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Aisha, the most beloved wife of Prophet Muhammad: the book review after the death of Muhammad. Part 2

Posted by: on: March 4, 2021

Book review of Genevieve Chauvel

Note: If you missed Part 1, go to this link https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2021/03/03/most-beloved-wife-of-prophet-muhammad-aicha/

Shortly after his return to Medina, Muhammad suffered from terrible headaches for a month; he asked Abu Bakr to preach in his place when he was bedridden.  The Prophet dies on June 8, 632; he was 63 years old.

Aicha was apprehensive that her father might succeed to the Prophet with the subsequent responsibilities, and asked Omar to preach instead, since he had a loud voice and a large body. Muhammad got irate for Aicha involvement in altering his decision, and demanded that Abu Baker resume the preaching.

Omar would not believe that the Prophet could die and threatened anyone who says so; then Abu Bakr told the congregation “Muslims, those among you who adore Muhammad, Muhammad is dead.  Those who adore God, God is living”.

Ali was to wash the body and arrange for the funeral. The Companions elected Abu Bakr Caliph in the absence of Ali who was the closest member in the prophet’s “House”.

Abu Bakr reminded the Muslims what the Prophet told him once: “All prophets were buried at the place of their death”; and thus Muhammad was buried in Aicha’s bedroom.  Aicha replaced the bed on top of the burying ground and continued sleeping there.

Abu Bakr would Not distribute the Prophet’s inheritance to anyone of his wives or family members because Muhammad has told him that prophets’ belonging went to charities. 

Fatima died 6 months later as Mohammad has predicted, aggrieved and desperate.

Under Abu Bakr, Aicha, aided by Zayd ibn Thabit, got the huge responsibility of gathering and collecting all the parchments and written verses and the early oral verses of the Koran and then sorting them, verifying their authenticity, correcting and compiling them.

Aichi was not yet twenty years old.  Abu Bakr died within two years and was also buried in Aicha’s bedroom next to the Prophet. 

At the time of his death, Khalid ibn Al Walid had vanquished the Byzantine Emperor at Yarmuk and was advancing toward Damascus. (This Khalid committed mass massacres in Damascus for 3 days and nights, and for no sane reason)

Omar was selected by Abu Bakr to be the next Caliph. Omar extended Islam to Persia by a victory in Qadissiya and toward Egypt. 

Omar was assassinated by a Christian slave while praying in the Mosque in Medina; Omar also asked permission of Aicha to be buried in her bedroom.  By then, Aicha was the ultimate interpreter of the Koran and had issued 2,210 Hadiths and was the expert in women’s legal right or “Fiqh Al Nisaa”.

On his deathbed, Omar appointed a Council of five Companions from the tribes of Quraish (excluding the Ansar leaders) to elect the next Caliph.  Uthman ibn Affan was selected and Aicha had misgivings on how he might manipulate the masses of documents collected on the verses of Islam.  Omar left the documents with his daughter Afsa to hand over to the next Caliph.

Uthman ended up exercising nepotism and appointing relatives as governors and civil servants in high offices and he built a palace and lived luxuriously with 500 serfs maintaining the palace and organizing the feasts. 

The new Caliph appointed Jewish scholars to select and revise the documents collected by Aisha and published a new version of the Koran, the one being read and accepted.

Aicha got wind of the alterations to the parchments and came out of her house carrying the sandals and shirts and hair of the prophet and shouted at the caliph: “The Prophet’s belongings had not had time to deteriorate and you started to turn your back on his teachings”.

(My conjecture is that Uthman hired scholar Jews to select and re-edit the parchments to match the messages in their Bible, and its is this Koran that is currently adopted, except the version disseminated by the Wahhabi in the Saudi Kingdom. Uthman destroyed many documents that the new Islamic empire needed to woe, especially in matters of imposing taxes, and delivering a patriarchal overtone to the Koran. So far, no original documents have been made public to study their validity. Mind you that the original documents had no punctuation or any kinds of signs or complicated embellishment you see in current versions…The documents/verses could be read as Kerouac “On the Road” or Schelinger “Catcher in the rye”, and were ripe for interpretations)

Aicha had a copy of all the documents and she rewrote her version of the Koran. (There is no information of what happened to these copies)

A large dissatisfied mob of Muslims, who were manipulated by “extremists” in Basra (Iraq), marched on Medina. Aicha had premonition that the arriving mob is bad news and got permission from Uthman to leave for pilgrimage with the harem.  The mob entered the palace of Uthman burned it asunder and stabbed and beat the Caliph to death. (Probably the invading “mob” had wind of Uthman tampering with the Koran and disseminating luxury attitudes and practices that did Not match the conservative understanding of Islam).

Ali was elected Caliph but refrained to give the revenge for the murder of the Caliph Uthman a priority. His lukewarm behavior prompted Aicha to action and she started delivering speeches in Mecca to the effect that the punishment of the leaders of assassins should be carried out first thing first. 

Her brother-in-law Zubair and another Companion Talhat excited Aicha to lead a contingent of 3,000 fighters to Basra.

Ali was on his way to Damascus to fight Moawiya, the governor of Syria, and stopped at Kufa to recruit more fighters and had to challenge Aicha before resuming his campaign. 

Aicha, Zobair and Talhat managed to recruit an army of 30,000 men against 20,000 with Ali. 

The battle of the “Camel”, the first among the Muslims, left 15,000 victims and injured among the Muslim fighters which affected Aicha for the remainder of her life.

Talhat and Zubair died in the battle. Aicha was riding hidden in a palanquin and exhorting her army to fight. Ali ordered his officer to cut the hand of the camel guide so that the camel could be moved from the center of the battle field; guides took the relay and 72 camel guides left theirs hands on the rope before the camel’s hamstrings were cut and was brought down and the battle cry and symbol of “The Mother of the Believer” finally relinquishing its effect on the troops.

Ali permitted Aicha to return to her home in Medina and she was escorted as a Queen. One of Muawiya’s delegates told Aicha that they wished she died in the battle so that the allies of Moawiya would have had an excellent excuse to fight Ali.

Aicha spent the remaining of her life in her house, receiving scholars and students who regarded her as the main resource for correct interpretations of the religious verses and taking notes of her experiences.

Aicha was initially the only virgin in the extended harem, and whatever she knew of love making was of the initiation of Muhammad. 

A specific revelation forbade Muhammad’s wives to remarry and also to remain in their homes and to be covered completely and wear the “niqab” on their face when stepping outside their doors or meeting males.

The effects of the assassination of Uthman didn’t end up there.  Muawiya raised the same reason of avenging Uthman to engage Ali in a terrible battle at Seffine in Syria: the bloodied shirt of Uthman hanging in the Mosque of Madina demanded retribution and the Arabs coined the dictum “the Shirt of Uthman” to convey the meaning that the reason offered is but an excuse for the power struggle.  

