْنِ حَبَّانَ عَنْ ابْنِ مُحَيْرِيزٍ عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ فِي غَزْوَةِ بَنِي الْمُصْطَلِقِ أَنَّهُمْ أَصَابُوا سَبَايَا فَأَرَادُوا أَنْ يَسْتَمْتِعُوا بِهِنَّ وَلَا يَحْمِلْنَ فَسَأَلُوا النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَنْ الْعَزْلِ فَقَالَ مَا عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ لَا تَفْعَلُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ كَتَبَ مَنْ هُوَ خَالِقٌ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ وَقَالَ مُجَاهِدٌ عَنْ قَزَعَةَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا سَعِيدٍ فَقَالَ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لَيْسَتْ نَفْسٌ مَخْلُوقَةٌ إِلَّا اللَّهُ خَالِقُهَا
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 93, Number 506:Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri: That during the battle with Bani Al-Mustaliq they (Muslims) captured some females and intended to have sexual relation with them without impregnating them. So they asked the Prophet about coitus interrupt us. The Prophet said, "It is better that you should not do it, for Allah has written whom He is going to create till the Day of Resurrection." Qaza'a said, "I heard Abu Sa'id saying that the Prophet said, 'No soul is ordained to be created but Allah will create it."
