The very worrying account of the Prophet's Marriages

[khamosh21]

8 minutes ago, Eddie Mecca said:

You're lazy...you're like a baby pelican that wants its food regurgitated and spoon-fed to it by mama...doesn't work like that homie.

it's interesting that purpose of these forums is to ask questions and hope someone with more knowledge can reply. just don't engage in the convo if your only resort is to personally insult the person asking the questions.

let's say i am lazy... i'll admit, i am lazy. but so is everyone else who comes and asks questions hoping for answers from someone who isn't as lazy ;).

Edited April 1, 2021 by khamosh21

[khamosh21]

it seems as if good akhlaq is reserved only for people that you guys agree with.

[khamosh21]

3 hours ago, SoRoUsH said:

There is an easy solution here: 

Don't believe everything you read. 

Our books are riddled with unreliable information, stories and narrations. They are riddled with personal opinions and conjectures. Friends and foes, according to hearsay and incomplete knowledge, passed on and wrote down information that were collected in our books. 

The solution is to carefully sift through the narrations of Ahlul Bayt (عليه السلام), check their isnad, and separate them accordingly to their degree of acceptability.

As you do so, coherent pictures of different topics begin to appear. 

 

 

[Eddie Mecca]

1 hour ago, khamosh21 said:

i'll admit, i am lazy

Imagine if the scientific community behaved this way...these guys strive, struggle, investigate and work and work and work in order to uncover findings...imagine if they blamed Newton or Einstein for not placing everything on a silver platter and into bitesize pieces for them...science would have never progressed.

[khamosh21]

8 minutes ago, Eddie Mecca said:

Imagine if the scientific community behaved this way...these guys strive, struggle, investigate and work and work and work in order to uncover findings...imagine if they blamed Newton or Einstein for not placing everything on a silver platter and into bitesize pieces for them...science would have never progressed.

my research has led me to agnosticism, it's the outcome not liked by believers, which naturally makes them hostile.  If God exists, and if He is Just, then He knows what I have been and going through, and what my intentions are.

[Guest Well-Wisher]

6 hours ago, khamosh21 said:

Recently in a thread I was discussing the Prophet's marriage to Aisha... I couldn't find the historical account of why this marriage took place. So I decided to do a search on al-islam.org, I still wasn't able to find out why the marriage took place, but I did come across something even more worrisome. Here I copy paste excerpts from the shocking and unbelievable account of the Prophet's marriages found in Hayatul Qulub by Allameh Majlisi. I will not do a commentary or ask questions (for now), other than how can anyone trust our historical accounts? I have also bolded parts I found just really strange.

One thing to keep in mind, we are told these marriages took place for socio-policital purposes, let's see how well that is reflected in this account:

Source: https://www.al-islam.org/hayat-al-qulub-vol-2-allamah-muhammad-baqir-al-majlisi/wives-prophet-their-number-and-brief

 

Wives of the Prophet – their number and a brief account of them

Ibn Babawayh has narrated through authentic chains of narrators from Imam Muhammad Baqir ((عليه السلام).) that the Holy Prophet (S) married fifteen women and established relations with thirteen of them. He left nine widows and two ladies with whom the Holy Prophet (S) had not established relations. One was Umrah and another was Shanawa.

The remaining thirteen are as follows: Khadija binte Khuwailad, Sauda binte Zamaa, Umm Salma, who was named Hind, she was the daughter of Abi Umayyah, Ayesha binte Abu Bakr, whose agnomen was Umm Abdullah, Hafasa binte Umar bin Khattab, Zainab binte Khuzaimah al-Harith, who was referred to as Ummul Masakeen, Zainab binte Jahash, Ramla binte Abu Sufyan, whose agnomen was Umm Habib, Maimoona binte Harith, Zainab binte Umais, Juwairiya binte Harith, Safiya binte Huyy bin Akhtab, Salma binte Hakim who gifted her self to the Prophet; and there were two special slave girls who also had their turns as the wives had.
...
The third wife was Ayesha binte Abu Bakr. His Eminence had married her in Mecca when she was seven years old. Except for Ayesha the Prophet did not marry any virgin lady. Seven months after migration to Medina, the Prophet consummated his marriage to Ayesha, when she was nine years old.
...
The eleventh wife of the Prophet is Juwairiya binte Harith from Bani Mustaliq tribe; she had come to the Prophet as a captive in that battle. The Holy Prophet (S) emancipated her and then took her as his wife. She died in 56 A.H. The twelfth wife was Safiya binte Huyy bin Akhtab, who was chosen by the Prophet for himself from the booty of Khyber and he fixed her emancipation as her dower. She passed away in 36 A.H. The Holy Prophet (S) had consummated his marriage to all of them. He had performed Nikah with eleven of them and one wife had gifted herself to the Prophet.
...
This section talks about the multiple women that got divorced by the Prophet.
...
The seventh was Umra binte Yazid. When she was brought to the Holy Prophet (S) he noticed white patches on her and did not consummate the marriage, and divorced her.
...
... ninth was a woman of Bani Hamza tribe, who proposed to give herself to the Prophet but her father didn’t like the match and made an excuse that she had white spots.
...
The tenth report is that there was a woman named Umra and her father used to describe her good qualities and one of them was that she had never fallen sick. When the Holy Prophet (S) heard this, he said: “Such a woman has no merit in the sight of Allah.”