There were no victors in this battle that was leaning toward Ali army, and a large contingent of Ali’s army dissented because Ali agreed to arbitrage. These dissenters were labeled Al Khawarij and were led by Abdullah ibn Wahab (A coincidence? The actual Saudi Monarchy sect is founded on a Wahhabi preacher): they went on assassination rampage against the leading followers of both Ali and Muawiya.

The Khawarij failed to assassinate Muawiya (just injured) but killed Ali in Kufa.  Ali refused to name anyone to succeed him as Caliph and said to his followers that he would not disagree with anyone they select.

Aicha was to say “this is typical Ali’s ambiguity” as she forecasted the worst to the unity of the “Umma” or Nation of Islam.

Muawiya was elected Caliph and the power became hereditary and the period is known as the Umayyad (the most powerful tribe of Quraish) reign in Damascus, which lasted for a century before the Abbasid (The house of Abbass, the Uncle of Muhammad) succeeded in taking power in Baghdad for two centuries. 

The occupied Central Asian people converted Sunni sects and their tribes were to dominate the political and religious landscape for over 10 centuries. 

Muawiya sent assassins to ged rid of any potential leaders related to the Prophet , but spared Aisha.

Aicha lived to experience the death of many of her male family members. 

Hassan, the son of Ali, was assassinated by his wife enticing Hassan to wear the poisoned dress given to him as a gift by Muawiya.  Muawiya then slaughtered Hassan’s wife to hide his schemes with her.

Notes:

  1. The Prophet had two sons who died before the age of two.  Ali, his nephew who married his youngest daughter Fatima, was the only male in his “House”.  Muhammad appointed Ali to read the religious messages in meetings where the Prophet could not be present.  Ali and Abu Bakr were the most learned males, among the early Companions, on Islam, but Aicha was the best and she was present during many revelations of “Archangel Gabriel” in her house.
  2. Ali was the most qualified to be the Imam of Islam, but since there was yet no separation between the political and religious functions, then Ali had to seek power as Caliph.  Ali lacked the political acumen and the qualities of a government leader because he was constantly plagued with ambiguities as a result of his vast religious knowledge and his apprehension to err in his decisions. Schism developed during his short five years reign and the Shia sects (the followers of Ali’s second son Hussein) emerged as a counterpart to the Sunni sect representing the legitimate Muslims.
  3. The Prophet Muhammad was highly literate https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/the-parson-and-the-prophet-book-review/
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Most beloved wife of Prophet Muhammad: Aicha. Part 1

Posted by: on: March 3, 2021

Book review of Genevieve Chauvel

Posted on October 11, 2008 (Written in November 19, 2007)

“Aïcha la bien-aimée du Prophet” by Geneviève Chauvel

Note: This review is very large and I opted to split it into 2 parts. The second part will start when Prophet Muhammad died.

I decided to review “Aicha, the most beloved wife of the Prophet” for the chronicles of the active life of the Prophet Muhammad, and the specific circumstances that revealed the messages from Archangel Gabriel.  Aicha lived to be 67 of age and experienced Islam since she was born, and she died as Islam was splitting into schisms.

Aicha was born in 616 in Mecca and she was redheaded like her maternal grandmother.  Her father Abu Bakr, later the first Caliph, spared her life because Khadija, the wife of Mohammad, played a part in this difficult and life threatening birth.

Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Hachim was an orphan brought up by his uncle Abu Talib, the father of Ali. The father of Muhammad died before his birth and his mother passed away as Muhammad was only 6 of age.  Ali was to be the fourth Caliph.

(Islam would like us to believe that Muhammad was illiterate to exaggerate his divine message, but I beg to differ. Read link in note #4).  

Khadija, a wealthy caravan trader, hired Muhammad to lead her caravans to Damascus.  Khadija was almost 8 years older than Muhammad (A large difference at that time with low life expectancy) when her uncle urged her to marry his nephew Muhammad. She was widowed twice and Muhammad was 25 year-old.  Khadija gave  him a son Al Qasem, who died at age two, and four daughters. Two of the in-laws became later Caliphs, Uthman and Ali.

Khadija was the first person to believe in Muhammad “prophecies/messages” and for 11 years protected him from the mockeries and sarcasms of the inhabitants of Mecca and cared for him during his fits of epilepsy when Archangel Gabriel used to appear to him.

Two of Muhammad’s daughters were repudiated by their husbands because they refused to be married to girls who converted to Islam.  Fatima, the youngest one, married Ali, Muhammad’s nephew, and gave Muhammad two grand boys, Hassan and Hussein and two granddaughters. 

Zainab, one of the daughters of Muhammad, was married to Aboul-As whom she loved so much that she preferred to stay with him in Mecca. Aboul-As fought against Muhammad at the battle of Badr and was made prisoner and later decided to convert in order to keep Zainab.

Rukaya was married to Uthman ibn Affan, later the third Caliph, and when she died, Muhammad married his daughter Oum Kulthum to Uthman because he needed his Kureich clan on his side. 

Uthman abandoned the position of his archery contingent during the lost battle of Uhud and thus had vacated a strategic position held by the archers, which allowed the cavalry of Khaled bin Al walid to defeat the Muslims in this battle and forced them to retreat..

Muhammad adopted Zaid ibn Haritha who was Khadija’s slave at the age of twelve and he used him to be his personal messenger to his wives after each battle.  Zaid was very learned and translated and interpreted the Jewish Books to Muhammad and was devoted to his adoptive father.

Muhammad married Sawda (Black) after Khadija died because he needed an experienced woman to run and maintain the household.  Sawda was widowed to a convert who fled to Ethiopia from the Quraish tribes’ persecution.

After the death of Khadija, Muhammad realized that he won’t be protected anymore from certain death; he fled Mecca to Yathrib in the year 622 (later called Medina or the first city-state of the Muslims) after foiling an assassination attempt on his life. 

It took him and Abu Bakr almost four months to arrive at Yathrib, a six days travel, to avoid the headhunters of the tribes of Quraish.  Most of the Prophet’s followers had preceded him to Yathrib and welcomed him as a hero.

Muhammad married Aisha in Yathrib when she was ten years old. 

Abu Bakr (father of Aisha) was the first adult male to convert to Islam and he was Muhammad’s closest Companion and guide.  Aicha was 8-years old when Muhammad officially asked her hand and waited to marry her at age ten.

The mother of Aicha, Oum Roummane, almost died when giving birth to Aisha and Khadija was called upon to deliver her and Muhammad saw Gabriel at the same time he was contemplating to commit suicide by throwing himself off a cliff because of the miserable life that Gabriel forced upon him. 

After the death of Khadija, Mohammad saw Aicha three times in his dreams, as a baby wrapped in green blanket and the third time it was Gabriel who removed the blanket for Muhammad to recognize the face of baby Aicha, and ordered to obey the request of Gabriel to take her as wife.  Aicha had a vast memory and was educated to read and write and she was the person who transposed the verbal messages into written verses during the revelations.

