Thursday, January 29, 2009

Was the prophet of Islam a transvestite?

Father Zakaria Boutros continues to amaze the Arab world. One of his latest TV programs on LifeTV was on the sexual appetites of Muhammad, prophet of Islam.

In this episode, he began with the prophet’s “transvestite” tendencies. He read from several hadiths, including Sahih Bukhari—Fr Botros claims that there are no less than 32 different references to this phenomenon in Islam’s books—wherein Muhammad often laid in bed dressed in women’s clothes, specifically his child-bride Aisha’s.

Fr. Botros: “Perhaps Muslims think that he only dressed in Aisha’s clothes? Being that she was his “favorite,” perhaps after being intimate with her, he would merely lay in bed with her clothes?” (Here the priest put his face in his hands lamenting that he had to talk of such shameful things.)

Then he offered an interesting and revealing hadith, from Sahih Bukhari (2/911), which records Muhammad saying, “Revelations [i.e., the Koran] never come to me when I’m dressed in women’s clothing—except when I’m dressed in Aisha’s,” implying that it was something of a habit for the prophet to dress in female clothing.

Fr Botros next moved on to some commentaries in the Tafsir of al-Qurtubi—an authoritative exegesis in Islam. He read one anecdote where Aisha said that, one day, while Muhammad was lying naked in bed, Zaid came knocking; Muhammad, without getting dressed, opened the door and “hugged and kissed him”—in the nude. Elsewhere, Qurtubi concludes that, “the prophet—prayers and blessings upon him—was constantly preoccupied with women.”

Fr Botros to Muslims: “So this is your prophet—the most morally upright man? Instead of being preoccupied with, say, prayer or good deeds, he was preoccupied with women?”

He next read from Faid al-Qabir (3/371), wherein Muhammad is on record saying, “My greatest loves are women and perfume: the hungry is satisfied after eating, but I never have enough of women.” Another hadith: “I can hold back from food and drink—but not from women.” After reading these hadiths, Fr Botros would just look at the screen in silence, shaking his head.

He next read an interesting narrative (contained in Umdat al-Qari and Faid al-Qabir). Reportedly, Allah sent Gabriel with some sort of celestial food (called al-kofid) to Muhammad, commanding the latter to “Eat!”—identical to when Gabriel came to Muhammad saying “Read!” (i.e., iqra, the word for Koran). The report goes on to quote Muhammad saying that the food given to him “gave me the sexual potency of 40 heavenly men.” Fr Botros next read from the Sunan of al-Tirmidhi, where it says that the “heavenly man” has the sexual potency of 100 mortal men. More HERE.

12 comments:

Snake Oil Baron said...

Unfortunately the numbering system he used to reference the transvestite story is apparently not the only one which makes it difficult to actually find the quote. As much as I admire him for his work criticizing Islam I have to wonder why such a stunning revelation was not picked up on by the many other critics over the years.

John Stringer said...

Hello Baron - I had the same problem, could not find the quote. But with Father Zakaria we can rest assured that he did his homework well. Do not forget, he does not preach for right-wing Americans who believe anything that is bad in Islam :-)

He preaches in Arabic to the Arabs. If he would make some bad mistakes, he will be villified in the Arab media who are waiting to crucify him.

They cannot, at least not for the integrity of what he says.

Why this has not been mentioned previously? Yes... interesting question. What do you think?

Anonymous said...

John it would be nice to have something of real value on your site where the authors actually document their sources instead of just hinting to them. No where in this article has the author mentioned which hadith it is. All of them have chapter numbers and then the individual hadith number. Let me give you an example,

Sayyiduna Abd Allah ibn Abbas (Allah be pleased with him) relates, that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) “Cursed those men who imitate women and those women who imitate men.”

(Sahih al-Bukhari, 7/205)

This hadith from Bukhari gives the specific location of the hadith with in his volumns. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ALSO CONTRADICTS WHAT IS WRITTEN IN YOUR POST, WOMEN ARE NOT TO DRESS AND ACT AS MEN NOR MEN TO DRESS AND ACT AS WOMEN. I could continue with much more evidence to refute your article but anyone who is sincere in knowing the truth can search and find it because its so obvious and plain to those who can comprehend with open minds and hearts.

Anonymous said...

By the way, I happen to have volume 2 of Bukhari in front of me now, and if you think that the reference given
Then he offered an interesting and revealing hadith, from Sahih Bukhari (2/911), which records Muhammad saying, “Revelations [i.e., the Koran] never come to me when I’m dressed in women’s clothing—except when I’m dressed in Aisha’s,” implying that it was something of a habit for the prophet to dress in female clothing.

So it is suggesting that in volume 2 hadith number 911 right? there is no such hadith as volume 2 ends with 823! and it is in the chapter discussing trade done during Hajj!

Very unreliable article indeed.

John Stringer said...

From Mishkat Al Masabih, Volume II
Book XXVI- Fitan.
Chapter XXXVIII,“The Fine Qualities of the Prophet’s Wives.”