And he did not take her in marriage. Some have said that the Holy Prophet (S) had married her, but he divorced her when he came to know this fact. Thus on the basis of this report, the Messenger of Allah (S) had twenty wives. Shaykh Tusi says that the Holy Prophet (S) married eighteen women, and some have mentioned fifteen as mentioned previously.
...
Shaykh Tusi has narrated that the Holy Prophet (S) had two slave girls, with whom he had established relations and as he had fixed nights for his other wives, he had fixed nights for them also. One of them was Mariya binte Shamoon the Copt and the other was Raihana binte Zaid Qardiya.
...
Imam Muhammad Baqir ((عليه السلام).) has said that the Almighty Allah has made lawful for women to gift themselves to the Prophet and not for anyone else. Ali bin Ibrahim has also narrated this report but he has mentioned Ayesha instead of Hafasa.

Kulaini etc. have narrated through authentic chains of narrators that the Almighty Allah has only allowed women to gift themselves to the Holy Prophet (S) and it is not allowed to marry women without paying the dower. There is consensus of Shia and Sunni scholars that marriage with the word of Hiba (gift) is among the specialties of the Holy Prophet (S).
...
After that the Holy Prophet (S) married a woman of Kinda, binte Abil June when his son, Ibrahim died, that woman said that if he had been a Prophet, his son would not have died.
So the Prophet divorced her before consummating the marriage and sent her home. 
...
When the Holy Prophet (S) passed away from the world, both ladies of Bani Aamir and Bani Kinda came to Abu Bakr and asked him that people wanted to marry them, so what was his advice. Abu Bakr and Umar discussed among themselves and said: “You have the choice of remaining unmarried or to marry.” The unfortunate women got married.

At last by the miracle of the Prophet one of their husbands contracted leprosy and the other suffered from insanity.
...
Kulaini has narrated through reliable chains of narrators that when the Holy Prophet (S) used to propose to any woman, he used to send a lady to see her telling her to smell her neck, if it is fragrant, her whole body will be fragrant; and to pay attention to her shank, if it is meaty, her whole body will be meaty.

...
The narrator asked Imam Ja’far Sadiq ((عليه السلام).): “How many women were lawful for the Holy Prophet (S).” Imam Ja’far Sadiq ((عليه السلام).) replied: “As many as he liked.” The narrators asked him what is the meaning of the following statement of Allah:

لَا يَحِلُّ لَكَ النِّسَاءُ مِنْ بَعْدُ وَلَا أَنْ تَبَدَّلَ بِهِنَّ مِنْ أَزْوَاجٍ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ حُسْنُهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينُكَ

“It is not allowed to you to take women afterwards, nor that you should change them for other wives, though their beauty be pleasing to you, except what your right hand possesses…”6

Imam Ja’far Sadiq ((عليه السلام).) replied: “It was allowed for the Messenger of Allah (S) to marry the daughters of his uncle and paternal aunts, paternal uncles and maternal aunts and marry the ladies who had migrated with him to Medina.
...
Kulaini has narrated through reliable chains of narrators from Imam Ali Reza ((عليه السلام).) that the Holy Prophet (S) had the sexual prowess of forty men. And he had nine wives and he used to meet them every day.
...
Account of the marriage of Zainab

Ibn Babawayh etc. have narrated from reliable chains of narrators from Imam Ali Reza ((عليه السلام).) that one day the Holy Prophet (S) went to the house of Zaid bin Haritha bin Sharjeel Kalbi. When he entered, he saw that the wife of Zaid was taking a bath. The Holy Prophet (S) said: “Glory be the one Who has created you.” By this statement he meant that she must consider the Almighty Allah as pure and free from the saying of infidels who say that angels are the daughters of God, as the Almighty Allah has Himself said:

أَفَأَصْفَاكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ بِالْبَنِينَ وَاتَّخَذَ مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنَاثًا ۚ إِنَّكُمْ لَتَقُولُونَ قَوْلًا عَظِيمًا

“What! has then your Lord preferred to give you sons, and (for Himself) taken daughters from among the angels? Most surely you utter a grievous saying.”13