The migrating Muslims in Yathrib were suffering from miseries.

First, they were not used to the humid climate and the marshes: Many died of the malaria fever.  Aicha almost died as she arrived in Yathrib. 

Second, the emigrants could not find suitable employments and had to accept temporary jobs at the Jewish households and farms.  Consequently, the emigrants had to revert to what the tribes did when they were hungry and penniless.  They decided to raid a major caravan coming from Damascus and lead by Abu Sufyan (a chief of the Quraysh clan in Mecca). The caravan was to stop at an oasis called Badr but Abu Sufyan got wind of the raid and diverted its route and sent for troops from Mecca.  The Muslims won the battle of Badr, their first.

Sawda father and brother were killed in the battle of Badr fighting against the Muslims.  Sawda was greatly grieved and lambasted the prisoners parked in front her house and told them that they should have fought instead of being taken prisoners. Mohammad repudiated her for a while until she asked forgiveness and she opted not to have intercourse with him as the tradition regulated Mohammad nights among his wives.

Mohammad encircled the fortified castle of the Jewish tribe Banu Qaynuqa because the tribe decided to break the treaty with Mohammad rather than pay the ransom for a murdered emigrant.  The tribe capitulated when it realized the succor from Banu Khazraj was not forthcoming. 

Muhammad had set his mind to beheading all the males of the defeated Banu Qaynuqa tribe as the revelation dictated, but the chief of the Ansar (supporters) tribe of Khazraj prevented him saying: “I am a man who fears the reversal of circumstances”

The Banu Qaynuqa were allowed to leave the city and it settled in the Jewish town of Khaibar, around 20 miles north west of Yathrib.

Mohammad married Afsa (3afsa), the widowed daughter of Omar ibn Khattab, the second Caliph, because he needed Omar total loyalty.  She was eighteen. Actually, Omar insisted on Uthman to marry Afsa but he declined the request repeatedly. Muhammad had set his mind to marry his second daughter Um Kulthum to Uthman to secure the Ummaya powerful clan.  Aicha was crest fallen and suffered her first jealousy attacks.

The Muslims lost the battle of Uhud, but the forces of Quraish did not pursue their objective to enter Medina and retreated to Mecca.  Muhammad directed his angst against the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadhir that secretly supported Quraich.  He ordered this Jewish tribe to leave Medina; the eye witness accounts related that the citizens in Medina never saw a caravan as opulent, rich and luxurious in their lives.

Mohammad married Zainab, the daughter of the clan leader of Bani Assad, who was widowed and 30 years of age. Zainab died three months after her wedding.

Mohammad married Hind, daughter of Abi Ummayah, a recent widow of Abu Salama who was mortally injured during the battle of Ohud, the first defeat of the Moslems against the tribe of Quraich and their allies outside the walls of Yathreb and now called Medina. 

Hind or Um Salama was about thirty of age and had many children and declined to marry Abu Bakr and Omar and even Muhammad.  Muhammad asked her hand a second time and promised to care for her many offspring.

Muhammad married Zainab bint Jahsh, a cousin thirty of years of age and of great beauty.  Zainab was the wife of his adoptive son Zaid ibn Haritha who separated from her when she welcomed Mohammad almost nude to entice him and throw trouble in his heart. 

She roamed after Muhammad reminding him that she separated because of him.  The Koran was very strict on the number of only 4 wives for the believers but Mohammad received a message from Gabriel telling him that Zainab is an offer from God that cannot be rejected.  The aggrieved Aicha interjected that God has a tendency to accord his Messenger all his desires.

Mohammad repulsed a fresh attack by Quraich on Medina by following the suggestion of Salame the Persian; Salame supervised the digging of a large and deep trench around Medina that the cavalry could not jump over. 

A violent wind followed by a torrential rain convinced the Quraishi armies to retreat.  Then, Mohammad surrounded the hold up of the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza for 25 days because they were tacitly allied to Quraich. 

The Prophet beheaded 700 of the male captives and dumped their bodies in a large hole and ordered Ali and Zubair (the husband of Aicha’s sister Asmat) to participate in the performance of the executions.

(This 700 could be a magical number in tales. Even 70 beheading executions is too large a number in a single day. Why Muhammad made Ali to have blood on his hand is to be examined. Actually, the hatred of the Jews for Ali is a consequence of this narrative)

Muhammad asked the hand of Rihana, a Jewish captive girl, to marry him but she declined. After she converted, Mohammad asked her hand again and she preferred to remain slave than marry someone with several wives but she became his concubine.

Since this mass cruel beheading, troops of Muhammad had easier tasks convincing the neighboring tribes to join Islam and plundering the caravans arriving from Damascus or Alexandria.

Mohammad married Juwayriah, the daughter of the chief clan of Harith, which his last raid brought her as captive.  The Harith tribe and their allies convert to Islam. 

A turning point was reached when Aicha lost her favorite collar that her mother Em Rumana gave her for her wedding. 

Aicha joined that raid and lost her favorite collar that the Prophet had offered her during their wedding. The fighters were utterly upset for wasting precious time searching for the collar and the time for prayer was close and they were far from the nearest oasis. 

Muhammad had to receive a message allowing ablution with sand when water is not available. This revelation allowed the Muslim armies to expand its raids in the desert and later in their territory expansion.

The story goes that Muhammad took Aicha on an expedition.  Aicha lost her collar as the troop were heading to the next water well and the caravan was very short on water for the ablution before prayer. 

On the way back from the expedition, Aicha stepped away from the troop for bodily relief.  As she reached the caravan, she realized that she dropped this loose collar again.  Aicha went back to search for the collar and the troop started without her. 

Aicha would recount that she was so light that the attendants to her tent/hawdaj didn’t realize that she was Not in the cabin that was raised over the camel.  Aicha lay down.  Safwan, a young and handsome convert was a little behind the caravan, and found Aicha and mounted her on his horse. Safwan was confident that the troops will retrace their path searching for her as they reached the camp. 

Later, rumors spread that, while the 60 years old prophet is resuming his mania of marrying far more than the four allowed by the Koran, and that his younger of wives is cheating on him.  Aicha fell dangerously sick and was moved to her folks’ quarter and Mohammad didn’t pay her a visit for 28 days because he started to believe the rumors.

When Mohammad finally arrived to see Aicha, the Angel Gabriel showed up and revealed to the Prophet that Aicha was innocent. Um Roumana told Aicha to come forward and thank the Prophet.  Aicha retorted: “By God I will not!  I will praise but God who finally decided to declare me innocent” 

Seventeen revelations were dedicated to these awful circumstances; calumny was revealed as a crime, as dangerous as adultery and specific penalties prescribed. 

Mistah, a cousin of Aicha, Hassan ibn Thabit, the poet of Islam, and Hannah bint Jahsh, the sister of one of the Prophet’s wives, were flogged 100 times for their crimes of calumny without having 4 witnesses for their accusations.  Aicha regained her position as the most favored “Um al Mu’mineen”. (The Mother of the Believers). It is said that Aisha kept a deep grudge for Ali who seemed to believe the rumors of her cheating.

