You know nothing about Islamic law

Submitted by Margaret Hopewell. (United States), Jan 27, 2008 at 12:56

Muslim men may marry Jewish and Christian women because they are believers in the one God of Abraham like the Muslims. Their wives can remain practicing Jews or Christians all their lives. Muhammad had at least one Jewish and one Chrstian mate; Maria, the Coptic Christian, bore him the only son he had who survived beyond infancy (his name was Abraham). Non-Muslim wives are not "impure" in any sense of the word.

Further, there is serious discussion in both the classical and modern writings by Muslim legal scholars as to whether the word murtadd (so beloved by the fear-mongers and Islamophobes, who always translate it as "apostate") applies to someone who changes his/her religion or if, as seems more likely, applied strictly to the historical context of early Islam. There were tribes and individuals who made a pact with Muhammad but who, on his death, refused to follow his political successors and pulled away from the Muslims.

They "turned back" = were murtadd and were at war with the Muslims. If one wants to find the worst aspects of any religion, it is possible to come up distasteful rulings everywhere. See, for instance, commands for capital punishment for minor matters in the Bible and the Talmud for its scathingly anti-Gentile material. Christianity has a rich record of prejudice and punishment for "heresy" and apostasy.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".