When the Holy Prophet (S) saw her bathing, he said: “I consider pure the one who has created you from the fact that he should have a son who is needful of purification and bath.” When Zaid returned home, Zainab told him about what the Prophet had said. Zaid thought that the Prophet had stated thus because he found Zainab beautiful. Then he came to the Prophet and said: “My wife is having a bad nature, I want to divorce her.”
...
Kulaini has narrated through authentic chains of narrators from Imam Ja’far Sadiq ((عليه السلام).) that one day Abu Bakr and Umar came to Lady Umm Salma and asked her, “You were married to someone else before the Holy Prophet (S), tell us whether the Prophet was sexually stronger than him or not?” Lady Umm Salma said, “He is also like other men.”

After that the Holy Prophet (S) arrived and Umm Salma regretted what she had said. And she feared that some verse might be revealed about her, so she herself told the Prophet about what those two had said. The Messenger of Allah (S) was so infuriated that his complexion changed and there was perspiration on his brow. He came out of the house in such a way that his cloak was dragging on the ground. Then he came into the mosque ascended the pulpit and called the Ansar.

When they saw the Prophet in this condition, all armed themselves and presented themselves before the Prophet. The Messenger of Allah (S) praised and glorified the Almighty, why are some hypocrites busy to find some defects in me.

By Allah, I am greatest among you from the aspect of lineage and most pure of you from the aspect of birth and the most obedient one to the Almighty in the absence of the people. Of one of you asks me who his father is, I can tell you about it.” A person asked, “Who is my father?” The Holy Prophet (S) said, “It is so and so shepherd.”

Another man asked, “Who is my father?” The Holy Prophet (S) said, “So and so black slave.” Then a third person asked, “Who is my father?” The Holy Prophet (S) said, “Your father is same that people relate you to.”

Then Ansar arose asked, “O Prophet forgive us so that Allah may exalt your ranks, indeed the Almighty Allah has sent you as a mercy.” Since the Prophet had a habit that when people spoke to him in humility and requested him, due to shame, the forehead of the Prophet used to perspire and he used to conceal their defects.

Thus the Messenger of Allah (S) descended from the pulpit and went to his house. Next morning Jibraeel ((عليه السلام).) came down with a bowl of Paradise food and said: O Messenger of Allah (S), this is prepared for you by the Houries. You may eat it and except for you, Ali and his sons, no one may eat from it, because except for you no one is capable of it.

Thus the Holy Prophet (S), Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husain ((عليه السلام).) sat down to eat from that bowl. Due to this, the Almighty Allah gave to the Prophet, the sexual power of forty men. After that it was such that whenever the Holy Prophet (S) wanted he could have intercourse with all of his wives on a single night.
...
It is narrated from Imam Ja’far Sadiq ((عليه السلام).) through authentic chains of narrators that one day the Messenger of Allah (S) saw a woman that he liked. So he came to the house of Umm Salma, and it was her turn that day; and the Holy Prophet (S) associated with her, then he performed the ritual bath and came out of the house. The water of his bath was dripping from his head. Then he said: “O people, glancing is due to the Shaitan, therefore if on seeing a woman, one of you feel desirous of sex he must come to his wife and sleep with her so that his desires are cooled.”
...
 ...is also narrated that these verses were revealed when one day the Holy Prophet (S) was at Hafasa’s place and Mariya the Copt was in his service.

During that time Hafasa went out on some errand and the Prophet had relations with Mariya. When Hafasa came to know about this, she was very angry and she said: O Messenger of Allah (S), you had relations with a slave girl on my bed, and on the day of my turn?” The Prophet was embarrassed at this and he said, “Cool down, I will not have relations with Mariya again. I have made her unlawful for myself.” These verses were revealed at that time.
...
Shaykh Tabarsi and Sunni commentators have reported that one day the Messenger of Allah (S) was in Hafasa’s place and she asked the Prophet if she could visit her father. The Prophet allowed her and she departed. The Prophet called for Mariya and remained in privacy with her. Hafasa returned to find the door closed till the Prophet opened it. Perspiration was dripping from his face. Hafasa was extremely angry at the Prophet. the Holy Prophet (S) said: “She is my slave girl and the Almighty Allah has made her lawful for me. But I have made her unlawful to me for your sake. However you don’t mention this to anyone.”

After that the Holy Prophet (S) went away from there. Immediately she began to beat with a stone the wall separating her quarter from that of Ayesha’s and she said: “Congratulations to you O Ayesha, the Holy Prophet (S) has made his slave girl, Mariya, unlawful from himself. It is good riddance for us.” Then she narrated the whole story to Ayesha as the two of them were united in harassing the other wives of the Prophet. At that time, the following verses were revealed. So the Holy Prophet (S) divorced Hafasa and kept away from all his wives for 29 days.

