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It is not so surprising that a man who lived in seventh century Arabia saw nothing wrong with slavery.
It was not an enlightened time or place. Mohammed was naught but a sinner, but unfortunately he was not saved by grace.
The Koran concedes his erring ways and need for forgiveness:
"Therefore be steadfast thou and patient; for true is the promise of God: and seek pardon for
thy fault, and celebrate the praise of thy Lord at evening and at morning." (Koran Sura 40:57).
"Know, then, that there is no god but God: and ask pardon for thy sin, and for believers, both
men and women. God knoweth your busy movements, and your final resting-places." (Koran Sura 47:21).
"In token that God forgiveth thy earlier and later faults, and fulfilleth His goodness to thee, and guideth thee on
the right way, and that God succoreth thee with a mighty succor." (Koran Sura 48:2-3).
"God forgive thee! Why didst thou give them leave to stay behind, ere they who make true excuses had become
known to thee, and thou hadst known the liars?" (Koran Sura 9:43).
Sura 80 of the Koran is devoted to scolding Mohammed for his rudeness to
a blind man:
"He FROWNED, and he turned his back,
Because the blind man came to him!
But what assured thee that he would not be cleansed by the Faith,
Or be warned, and the warning profit him?
As to him who is wealthy —
To him thou wast all attention:
Yet is it not thy concern if he be not cleansed:
But as to him who cometh to thee in earnest,
And full of fears —
Him dost thou neglect." (Sura 80:1-10).
What folly to make this fallible man into an idol, holding him up as if he were the
perfect man, a grand example for all to follow! In the modern world,
imitating this man can actually get you into legal trouble. He
married a nine-year old girl:
- “Narrated Aisha:
“The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six
(years). We went to Medina and stayed at the
home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got
ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew
(again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me
while I was playing in a swing with some of my
girl friends. She called me, and I went to her,
not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She
caught me by the hand and made me stand at the
door of the house. I was breathless then, and
when my breathing became all right, she took
some water and rubbed my face and head with it.
Then she took me into the house. There in the
house I saw some Ansari women who said, 'Best
wishes and Allah's Blessing and a good luck.'
Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared
me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah's
Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother
handed me over to him, and at that time I was a
girl of nine years of age.”
-
(Hadith Sahih Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 234).
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In response, Muslim apologists such as Yahya Snow assert that the Bible fixes the age of
consent at puberty, citing Ezekiel 16:4-14. This Bible passage,
recounting God's love for Jerusalem personified as a wife, does
imply that there is an age of consent: "Now when I passed by thee,
and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love. . ."
(Ezekiel 16:8), however it does not fix that age, either at puberty
or at any other time. The rabbis who authored the Talmud established
the age of consent on their own authority, not relying upon any
Biblical definition. There is no evidence that Aisha, at the age of
nine, had attained puberty, but it is not impossible that
she had. Moreover Yahya Snow cites the Catholic
Encyclopedia
in evidence that Joseph was aged ninety when he married Mary, aged
twelve to fourteen. But there is no reliable historical information
to this effect, and the narratives relied upon were crafted to
establish Mary's perpetual virginity! This is a Catholic belief
incomprehensible to Muslims. The article cited itself says, "These
dreams, as St. Jerome styles them. . .are void of authority. . ." It
is likely the creative authors chose these ages for Joseph and Mary
precisely to make it impossible for the reader to believe this
marriage was ever consummated. Biographical information made up in
the first place to establish the non-consummation of a marriage
cannot be offered as evidence for the appropriate age for
consummation of a marriage!
Nations such as Saudi Arabia are left unable to join the
civilized world's preference for an age of consent in the range of
14-16 years, because they must follow Mohammed ibn Abdallah's
unworthy example. Instead of defending the indefensible, Muslim
apologists would be doing their own societies a favor by remaining
silent on this issue. A little girl playing with dolls should not be forced
into marriage, neither in the seventh century nor today. One poor little
girl begged, "'Save me. I don't want him,' she cried." (Al Arabiya
News, January 17, 2010.)
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