Notes from November 30th, 2001

The Character of Muhammad.
Today we looked for clues in the life of Muhammad that would either reinforce or condemn the abuses of religious and political authority commonly seen among nations that espouse hardline Islamic fundamentalism.
Muhammad’s political power was tied up with his religious authority.
Moderate Islamic states are more tolerant than states like The Sudan or Saudi Arabia, where Islam is used to justify the abuse and exploitation of religious minorities.
Muhammad was superstitious. He believed one should not face Mecca when going to the bathroom, that camel urine and milk were a healing tonic, and that dogs were unclean and hated by angels. He also adopted several pre-Islamic pagan beliefs such as throwing rocks at the devil, circumambulating the Ka’aba, and running between two holy hills in Mecca. The Ka’aba itself was a pre-Islamic pagan idol worshiped by the Arabs long before Muhammad’s birth.
He seems to have been preoccupied with the status of orphans and widows. This is interesting in that his mother was widowed shortly after he was born, and he was orphaned at the age of five. Most of the policies he introduced concerning women were progressive for his day, even thought they seem wildly unjust to we 21st century Americans. Things like a woman’s share in an inheritance, a woman’s ability to testify in legal matters, and the banning of female infanticide were progressive. However, despite his more liberal policies, he broke a few of the rules he himself (or rather, Allah) proclaimed. He had more than four wives, (the argument for polytheism being that in this way widows and orphans could be cared for). He took a child bride and consummated the marriage before the onset of menstruation, (which is forbidden in the Koran, Sura 65, Verse 4). He is said to have had sex with female followers as well as keeping a harem, and having sex with his slaves. In short, he improved the status of women but also saw them as inferior and subservient to men. His child bride was named Aesha, and the Al Bukhari Hadith (supposedly one of the most respected Hadiths) was written by her. She was between 6 and 10 when he married her; he was 53. He also took his adopted son’s daughter away and married her himself. The teacher says we can look the justification for what he did up in the Koran, 33:28-34.