Rant – Insulting Ayesha is on par with Insulting Rasulullah (s)

–:Fifth Emotional Rant:–

 Insulting Ayesha is on par with Insulting Rasulullah (s)

Ibn al Hashimi stated:

Indeed, no man allows others to slander his wife, and the Prophet (صلّى الله عليه وآله وسلّم) is the one with the most Gheerah (protective “jealousy”) in regards to his wives. If the Prophet (صلّى الله عليه وآله وسلّم) heard the things which the Shia say about Aisha (رضّى الله عنها), no doubt the Prophet (صلّى الله عليه وآله وسلّم) would be furious.

Hurting the feelings of the Prophet’s wives (رضّى الله عنهم) is hurting the feelings of the Prophet (صلّى الله عليه وآله وسلّم). In fact, this methodology of targeting the Prophet’s wives (رضّى الله عنهم) was used by the Munafiqoon (hypocrites) to hurt the Prophet (صلّى الله عليه وآله وسلّم) in the incident of al-Ifk: they insulted Aisha (رضّى الله عنها) in order to insult the Prophet (صلّى الله عليه وآله وسلّم) by extension.

Ibn al Hashimi stated:Yet, an insult against Aisha (رضّى الله عنها) is a personal insult to all the believers. Recently, the Muslims rallied against the Denmark newspaper which insulted the Prophet (صلّى الله عليه وآله وسلّم); should we not also rally against the forces that insult his wives and the Mothers of all the Believers?

Ibn al Hashimi stated:Insulting or harming the Prophet’s wife (رضّى الله عنها) is insulting and harming the Prophet (صلّى الله عليه وآله وسلّم) himself. Even the man with the least amount of chivalry and self-respect would not allow people to insult his wife, and this includes the Prophet (صلّى الله عليه وآله وسلّم)

Reply One – Fact and slander are two different things

The crucial word that Ibn al Hashimi has himself used is the term ‘slander’ i.e. a false allegation. We are in full agreement that no man would tolerate a false allegation about his wife, and would indeed have ‘gheerah’ in this regard. If the Shia were to slander Ayesha with false allegations about her conduct then we are committing a major sin, in the eyes of Allah (swt) and his Rasul (s). The Shia do not perpetuate lies about Ayesha, the present facts as recorded in esteemed Sunni works and use the Quran and Sunnah to decide how her conduct should be evaluated. When the Quran has prevented Ayesha from leaving her home, and she chose to ignore that preferring to rebel against the Ul’il Amr (Ali), that also contradicted the Quran and specific Hadith, what is objectionable in that? Would Prophet Nuh (as) and Lut (as) be furious if we were to criticize their wives when Allah (swt) has exposed the fact that deviants?

Reply Two – There is a marked difference between insult and justified criticism

There exists a clear distinction between insult and justified criticism. Insult by definition means to ‘treat with gross insensitivity, insolence, or contemptuous rudeness’ – if the Shia criticize Ayesha, by looking at her conduct and evaluating it against the dictates of the Quran and Sunnah and from this conclude that she committed a major transgression, does that mean we are insulting Ayesha? Insult is a very subjective concept, the Ahle Kitab would no doubt feel that our critique of the Bible, St Paul's conduct etc is an insult to their divine book, would you concur with this conclusion, or is the reality that one is merely seeking to highlighting errors / realities so that the truth can be known to all?

Reply Three – The path of the Salaf was to tolerate insults directed against Ayesha

If only Ibn al Hashimi’s exuberance at defending Ayesha was shared by the Salaf that Ibn al Hashimi worships, we have evidenced from our discussions on Ifk how they stood around whilst Ayesha was humiliated and slandered, they even ignored the Prophet’s public sermon wherein he asked that retribution be sought against the main perpetrator. We see no evidence of them raising even their voices to support Ayesha, let alone co-ordinate protests in support of her!

Reply Four – Insulting the wives of Rasulullah (s) was the Sunnah of the Sheikhain

Imam of Ahl’ul Sunnah Abdul Hamid Ghazzali records the following in his classic Ihya Ulum-id-din:

“Once there was an altercation between the Prophet and Ayesha when they found Abu Bakr as judge. Ayesha said to the Prophet: ‘You speak but don’t speak except truth’. At once Abu Bakr gave her such a slap that blood began to ooze out from her mouth. Then he said: ‘O enemy, will he speak the truth?’”.