He stayed in the attic of Mariya till the Almighty Allah revealed the verse of choice. Some have said that the Prophet had relations with Mariya on the day of Ayesha’s turn and Hafasa had come to know about it. The Holy Prophet (S) had told Hafasa not to mention it to Ayesha as he has made Mariya unlawful for himself. But she immediately informed Ayesha and told her not to mention it to anyone. At that juncture, the Almighty Allah revealed the following verses..
...
And Ibn Babawayh and Barqi have narrated through reliable chains of narrators from Imam Muhammad Baqir ((عليه السلام).) that when the Qaim of Aale Muhammad will reappear, he will enliven Ayesha and punish her and take the revenge for Lady Fatima Zahra (s.a.). The narrator asked, “May I be sacrificed on you, why would he punish her?”

Imam ((عليه السلام).) said, “She had made allegations against Mariya, the Copt also.” The narrator asked why the Prophet had not punished her? And why did the Almighty Allah postpone this matter till the time of the Qaim. Imam Muhammad Baqir ((عليه السلام).) replied, “Because the Almighty Allah sent the Prophet as a mercy and appointed the Qaim Aale Muhammad for taking revenge.
 

There is something strange about your research/post that compels me to start by saying this to test your research/reading skills:

1. Either you have a strong 'intentional malice' towards religions in general, and Islam in particular; OR

2. You have 'special interest' in Prophet's private life, which of course you are trying use as propaganda like the ignorant Salman Rushdie did and was disgraces forever; OR

3. You belong to a 'specialist interest' group, who's job is to pull dirt (true or false) on Islam and its honorable personalities, for those unsuspecting readers who have little understanding of religion and may want to attempt a reply but to no recourse, as it won't change your mission; OR

4. You really need help with your own private life, for which you are seeking guidance by looking into Prophetic traditions, in which case you should talk to your wife or husband first, only if you have one or many. Not having one could explain your frustration somewhat, and I can understand.

5. And FINALLY you may be looking for true guidance (which I doubt), in which case, you can continue to read further, else please keep on ranting and I am sure people with common sense will help you recover from your illness;

_____________

Dear reader, if you are stuck in your ways don't read further, because you may no longer be ignorant and that may disappoint you (by the way its a blessing, so fear not);

1. Perhaps, you are ignoring the fact that the approved heavenly union is between a man and a woman, and this is no secret then they both feel affinity towards each other. Hence there is a recommended way to form such unions, and there is also a way to terminate them amiably, for clarity 'as many times as you may want (both men and women)'. There are no special provisions for Prophets, except for what Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) has specially permitted for them over mankind. Given their sacrifices for the humanity, if the entire world is to be ransom for them, then be it. It is their right and they shall have it, in particular Prophet of Islam (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم), the most prefect in morals. I am surprised and humbled, that he only took so little from this world.

2. Unions in Islam are of three types A) Permanent marriages - which have no set-term in sight, but you can end it in less than few minutes if needed, so it is as temporary as any other; B) Temporary Marriages, these are similar to permanent, except that these have a pre-determined termination tenure and some additional conditions that have to be met to protect spousal rights; and finally C) a union with a bond women; which at that time in history existed and by the virtue of our Prophet, these were discouraged and regulated to the point they are no longer a practice in most parts of the society (He solved the problem of slavery, which would have also addressed the issue of bond marriages, so don't complain). You can now go back to your research and categorize Prophet's marriages, and perhaps things will start to make sense for you. Hopefully so.

3. In any type of marriage (except C), the proposal of marriage is to be offered by the lady or her representative 'first', the job of a man (groom) is either 'accept' or 'decline' the offer (this is also the reason why only the bride can pick her 'mahr (dowry)' conditions. In case you were privilaged to have attended a marriage ceremony, you would know that the 'seegha' from the bride side is recited 'first', because if she is unwilling, contract of 'marriage' can't take place. Unfortunately, we have several social barriers in our society that restricts women to exercise this right. So for any given reason, you should be prepared to understand that all the women that Prophet took into a marriage contract were either initiated by the ladies themselves (e.g. Hazrat Khadija (عليه السلام).) or their representatives. Answer me: which religion or culture has such a foresight to empower women with so much dignity and respect. And this was done through the Prophet of Islam, the most honorable.

4. By the way, to straighten up your record, polygamy was not something that Islam invented, if anything Islam 'regulated' it to address social malpractices and issues around heirs and legacy. While divorce is discouraged, it is sometimes necessary to terminate a contract due to a myriad of reasons; death, illness, financial hardship, immigration, compatibility, incidents to name a few. It's also a way that has to be taught by consent or practice, which Prophet demonstrated remarkably. Also, there is a lesson for all of us in his forbearance with some of the wives, who may not be so welcoming to him. A lesson for all wo/men to how to manage their household.