She told that the people used to choose:‘A’isha’s day to bring their gifts, seeking thereby to please God’s messenger. She said that God’s messenger’s wives were in two parties, one including ‘A’isha, Hafsa, Safiya, and Sauda, and the other including Umm Salama and the rest of God’s messenger’s wives. Umm Salama’s party spoke to her telling her to ask God’s messenger to say to the people,“If anyone wishes to make a present to God’s messenger, let him present it to him wherever he happens to be.” She did so and he replied,“Do not annoy me regarding ‘A’isha, for INSPIRATION HAS NOT COME TO ME WHEN I WAS IN ANY WOMAN'S GARMENT BUT 'A'ISHA'S." They then called Fatima, sent her to God’s messenger, and she spoke to him, but he replied,“Do you not like what I like, girlie?” She said,“Certainly,” so he said,“Then love this woman.”(Bukhari and Muslim.)(English translation with explanatory notes by Dr. James Robson, Sh. Muhammad Ahsraf Publishers, Booksellers & Exporters, Lahore-Pakistan, Reprint 1990, p. 1361; bold and capital emphasis ours

See also the following:

From the Sahih Collection of al-Bukhari, Hadith Number 2442
Chapter 52. Book of Setting Free, VII: The one who gave a gift to his friend aiming for a time when he was with one of his wives rather than another.

From Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith Number 2393
Volume Title,“Grace and its Virtues.”
Chapter Title,“What was Granted to the Companions and the Wives.”

… then the prophet said to her,“Do not hurt me with Aisha, for the inspiration did not come upon me when I was IN (fee) A WOMAN’S GARMENT (Thawb) EXCEPT THAT OF AISHA.”

From Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith Number 3941
Volume Title,“The Book of Virtues.”
Chapter Title,“The Virtues of Aisha.”

Do not hurt me with Aisha; for by Allah, the inspiration did not descent on me while I was IN THE COVERINGS (lihaf) of any of you (women) except Aisha.”

From the English translation of the Sahih collection of Imam Muslim, Book 031, Number 5984:
The Book Pertaining to the Merits of the Companions of the Holy Prophet (Kitab Al-Fada'il Al-Sahabah)

From the Sahih collection of Imam Muslim, Hadith Number 4472
Volume Title,“From the Virtues of the Companions.”
Chapter Title,“From the Virtues of Aisha.”

“The wives of the prophet sent Fatimah, the daughter of the prophet, to him and she requested permission to enter while he was lying down on my bed (wearing) IN (fee) MY ROBE (Mirt). He gave her permission to enter and she told him that his wives had sent her to him seeking justice concerning the daughter of Abu Kahafa (Aisha). The prophet said to her,‘O daughter, do you not love what I love?’ She replied,‘Yes! I do.’ He then said to her,‘Then love her also.’ So Fatimah got up when she heard that from the prophet and returned to the wives of the prophet. Then the wives sent to the prophet Zaynab Bint Jahsh… who requested permission from the prophet to enter while he was with Aisha IN (fee) HER ROBE (Mirt) and in the same state that Fatimah found him in.”

Yadgar K Ahmmad said...

I think Father Zakaria Boutros has no idea about the Arabic Language at all, (with due respect). He mentioned in paragraph 4 as follows: "....Revelations [i.e., the Koran] never come to me when I’m dressed in women’s clothing—except when I’m dressed in Aisha’s...."

First of all the translation is wrong. Secondly the true translation is that the revelation was coming to the Prophet when he was in Aisha's dress and NOT in women clothing. the term Aisha's dress in the context of the hadith does NOT mean Aisha's Cloth at ALL, but rather means that Aisha's Turn, i.e. the Prophet had 9 wives and he was staying with each wife one night, and then when there was Aisha's turn the revealations was caming down to him. Arabic language is a very rich in vocabulary due to the fact that many tribes were living in that vast desert and disconnected from others. So, sometimes we can see one word can describe only one meaning among one tribe, while it may refer to another meaning favoured by another tribe and communities. Also the writes of the hadith were from diffrent parts of the Arab penensular that supports the above argument. So Aisha Dress in the context of the mentioned hadith only means Aisha's turn and is very well understood by the Arabs. The reason to mention Aisha is that there is a special respect and honor by Allh to Aisha and her Father Abu-Bakar after she was innocently accused of adultry and God Has revealed the Truth that Aisha was innocent and has not commited any sin.

Finally, what I would like to say to father Zakaria, please understand Arabic Language very well before you start saying anything that could tranis the image of Prophet Mohammed. You will be liable by the history one day for what you say.

Thank you

Unknown said...

I don't think you can say Zakaria Boutros does not know the Arabic language due to the fact that perhaps the people that have quoted Zakaria may not have translated correctly into English.

cyarak said...

I don't think you can say Zakaria Boutros doesn't know the Arabic language since all these posts are just translations from Arabic so perhaps the translations of what he said into English are incorrect.

cyarak said...

I don't think you can say Zakaria Boutros doesn't know the Arabic language since all these posts are just translations from Arabic so perhaps the translations of what he said into English are incorrect.

John Stringer said...

Hello Charlie - the part above that speaks of muhammad dressings in women's clothes is not from Zakaria, but it comes straight from the ahadith and is translated by a muslim.

Unknown said...

I am a trilingual.
Arabic, Farsi and English.
I do translations in this languages.
I can assure you that the translations are misleading completely as I have read most of those Ahadith.
For Example The true version of aisha's hadith means Revelations never come to me when I’m in bed with my wives , except when I’m in Aisha’s bed(sleeping with Aisha).
Or the correct translation of this sentence is Do not hurt me with Aisha, for the inspiration did not come upon me when I was IN A WOMAN’S covering(lihaf {(means some kind of blanket which in Arabic Farsi refers to sleeping with a woman )})( EXCEPT THAT OF AISHA's.
Please note that there are serious doubts about some of those ahadith as they were word of mouth from people and humans can make mistakes.
I am sure that the people who want to know the truth will do more research regarding this misleading article.

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