Mohammad had a dream while sleeping with Aicha that he shaved his head and performed the pilgrimage to Al Kaaba in Mecca.  Aicha encouraged him and Muhammad left Medina with 700 unarmed men to Mecca. 

The favorite camel of Muhammad named Qaswa parked in Hudaibiya, close to Mecca, and would not move.  By the way, Qaswa was the camel that selected the location for the Prophet house and the Mosque in Yathrib.

The Quraichi’s tribes sent delegations and they reached a 10-year non-belligerence treaty and promised Muhammad that they would permit the Muslims for pilgrimage starting next year. 

Although Muhammad was not allowed to enter Mecca, he wanted to perform the rites in Hudaibiya but the Companions refused. Um Salama encouraged Muhammad to perform the sacred rituals and shaved Muhammad’s head and then slaughtered his sacrificial camel and the believers hurried to follow suit; the party returned to Medina sanctified.

Mohammad married Safiya, a Jewish beauty and of high grace from Khaibar who was married to a brute of a husband that died during the battle of Khaibar.

Muhammad had just conquered the fortified Jewish town of Khaibar, North West of Madina in the year 630.  The lands were turned over to Mohammad and his closest Companions and the Jews agreed to cultivate the land as serfs for 50% return for their subsistence and relinquished their treasures.

Um Salama escorted the Prophet in this raid and recounted to the harem that a Jewish girl roasted a lamb for Mohammad and then he realized it was poisoned; when asked why she poisoned the lamb she replied: “You killed my father, brother and husband. If you are a King then good riddance; if you are a Prophet then you must discover the plot.” 

The girl was not punished for the rationale that she will spread her conviction that Muhammad is indeed a prophet.  Un Salama added that Muhammad liked his new wife Safia very much: he didn’t wait the customary 40 days grievance and married her on the way back to Medina and spent four whole days and nights with Safiya.  With virgins, the husbands spend 7 entire days and nights!  Aicha thought that Um Salama could have spared her added anxieties.

Mohammad married Um Habiba, the daughter of Abu Sufyan, his arch enemy of Quraish.  Um Habiba was a recent widow and 40-year old and living in Ethiopia with her husband who converted to Christianity; she was one of the first converts to flee to Ethiopia after the Quraish persecutions.

The governor of Coptic Egypt sent Muhammad gold and fine gifts and two Christian girls as slaves, Maria and Sirine.  Maria became immediately the concubine of the Prophet until she converts to Islam and he spent most of his time with Maria, raising a revolt within his harem.

Aicha took a definite advantage over the remaining wives.

Individuals who wanted to offer the Prophet gifts learned that the best moments were when he is with Aicha.  Aicha thus enjoyed the best fabrics and gifts and the other wives revolted again wanting fair distribution of the gifts. 

Mohammad told Um Salama that his revelations descend when he is with Aicha, but the revolt went on and the Prophet decided to retreat from his harem for a whole month, sending fear and frustration in the community of the believers. 

After a month, Mohammad revealed a message placing men as superior to women and admonishing wives to obey their husband, and permitting husbands to punish their wives if they disobeyed.  Mohammad reconquered his authority in the harem, and wives had to pay the price of this revolt for centuries after.

In 630 or the 8th year of Mohammad emigration to Yathrib , the Prophet assembled ten thousand fighters for his pilgrimage to the Kaaba and entered Mecca and destroyed the pagan Gods and became the uncontested leader of all the tribes in the Arabian peninsula. (Too large a number to be credible)

Islam arch enemy Abu Sufian converted to Islam, before the troops of the Muslims entered Mecca.  The wife of Abu Sufian, Hind, reluctantly converted to Islam also.  Hind is the famous woman who opened the chest of Hamza in the Battle of uhud and ate his liver in order to avenge her father in the battle of Badr. Hamza (an uncle of Muhammad) had killed Hind’s father in a singular fight before the battle of Bard.

Mohammad married Maymouna, a relative of both tribes of Abi Taleb and Hashim to the fainting and shock of the harem. 

A revelation descended that the messenger is allowed all the women he desires. 

Besides his 9 wives, Muhammad had two concubines, Maria and Rihana, and uncounted numbers of women who wanted to offer themselves to him to gain Paradise. 

Once, Fatima told the harem that her husband Ali wanted to take another wife and she intervened with the Prophet; Aicha was beside herself to learn that this plain woman, and not as educated, could enjoy one husband and generate four offspring, two of them males.  Aicha realized that she could not get pregnant, even after her sexual expertise led to many successful full coital with Muhammad.

Rihana died shortly after as well as Mohammad’s eldest daughter Zainab. 

Maria gave Mohammad a male son called Ibrahim and thus, Maria was released from bondage. 

The blood family of the Prophet consisted of Ali, Fatima, his two grandsons, his two grand daughters and Ibrahim; his adoptive son Zaid died during a battle in the north against the Byzantine Empire.

Mohammad organized an army of 30,000 fighters in the year 631, recruited from all over Arabia and marched to Tabuk, a city within the Syrian borders, to avenge the death of his adoptive son Zaid; he took Aicha with him on this campaign. 

The Governor of Syria didn’t deign to challenge the Prophet and Muhammad returned to Medina after securing many treaties with the neighboring tribes and oasis in Syria (among them the more civilized and more urban of tribes that will later tip the balance in the war against Byzantium).  The whole of “Arabia” was converting to Islam.

Ibrahim, the son of Mohammad, aged 18 months, dies.  The Prophet cried and lamented, a behavior which was not the custom of the male believers.

The Prophet went on pilgrimage to Mecca the next year with 30,000 pilgrims and the entire harem went this time.  Mohammad gave a speech alluding that it might be his last pilgrimage.

Shortly after his return to Medina Muhammad suffered from terrible headaches for a month; he asked Abu Bakr to preach in his place when he was bedridden.  The Prophet dies on June 8, 632; he was 63 years old.

Notes:

  1. Muhammad was mortally sick for at least a month and he knew his days were counted because Gabriel gave him a choice between this world and the Other World and the Prophet opted for the Other World.  Muhammad had time to think about the succession of power and the appropriate processes but no revelations were forthcoming. 
  2. The tribal spirit was to dominate the political landscape, the same spirit that Muhammad intended to re-direct toward a Unique God and unite the “Ummat al Islam”.  The Arab and Muslim World were tribal in structure and ended up with a caste system when the Central Asian tribes overpowered the Quraishi tribal rights for leadership.
  3. The Prophet Muhammad was highly literate https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/the-parson-and-the-prophet-book-review/

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A few notes posted in 2017: What changed?

