Posted: Feb 24, 2011 9:27 pm
Hello everybody,
You can download my book from:
http://www.4shared.com/get/vVYmHAHG/An_ ... Mecca.html
Here are the first two chapters:
Before Birth
Location: Syria, an Arab country bordered on the east by Iraq.
Time: Mid-seventies.
A young Syrian man in his early twenties, studying religion in a college in Mecca, travels back to Syria during the holiday season. When he arrives home, he tells his parents about his desire to marry, and asks them to look for a wife for him. His father contacts one of his friends, a Muslim cleric, who has a 13 year old daughter. He tells the cleric that he is honored to ask the daughter for his son. The college student and his father both visit the cleric's home. The 13 year old girl enters the room and serves the guests with coffee. The student chats a little with the shy girl, then the guests leave. The college student tells his parents that he liked the girl and he agrees to marry her. The cleric tells the father that the daughter agrees on marriage, and he gives his approval although the daughter's mother had her concerns, not because she thinks that her daughter is too young for marriage, but because she doesn't want her daughter to live 1300 km apart from her.
Two weeks later, a wedding is held. The college student and the 13 years old girl are announced as husband and wife.
They spend their first few months as a married couple in a room at the husband's father's home.
Following these few months, the couple travels to Mecca, where they will live for the next thirty years and give birth to four children, including me.
Child marriage and the problem with Islam
I am so glad that my mother got married at the age of 13. My mother belongs to a nation that its prophet and top example, Muhammad (570-632), married a child when she was 6 and consummated the marriage when she became 9 (See: Sahih Al-Bukhari vol.5 p.38 .“Sahih Al-Bukhari”and "Sahih Muslim" are the most authentic collections of the sayings of Muhammad, accepted by Muslims to be entirely and absolutely true) . So I consider my mother to be lucky that she skipped a much worse fate than marrying at 13.
And since her parents had no problem marrying her off at the age of 13, I don't expect that they would have had a problem if their daughter was asked for marriage at an earlier age.
In the Islamic world, child marriage is rare, but it happens, and it's lawful, thanks to Islam which preserves this ancient Arab tradition. Child marriage in ancient times was common in most parts of the world; the Arabian Peninsula wasn't an exception. So it was normal for Muhammad as a son of that culture to consider child marriage as uncontroversial. Many of the things that Muhammad is criticized for today are actually justified when they are viewed in their historical and cultural context. Muhammad, as a reformer, abrogated many bad Arab traditions, but he also kept many other bad ones and considered them to be normal. I don't blame him for that; he was just a human being. But the big problem is that he considered the laws of his religion to be the most perfect laws for all mankind in every place and in every time. He also considered the rejection of any Islamic law as disbelief . That's our main problem with Muslims today; they regard Islam's laws to be valid for our time, 14 centuries after Muhammad, and they consider the rejection of any single Islamic teaching to be infidelity; that what makes secularism in the Muslim world a difficult thing to achieve, and that's why secular Muslims are considered apostates by all traditional Muslim clerics. The Quran, the word of god according to Muslims, is very clear about the position of Islam's laws (Sharia):
"It's not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and his messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and his messenger, he is indeed strayed into a plain error." (33-36) (All Quran verses I quote are from Hilali-Khan's translation.)
"But no, by your lord, they can have no faith, until they make you (O Muhammad) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept (them) with full submission." (4-65)
"Then do you believe in a part of the scripture and reject the rest? Then what is the recompense of those who do so among you, except disgrace in the life of his world, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall be consigned to the most grievous torment." (2-85)
Here is a quote from the "Islamic Monotheism" curriculum for the second high grade in Saudi Arabia, a curriculum I studied when I was 16 years old:
"The things that nullify faith are:…6- To believe that the prophet's guidance is insufficient, to believe there's a law better or more suitable to mankind than the prophet's, to believe that the prophet's law isn't the only best law, or to believe that the implementation of any law rather than the prophet's is permissible, even if you believe that the prophet's law is better." (p. 15)
And thus, Muslims are still practicing many ill-natured teachings of Islam, including child marriage. I don't blame Muhammad for having sex with a nine year old girl 14 centuries ago, but I strongly blame the one who says that child marriage is acceptable in present time. It's exactly like how I don't blame Akhenaton, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh, for marrying his sister. Because that kind of marriage was normal in ancient Egypt. If present-day Egyptians still believe in their ancient religion, then brother-sister marriage would still be practiced in Egypt today. But today Egyptians don't believe in Akhenaton, they believe in Muhammad, and that's why child marriage is still valid and active in Egypt, and in most Muslim countries, alongside with many other ill-natured practices that are much more common than child marriage, such as the woman's wearing of a veil, the husband's right to beat his wife, polygamy…etc.
