These bizarre stories and some background

Submitted by P C Mani (United States), Oct 4, 2009 at 23:58

Dear Dr. Pipes: The stories mentioned in this article seem bizarre to most non-muslim readers. From the comments of many of your muslim readers on this article, it seems that many muslim readers have also found these stories strange. Coincidentally, around the same time I read thsi article I also found this article (http://www.rcrc.org/perspectives/muslim.cfm) on the Internet. I cannot vouch for the veracity of of the said article but apparently this article is written by a Muslim. The article is about Islam's opinion on reproductive issues. If what the author has written is indeed true, it does not surprise me if in certain Islamic societies the bizarre stories cited by you indeed do happen. I will quote from the article which in turn quotes Islamic scriptures (recall that the article is supposedly written by a muslim):

1) The article says: "...Your wives are as a field unto you; so approach your field however and whenever you wish. But do some good act for yourselves beforehand; and be mindful of God and know that you will meet Him (in the Hereafter) and give (these) good tidings to those who believe."

So if a man does good acts to his satisfaction, he can treat his wives as "fields".

2) The quotes from Quoran: "The Qur'an, on several occasions, also implies that sex for pure pleasure will be one of the benefits of those who enter Heaven. .... the focus is on happiness that will come from enjoying the beauty of the hur— beauteous virgins who will be the mates of the righteous".

So in heaven righteous men will enjoy virgins and hurs and sex will be available for pure pleasure. I wonder if any such pleasures are available to righteous women.

3) The article goes on to quote from Hadits: "Many hadiths did portray sex as something to be enjoyed between spouses, but the main thrust of these narratives was that the goal of marriage was abundant procreation."

The goal of marriage was abundant procreation. Need I say anything. The author of this article goes on to say the Islamic prophet explicitly forbade a man from marrying a woman who could produce no child.

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