Posted by: on: August 29, 2020

A few notes posted in 2017

If you fail to develop your perception that guides you to ask pertinent questions, all the knowledge will Not shield you from being suckered into obeying subtle orders that lead to dangerous deeds. This called “Agency status”: Obeying a small order without much inquiry because the order doesn’t feel harmful. Successive such agency status devolve into a “No return” condition for committed horrors.

The puppet master develop lists of short orders (agency status) to be distributed to recruited agents for activating his grand plan  

Being cognizant of the bad deeds we are about to commit, but lacking the necessary imagination of  what despair and pains are being inflicted, is Never an excuse Not to be punished as war criminal

“Who are the terrorists?” 308 actions were conducted by Zionists terror organizations (Palmach, Irgun and Stern) against civilian Palestinians before the recognition of the colonial implant of State of Israel in 1948

For 6 months now, Turkey claims it entered the Syrian village of Al Baab. Turkey is totally confused where this Baab is located

Two critical weeks for Lebanon: Either a purely proportional election law, or a Referendum on the popularity of the civil war Warlords 

La vie est jeune. En vieillissant, la vie n’a plus rien a donner. On cherche des visages jeunes qui nous rappellent des camarades disparus

Avec le temps, on est tous vaincus, et on le sait sincérement. Mais on comprend avec difficulté qu’on n’a rien appris qui vaille.

Tout ce qui reste en moi de vivant appartient aux martyrs. Et je vis par politesse.

Je revois rarement les survivants: tout ce que nous avions a nous dire a été tué.

Elle soufflait dans ses lettres non datées, une volonté plus grande que la mienne. Et communiquait une vaillance d’un coeur trempé mieux que le mien.

La vie est un genre littéraire. A toi de le choisir et la manipuler

Le patriotism des Palestiniens s’exprime a travers des choses concretes: une maison, un champ, un jardin, un village

Le problème était que la Palestine était introuvable en consultant une carte géographique. La Palestine était un mouchoir de poche

Les canonnières Israéliennes se sont données a coeur joie, bombardant le camps Palestinien de Rashidiya. Elles auraient pu bombarder toute une journée, mais la politique limite le nombre des victims.

Late Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski wrote in 1974: “Quand on traverse la Syrie, la Jourdanie ou le Liban, tout est beauté, ordre et harmonie. On est dans un paradis de vergers d’orangers, de citronniers, d’oliviers et d’abricotiers. Ce sont les camps Palestiniens qui ressemblent a un immense patchwork d’argile, de tôle rouillés, de vieux chiffons… et des nuées de mouches

L’homme qui se prend pour un sauveur est fatigant pour son entourage, et même dangereux quand il le peut.

Traditionnellement, la piété Islamique n’a rien de chauvin ni de bigot. Ne croit pas en Dieu mais ne le dit pas publiquement.

Seuls les Wahhabites sont fanatiques d’une mission investie de détruire tous les lieux de cult de Saints et shrines

Il était un mauvais joueur, même après avoir reçu l’extrême-onction. I refusait de signer au bas de l’acte que les dieux lui tendaient.

Il avait l’air de tenir à la vie: il faisait des pieds et des mains. Il manquait d’élégance et de bonne grace face a la mort

Même après la défaite honteuse, la France conservait tout son prestige: Tous les militaires étrangers payaient les entraineuses Hongroises (sex girls) en Egypte, sauf les Francais. 

Elle avait des yeux oú il faisait si bon vivre que je n’ai jamais su oú aller depuis.

Une démarche comme si rien ne pouvait vous arriver, une beauté de la vie adolescente, les seins nus, et elle portait sur la tête une corbeille de fruits

Aicha, the most beloved wife of prophet Muhammad, is the most prominent leader, scholar and imam that Islam experienced.

Aicha valiantly and stubbornly, secured the rights of women against all biases and falsehoods in the hadith. Muhammad, and the two first caliphs Abu Bakr and Omar, were buried under her bed.

The various factions among Shias and Sunnis have always been political in nature: positions according to power-to-be. The Sunnis sided with the Caliph, regardless of Umayyad, Abbasid, or Fatimid… The Shias were considered the heretic opposition factions.

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Aicha, youngest wife of prophet Mohammad, is the most important person in Islam and most knowledgeable Imam

Posted by: on: February 25, 2018

Aicha, youngest wife of prophet Mohammad, is most important person in Islam

1. She became the first de-facto Imam of the Moslems after Mouhammad death. Moslems flocked from everywhere to listen to her interpretations and facts
2. She was the most educated and knowledgeable person in matter of Fikh (shari3at)
3. She relentlessly put the civil rights and political rights of women first.

4. She educated and trained many generations of women to fight for their acquired rights and they wrote their own marriage contracts and clauses to divorce their husbands if any clause was not satisfied. Scores of strong females applied her teaching in the first century after the prophet death.


5. She was the main person who for decades demonstrated the falsehood of countless Hadith (What supposedly close persons to Mohammad recounted of his life after his death) that tried to degrade and denigrate women status and rob them of their acquired rights


6. When Mohammad became a political figure in the City-State of Medina, she made sure to remind him of the ignored women rights in his verses and to re-edit them.

7. She was upfront and told him of the verses that he enunciated to serve his desires

8. She confronted Ali ben Abi Taleb, 4th Caliph and son-in-law of the prophet, that he is dragging his feet to put on trial those who assassinated the 3rd Caliph Othman bin Affan in Medina

9. She was harsh in her frequent fasting and minimal life-style, dedicated to learning and teaching the thousands who flocked to her residence to listen and ask her questions

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Notes and comments on FB and Twitter. Part 34

Posted by: on: May 28, 2017

Notes and comments on FB and Twitter. Part 34

Les lois sur la “pureté” des femmes sont apocryphes: ceux qui sont ecrites sont des interpretations mesquines et politiques

J’ attendais que le genie figure de chef providential s’incarnat pour sauver la patrie.

J’ étais bête et le suis demeuré- bête á tuer, á vivre, á espérer, et á triompher ou a être vaincu

On avance dans la vie selon les charactéres dominantes de la mére et du pére. On change bien: on interchange un character plus frequemment qu’ avec un autre. On interpréte le passé selon le charactére de l’instant, qui nous attrape á la gorge.

Si je rêve de transformer le monde en un jardin heureux, ce n’est plus par amour pour les gens que par celui des jardins

Ce phénoméne emergent qui accepte la défaite: comme si on peut etre vaincu, pas broyé

Rendre justice provient d’un esprit esthétique. Si on en manque, justice n’est plus équitable

Pour faire face a la vie, les hommes chanceux s’accrochent á l’opportunité d’une bouée feminine: Qui leur donne le sentiment d’offrir alors qu’ils prennent, de soutenir alors qu’ils s’appuient

The US can provide all the tanks it wants to the Syrian Kurds. Keep in mind, the US will Not retain any military bases in Syria. And the Kurds will prove to be stauncher Syrian nationalists

Le Conseil des Cents a Florence de l’an 1293 avait la responsabilité des finances. Il excluait les plus riches et les plus pauvres.