Child marriage isn't that common in Saudi Arabia, but it's quite common in Yemen, a poor country to the south of Saudi Arabia and is very similar to it in terms of traditions and religion.
More than a quarter of females in Yemen marry before the age of 15, according to a 2009 report by the social affairs ministry. On March 2010, hundreds of Yemeni women protested near the Parliament against a proposed law banning marriage before the age of 18. The protesting women were holding Qurans in their hands and holding placards that some of them read: "The Quran and the prophet's sayings are above all laws that contradict with our religion" and "Stop assaulting the Islamic law by the name of rights and liberty". Many influential Yemeni Islamic clerics issued a decree declaring as apostates those who supported the banning law. Abdul Majid Al-Zandani, the president of the Iman university and a famous Yemeni cleric well known in the Arab world, threatened to organize a one million person protest against the law. So as you can see, this proposed law has been opposed largely by Muslim clerics for Islamic excuses. This proves that Islam has its big share of responsibility over the prevalence of child marriage in Yemen. Yes, Child marriage is a tradition, but it's Islam that makes many Muslims support it and oppose banning it, because they believe that the Islamic law is suitable for all mankind and for all times, and whoever rejects a single Islamic law is considered an apostate. That's why those who called for the banning law in Yemen were declared as apostates by Yemeni clerics, and this is only one reason why Islam is a serious threat to modern civilization.
You can download my book from:
http://www.4shared.com/get/vVYmHAHG/An_ ... Mecca.html
Here are the first two chapters:
Before Birth
Location: Syria, an Arab country bordered on the east by Iraq.
Time: Mid-seventies.
A young Syrian man in his early twenties, studying religion in a college in Mecca, travels back to Syria during the holiday season. When he arrives home, he tells his parents about his desire to marry, and asks them to look for a wife for him. His father contacts one of his friends, a Muslim cleric, who has a 13 year old daughter. He tells the cleric that he is honored to ask the daughter for his son. The college student and his father both visit the cleric's home. The 13 year old girl enters the room and serves the guests with coffee. The student chats a little with the shy girl, then the guests leave. The college student tells his parents that he liked the girl and he agrees to marry her. The cleric tells the father that the daughter agrees on marriage, and he gives his approval although the daughter's mother had her concerns, not because she thinks that her daughter is too young for marriage, but because she doesn't want her daughter to live 1300 km apart from her.
Two weeks later, a wedding is held. The college student and the 13 years old girl are announced as husband and wife.
They spend their first few months as a married couple in a room at the husband's father's home.
Following these few months, the couple travels to Mecca, where they will live for the next thirty years and give birth to four children, including me.
Child marriage and the problem with Islam
I am so glad that my mother got married at the age of 13. My mother belongs to a nation that its prophet and top example, Muhammad (570-632), married a child when she was 6 and consummated the marriage when she became 9 (See: Sahih Al-Bukhari vol.5 p.38 .“Sahih Al-Bukhari”and "Sahih Muslim" are the most authentic collections of the sayings of Muhammad, accepted by Muslims to be entirely and absolutely true) . So I consider my mother to be lucky that she skipped a much worse fate than marrying at 13.
And since her parents had no problem marrying her off at the age of 13, I don't expect that they would have had a problem if their daughter was asked for marriage at an earlier age.
