Excuses, Excuses and more Excuses

The case of Asma bint Marwan

Quick jump index: Basic Info on Asma Marwan List of reasons for her death Best Muslim explanation (17) Analysis and conclusion The problem with criticism More resources on this topic The offending Poetry Nothing ever changes

When the apostle heard what she had said he said, "Who will rid me of Marwan's daughter?" Umayr b. Adiy al-Khatmi who was with him heard him, and that very night he went to her house and killed her. In the morning he came to the apostle and told him what he had done and he [Muhammad] said, "You have helped God and His apostle, O Umayr!" When he asked if he would have to bear any evil consequences the apostle said, "Two goats won't butt their heads about her", so Umayr went back to his people.
Now there was a great commotion among B. Khatma that day about the affair of bint [girl] Marwan. She had five sons, and when Umayr went to them from the apostle he said, "I have killed bint Marwan, O sons of Khatma. Withstand me if you can; don't keep me waiting." That was the first day Islam became powerful among B. Khatma; before that those who were Muslims concealed the fact. The first of them to accept Islam was Umayr b. Adiy who was called the "Reader", and Abdullah b. Aus and Khuzayma b. Thabit. The day after Bint Marwan was killed the men of B. Khatma became Muslims because they feared for their lives." (From Ibn Ishaq's "Sirat Rasul Allah" - Biography of the Prophet of Allah - the oldest and primary biography of Muhammad).

Then (occurred) the sariyyah of Umayr ibn adi Ibn Kharashah al-Khatmi against Asma Bint Marwan, of Banu Umayyah Ibn Zayd, when five nights had remained from the month of Ramadan, in the beginning of the nineteenth month from the hijrah of the apostle of Allah. Asma was the wife of Yazid Ibn Zayd Ibn Hisn al-Khatmi. She used to revile Islam, offend the prophet and instigate the (people) against him. She composed verses. Umayr Ibn Adi came to her in the night and entered her house. Her children were sleeping around her. There was one whom she was suckling. He searched her with his hand because he was blind, and separated the child from her. He thrust his sword in her chest till it pierced up to her back. Then he offered the morning prayers with the prophet at al-Medina. The apostle of Allah said to him: "Have you slain the daughter of Marwan?" He said: "Yes. Is there something more for me to do?" He [Muhammad] said: "No. Two goats will butt together about her. This was the word that was first heard from the apostle of Allah. The apostle of Allah called him Umayr, "basir" (the seeing). (From Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, translated by S. Moinul Haq, volume 2, page 31).

"Abu Afak, a man of great age (reputedly 120 years) was killed because he had lampooned Mohammad. The deed was done by Salem b. Omayr at the behest of the Prophet, who had asked, "Who will deal with this rascal for me?" The killing of such an old man moved a poetess, Asma b. Marwan, to compose disrespectful verses about the Prophet, and she too was assassinated." (From Ali Dashti's 23 Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad (3) page 100).

1. Don't know, don't care

2. Its a miracle!

3. The biographer is a Christian, or Jew!

4. Asma was an Imperialist pig!

5. Asma was a war criminal!

6. It was treason - and a conspiracy!

7. Killing Asma made Mohammad respected

8. Its a forgery because Allah says not to kill women.

9. Poetry is Pus!

10. Bad roads!

11. Allah was weak

12. Excuses - we don't need no excuses

13. The Christians made these stories up!

14. It was a copyright dispute!

15. Asma was a Combatant and Dangerous Revolutionary

Before the victory of Badr the Muslims used to fear the Madinese non-Muslims, for they were still too weak to return any aggression inflicted upon them. But when they returned victorious from Badr, Salim ibn Umayr took upon himself the job of getting rid of Abu Afk, a tribesman of Banu Amr ibn Awf. The latter was a poet who composed verses disparaging Muhammad and the Muslims and inciting his own tribe to rise against them. Even after Badr, Abu Afk still composed and disseminated abusive verse. Salim attacked Abu Afk in his sleep in his own yard and killed him. Likewise, Asma, daughter of Marwan, of the tribe of Banu Umayyah ibn Zayd, used to insult Islam and the Prophet by encouraging bad feeling against the Muslims. The Battle of Badr did not make her reconsider. One day, ?Umayr ibn ?Awf attacked her during the night while she was surrounded by her children, one of whom she was nursing. ?Umayr was weak of sight and had to grope for her. After removing the child from his victim, he killed her; he then proceeded to the Prophet and informed him of what he had done. When her relatives returned from the funeral, they asked him whether he had killed her. "Indeed so," said ?Umayr, "You may fight me if you wish. By Him Who dominates my soul, if you should deny that she composed her abusive poetry, I would fight you until either you or I fall." It was this courage of ?Umayr that caused the Banu Khutmah, the tribe of ?Asma's husband, to turn to Islam. Having converted to Islam but fearing persecution at the hand of their fellow tribesmen, some of them had hidden their conversion. Henceforth, they no longer did so. (Muhammad Husayn Haykal, The Life of Muhammad, tran. Isma'il Raji al-Faruqi [American Trust Publications, USA 1976; Malaysian edition by Islamic Book Trust], p. 243; source)