L’Enfant vit dans les adultes. Le plus difficile pour l’adulte est de consciemment permettre a L’enfant de survivre pour un temps

Ou bien il y a un destin qui joue son jeu, ou il n’y a pas: Autant rester couché et révassé d’un monde heureux

Ceux qui m’avaient promis victoires et laurriers…c’est á eux de se débrouiller

De memoire, aucun ne m’a promis quoique se soit. Ou bien ma memoire défaille, ou bien j’ai refusé de prendre les promesses au sérieux. J’aurai du.

Moi j’ ai pris mes promesses trop au sérieux: je manquais de sagesse

Brexit is a desperate decision to forget the huge gap to catch up with Germany giant economic growth. In the last century, Germany was the economic nemesis for England in world market trade.

Aicha led the first Islam civil war in the battle of the Camel. The sunnis sided with Caliph Ali and the Shias sided with Aicha. Aicha was upset with Caliph Ali dragging his feet in Not apprehending and prosecuting those who assassinated Caliph Othman in Medina.

Pas besoin de rejeter tout ce qu’on nous offre, mais même ce petit offre ne sera pas laché sans une bagarre armée convaincante

L’ennemi c’est l’appareil d’Etat sioniste, maintenu en vie par l’imperialism.

L’ennemi existential c’est le Zionist colonisateur, en Palestine et ailleurs.

Israel aurait la vie bien plus facile si son adversaire direct n’était pas le people Palestinien. Vivre dans une part de l’Ouganda aurait été le paradis de paix.

Les Palestiniens sont plus éduqués, cultivés et plus capable que les Israeliens, même si la moitie est enfermee dans des camps sinistres.

Les Palestiniens, eparpillés dans le monde entire, se connaissent tous et communiquent leurs addresses. Ils n’ ont pas besoin de registre central.

Avoir un ami Palestinien c’ est faire le tour du monde et être invité partout ou on va. C’ est le cas de la diaspora Libanaise, mais moins hospitalliére et communicante.

Les Israeliens ont truffés l’ eau du Jourdain de mines, seule une fine aiguille emerge de l’ eau. Beaucoup de najeurs Jourdanien et Palestiniens ont peris par ces mines flottantes.

Je suis un mauvais homme: J’ ai raté tous mes cibles pendant la guerre. Et mes cauchemars tiennent du remords de n’ avoir pas pu tué

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Notes and comments on FB and twitter. Part 33

Posted by: on: May 24, 2017

Notes and comments on FB and twitter. Part 33

“Agency status”: Obeying a small order without much inquiry because the order doesn’t feel harmful

If you fail to develop your perception that guides you to ask pertinent questions, all the knowledge will Not shield you from being suckered into obeying subtle orders that lead to dangerous deeds

The puppet master develop lists of short orders to be distributed to recruited agents for activating his grand plan  

Being cognizant of the bad deeds we are about to commit, but lacking the necessary imagination of  what despair and pains are being inflicted, is Never an excuse Not to be punished as war criminal

Two critical weeks for Lebanon: Either a purely proportional election law, or a Referendum on the popularity of the civil war Warlords 

La vie est jeune. En vieillisant, la vie n’a plus rien a donner. On cherche des visages jeunes qui nous rappellent des camarades disparus

Avec le temps, on est tous vaincus, et on le sait sincérement. Mais avec dificulté on comprend qu’on n’ a rien appris qui vaille.

Tout ce qui reste en moi de vivant appartient aux martyres. Et je vis par politesse.

Je revois rarement les survivants: tous ce que nous avions a nous dire a été tué.

Elle souflait dans ses lettres non datées, une volonté plus grande que la mienne. Et communiqait une vaillance d’un coeur trempé mieux que le mien.

La vie est un genre litteraire. A toi de le choisir et la manipuler

“Who are the terrorists?” 308 actions were conducted by Zionists terror organizations (Palmach, Irgun and Stern) against civilian Palestinians before and after recognition of Israel

Le patriotism des Palestiniens s’exprime a travers des choses concretes: une maison, un champ, un jardin, un village

Le problem était que la Palestine était introuvable en consultant une carte geographique. La Palestine éatit un mouchoir de poche

Les cannoniéres Israeliennes se sont données a coeur joie, bombardant le camps Palestinien de Rashidiya. Elles auraient pu bombarder toute une journée, mais la politique limite le nombre des victims.

Late Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinsk wrote in 1974: Quand on traverse la Syrie, la Jourdanie ou le Liban, tout est beauté, ordre et harmonie. On est dans un paradis de vergers d’orangiers, de citronniers, d’oliviers et d’apricotiers. Ce sont les camps Palestiniens qui ressemblent a un immense patchwork d’argile, de tole rouillés, de vieux chiffons… et des nuées de mouches

L’homme qui se prend pour un sauveur est fatigant pour son entourage et dangereux quand il le peut

Traditionellement, la piéte Islamique n’a rien de chauvin ni de bigot. Ne croit pas en Dieu mais ne le dit pas publiquement.

Seuls les Wahhabites sont fanatiques d’une mission investie de détruire tous les lieux de cult de Saints et shrines

Il etait un mauvais joueur, même après avoir recu l’extréme-onction. I refusait de signer au bas de l’acte que les dieux lui tendaient.

Il avait l’air de tenir a la vie: il faisait des pieds et des mains. Il manquait d’élegance et de bonne grace face a la mort

Tous les militaires étrangers payaient les entraineuses Hongroises en Egypte, sauf les Francais. Meme après la defaite honteuse, la France conservait tout son prestige.

Elle avait des yeux oú il faisait si bon vivre que je n’ai jamais su oú aller depuis.

Une démarche comme si rien ne pouvait vous arriver, une beauté de la vie adolescente, les seins nus, et elle portrait sur la téte une corbeille de fruits

For 6 months now, Turkey claims it entered the Syrian village of Al Baab. Turkey is totally confused where this Baab is located

Aicha, the most beloved wife of prophet Muhammad, is the most prominent leader, scholar and imam that Islam experienced.

Aicha valiantly and stubbornly, secured the rights of women against all biases and falsehoods in the hadith. Muhammad, and two first caliphs Abu Bakr and Omar were buried under her bed.

The various factions among Shias and Sunnis have always been political in nature: positions according to power-to-be. The Sunnis sided with the Caliph, regardless of Umayyad, Abbasid, or Fatimid… The Shias were considered the heretic opposition factions.

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“Why I was not asked to vote?”

Posted by: on: November 3, 2014

“Why I was not asked to vote?”

A young man took the podium and talked. He said:

“You the immigrants (converts to Islam who moved from Mecca to Medina); it is true that you were the first to embrace Islam.  But everyone later received the same privilege. 

After the Prophet death (632 AC) you have designated a man among you (first caliph Abu Bakr) to become the first successor; we, the common Moslems, were not consulted.