5. Yes, while marriages are key to building social fabric, they are also key to building political clout (feel free to deny as much as you like). Once again, people offered their ladies to Prophet e.g. Aisha, Hafsa etc. not that he was pursuing them in marriage; and as a noble Prophet he accepted the offer, knowing that it will sow discord if he didn't. There are many instances narrated regarding such matters; but your selective research points towards some unwarranted claims.

6. Now read carefully! as you may not like it; a bunch of history was written in post-Prophetic era and under significant influence of other 'people of book'; who were both more literate and had the art/skill of writing. No wonder Prophet wanted Muslims to be learned to avert this situation after him; and even Quran testifies that they were very good at forging lies and causing mischief. Alhamdulillah Quran is protected by Allah's will, but history is not (neither Sunni nor Shia). The stuff you are feeding simple unsuspecting readers is the kind of stuff that Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayza wrote; and of course they are sitting in hell longing for your companionship (of course you have the opportunity to decline their offer, and I hope you do :).

------------------------------

Now a request;

Please find time for some quality research which presents both the perspectives that can help people. It appears from your copy and paste exercise that you have been preparing for this propaganda post for quite sometime (and not just that you stumbled upon it, in which case you must be at several places simultaneously stumbling at all places at the same time, check your slippery shoes and they also smell sulphur btw).

Hope you are not outraged by this non 'Quranic' non 'Hadith' based response i.e. common sense; but if you are, then believe me it was well intended for the love of Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) and his Ahlulbayt (عليه السلام). 

Wassalam, and Allah knows the best.

Peace be on Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم), and his pure Household (عليه السلام).

Your well-wisher

[313_Waiter]

7 hours ago, khamosh21 said:

“What! has then your Lord preferred to give you sons, and (for Himself) taken daughters from among the angels? Most surely you utter a grievous saying.”13

When the Holy Prophet (S) saw her bathing, he said: “I consider pure the one who has created you from the fact that he should have a son who is needful of purification and bath.” When Zaid returned home, Zainab told him about what the Prophet had said. Zaid thought that the Prophet had stated thus because he found Zainab beautiful. Then he came to the Prophet and said: “My wife is having a bad nature, I want to divorce her.”
...

Salaam about this hadith please refer to the below narration from Uyun Akhbar ar Ridha (1:1/191), it was a session between al Ma’mun and Imam Ridha (عليه السلام) on the infallibility of the Prophets (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم). 
 

Quote

 Al-Ma’mun said, “O son of the Prophet of God! You are right. Please tell me what is meant by what the Honorable the Exalted God said, ‘Behold! Thou didst say to one who had received the grace of Allah and thy favour: ‘Retain thou (in wedlock) thy wife, and fear Allah.’ But thou didst hide in thy heart that which Allah was about to make manifest: thou didst fear the people, but it is more fitting that thou shouldst fear Allah…’” Al-Ridha (s) said, “God’s Prophet (s) went to the house of Zayd ibn Haritha ibn Sharahïl al-Kalbi for some reason. He saw his wife making ablutions and told her, ‘Glory belongs to Him who has created you!’ By that he meant to make it clear that the claim of those who think that the angels are the daughters of God does not apply to the Creator, the Honorable the Exalted. The Honorable the Exalted God said, ‘Has then your Lord (O Pagans!) preferred for you sons, and taken for Himselfdaughters among the angels? Truly ye utter a most dreadful saying!’ God’s Prophet (s) had seen her making ablutions and told her, ‘Glory belongs to Him who has created you!’ Muhammad (s) meant that God is not one to have children who are in need of purification as she was. When Zayd came home, she told him about the Prophet (s) coming there and saying to her ’Glory belongs to Him who created you.’” Zayd did not understand what the Prophet (s) meant by that. He thought that the Prophet (s) had said that because he (s) admired her beauty. So he went to the Prophet (s) and told him (s), ‘O Prophet of God! My wife has a bad temper, and I want to divorce her.’ Then the Prophet (s) told him, ‘…Retain thou (in wedlock) thy wife, and fear Allah…’ The Honorable the Exalted God had already informed Muhammad (s) about the number of his wives, and that this woman was to be one of them. The Prophet (s) kept this to himself and did not say anything to Zayd fearing that the people might say that Muhammad orders the slave which he himself has freed, ‘your wife will be mine!’, and thus blame the Prophet (s). Thus the Honorable the Exalted God revealed, ‘Behold! Thou didst say to one who had received the grace of Allah…’ that means by Islam, ‘and thy favour’ that means by freeing him, ‘…Retain thou (in wedlock) thy wife, and fear Allah.’ But thou (Muhammad) didst hide in thy heart that which Allah was about to make manifest: thou didst fear the people, but it is more fitting that thou shouldst fear Allah...’ Then Zayd ibn Ha’ritha divorced her and she completed her waiting period. Then the Honorable the Exalted God married her off to His Prophet Muhammad (s), and revealed (the following verse in) the Qur’an in this regard. The Honorable the Exalted (God) said, ‘…Then when Zayd had dissolved (his marriage) with her, with the necessary (formality), We joined her in marriage to thee: in order that (in future) there may be no difficulty to the Believers in (the matter of) marriage with the wives of their adopted sons, when the latter have dissolved with the necessary (formality) (their marriage) with them. And Allah’s command must be fulfilled.’ The Honorable the Exalted God knew that the hypocrites would criticize the Prophet for marrying her, so the Sublime God revealed, ‘There can be no difficulty to the Prophet in what Allah has indicated to him as a duty...’ Al-Ma’mun said, “O son of the Messenger of God! You have calmed me down and clarified what I had doubts about. May God reward you well on behalf of His Prophets and Islam.’

