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Introduction

Muslim apologists dispute the rape charge against Muhammad when it comes to his sex act with Safiyya bint Huyay. In this article, I quote from a Muslim apologist site and show that even quoting certain selected hadiths to defend Muhammad from the charge of rape of Safiyya does not work.

Background

When Muhammad attacked Khayber, he took Safiyya bint Huyay from among the captured women. Months earlier, he had killed Safiyya’s father Huyay Ibn Al Akhtab on the bloody day of his Qurayza genocide. When Muhammad attacked Khayber, Safiyyah was a 17-year-old girl, and had been married twice. First she married Sallam Ibn Mishkam Al Qurazi. After her divorce from him, she remarried Kinana Ibn Al Rabi’, a young leader of the bani al-Nadir Jewish community, who had resettled in Khayber after their expulsion from Medina by Muhammad 2 years earlier. Muhammad killed Kinana in a very barbaric and painful manner as the following passage from the “Sirat” illustrates:

Kinana b. al-Rabi’, who had custody of the treasure of B. al-Nadir, was brought to the apostle who asked him about it. He denied that he knew where it was. A Jew came (T. was brought) to the apostle and said that he has seen Kinana going round a certain ruin every morning early. When the apostle said to Kinana, ‘Do you know that if we find you have it I shall kill you?’ he said Yes. The apostle gave orders that the ruin was to be excavated and some of the treasure was found. When he asked him about the rest he refused to produce it, so the apostle gave orders to al-Zubayr b. al-Awwam, ‘Torture him until you extract what he has,’ so he kindled a fire with flint and steel on his chest until he was nearly dead. Then the apostle delivered him to Muhammad b. Maslama and he struck off his head, in revenge to his brother Mahmud. [The Life of Muhammad, Translated by A. Guillaume, Oxford, p. 515]

Muhammad killed Safiyya’s husband in the most brutal and painful manner. Then, Muslims claim, he “married” his widow within three days. Muhammad had no empathy toward others. He had no capacity to feel the pains of others, or comprehend the pains he put others through.

An apologist’s Defense

In any case, Muslims claim that he “married” Safiyyah. I have shown in a previous posting that he raped Safiyyah. This was no marriage. But Muslims amazingly beg to differ. The following article from an Islamic site quotes hadiths to show that Muhammad did indeed Marry, Not Rape, Safiyyah:

http://www.letmeturnthetables.com/2009/11/slanders-regarding-holy-prophets-pbuh.html

According to this site, Muhammad “Istafa” this poor woman for himself:


عَنْ أَنَسِ ...فَاصْطَفَاهَا النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لِنَفْسِهِ فَخَرَجَ بِهَا حَتَّى بَلَغْنَا سَدَّ الصَّهْبَاءِ حَلَّتْ فَبَنَى بِهَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ

Narrated Anas bin Malik: …The Prophet (pbuh) selected her for himself, and set out with her, and when we reached a place called Sadd-as-Sahba’, Safiya became clean from her menses then Allah's Messenger married her. (Bukhari, Hadith 3889)

Muslims try to give a positive spin on this situation. The word “Istafa” in Arabic is used to denote a privileged/positive status. It is an attempt to show that Safiyya was “very special” and one “lucky” woman, because Muhammad selected her for himself. They forget that she was a newlywed bride to Kinana, and Muhammad and his bandits attacked Khayber and killed her husband amongst others, and then, as Muslims say, “Istafaha” for himself.

Let me continue quoting from this Muslim site, followed by my analysis:

Was Sayyidah Safiya willing for the marriage?

As to the question whether Sayyidah Safiya (RA) was willing for the marriage or not, no body’s conjecture but her own words can make things clear. The following narration explains in detail:

لما دخلت صفية على النبي، صلى الله عليه وسلم، وسلم قال لها: لم يزل أبوك من أشد يهود لي عداوة حتى قتله الله. فقالت: يا رسول الله إن الله يقول في كتابه ولا تزر وازرة وزر أخرى. فقال: لها رسول الله: اختاري، فإن اخترت الإسلام أمسكتك لنفسي وإن اخترت اليهودية فعسى أن أعتقك فتلحقي بقومك. فقالت: يا رسول الله لقد هويت الإسلام وصدقت بك قبل أن تدعوني حيث صرت إلى رحلك وما لي في اليهودية أرب وما لي فيها والد ولا أخ، وخيرتني الكفر والإسلام فالله ورسوله أحب إلي من العتق وأن أرجع إلى قومي

When Safiya came to the Holy Prophet (pbuh), he said to her; ‘Among the Jews your father did not stop in his enmity towards me until Allah destroyed him.’ She said: ‘O Allah’s Messenger! Indeed Allah says in His book, ‘No one will take anyone else’s burden’. So the Holy Prophet (PBUH) said to her: ‘Make your choice, if you will chose Islam I’ll select you for myself and if you chose Judaism, I’ll set you free and send you to your people.’ She said; ‘O Allah’s Messenger indeed I longed for Islam and testified for you even before you gave me this invitation when I came to you. I have no guardian among the Jews, neither father nor brother and I prefer Islam over disbelief. Allah and His Messenger are dear to me than freedom and to return to my people.” (Ibn Saad 8/123)

It is to see that this Hadith is a forgery as we see that immediately after being captured by Muhammad Safiyyah quote verbatim what Allah says. Is this something expected from the mouth of a non-Muslim woman? The hadith also claim that Saffiyah had longed for Islam when in fact the Jews of Medina and Khayber rejected his claims, and knew he was no prophet. Safiyyah also knew that he was the one who massacred her father and all adult males of her family on the day of Qurayza massacre. She also claims that the man who murdered her husband and her father is dear to her. Does that make any sense to anyone, who has an iota of reasonable thinking?  The above hadith is loaded with indicators testifying to it being a forgery.

The Muslim apologist in the aforementioned site wonders if Safiyyah was willing to marry Muhammad. Well, what choices did she have? Muhammad had just destroyed her world. Father and husband and many other relatives killed and enslaved. She had no other people to go to as the above hadith claims. Already a slave of Muhammad, she had to serve him sex anyway for the rest of her life. So being Muhammad’s wife than sex-slave was just the better choice available to her.

What is most crucial to ponder here is that would Safiyya willingly have sex with the monster who killed her husband, father and all adult male family members and relatives? The simple answer is "No", no sane person would.

Conclusion

Instead of trying to defend Muhammad by quoting unreliable Hadiths, Muslims need to come to the fact that Muhammad was a beast of a human entity. He was a bad omen wherever he went. He committed genocide, enslaved others, assassinated critics, raped and looted, and made his divine entity, called Allah, a leading participant of the charade of trickery and lies he sang to his followers.

I invite every Muslim of our age to read the Qur’an, Hadith and Sirat with an objective mind. Once this happens, a Muslim will see how evil a monster lied in the person of Muhammad.