Prophet Muhammad
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written daily in the prophet’s name. Lies were told to support
a certain sect or raise some families above others, and Islam was
rewritten in books claiming to be the teachings and actions of the
prophet. These books changed the face of Islam and created a new
religion that was not based on the book of God but rather on the
new books of Hadith and Sunnah, the books that the prophet never
authored, saw, advocated or upheld.
The Prophet and Women
Let us, for example, check the women in the prophet’s life.
The wives of Prophet Muhammad were vibrant, outspoken women. His
first wife, Khadija was a successful businesswoman in trading. She
actually was the employer of Muhammad in his early life. Aisha during
her life acted as a judge, a political activist and a warrior. Among
the other wives were a leather worker and an advocate of the downtrodden,
revered in her days as the “mother of the poor.” If
any of these women were alive today and practicing what they did
back then, they would be condemned by the contemporary Islamic leaders
and probably stoned, insulted and forced to stay home. This is not
the Islam of the prophet Muhammad but rather the Islam invented
after his death and claimed to be his.
Muhammad would look like a liberal man compared to any of
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those who claim to be following the
teachings that he never advocated. In Afghanistan, Muslim women
were killed by the radical Islamic groups for the crime of working
in women’s centers or with foreign aid organizations. Women
in Iran and Afghanistan are forced to wear the veil, a cultural
dress code that is not Islamic but was made the law by these Muslims
leaders. Working Muslim women in Algeria were attacked for being
out working. Unveiled women in many of the so-called Islamic countries
are being attacked, disfigured or at least insulted for not following
the man-made law of dress code for women. Many of these Islamic
countries are advocating laws to curtail the rights of women, rights
that were guaranteed for them in Islam.
Certainly, Muhammad was a liberal man for his time and our time.
He helped out around his various households, mended his own clothes,
gave his wives the freedom to help in their community and believed
emotional and sexual satisfaction were a woman’s right. The
Islam he founded was totally based on the Quran and Quran alone.
It outlawed female infanticide, made the education of girls a sacred
duty and established a woman’s right to own and inherit property.
None of the complicated laws that restrict the women’s freedom
as we see it today in the so-called Islamic countries can be traced
back to the prophet or to the book he brought, the Quran. All the
oppressive laws are innovations
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added to Islam by Mullahs, scholars,
and political or religious leaders and have nothing to do with the
true Islam.
If anything can be learned from the Islam practiced by the majority
of the Muslims today, it is not to judge the true Islam by what
the Muslims do. We need to continuously remember and remind ourselves
and our children why the messenger will complain to God on the Last
Day about his people (See 25:30). If we do, maybe we can be among
the few who will not be with the misguided majority (See 12:103
and 106).
If we are to follow the prophet Muhammad and bring Islam back
to its glorious days, we must do like the prophet Muhammad, follow
the Quran alone. Only then God’s victory can be ours in this
life and in the Hereafter.
Khadija Ismael
This (Quran) is the utterance of an honorable messenger. Not the
utterance of a poet; rarely do you believe. Nor the utterance of
a soothsayer; rarely do you take heed.
A revelation from the Lord of the universe. Had he
(Mu-hammad) uttered any other teachings, We would have punished
him. We would have stopped the revelations to him. None of you could
have helped him.
This is a reminder for the righteous. [69:40-48]
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