Source: https://thaqalayn.net/chapter/11/2/15

 

 

[313_Waiter]

Also brother, people are naturally getting offended because you are attacking their faith (and not telling us the authenticity of the narrations). On this forum from some people’s perspective it may seem you are machine-gunning us “doubts” in order to make us doubt.  Thus when you attack a man’s faith, you attack what is dear to his very heart; and so naturally you receive very passions-driven responses. Hope that makes sense. Nonetheless, I would encourage all my brothers and sisters (both those in religion and in humanity) to avoid ad hominems when engaging in discussions.

I would encourage you fix one doubt through knowledge or through changing your perspective before you move to the next doubt. Further, if faith is dear to you, I would advise you to focus on what used to give you faith (whether that be Karbala or the Quran linguistic miracle), or at least focus on finding this conviction. There is this sunni hadith that tells us to do this:

Quote

Hasan ibn Ali reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Leave what makes you doubt for what does not make you doubt. Verily, truth brings peace of mind and falsehood sows doubt.”

Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2518

Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Albani

From Nahjul Balagha (not saying all of this applies to you):

Quote

Four Causes of Loss of Belief in God Are

• Hankering after whims

• Passion to dispute every argument

• Deviation from truth

• Dissension (contentious disagreement)

Whoever hankers after whims does not incline towards truth. Whoever keeps on disputing every argument despite his ignorance will always remain blind to truth. Whoever deviates from truth because of ignorance will always mistake good for evil and evil for good, and he will remain intoxicated with misguidance. Whoever makes a breach (with God and His Messenger), his path becomes difficult, his affairs will become complicated, and his way to salvation will be uncertain.

Doubt

Similarly, doubt has also four aspects:

 Absurd reasoning

 Fear

 Vacillation

 Hesitation

(It leads to) easy surrender to infidelity, because one who has accustomed himself to unreasonable and absurd discussions will never see the light of truth and will always live in the darkness of ignorance. One who is afraid to face facts (of life, of death, and the life after death) will always turn away from the ultimate reality. One who allows doubts and uncertainties to vacillate him will always be under the control of Satan, and one who surrenders himself to infidelity earns damnation in both worlds (this life and the Hereafter).

When Imam Ali was asked about Faith in Religion, He Replied:

The structure of faith: It is supported by four pillars:

 Endurance

 Conviction

 Justice

 Struggle

Endurance

It is composed of four attributes: eagerness, fear, God-consciousness, and anticipation (of death). Therefore, whoever is eager for Paradise will ignore temptations; whoever fears the fire of Hell will abstain from sins; whoever practices God-consciousness will easily bear the difficulties of life; and whoever anticipates death will hasten towards good deeds.

Conviction

It has also four aspects:

 To guard oneself against infatuations of sin

 To search for explanation of truth through knowledge

 To gain lessons from instructive things

 To follow the precedent set by the people of previous generations

Whoever wants to guard himself against vices and sins will have to search for the true causes of infatuation, the true ways of combating them, and to find those true ways, to search with the help of knowledge.

Whoever is fully acquainted with various branches of knowledge will take lessons from life, and whoever tries to take lessons from life will engage in studying the causes for the rise and fall of previous civilizations.

Justice

It also has four aspects:

 Depth of understanding

 Profoundness of knowledge

 Fairness of judgment

 Clearness of mind

Whoever tries his best to understand a problem will have to study it. Whoever has the practice of studying the subject he is to deal with will develop a clear mind and will always come to correct decisions. Whoever tries to achieve all this will have to develop ample patience and forbearance, and whoever does this has done justice to the cause of religion and has led a life of good repute and fame.