So as you can see the sources make it very clear that these 2 not only mocked the prophet and insulted him, they also INSTGATED their people to attack and harm the Muslims! Hence these people were not mere poets writing mocking poems, they were inciting violence and hatred against the Muslims! They were inciting their people to rise up to fight and kill the Muslim population, and this made them direct enemy combatants because they were inciting violence against the Muslims. Therefore as we can see, there is nothing wrong in what was done against them, they brought it on themselves, you don't have to hold a sword to be an enemy or an enemy combatant, inciting violence and instigating violence is just as bad and is the exact same thing. Even in today's world men who preach ?hate' and incite violence will be arrested and imprisoned.

16. Asma was an intolerant bigot who supressed religious freedom

17. The chain of narration or 'Isnad' is invalid.

Conclusion...

"Both sources are indispensable; one cannot practice Islam without consulting both of them (Quran and Sunnah). Bukhari's collection is recognized by the overwhelming majority of the Muslim world to be one of the most authentic collections of the Sunnah of the Prophet..." (from http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/sbtintro.html)

"This thorough authentication process ensures that these accounts (the Hadiths) are real, validated narrations of the sayings, actions, and tacit approvals of the Prophet Muhammad. (from http://thetruereligion.org/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=106)

"These (hadiths) are the real explanation, interpretation, and the living example of the Prophet (...) for teachings of the Qur'an." (from http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/quran/)

"The Shareeah, which is embodied (in) the Quran and Sunnah, are the proclamations of Allah and His Messenger (...) ...it is obligatory for every Muslim to obey any command that he hears from Allah or His Messenger (...), even if the command should go against his own desires, opinion or against popular opinion." (from http://www.iisca.org/articles/document.jsp?id=65)

"To be a true Muslim, the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (...) must be followed. The sources of information about the Sunnah are found in Hadith..." ( from http://english.islamway.com/bindex.php?section=article&id=141)

The Problem....

"No, Muhammad (pbuh) was NOT a murderer. He was Almighty Allah's Messenger who Spread Islam to Mankind by peace, except when wars were imposed upon him and his followers. Allah, in the Qur'an, calls Muhammad, a Mercy for mankind!"

It goes on and on and on...

The scholars are unanimously agreed that a Muslim who insults the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) becomes a Kaafir and an apostate who is to be executed. This consensus was narrated by more than one of the scholars, such as Imaam Ishaaq ibn Raahawayh, Ibn al-Mundhir, al-Qaadi 'Iyaad, al-Khattaabi and others. (Al-Saarim al-Maslool, 2/13-16)

Asma bint Marwan wrote a poem against Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasalam) insulting him, Upon hearing the poem, Muhammad (Sallallahu alihi wa sallam) decided to have her executed.

Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir describes the death of Asma bint Marwan: "Then (occurred) the Sariyyah of Umayr ibn adi Ibn Kharashah al-Khatmi against Asma Bint Marwan, of Banu Umayyah Ibn Zayd, when five nights had remained from the month of Ramadan, in the beginning of the nineteenth month from the Hijrah of the apostle of Allah. Asma was the wife of Yazid Ibn Zayd Ibn Hisn al-Khatmi. She used to revile Islam, offend the Prophet and instigate the (people) against him. She composed verses. Umayr Ibn Adi came to her in the night and entered her house. Her children were sleeping around her. There was one whom she was suckling. He searched her with his hand because he was blind, and separated the child from her. He thrust his sword in her chest till it pierced up to her back. Then he offered the morning prayers with the Prophet at al-Medina. The apostle of Allah said to him: "Have you slain the daughter of Marwan?" He said: "Yes. Is there something more for me to do?" He [Muhammad] said: "No. Two goats will butt together about her. This was the word that was first heard from the apostle of Allah. The apostle of Allah called him Umayr, "Basir" (the seeing). (Ibn Sa'd' Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, translated by S. Moinul Haq, volume 2, page 31)