Ihya Ulum-id-din by Imam Ghazzali, Volume 2 page 36, Chapter “The secrets of marriage” – English translation by Maulana Fazlul Karim

We read in al-Tabaqat al Kabir, Volume 2 page 305 English translation by S. Moinul Haq:

“We were with the Prophet, may Allah bless him, and there was a screen between the women and between us. The Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him, said: Wash me with seven waterskins and bring something to write upon and an inkpot, I shall write a document for you and you will never be misguided till eternity. The women said bring to the Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him what he wants. Umar said; I said to them: Keep quiet. You are like the women of Yusuf when he is ill and you shed tears, and when he is healthy you hold him by his neck. Thereupon the Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him said: They are better than you”

We would ask that our readers analyse both comments. In one Abu Bakr refers to Ayesha as an enemy and physically assaults her. In the other Umar saets his sights on all of thw wives of Rasulullah comparing them to the women of ill character from the time of Prophet Yusuf (as)

Both incidents evidence that the Sheikhain were happy to insult / disparage the wives of Rasulullah (s), so much so that they even humiliated them publicly in his (s), if those that insult the wives of Rasulullah (s) are in fact insulting Rasulullah (s), then clearly the first Takfeer Fatwa needs to be issued against the Sheikhain.

Reply Five – Salafis insult the Prophet (s) by issuing Takfeer against his blessed parents

This advocate needs to ponder over his own shameless comments,

Ibn al Hashimi wrote in one of his articles:

Historical Examples

The Prophet (s) himself was born to a family of Mushriks (polytheists) who worshipped idols. Indeed, his own parents were Kaffir (infidels). So how can we use lineage as a litmus test for piety or greatness? Our own Prophet (s) would then be in a lowly position, but we know this is not the case! There is nobody greater than Prophet Muhammad (s) because of his great deal of Taqwa .

The parents of Rasulullah (s) should be afforded greater respect than any wife of Rasulullah (s), an insult against them is an insult against Rasulullah (s). Can there exist any greater than shameless Ibn al Hashimi’s referring to them as kuffar? Should protests not be launched against Ibn al Hashimi and his shameless cult that defame the parents of the Prophet (s)?

Reply Six – Insulting Ali (as) is on par with insulting Rasulullah (s), yet Ibn al Hashimi refers to such people as ‘(ra)’

Ibn al-Hashimi has sought to suggest that any level criticism directed Ayesha as by implication an insult against the Prophet (s) that he sought to substantiate via reliance on self deduced meanings of certain verses of Holy Quran. Whilst Ibn al Hashimi has sought to create an argument without any textual backing, he holds a particularly favourable view of those individuals whose conduct constitutes abusing Rasulullah (s) for he (s) stated unequivocally:

“Whoever reviles/curses Ali, has reviled/cursed me” al-Mustadrak, by al-Hakim, Volume 3, page 121, who graded this tradition is Authentic

Whilst Ibn al Hashimi sought to ‘create’ an argument that criticising Ayesha is on par with abusing Rasulullah (s), there is no need to create or concoct an argument here, Rasulullah (s) drew a direct nexus between him and Ali (as) so much so that one that accused the 4th Sunni Khalifa abuses the Prophet (s)

If Ibn al Hashimi was true to his word then anyone that abuses Ali (as) automatically insults Rasulullah (s) and merits condemnation of the highest order. Ibn al Hashimi and his cult choose not to adhere to this approach when it comes to those that abuse Imam Ali (as). We had in our article ‘the Sunni myth of love and adherence to the Ahl’ul bayt (as)’ evidenced by the fact that abusing Ali (as) has never been a bone of contention in Sunnism, as their elders took Prophetic Hadith from Nawasib and Khawarij that cursed Ali (as). Ibn al Hashimi is no different, we have Muawiyah who personally cursed Ali (as) and implemented an order that others do the same, evident by the fact we read in we read in Sahih Muslim, Chapter of Virtues of Companions, Section of Virtues of Ali – see Chapter p1284, Tradition #5916:

Muawiyah, the son of Abu Sufyan, gave order to Sa’d, and told him: “What prevents you that you are refraining from cursing Abu Turab (nickname of Ali)?” Sa’d replied: “Don’t you remember that the Prophet said three things about (the virtue of) Ali? So I will never curse Ali.”

In Sunan Ibn Majah, Volume 1 page 45 we read the following tradition:

“On his way to Hajj, Sa’d met Mu’awiya and his companions mentioned ‘Ali upon which Mu’awiya showed disrespect towards Ali, Sa’d got angry and asked ‘why do you say such things?’

Despite this reality Ibn al Hashimi has undying love and affection for Muawiya, defending him passionately

Ibn al Hashmi states:

Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) demanded that Ali (رضّى الله عنه) find and prosecute Uthman’s killers, because it was well known that the killers were from amongst the Shia’t Ali. Muawiyyah (رضّى الله عنه) was a blood-relative of Uthman (رضّى الله عنه) and he was very upset that the murderers were not apprehended.

His Governor Marwan, did the same so much so that even Ibn al Hashimi’s fellow polemicists

Ansar.org admit:

However, the Umayyad caliph that slandered and libeled Ali from the pulpits was Al-Marwan bin Al-Hakam. He had also many sins. May Allah keep us away from sin.

And yet he also commands respect for

Ibn al Hashimi states:

The Shia curse Uthman (رضّى الله عنه) for taking Fadak away from Ali (رضّى الله عنه) and giving it to Marwan (رضّى الله عنه).

We would urge Ibn al Hashimi to stop using a line of argument, that he himself adheres to.