Struggle (jihad)

It is divided into four branches:

 To persuade people to be obedient to God

 To dissuade them from sin and vice

 To struggle (in the cause of God) sincerely and firmly on all occasions

 To detest the corrupt ones

Whoever persuades people to obey the orders of God provides strength to the believers. Whoever dissuades them from vices and sins humiliates the unbelievers. Whoever struggles persistently, he discharges all his obligations. He who detests the corrupt individuals for the sake of God, then God will take revenge on his enemies and he will earn God’s good pleasure on the Day of Judgment.

When Asked about Patience, he said:

Patience is of two kinds: patience over what causes you hurt, and patience against what you covet.
(Saying 31)

https://www.al-islam.org/what-true-success-excerpts-peak-eloquence-nahjul-balagha/9-alis-discourses-other-topics

 

 

[Abu_Zahra]

Salaam alaikum brother.

You will probably need to be a bit more specific about what exactly is problematic. 

-Is it the fact that the prophet ((صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)) married A'ishah when she was very young? In today's context it may indeed be unusual and even unacceptable in many societies, but in those days it was common. The age of marriage is not universal, even not today. There isn't a universal consensus on it so some may protest that according to their norms, such a marriage would be unethical or immoral, but this is due to it not complying with their convention or custom.

-Is it the fact that the prophet ((صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)) married many women? Again, polygamy is frowned upon in some cultures today but is normal in others, even more so in those days. So this is not problematic in itself, once again it's a case of different customs and conventions through different eras and societies.

-Is it the difference in historical accounts? Again this is hardly alarming. Dates and events were not instantly communicated as they are today through the digital high speed media. They were recorded as and when they were received. The fact that one historian recorded 12 marriages while another recorded 13, or one recorded an age of 7 while another recorded 9, is more of a detail. The bigger picture remains essentially the same,  ie the prophet ((صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)) had many wives of different ages and backgrounds. Some were divorcees, others were widows yet others had not been previously married. Some came from prominent social backgrounds while others didn't. Etc

 

-Finally there seems to be a side discussion on hadith in general. Like all historical accounts, there are obviously different tasks involved. One is to collect all the material possible (compilation), another is to filter the material (reliable accounts vs unreliable) yet a third is to analyze and evaluate the material to compile a narrative. 

The material is available in various sources. For a better overview of the outcome of their analysis and evaluation you can refer to the various biographies that have been written (for example, Sheikh Ja'far Subhani has prepared a good biographical work on the prophet ((صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)).

Another good work, written in English, which looks at different accounts (both muslim and non muslim) to bring together a reliable narrative is 'A restatement of the history of islam and muslims'. I believe it's available online for free.

 

 

[Syed Ali Mehdi Shah Naqvi]

13 hours ago, shadow_of_light said:

Quote:

Ibn Babawayh etc. have narrated from reliable chains of narrators from Imam Ali Reza ((عليه السلام).) that one day the Holy Prophet (S) went to the house of Zaid bin Haritha bin Sharjeel Kalbi. When he entered, he saw that the wife of Zaid was taking a bath. The Holy Prophet (S) said: “Glory be the one Who has created you.” By this statement he meant that she must consider the Almighty Allah as pure and free from the saying of infidels who say that angels are the daughters of God, as the Almighty Allah has Himself said

 

 

 

So he entered Zaid's house without knoching on the door and getting permission? And then after seeing his wife, instead of turning his head, he started admiring his beauty???!!!!!!

Dont believe this shameful story. The prophet was the most pious man throughout the history.

Now go ahead and blame not Allamah Majlisi, But Sheikh Sadooq because he narrated this tradition.

Blame Sadooq for not doing bis homework and including such a terrible narration (according to you)

Edited April 2, 2021 by Syed Ali Mehdi Shah Naqvi

[Syed Ali Mehdi Shah Naqvi]

Back then at the age of 9 years, women became mature enough so that they couldn't be tricked into marriage and this is confirmed by plenty of narrations by Imams (عليه السلام) therefore marrying 9 year old at that time wasn't same as marrying 9 year old today.

[Guest The female homosapien]

I have not followed all comments in this thread but I just want to comment about the Aisha’s age thing. Most scholars believe that she was 9 then. Is this weird? No. Because first of all, there is a specific word for this that I forgot, which means that you apply values about your time on other times. A review about a historical fiction book that I once read was talking about such things also happening in that book, where a 16th century French peasant spoke like a second wave feminist. 
The prophet was born in the seventh century and in his era, like many era’s before, and many era’s AFTER, and in the Quran, females starting to menstruate was seen as a sign of puberty, of maturity.

