On the Special Sharia Laws that Applied Only to the Prophet Muhammad and his Wives
Published in October 14, 2017
Translated by: Ahmed Fathy
Introduction:
We have received this question via email: (Dear Dr. Mansour ... Sunnites say that there are certain Quranic laws or rules that pertain exclusively to the Prophet Muhammad and they are never related to the rest of Quran-believing Muslims, especially in relation to his wives, the one-fifth of zakat and spoils money allotted to them ... What do you think? Thank you for your time to answer my question ...).
OUR REPLY:
Firstly:
Quranic rules pertaining to Muhammad and his wives (mentioned ONLY in the Quranic Chapter 33) are temporary, as they apply to them while they were alive, and these rules (now deemed as part of Quranic stories about Muhammad) are NOT to be applied by the rest of Quran-believing people. Let us mention some of these rules in the points below.
1- Paying dowries for wives is a religious obligational duty on husbands, but Muhammad was exempted temporarily from this duty in case a woman proposed to him to be his wife, and this is followed by God preventing him from divorcing his wives or to take up more wives afterwards: "O Prophet! We have permitted to you your wives to whom you have given their dowries, and those you already have, as granted to you by God, and the daughters of your paternal uncle, and the daughters of your paternal aunts, and the daughters of your maternal uncle, and the daughters of your maternal aunts who emigrated with you, and a believing woman who has offered herself to the Prophet, if the Prophet desires to marry her, exclusively for you, and not for the believers. We know what We have ordained for them regarding their wives and those their right-hands possess. This is to spare you any difficulty. God is Forgiving and Merciful. You may defer any of them you wish, and receive any of them you wish. Should you desire any of those you had deferred, there is no blame on you. This is more proper, so that they will be comforted, and not be grieved, and be content with what you have given each one of them. God knows what is within your hearts. God is Omniscient and Clement. Beyond that, no other women are permissible for you, nor can you exchange them for other wives, even if you admire their beauty, except those you already have. God is Watchful over all things." (33:50-52).
2- Muhammad's wives, during their lifetimes only, are like mothers to all believers at the time: "The Prophet is more caring of the believers than they are of themselves, and his wives are mothers to them..." (33:6).
3- The prohibition imposed on Muhammad's wives to never marry any man after Muhammad's death: "...You must never offend the messenger of God, nor must you ever marry his wives after him, for that would be an enormity with God." (33:53).
4- Doubling rewards for pious ones among Muhammad's wives and doubling the penalty in proven cases of committing adultery: "O wives of the Prophet! Whoever of you commits a proven indecency, the punishment for her will be doubled. And that would be easy for God. But whoever of you remains obedient to God and His Messenger, and acts righteously, We will give her a double reward; and We have prepared for her a generous provision." (33:30-31).
5- Special legislations for Muhammad's wives never to leave their chambers/houses and regarding how to talk to people and how to dress decently and properly and to spend the rest of their lives in acts of worship, especially reading the Quran: "O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women, if you observe piety. So do not speak too softly, lest the sick at heart lusts after you, but speak in an appropriate manner. And settle in your homes; and do not display yourselves, as in the former days of ignorance. And perform the prayer, and give regular charity, and obey God and His messenger. God desires to remove all impurity from you, Opeople of the house, and to purify you thoroughly." (33:32-34).
6- Quranic rules/legislations for believers applied only during Muhammad's lifetime regarding adherence to certain manners when they enter into homes or chambers of Muhammad and his wives: "O you who believe! Do not enter the homes of the Prophet, unless you are given permission to come for a meal; and do not wait for its preparation. And when you are invited, go in. And when you have eaten, disperse, without lingering for conversation. This irritates the Prophet, and he shies away from you, but God does not shy away from the truth. And when you ask his wives for something, ask them from behind a screen; that is purer for your hearts and their hearts. You must never offend the Messenger of God, nor must you ever marry his wives after him, for that would be an enormity with God.Whether you declare a thing, or hide it, God is Aware of all things.There is no blame on them concerning their fathers, or their sons, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or their female servants. But they should remain conscious of God. God is Witness over all things." (33:53-55).
Secondly: how Sunnites have distorted these Quranic rules and legislations pertaining exclusively to Muhammad and his wives:
1- As per Sunnite authoritative history books, after the death of Muhammad, his widow Aisha led the very first civil war in Muslim history as she led the army that fought against the army loyal to the caliph Ali Ibn Abou Talib. God has commanded all wives of Muhammad to keep to their houses/chamber and never to get out of them. Aisha, thus, had disobeyed the commands of the Lord God; she left her home/chamber NOT to perform a good deed, but to commit the evil, outrageous deed of inciting a civil war that led to the death of ten thousand men around her howdah on her camel, and this is while this battle has been named (the battle of the camel). Since the date of this wretched business and until now, the Muhammadans have entered into the dark tunnel of civil strife and bloodshed and they have not left it yet.