Ibn 'Adiyy mentions this incident in his book "Al-Kamal" on the authority of Ja'far Ibn Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn As-Sabah on authority of Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Ash-Shami on authority of Muhammad Ibn Al-Hajjaj Al-Lakhmi on authority of Mujalid on authority of Ash-Shu'abi on authority of Ibn 'Abbas...

According to Ibn Humayd - Salamah - Ibn Ishaq - 'Abdallah b. Abi Bakr, who said: The Messenger of God sent Zayd b. Harithah to Wadi al-Qura, where he encountered the Banu Fazarah. Some of his companions were killed there, and Zayd was carried away wounded from among the slain. One of those killed was Ward b. 'Amr, one of the Banu Sa'd b. Hudhaym: he was killed by one of the Banu Badr [b. Fazarah]. When Zayd returned, he vowed that no washing [to cleanse him] from impurity should touch his head until he had raided the Fazarah. After he recovered from his wounds, the Messenger of God sent him with an army against the Banu Fazarah. He met them in Wadi al-Qura and inflicted causalities on them. Qays b. al-Musahhar al-Ya'muri killed Mas'adah b. Hakamah b. Malik b. Badr and took Umm Qirfah prisoner. (Her name was Fatimah bt. Rabi'ah b. Badr. She was married to Malik b. Hudhayfah b. Badr. She was a very old woman.) He also took one of Umm Qirfah' daughters and 'Abdallah b. Mas'adah prisoner. Zayd b. Harithah ordered Qays to kill Umm Qirfah, and he killed her cruelly. He tied each of her legs with a rope and tied the ropes to two camels, and they split her in two. Then they brought Umm Qirfah's daughter and 'Abdallah b. Mas'adah to the Messenger of God. Umm Qirfah's daughter belonged to Salamah b. 'Amr b. al-Akwa', who had taken her - she was a member of a distinguished family among her people: the Arabs used to say, "Had you been more powerful than Umm Qirfah, you could have done no more." The Messenger of God asked Salamah for her, and Salamah gave her to him. He then gave her to his maternal uncle, Hazn b. Abi Wahb and she bore him 'Abd al-Rahman b. Hazn. (The History of Al-Tabari: The Victory of Islam, translated by Michael Fishbein [State University of New York Press (SUNY), Albany 1997], Volume VIII, pp. 95-97)

Also among them was 'Abdallah b. Khatal, a member of the Banu Taym b. Ghalib. The Messenger of God ordered that he should be killed only for the following reason: He was a Muslim, and the Messenger of God sent him to collect alms, sending with him one of the Ansar. With him went a mawla of his, also a Muslim, to serve him. He halted at a resting place and commanded the mawla to slaughter him a goat and make him a meal; then he went to sleep. When he woke up, the mawla had done nothing for him; so he attacked him and killed him. He had two singing girls, Fartana and another with her. The two used to sing satire about the Messenger of God; so the latter commanded that the two of them should be killed along with him…

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Postscript: Nothing has changed

And what did you expect? Egypt is, after all, an Islamic country and Islam is not known for respecting human rights or basic liberties. Muslims blame all their problems on others (The West, Israel, the US, Hollywood, colonialism, the crusades, and so on) but never take a hard cold look at the hate, violence and discrimination that is in the heart of their religion. Nor do Muslims dare examine the acts of their prophet, a man who did so many evil things - according to their own writings (hadiths). Perhaps, just maybe, the Quran and hadiths explain why this younbg man must suffer. Poor Kareem, he is in for trouble. Even so I bless him and admire his moral stature and courage. All he did was tell the truth, but Islam cannot co-exist with truth and freedom. John Kactuz