In the Islamic world, child marriage is rare, but it happens, and it's lawful, thanks to Islam which preserves this ancient Arab tradition. Child marriage in ancient times was common in most parts of the world; the Arabian Peninsula wasn't an exception. So it was normal for Muhammad as a son of that culture to consider child marriage as uncontroversial. Many of the things that Muhammad is criticized for today are actually justified when they are viewed in their historical and cultural context. Muhammad, as a reformer, abrogated many bad Arab traditions, but he also kept many other bad ones and considered them to be normal. I don't blame him for that; he was just a human being. But the big problem is that he considered the laws of his religion to be the most perfect laws for all mankind in every place and in every time. He also considered the rejection of any Islamic law as disbelief . That's our main problem with Muslims today; they regard Islam's laws to be valid for our time, 14 centuries after Muhammad, and they consider the rejection of any single Islamic teaching to be infidelity; that what makes secularism in the Muslim world a difficult thing to achieve, and that's why secular Muslims are considered apostates by all traditional Muslim clerics. The Quran, the word of god according to Muslims, is very clear about the position of Islam's laws (Sharia):
"It's not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and his messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and his messenger, he is indeed strayed into a plain error." (33-36) (All Quran verses I quote are from Hilali-Khan's translation.)
"But no, by your lord, they can have no faith, until they make you (O Muhammad) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept (them) with full submission." (4-65)
"Then do you believe in a part of the scripture and reject the rest? Then what is the recompense of those who do so among you, except disgrace in the life of his world, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall be consigned to the most grievous torment." (2-85)
Here is a quote from the "Islamic Monotheism" curriculum for the second high grade in Saudi Arabia, a curriculum I studied when I was 16 years old:
"The things that nullify faith are:…6- To believe that the prophet's guidance is insufficient, to believe there's a law better or more suitable to mankind than the prophet's, to believe that the prophet's law isn't the only best law, or to believe that the implementation of any law rather than the prophet's is permissible, even if you believe that the prophet's law is better." (p. 15)
And thus, Muslims are still practicing many ill-natured teachings of Islam, including child marriage. I don't blame Muhammad for having sex with a nine year old girl 14 centuries ago, but I strongly blame the one who says that child marriage is acceptable in present time. It's exactly like how I don't blame Akhenaton, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh, for marrying his sister. Because that kind of marriage was normal in ancient Egypt. If present-day Egyptians still believe in their ancient religion, then brother-sister marriage would still be practiced in Egypt today. But today Egyptians don't believe in Akhenaton, they believe in Muhammad, and that's why child marriage is still valid and active in Egypt, and in most Muslim countries, alongside with many other ill-natured practices that are much more common than child marriage, such as the woman's wearing of a veil, the husband's right to beat his wife, polygamy…etc.
Child marriage isn't that common in Saudi Arabia, but it's quite common in Yemen, a poor country to the south of Saudi Arabia and is very similar to it in terms of traditions and religion.
More than a quarter of females in Yemen marry before the age of 15, according to a 2009 report by the social affairs ministry. On March 2010, hundreds of Yemeni women protested near the Parliament against a proposed law banning marriage before the age of 18. The protesting women were holding Qurans in their hands and holding placards that some of them read: "The Quran and the prophet's sayings are above all laws that contradict with our religion" and "Stop assaulting the Islamic law by the name of rights and liberty". Many influential Yemeni Islamic clerics issued a decree declaring as apostates those who supported the banning law. Abdul Majid Al-Zandani, the president of the Iman university and a famous Yemeni cleric well known in the Arab world, threatened to organize a one million person protest against the law. So as you can see, this proposed law has been opposed largely by Muslim clerics for Islamic excuses. This proves that Islam has its big share of responsibility over the prevalence of child marriage in Yemen. Yes, Child marriage is a tradition, but it's Islam that makes many Muslims support it and oppose banning it, because they believe that the Islamic law is suitable for all mankind and for all times, and whoever rejects a single Islamic law is considered an apostate. That's why those who called for the banning law in Yemen were declared as apostates by Yemeni clerics, and this is only one reason why Islam is a serious threat to modern civilization.