Wednesday 9 March 2016

Prophet's Critics & Their Double Standard

Dr.Mazhar Naqvi
The misuse of social-media by fanatics to level baseless accusations against the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad needs to be curbed immediately. In the absence of any legal mechanism to stop- or punish such hate-mongers, barrage of insults and false allegations are leveled every day to hurt the sentiments of Muslims. Under the tag of freedom of speech, Fanatics use even vulgar language against the Prophet to promote their own personal and political interests. The most frequent and common accusation leveled against the Prophet  is the claim that he was a pedophile(MA), for he consummated his marriage to Hazrat Aisha when she was 9-years old. As the allegation is unsubstantiated and fanatics have been deliberately ignoring the refutations based on Quranic verses and  authentic traditions, the blogger has decided to frustrate attempts being made to defame a man who was apostle of peace and have been described as the best in morals and character even by his greatest enemies.
The blogger admits his mistake of having posted a refutation earlier. It should have been avoided, for any attempt to refute with relevant evidences give such fabricated accusations a sort of legitimacy. Rather, they should be ignored and efforts should be made to expose the hypocritical actions of individuals who have conveniently appeared in the last century to tarnish the image of the holy Prophet and whose present admirers are following the suit, especially in India.
It should be clarified to such fanatics that Islam does not support pedophilia or child abuse in any shape or form. The Quran clearly states that marriage can only take place between individuals who have matured in their biological and psychological development (puberty). It also needs to be clarified that there is just one tradition that is used to prove that the Prophet married Hazrat Aisha when she was 6 years old and their marriage consummated when she reached puberty at the age of 9.But the material that  suggest she was older are ignored even though they are  derived from very tenuous assumptions based on events that occurred during her life. Many scholars’ have successfully refuted the allegation of pedophilia against the Prophet. However, their efforts have led to a volley of further onslaught of similar claims against him without any substantiation. It indicates that they are going ahead with an agenda to defame the Prophet despite knowing very well that their claims are false.

It is worth mentioning here that accusations against the Prophet were leveled during the last century. No false allegations were leveled against the Prophet before 1905. David Margoliouth, a British historian associated with the Zionist movement leveled baseless allegations against the prophet for the first time in the history. He did so because 100 years ago in many countries around the world, including India and USA, the general age of consent for marriage was 10 years and in one state it was even 7 years. It is evident from this fact that the very nations and individuals who accuse the Prophet of despicable crimes (MA) 1400 years ago, allowed the same practices within their dominions till the turn of the century. In India, child marriages still take place and even ministers participate in them. Further, anti-Islam forces look at the actions of the Prophet against the norms and customs of the present era. They ignore the practices that occurred 1400 years ago. Anthropologists assert that a society and people must be judged by the rules and cultural norms that existed in their era. If marriage to a 9 year old was a normative practice throughout various civilizations over 14 centuries ago, the practice should be viewed against the current legislation in the UK, stating that people cannot be married until they reach the age of 16.Likewise, the current minimum legal age for marriage in a state of USA is 13.Similarly,the Western kept mum when non-Muslims married girls between the ages of 7 and 10.The hypocrisy of individuals who accuse the Prophet of pedophilia is also established from the fact that they conveniently choose to ignore cases where central figures of other religions married children under the age of 12.it is rarely mentioned that Guru Gobind Singh married a 12-year-old girl but nobody questioned whether she had reached puberty before she consummated her marriage with the Holy Guru. Similarly, this fact is also not highlighted that Mary married Joseph when she was around 12 or 14 years and Joseph was 90.
Moreover, Judaic traditions reveal that 3-year-old prepubescent girls were forced to have sex with men under the guise of Mosaic Law. Furthermore, Jewish law states that the age of consent for girls to marry is 12,irrespective of whether they have reached puberty or not. Such facts clearly expose the double standard being adopted by those involved in the slander of the Holy Prophet. These individuals do so as they dislike Islam and its Prophet and also to achieve their political objectives. (References available on request)





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