Thank you Mr Kactuz for your comments, which show a grave misunderstanding of a great religion which should not be blamed for the vices of those who claim they are Muslim. For someone who seems to desperately want us to assume that he is an authority in what he is talking about by mentioning the Hadith and Quran, I too would like to invite you to take a ‘hard cold look’ at the hate filling your heart when it comes to Islam, Muslims and Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him). I don’t know which Islam calls for hate, violence and discrimination but you drive home the saying a little learning is a dangerous thing indeed! Regardless of my personal beliefs and learnings, such hate rhetoric being spewed by anyone against any religion or belief, saddens me. From my shallow understanding, Mr Kactuz’ missive was obviously targeted at venting out his blind hatred of Islam and Muslims and in no way was in defence of a blogger - whom he didn’t even have the courtesy of spelling out his name correctly. By the way, the blogger’s name is Kareem, with a K, and not Bareem. To be more accurate, it is Abdulkareem or Kareem, for short.

Please do not use the word “success” as long as this young man is in prison.
And yes, this campaign is about the freedom to criticize Islam, because that it was criticizing Islam that put Kareen in jail (the remarks about Moubarek were secondary).
Kareem’s only ‘crime’ was to tell the truth as he witnessed it with his own eyes, and as is recordered in Islam’s own traditions. He saw Muslims attacking Christian Copts and he wrote about it. He said that the Quran is full of hate and violence against non-Muslims. He said that Islam’s own hadiths tell of many vile things done by Islam’s prophet (murder, plunder, raids, enslavement, oppressions, etc..). Kareem said that there was, in his opinion, a link between the two things. The facts are that these things are exactly what are written in Islam’s own writings. Kareem was just being honest, much more honest than his critics and even his supporters - who felt the necessity of putting a big disclaimer on their blogs and the Global Voices entry concerning the content of this young man’s writings (Ie, We do no agree…). They were, in fact, undoing their own support by taking a position that said Kareem was wrong but even so they support this fool. They, the so-called supporters, didn’t even have the courage to say where or why he was wrong. It was, at best, a timid, half-hearted support without any moral basis or intellectual reasoning.
Kareem stands alone. No Muslim has the courage to look at Islam and tell the truth - or more likely, it is a matter of fear. This is why the problem is Islam. The lack of freedoms and rights in Muslim societies is a consequence of Islamic ideology that not only imposes abhorrent and inequitable moral values on society, but seeks to silence any voices that question those values. If people cannot be honest about basic concepts of right and wrong, or be able to analyze so-called sacred texts without fear, then there is no hope for Muslim societies. Worse yet, Muslims in the West are demanding that we, too, give up our right to criticize Islam and its prophet.
Kiss your freedoms goodbye.
John, Old Man kactuz

Kareen must suffer because he attacked the regime and because the regime feels the anti-islam charge will make the Islamist’s happy. How stupid. The only interest the MB has is to use it against the pathetic government in power. If and when the Islamists come to power, it will only get worse. Christian blood will flow red in the streets of Egypt. As an Islamist, you are against free speech, not hate speech. If you were against hate speech, you would reject the the Quran, which in case you haven’t noticed is full of hate speech against non-Muslims. If Islamists were in power, this young man would already be dead. You are just using this case to advance your agenda, just like the government. One group is as evil and pathetic as the other. Poor Egypt. Yes, Kareens writing was anti-Islam. However, he only wrote the truth as he saw it and as it is. He witnessed mobs of Muslims attacking Copts. Is it wrong to talk about that? Is that hate speech? He said that Islam’s great prophet attacked, plundered, murdered and enslaved. That is exactly what is found in the hadiths, Islam’s own traditions, in case you care to read them. He said there was a link between the two events. Could be. Makes sense to me. Is it wrong to have an opinion? Is it hate speech? Is it wrong to tell the truth?
Things are going to get worse because Muslims cannot be honest and will not respect other people.
John Kactuz
PS: Tell me, don’t Muslims have any faith in Allah? Don’t they think he (their god) can punish apostates and infidels? It appears that they don’t trust him to punish people like Kareen and others who leave Islam, so they have to do it themselves. That tells one a lot about this religion, and its followers. Think about this, why don’t you…

A page about the Copts.

What Kareem said

Notes:
• The article below is an English translation of an article Kareem Amer published on his blog on October 22, 2005, the day following the Alexandria riots that occurred in Moharram Bek (Maharram Beh).
• Kareem was arrested for this article in the same month. He was held for 18 days, then released on November 13 with the help of human rights groups.
• The original Arabic text can be found below, or at his blog.
• This translation was produced by J. Ahmed Salib.

