On Knowing the Works of ‘The Prophet’

If Dan Andrews wants us all to love and adore ‘the prophet,’ then we really ought to know something about him:

Dan Andrews, Peace be Upon Him, our resident Islamophile-in-Chief, has told us that he wants every single Victorian to know all about the works of Muhammad. Yes he did actually say that. In fact, I have taken the time to transcribe the short video of him saying these very things. Here is what he said while at a Muslim mosque:

Finally, we think it is important, as part of an education process, that everyone across our state knows about the works of the Prophet Muhammad, Peace be Upon Him. Its very important that his teachings, his life, his journey, is understood by so many people. That’s why we will provide a $500,000 grant to the Islamic Museum in partnership with the Board of Imams and also the Islamic Council of Victoria to develop a program to educate, to share those teachings, that wisdom. This is part of a comprehensive plan to do what matters. Investing in our multiculturalism, supporting our multi-faith communities, and acknowledging this central truth, that Victoria’s Muslim community are about family, they’re about faith, and they’re about hard work. Generous, fantastic Victorians, and we need to stand with them, and we always will.

You can watch and listen to him for yourself here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbMGjx4awsY

Of interest is to read all the comments under a tweet by the Australian Jewish Association on this matter: https://twitter.com/AustralianJA/status/1600057872850685952

But back to Dhimmi Dan. He insists that we all know about Islam’s prophet, his teachings, and his works. In an article I wrote yesterday I asked of Dan: ‘Which works?’ I offered a short and abbreviated list of these:

-Killing children
-Having sex with children
-Having at least 13 wives
-Treating women as second class citizens
-Torturing and killing opponents
-Waging war on all rivals
-Leading 100 military campaigns against his enemies
-Owning, abusing and raping slaves
-Forcing people to convert to Islam
-Spreading his faith by the edge of the sword
-Promoting terrorism and jihad
-Commanding the death of infidels
-Commanding the death of apostates
-Forcing other non-Muslims to live as dhimmis

I added: “Dan, which of the works of your prophet buddy do you want us to embrace and emulate? We all want to know!” https://billmuehlenberg.com/2022/12/08/danistan-dhimmitude-democracy-and-indonesia/

Here I want to take my short list of 14 points and expand upon each one just a bit. All of them are fully confirmed either in the Koran, the hadith or the sira. Here in each point I offer a few sources, either from an Islamic website, or from other sites (my own or those of others), that do have numerous links back to Islamic sources.

Killing children – Take one famous battle for example, in which children who had reached the age of adolescence were killed along with adults. Lots of detail on this is found here: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/The_Massacre_of_the_Banu_Qurayzah

See more here: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/List_of_Killings_Ordered_or_Supported_by_Muhammad

Having sex with children – We know of course about poor Aisha. He married her at age 6, and had relations with her when she was 9. Usually we have a term for that, beginning with ‘p’ and ending with ‘edophilia’. See more here: https://islamqa.info/en/answers/124483/how-old-was-aishah-when-she-married-the-prophet

The whole issue of child marriage also must be raised here. See this detailed article: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Child_Marriage_in_Islamic_Law

I have written on it as well: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2016/10/31/islam-child-brides-west/

Having at least 13 wives – Islamic scholars can differ on the actual number, with some saying 13, some saying less, some saying more. This site for example lists 11: https://islamqa.info/en/answers/47072/prophets-peace-be-upon-him-wives-who-are-they

This one lists 19 wives and concubines: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Ages_of_Muhammads_Wives_at_Marriage

Treating women as second class citizens – I have written often on this, and included a number of relevant Islamic texts on the issue: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2006/11/02/islam-and-women/

And here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2008/02/22/islam-and-women-2/

And here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2012/11/24/women-and-islam/

And here: http://billmuehlenberg.com/2016/01/11/islam-and-rape-jihad/

Plenty of books by ex-Muslims could also be mentioned. Here is one of them: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2009/06/24/a-review-of-cruel-and-unusual-punishment-by-nonie-darwish/

Torturing and killing opponents – There is plenty of material we can run with here. Passages such as Muslim 4131, Ibn Ishaq 436, 595, 734, and 764 could be consulted. For a wider-ranging look at this, perhaps start with an article such as this: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Qur%27an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Muhammad_and_Torture