Again, you the elite immigrants have met in council (Shawra) and designated the second Caliph (Omar bin al Khattab) and we were not asked our opinion. 

You voted for the third Caliph (Othman Bin Affan) without our input.

You didn’t like Othman after 13 years of ruling us, and you assassinated him. 

You again designated Ali bin Abi Taleb for fourth caliph and the common Moslems were not invited to extend their opinions and preferences. 

Now you don’t like Ali.  What are you reproaching him for? Why have you decided to fight him by the sword? 

Has he done any reprehensible acts?  Is his election illegal, illicit or fraudulent?

Tell us why you want us to start a civil war (fitna)? You have got to surely convince us to join the battle. 

Tell us what it is all about? Why are you fighting?”

These are not current statements of a Moslem, Sunni or Shia or of another Islam sect. They were pronounced by a simple Moslem 1,400 years ago, during the first Islam civil war called the Battle of the Camel.

Aicha emulated the same tactics as the Prophet did before any military excursion: She negotiated with notables in Basra, explained the reasons of her dangerous move (it was to be the first civil war in Islam) and she opened free discussions for people to express their opinions in the mosque.

Mosques were the proper locations for open discussions under the protection of Allah.

Since time immemorial, the most common form of electing leaders is the peer council forum, (or Shawra in Islam) in political and professional voting systems.

It took the American revolution over 6 decades before attempting a modified form of universal voting system during President Andrew Jackson.

Pragmatically, the peer format is still practiced in the most democratic and developed States. It is the peer council that select the candidate, finance and organize political campaigns.

Even today, most political parties put forth the ideology that peer systems are the most viable systems in order to select experienced and reliable candidates who proved to be consistent and have conforming attitudes to the status quo.

Most political leaders who managed to succeed in their revolutions were convinced that no power can rely on the common people to snatch, sustain and consolidate institutions.

Peasants were historically catalogue as the most conservative and retrograde of citizens. The core members, and professional intelligentsia were considered to be the backbone for any renewal.

The leaders relied on a circle of experienced and professional activist and manipulators to organize, lead and control the movement of the masses.

The rhetoric and speeches of the political leaders fool the crowd into believing that they are the real power and that what is being done in their name is what’s best for them and for the nation.

May be peer councils is the case pragmatically, but universal voting systems, supported by a fair election law, have this major benefit of short-cutting the advent of virulent, violent and bloody insurgency movements.

Societies need a large span of peaceful continuity and stability in the laws in order to consolidate legitimacy and strengthen the institutions and to insure steady development.

The fact is that the developed superpower colonial States have devised a couple of Default political systems for the developing countries to emulate. For example, Democracy is in and Liberty is out. Free trades is in and self sufficiency is out… Otherwise, all hell of State supported media will come down on these retrograde political systems

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“Koran has nothing to do” with recent waves of Islamic extremist terrorists

Posted by: on: May 15, 2014

“Koran has nothing to do” with current waves of Islamic extremist terrorists

The northern African states of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco had linked with France culture since 1830.

Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Lebanon had also linked with the French and British culture since the early 19th century.

Many were sent to Paris and London to learn and continue their education. The translation of “foreign manuscript was the rage.

The question is: “Have the Arab societies linked up with the modernity of the western civilization”?

The intelligentsia classes have linked a long time ago with the western culture and know more about these cultures than the western people themselves: At least, they can read and write in a couple of European languages.

Did the rural people in the Arab societies linked with other civilizations?

The more the rate of literacy increased the more complex the linkage and communication lines.

Forget that the Koran has anything to do with extremism and these waves of terrorist attacks.

The Koran is another praying Book, as all the other religious Books.

Moslems who can’t read Arabic or are illiterates memorize the Koran or large chunks of it.

Moslems pray in the Koran, but the Koran is not their preferred source for their behaviors, and barely comprehend the texts of the Koran.

The behaviors of most Moslems, the extremist types and the ignorant, are based on telling tales that are extracted from the Hadith.

The Hadith is constituted of thousands of stories related to the behaviors of the prophet, Muhammad what he said, what he did in different circumstances and context.

The Koran:

1. Retells the stories and myths of the Jewish and Christian praying Books such as the creation, how the Jews wandered in the desert…

2. Respect and veneer the prophets, in the Christian and Jewish praying books, such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mary…

3. The Koran details how to pray, the ablution process…

4. The Koran details the inheritance procedures. (Two decades after Aicha died, there were no learned recognized women to educate the women on their rights for inheritance and writing the wedding contracts.  

And the Moslem forgot all about sharing inheritance with the female genders: the illiterate women had no recourse to remind the clerics about their rights…)

5. Reminding the Moslems that the Christians and Jews are people of the faith and their religion is to be respected and the people to be protected and do not have to pay taxes.

Aisha, the most beloved wife of Muhammad, and the most learned among women and men in the Arabic peninsula, fought most of her life discrediting the fraudulent and false hadiths.

The problems stems from how the Moslem sects interpret the Hadith, what is meant by the Jihad on oneself for self-improvement and when Jihad against other people is valid…

All these atrocious behaviors in forced marriages, honor killing, violent fatwas, nikab, nikah, sharia, polygamy….are part of the hadith.

The interested groups, political leaders and business leaders, made it a habit to ask from someone who “lived” or accompanied the Prophet to relate a story that would match their interests.

For example, the tribal leaders of Mecca had vested interest to claim priority in acceding to the key political and governmental positions and to keep the social structure as practiced in Mecca, a system that was different from the tribes in Medina.

During the third caliph Othman, the Koran was tampered with, and Christian sects and Jewish sects were added as people deemed to pay taxes for protection.

The budget of the caliph was shrinking annually as more people were converting to Islam and the empire needed more money to finance the expansion of the empire.

Misogyny cannot be found in the Koran, but in the Hadith.  Women had to be excluded from any position of power and false stories were disseminated related to their incompetence, the volatile passions and lower level of intelligence .

The women in the first Islam city-state of Medina (Yathreb) did not wear the veil or any head cover. It was the women who migrated from Mecca who struggled to impose head cover.  The “noble”women of the tribes of Mecca wore the veil as a mark of distinction from the working women and to preserve the “White” completion, safe from the sun rays and the dusty climate.

Muhammad had suggested to his wives to cover their faces when they step outside in order not to be harassed at every corner with countless questions and queries.

The schism among the Sunni sects (supporters of the power to be) and the Shiaa sects is based on the inheritance of power (direct descendants of the Prophet) and the right and obligation to interpret the verses of the Koran.

