the Prophet’s character

asalamu alaykum,

The question about a good book about the end of times came up frequently in Shaykh Hamza’s class and he would not recommend one. He relayed three problems with end of times discussions – too much reliance on Israelite reports, too much reliance on unauthenticated hadiths dealing with the head of times (and apparently there is a large number of them), and too many specific conclusions being drawn on that information, as well as the authenticated information when those conclusions could very well be wrong.

I mean this in all seriousness- what exactly do you find in Muhammed’s character beautiful? I know that Muslims consider him an ideal example of a muslim and try to emulate him, but there are a few aspects of him that I am quite unsettled by.

So when you say balance, do you mean that there are aspects of Muhammed character that aren’t worth emulating? And if there are, how do you tell the difference?

If everything that Muhammed did was excellent, how do you deal with some of the more . . . troubling events of his life? Such as the ahadith that relate the practice of Muhammed allowing is followers to have relations with their captive women before selling them into slavery? (The way some of the Sahih Muslim hadith read is that the husbands of the captive women were still alive. And while the texts don’t say one way or the other, I have a hard time believing that the relations were consensual considering the captive womens’ families were just killed.)

Ahadith: Sahih al-Bukhari 2229, 4138, 4350, 5210, 6603, 7409; Sahih Muslim 3371, 3373, 3383, 3432, 3433.

I know that is quite a few listings, but I didn’t want you to think that I’m just repeating a story third hand.

If everything Muhammed did was worth emulating, would you also consider this worthy? If not, why not?

to Oum Amir, perhaps you should watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mGGt90Uh8c

ibnAshraf-

That’s funny. I actually already have that entire debate on my ipod. Do you have something that addresses this issue in a more scholarly manner? Ataie was all over the place and didn’t respond all that well.

Perhaps one should better study the God of the Old Testament (aka Jesus according to Christians) to see the he commanded things far more “troubling”

If everything Jesus commanded in the OT was worth emulating, would you also consider those things worthy? If not, why not?

Actually, I think Ataie did a great job exposing the intellectual dishonesty, misquoting, and double standards Christian apologists use when bring up such topics

ibnAshraf,

You’re certainly welcome to your opinion, but as one who is not a Muslim and has serious questions and concerns about the prophethood of Muhammed, Ataie didn’t provide any substantial rebuttals. Ergo, my request for something a bit more scholarly. Ataie didn’t deal with any of the ahadith in any meaningful fashion, (i.e. looking at the text, offering context, providing explanations for the actions in question.)

As for anon-
I’m sorry, but that’s the worst dodge ever. I don’t put up with that excuse from my kindergarteners, (yeah, well, the other boys were doing that too!) and I’d expect better from adults. I’m asking honest questions, and I’m looking for honest answers. If that’s the best you’ve got to provide, then I should dismiss your entire religion without a second thought for being so shallow-thinking.

If I didn’t think that some one within the sphere of Islam has thought about this a come to a good answer, I wouldn’t ask.

http://www.call-to-monotheism.com/does_islam_permit_muslim_men_to_rape_their_slave_girls_

Also gives a comparison to what is written in the Bible. I’ve found plenty of articles and books dealing with this issue.