2- The proof of this dark tunnel is clear; Aisha is a main figure within the earthly, man-made, fabricated religions of the Muhammadans, as the Sunnites deify and sanctify her instead of criticizing her evil deed and they believe in thousands of hadiths ascribed to her after her death, whereas Shiites hate and curse her as part of their rituals, and declare her as an infidel as much as they do with other historical figures (deified by Sunnites and demonized by Shiites): Abou Bakr, Omar, Othman, Amr, Mu'aweiya, Abou Hurayrah, Talha, and Al-Zubayr. Shiites make cursing such names in rituals as part of conversion to the Shiite religion, in addition to ally oneself to Ali (the supreme deity for Shiites) and to his wife Fatima and their sons Hussein and Hassan. Let us tackle some distortions of Shiites below in detail.
Thirdly: how Shiites have distorted these Quranic rules and legislations pertaining exclusively to Muhammad and his wives:
1- Shiites have disregarded the Quran; they have assumed wrongly that the Quranic term (people of the house) refers to Fatima, her husband, and her two sons. This misunderstanding of this term violates the Quran; this term (underlined above) refers in 33:33 ONLY to wives of Muhammad who settled in his houses/chambers as we infer from 33:53. The same Quranic term refers to ANY wife of ANY household; e.g., to refer to the wife of Abraham in the context of these verses: "His wife was standing by, so she laughed. And We gave her good news of Isaac; and after Isaac, Jacob. She said, "Alas for me. Shall I give birth, when I am an old woman, and this, my husband, is an old man? This is truly a strange thing."They said, "Do you marvel at the decree of God? The mercy and blessings of God are upon you, O people of the house. He is Praiseworthy and Glorious."" (11:71-73).
2- The Shiites have fabricated the lie that this Quranic term (people of the house) refers to Fatima an her husband, Ali, and their two sons, Hussein and Hassan, and the progeny of both sons as well as all relatives of Prophet Muhammad (i.e., his paternal uncles and their sons!). The Shiites make the one-fifth of zakat and spoils money allotted to them as such persons are household of Muhammad! This is an intentional misinterpretation of these verses: "And know that whatever spoils you gain, to God belongs its fifth, and to the messenger, and the relatives, and the orphans, and the poor, and to the wayfarer..." (8:41); "Whatever God restored to His Messenger from the inhabitants of the villages belongs to God, and to the messenger, and to the relatives, and to the orphans, and to the poor, and to the wayfarer; so that it may not circulate solely between the wealthy among you..." (59:7). This Shiite fabrication is illogical because of the following points below.
2/1: The term relatives underlined above in 8:41 and 59:7 does NOT refer to those of Muhammad. By the way, his kinsmen and relatives were too many to be counted: the Hashemites and Abbasids, apart from maternal relatives as well, and the progeny of Abou Talib (including Ali), and sons of Muhammad's other paternal uncles (including uncles who did not convert to Islam!), and this is not to mention Muhammad's wives and their own tribes and relatives! It is impossible to count such progeny of these relatives even after the death of Muhammad, as intertribal marriages occurred and progeny are beyond enumeration. Thus, the term relatives in 8:41 and 59:7 does NOT refer to Muhammad's kinsmen; rather, it refers to charity money given to anyone's poor relatives in general.
2/2: This Shiite faulty understanding is against inheritance laws in the Quran: Muhammad's money after his death was to be distributed as follows: one-eighth distributed among the surviving wives, one half to the only surviving progeny (i.e., Fatima), and the rest to the only surviving paternal uncle (i.e., Abbas), and Ali, Hussein, and Hassan get nothing at all; the presence of the paternal uncle at the time entails this.
2/3: As for spoils after the battle of Badr, the word relative here does NOT refer to those of Muhammad at all: " And know that whatever spoils you gain, to God belongs its fifth, and to the messenger, and the relatives, and the orphans, and the poor, and to the wayfarer, provided you believe in God and in what We revealed to Our servant on the Day of Distinction, the day when the two armies met. God is Capable of everything. Recall when you were on the nearer bank, and they were on the further bank, and the caravan was below you. Had you planned for this meeting, you would have disagreed on the timing, but God was to carry out a predetermined matter, so that those who perish would perish by clear evidence, and those who survive would survive by clear evidence. God is Hearing and Knowing." (8:41-42). Thus, within this context, relatives here are those of fighters within this battle of Badr. The term does NOT refer to uncles of Muhammad, and even most of them at the time of this battle did not convert to Islam; Abbas was taken as a POW as he fought against Muslims at the time, and one of these paternal uncles died as a disbeliever after his deep grief when Qorayish was defeated in that battle. Part of the money of spoils were to be spent for God's sake (i.e., the poor, the orphans, etc. and also spent on jihad military endeavors of self-defense).