DISCLAIMER: The creators of the Free Kareem campaign would like to stress the fact that they do not agree with the contents of this article.

The Naked Truth about Islam As I Saw It In Maharram Beh

By Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman (Kareem Amer)
Saturday, October 22, 2005

The Muslims have taken the mask off to show their true hateful face, and they have shown the world that they are at the top of their brutality, inhumanity, and thievery. They have clearly shown their worst features and have shown that in dealing with others they are not governed by any moral codes.

From what I have seen yesterday of the events at Maharram Beh, which were quite shameful, and have shown me more facts that they have tried to cover over the centuries.

They have indicated that Islam is a religion of peace and forgiveness, but their true face has been uncovered to show barbarism and thievery and fanaticism and not acknowledging others, and attempting to remove them from existence.

Some may think that the actions of the Moslems does not represent Islam and has no relationship with the teachings of Islam that was brought by Mohamed 14 centuries ago, but the truth is that their actions is not different from the Islamic teachings in its original form when it has urged people to deny others and hate them and kill them and take their property, things that they know well but they try to deceive people by falsely defending the teachings of Islam by extremists and they are hiding from the truth and they prefer living a lie.

I have seen with my own eyes the thugs as they break into our Christian brothers’ stores after the whole area of Maharram Beh was completely out of control of the government authorities, and I saw them as they ransack the contents of the store right and left, amidst cheering and shouting extremist Islamic slogans, and I saw them stealing the money from inside the drawers of the cash registers and splitting it among themselves as if it is justified by being owned by what they call the infidels and the worshippers of the cross.

I saw them break into a liquor store owned by a Coptic merchant Labib Lotfy and I saw them smash everything they can get their dirty hands on, including the refrigerator and the scale and the boxes and liquor bottles. I saw some of them stealing liquor bottles so they can get drunk after a hard day’s work against the Coptic infidels.

It is worth mentioning that although some people may think that this Christian-owned liquor store was particularly targeted because the owner is selling the forbidden alcoholic beverages that is forbidden in Islam, but another liquor store in front of the Christian-owned store happens to be owned by a Moslem merchant, and none of the thugs dared to attack, as they did with the Christian-owned store. Now you can see the hateful sectarian actions.

What the Moslems did yesterday in a very vulgar and criminal and horrible way proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that they don’t acknowledge others or their rights of existence or their rights to live with the freedom of expression and also consider them less than them, and these actions should be fought and exterminated for is it right to leave these horrible human beings to do what they want and kill, destroy, steal, and burn??!!

The Islamic teachings that was brought by Mohammed 14 centuries ago should be faced with courage and boldness, we should expose and show its faults and warn humanity of its dangers. We should, even though we are different –look with reason to these teachings that urges people, human beings, to become monsters that don’t know anything in life except killing and looting and plundering and raping and pillaging.

We should stand courageously and boldly against these teachings that became a plague on humanity and is not supported except by extremists like bin Laden and al Zarqawi and al Zawaheeri and the thugs that assaulted our Coptic brothers and burned their homes and stole their properties, and tried to assault their religious men and destroy their churches.

We should take off the religious and sectarian gown and look at matters in a more humane way. We should hold trials to all the acts of terrorism and extremism, that our Islamic history have kept their names and their criminal actions starting with Mohamed ibn Abdullah and his company of murderers like Khalid ibn el Waled and Omar ibn el Khattab and Saad ibn Abbi Waqqas and Moiizah Bin Shaabah and Samra bin Gandab and the kings of Beni Ummaya and Beni al Abbass and al Osman, and ending with the Moslem criminals of the modern day that became more famous than movie stars and singers.

We should show the world the truth of these criminals that unfortunately have become role models for our youth and our children and our women. We should expose their false teachings and show the world that they are a big danger that should be exterminated and removed from its roots.

Before you put on trial the people that are responsible for the crimes that occurred on Black Friday in Maharram Beh, you should first put on trial the dirty teachings that caused them to go on a rampage of stealing and plundering and looting.. put Islam on trial and sentence it and its symbols with a figurative execution so that you can be sure that what happened yesterday will never be repeated again.

For as long as Islam exists on this planet all your efforts to end wars and disputes and upheavals will fail because Islam’s dirty finger will be found behind every catastrophic event to humanity.

Original (Arabic) text:

More translations available here: What Kareem Said.