And things like crucifixion and amputation are also enjoined upon Islam’s enemies. See Sura 5:33 for example, and the hadith Muslim 16:4131. See also this site for a list of the killings and related activities ordered or approved by the prophet: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/List_of_Killings_Ordered_or_Supported_by_Muhammad

Waging war on all rivals – The point just above and just below covers much of this, so let me add just one more site: https://www.answering-islam.org/Terrorism/peace-loving.html

Leading 100 military campaigns against his enemies – Only 100? Not 99 or 101? Well, many Islamic scholars do say it was exactly 100. Here is one detailed listing from a Muslim website: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/List_of_expeditions_of_Muhammad

Owning, abusing and raping slaves – See hadith such as Sahih Muslim 3901. And a summary is found here: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Slavery_in_Islamic_Law

See also this piece: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Qur%27an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Rape_of_Slaves,_Prisoners,_and_Wives

And an interesting comparison piece is found here: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2008/02/slavery-christianity-and-islam

Forcing people to convert to Islam – Much of this is covered in the point above about his campaigns, and the point below about using the sword. Sura 8:12 and 9:5 would be some of the obvious places to begin. Let me offer one more website to examine this, one which is quite lengthy and well referenced: https://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/swordverse.htm

Spreading his faith by the edge of the sword – The history of Muhammad and Islam is the history of conquest. He led raids against pagans in Mecca, Jews in Medina, and Christians in places like Tabuk. A list of some of his raids is found here: https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Caravan_raids

See also here: https://www.answering-islam.org/Terrorism/by_the_sword.html

And a listing of his conquests, and those of his followers, is found here: https://islam.fandom.com/wiki/Muslim_conquests

Promoting terrorism and jihad – While jihad can just mean spiritual struggle, it of course often means much more than that, including armed struggle. See for example: https://islamqa.info/en/answers/20214/ruling-on-jihad-and-kinds-of-jihad

And here: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Jihad_in_Islamic_Law

Also see some of my articles: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2006/11/20/the-jihad-intensifies/

And here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2014/07/02/ramadan-and-jihad/

Commanding the death of infidels – there would be too many texts to cite on this, so again let me offer some summary pieces, such as this one: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Qur%27an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Offensive_Jihad

See also here: https://www.answering-islam.org/Terrorism/islam_and_violence.html

Commanding the death of apostates – Texts to be aware of would include Sura 4:89 and Bukhari 52:260 and 83:37. In addition to what the links found in the above question, there are again many texts that speak to this, and they are nicely summarised in places such as this: https://islamqa.info/en/answers/20327/apostasy-in-islam

And here: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Islam_and_Apostasy

Nor is this just something from long ago – it still applies today: https://www.indy100.com/news/the-countries-where-apostasy-is-punishable-by-death-7294486

Forcing other non-Muslims to live as dhimmis – This web article offers a detailed look at dhimmitude: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Dhimma

See also this piece: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Qur%27an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Dhimma

Obviously a whole lot more can be said about each of these 14 points. Indeed, I could and should add other points as well – things like Muhammad’s views on honour killings, the Jews, and so much more. Future articles will have to do that.

And as can be seen above, I have written full-length articles on many of these matters. In fact, given that this is my 591st article on Islam, I likely have covered all of these points at least partially if not entirely in previous articles. Plus my articles also have links to many other articles, books and websites where you can go much further on all this.

It will be noted that I have very few direct quotes from the main Islamic sources here. That would be because there are far too many to be featured in a short article such as this, and most folks may prefer a quick and easy link to run with instead. Most of those links which I supply do have plenty of actual references, quotes, citations and so on for those who want much more detailed referencing.

One last point: some rather uninformed folks or those pushing the Islamic agenda might try to argue that Jesus was not so hot either when it came to some of these areas. But nothing could be further from the truth of course. See this article for starters on that contrast:

https://billmuehlenberg.com/2019/12/30/muhammad-versus-jesus/

As mentioned, Dan Andrews says we should know all about the teachings and works of the prophet. The reader here will learn very much indeed about him. Of course I take it all the above is NOT what Dan wanted Victorians to learn about Islam and its prophet.

[1368 words]