2/4: The above point (i.e., 2/3) is repeated upon pondering this verse as well: "Whatever God restored to His Messenger from the inhabitants of the villages belongs to God, and to the messenger, and to the relatives, and to the orphans, and to the poor, and to the wayfarer; so that it may not circulate solely between the wealthy among you. Whatever the messenger gives you, accept it; and whatever he forbids you, abstain from it. And fear God. God is severe in torment." (59:7).
2/5: Shiites have fabricated a laughter-inducing misinterpretation to this verse, making it forcibly referring to Fatima and her two sons (and their progeny): "...Say, "I ask of you no wage for it, except affection among the near of kin."..." (42:23). This Shiite misinterpretation contradicts the Quranic fact that prophets/messengers never ask for wages or money at all: "...My wage falls only on God, and I was commanded to be of those who submit." (10:72); "...I ask of you no compensation for it; it is just a reminder for all humankind." (6:90); "O my people, I ask you no wage for it; my wage lies with Him who originated me. Do you not understand?" (11:51); "You ask them no wage for it. It is only a reminder for all humankind." (12:104); "Or do you demand a payment from them, and they are burdened by debt?" (52:40); "Or do you ask them for a fee, so they are burdened with debt?" (68:46); "Follow those who ask you of no wage, and are themselves guided." (36:21); "I ask of you no payment for this. My payment is only from the Lord of the Worlds." (26:109, 26:127, 26:145, 26:164, and 26:180). The underline words in phrase in 42:23 refer to ANY relatives of anyone; i.e., one should be kind and charitable to one's relatives in general (and NOT to kinsmen of Muhammad): this is Muhammad's advice to all Quran-believing people in all eras and locations, and Muhammad's reward during his lifetime was to see guided people who were true believers: "Say, "Whatever compensation I have asked of you, is yours. My compensation comes only from God, and He is Witness over all things."" (34:47); "Say, "I ask of you no payment for this-only that whoever wills may take a path to his Lord."" (25:57). Besides, it is quite impossible to enumerate those imposters and inveterate liars in many Arab and non-Arab countries who claim today that they are the progeny of the descendants of Ali and Fatima (and therefore, Muhammad) to give them any money at all, and we have refuted such myth in our article (in English) titled "The Notion of Descendants of Muhammad's Household Is a False, Hateful, Racist One of Disbelief", found on this link: http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=16080
Fourthly: by the way, what is the right of one's relatives mentioned in the Quran?:
1- The right of inheritance for near relatives, but far, distant ones can have donations/alms from inheritance money which is being distributed: "If the distribution is attended by the relatives, and the orphans, and the needy, give them something out of it, and speak to them kindly." (4:8).
2- The right of giving alms in kind treatment and charity to distant relatives and also near kin: "Righteousness does not consist of turning your faces towards the East and the West. But righteous is he who believes in God, and the Last Day, and the angels, and the Scripture, and the prophets. Who gives money, though dear, to near relatives, and orphans, and the needy, and the homeless, and the beggars, and for the freeing of slaves; those who perform the prayers, and pay the obligatory charity, and fulfill their promise when they promise, and patiently persevere in the face of persecution, hardship, and in the time of conflict. These are the sincere; these are the pious." (2:177); "Worship God, and ascribe no partners to Him, and be good to the parents, and the relatives, and the orphans, and the poor, and the neighbor next door, and the distant neighbor, and the close associate, and the traveler, and your servants. God does not love the arrogant showoff." (4:36); "God commands justice, and goodness, and generosity towards relatives. And He forbids immorality, and injustice, and oppression. He advises you, so that you may take heed." (16:90); "And give the relative his rights, and the poor, and the wayfarer, and do not squander wastefully." (17:26); "Those of you who have affluence and means should not refuse to give to the relatives, and the needy, and the emigrants for the sake of God. And let them pardon, and let them overlook. Do you not love for God to pardon you? God is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (24:22); "So give the relative his rights, and the destitute, and the wayfarer. That is best for those who seek to please God. Those are the prosperous." (30:38).
3- As always, God says nothing but the Absolute Truth.