Note 1: Muhammad refused to set any rules for his succession process, the power and political structure or to appoint Imams

Note 2: Islam one of the “heretic” Christian sects https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/islam-is-one-of-the-%E2%80%9Cheretic%E2%80%9D-christian-jewish-sects/

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Arab Humor. Before Islam. Part 2

Posted by: on: July 30, 2013

Arab Humor. Before Islam. Part 2

Before Islam, four idiot characters stood out:

1. Ijl ibn Lujaym, the idiot of the Christian tribe of Bakr ibn Wael, which lived in Yamama in Iraq.

2. Bakil of the tribe Iyyad ibn Nizar ibn Ma3ad that lived in Mecca and on the borders of Najran in Yemen.

3. Habannaka of the tribe of Banu Kays ibn Tha3laba.

4. Maria bint Mu3anj, nicknamed Dugha (butterfly) of the same tribe of Ijl.

1. The son killed his mother instead of the man who was “honoring” her: “Otherwise, “I’d be killing a man everyday of my life”

2. Salama ibn Jandal was nonplused with the request of the tribe of Banu Tamim for “chanting a poem” to their glory. salama replied: “Do something that gives me ground to praise you…”

3. Bakil bought a sheep for 11 dirham. Unable to talk properly, he showed his 10 fingers and got out his tongue.

4. The girl proposing to a young man “Marry me. I’ll be associated to your worries and material difficulties”. The man replied “I have none of these worries”, and the girl said: “You’ll have plenty of them once you marry me…”

5. Ijl wanted to call his spirited horse the “One -eyed”, and went ahead and gouged an eye to his horse.

6. A man was overjoyed with a horse that came first in the race “I own the bridle”

7. Habanna Kaysi offered 2 camels for anyone bringing back a lost camel of his “There is so much joy finding a lost property”

8. A man swore to sell a 1,000-dirham camel for a single dirham if found. The camel was found and a cat was sold for 1,000 dirham as one lot with the camel.

9. “What have you anticipated for winter?”  The Bedouin replied “A long shiver”

10. Hajib ibn Zurata was dispatched by the prophet Muhammad to the Persian King Anu Sharwan.

He presented himself as “One of the Arabs”.  As he faced the king, he upgraded his status to “The Lord of the Arabs”. Why? He has met a king who addressed him and talked to him.

11. An old woman met the prophet as she was visiting his wife Aicha. She asked that Muhammad includes her in heaven. Muhammad replied: “Old women have no access to paradise” The woman was crying as he re-entered the house and he continued “In heaven, God transforms women to young virgins”

12. The third caliph Omar ibn Khattab was told “This person is ignorant of what is bad”. Omar replied “He risks to be the victim more than anyone else”

13. Zayd ibn Darim was in delegation to the king of Himyar (Yemen) who was on a mountain hunting trip. The kind ordered Zayd to sit down “thib”. The man jumped off the cliff. Thib in Zayd Arabic slang meant “jump”. The king concluded “Anyone entering Dhofar must learn our Himyari language”

Note: Extracted from the French book “The book of Arab Humor” by Jean-Jacques Schmidt

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Medina, the first Islam City-State

Posted by: on: March 26, 2010

Medina, the first Islam City-State; (Mar. 26, 2010)

Many Moslems do not turn toward Mecca to get inspiration: They turn toward Medina where the Prophet Muhammad ruled, established his message, and was buried.  The Prophet Muhammad was buried in his green overcoat, in the ground, under the bed of Aicha, his most beloved wife, in this humble room apartment, a door opening directly to the first mosque.

The same small “apartment” where the Prophet head was in the mosque, extending his head through the door for Aicha to wash his long hair.

Muhammad had to flee Mecca in 622 after his powerful wife Khadija trespassed. Mecca had over 360 idols representing the Gods of countless tribes, paying pilgrimage every year and being scalped of every dime they carried with them on a week-long debauched festivities.

Muhammad was welcomed in Medina (Yathreb) as a prince after the two main tribes of Aws and Khazraj extended an invitation to settle after many years of negotiation. The immigrant Moslems from Mecca (the Muhajirun) had preceded their Prophet to Medina many months ahead of him.  The Muhajirun were the strangers and they were almost penniless; the tribes of Medina had to accommodate them within their residences and find them work in their fields to earn a living.

The first 4 years were glorious years: it was the period when recognition of individual rights and development as equal converts to Allah superseded tribal attachment and customs.  Women didn’t wear the veil and walked the streets unaccompanied my male relatives.

The veil was a custom in Mecca for the aristocratic women to be discriminated from common women and slaves.  Medina was an agricultural vast city extending for miles over several villages of clans and tribes. Women worked the field with men, and wearing veil was unheard of.

The women in Medina were working people and Medina was mainly a matriarchal society.  The wife had to simply lock the door of her tent for the husband to go find a sleeping place among his clan.

The muhajirun from patriarchal Mecca felt lost and appalled in this new community of traditions and customs, where sexuality was not a big deal and women had a say in city politics.

In the first four years, women demanded equality with men and got it in the Koran. The Prophet went at great length detailing heritage procedure and shares for every member of the family; even an orphan and a child born from a slave and a free person (regardless of gender) had a share as any other member of the family.

Muhammad insisted that at least one of his wives join him in his military expeditions to the grand dam of the masculine army.  People of both genders would visit the Prophet’s wives for clarifications and explanations on verses of the Koran and the daily routines of behavior.  There was no dividing space line between private and public life: And the Prophet was constantly harassed with countless queries even in his residence because the new converts wanted to learn the new message of change.

Then, Muhammad lost the battle of Uhud in 626 against a coalition of tribes under the leadership of Quraich of Mecca.

Three hard years of civil unrest in Medina followed.  Muhammad opted for defensive attitudes and no serious military campaigns “razzia” brought much loot for the survival of the growing followers in Medina.

Believing in Allah and his Prophet took serious shaking down and the incredulous turn to cynicism, calumny, and even open anger.  One clan leader entered the apartment of Aicha and Muhammad and demanded of the Prophet to swap Aicha with one of his wives.

The wives of Muhammad were apprehended in the streets with sexual overtones under the pretense that the “munafikeen” thought they were women slaves since they wore no veil.

The second Caliph Omar was the most intransigent misogyny “muhajer”:  he kept harassing the Prophet for demanding women to wear the veil and to refrain from dealing in public affairs.

People were becoming openly highly critical of Muhammad’s behaviors and his selection of newer wives.  This open space between private and public life was to tumble down gradually under the massive pressures of little military excursions and civil unrest.

Verses were pronounced to drop curtains in Muhammad’s apartment for visitors who were not invited.  Omar obtained that the wives of the Prophet start wearing veils when out of their residences.  The Prophet who never beat or slapped any of his wives had also to permit male ascendancy in the family.

Violent Omar was told by Muhammad “You may slap your wives but this would be the behavior of the unaccomplished Moslem”

The next year to the battle of Uhud, Quraich tribes came back and set siege to Medina for 28 days.

For the first time in Arabia, a large ditch was dug around a city for defense purposes to enemy cavalry. Civil unrest in Medina grew and women avoided walking out their residences.  The Prophet had to give priority to political survival at the expense of equal rights to all converts, for both genders, for class differences, and for further emancipation of slaves.

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