And test the orphans until they attain puberty; then if you find in them maturity of intellect, make over to them their property, and do not consume it extravagantly and hastily, lest they attain to full age; and whoever is rich, let him abstain altogether, and whoever is poor, let him eat reasonably; then when you make over to them their property, call witnesses in their presence; and Allah is enough as a Reckoner. – Quran 4:6

Here it also shows that puberty is really seen as a different maturer phase of life. This view of females becoming mature was not uncommon at all in era’s before and beyond. I read about this very old English king in the 12th century (5 whole centuries later!) who married I think it was a 10 year old where the life expectancy was around 35 years old. Christians who hate Islam use Aisha’s age to undermine Prophet Muhammed ((صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)) and Islam but Prophet Jesus ((صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)) who was born 7 centuries before the prophet, would likely see such marriages as totally normal. 
Maybe you still are disgusted but you are from a different time, in Prophet Muhammed’s time, Prophet Jesus’ time (pbut) and that Christian king’s time, the life expectancy way lower so people married way earlier. If you are from a country now where the life expectancy is about 90-100 (e.g: in the UK), compared to Prophet Muhammed’s life expectancy, you can kind of double the numbers to compare it in this age, it being like Muhammed was about 90-100 years old and Aisha being 18. 
You think it’s still young? Well yeah but the Prophet didn’t marry all those wives just because. Some he married for political reasons (e,g: This tribe’s wants peace with you so they want you to marry the daughter of this tribesmen) and Abu Bakr really really wanted him to marry Aisha as it would be an honour for Abu Bakr. That’s not easy to refuse. 
 

Shakespeare lived in the 16th century but his play, Romeo and Juliet, is set in the 13th century. Juliet marries Romeo when she was 13 years old. This didn’t shock the Shakespearean audience at all as they know that was more normal in the 13th century. In the start of the play, Paris asks Juliet’s father for permission to marry her. Julliet’s father is a bit protective and is like, nah let’s wait a bit longer (but in Shaspearean language) and Paris is like, bruh come on, there are girls 2 years younger (11..) than her that are already pregnant.

Anyhow, I haven’t read all your other Hadith but I can already say that for Shia Hadith criteria (which I’m so glad for) is a rule that no matter how popular and how authentic people believe that the narrator is, if it contradicts the Qur’an, it’s false. The prophet had many enemies out there who spread around false Hadith to legalise their own low desires. Yazid spread out many fake Hadith too so just because ‘it’s in a Shia book’, does not mean it’s true. People on Shiachat have also warned before that books like Al-Kafi contain a lot of fake ones. Well, we can try to weed out the fake ones through rules, logic and research but at least we don’t claim that all our Hadith all Sahih like Sunni’s do with Bukhari and his questionable narrators that had even earlier confessed that their narration was false, but Bukhari still put it in the book....!

 

 

[Syed Ali Mehdi Shah Naqvi]

13 hours ago, shadow_of_light said:

Quote:

Ibn Babawayh etc. have narrated from reliable chains of narrators from Imam Ali Reza ((عليه السلام).) that one day the Holy Prophet (S) went to the house of Zaid bin Haritha bin Sharjeel Kalbi. When he entered, he saw that the wife of Zaid was taking a bath. The Holy Prophet (S) said: “Glory be the one Who has created you.” By this statement he meant that she must consider the Almighty Allah as pure and free from the saying of infidels who say that angels are the daughters of God, as the Almighty Allah has Himself said

 

 

 

So he entered Zaid's house without knoching on the door and getting permission? And then after seeing his wife, instead of turning his head, he started admiring his beauty???!!!!!!

Dont believe this shameful story. The prophet was the most pious man throughout the history.

Thanks for misquoting a tradition.

here is reply to that by Imam Reza (عليه السلام) himelf:

Al-Ma’mun said, “O son of the Prophet of God! You are right. Please tell me what is meant by what the Honorable the Exalted God said, ‘Behold! Thou didst say to one who had received the grace of Allah and thy favour: ‘Retain thou (in wedlock) thy wife, and fear Allah.’ But thou didst hide in thy heart that which Allah was about to make manifest: thou didst fear the people, but it is more fitting that thou shouldst fear Allah…’” Al-Ridha (s) said, “God’s Prophet (s) went to the house of Zayd ibn Haritha ibn Sharahïl al-Kalbi for some reason. He saw his wife making ablutions and told her, ‘Glory belongs to Him who has created you!’ By that he meant to make it clear that the claim of those who think that the angels are the daughters of God does not apply to the Creator, the Honorable the Exalted. The Honorable the Exalted God said, ‘Has then your Lord (O Pagans!) preferred for you sons, and taken for Himselfdaughters among the angels? Truly ye utter a most dreadful saying!’ God’s Prophet (s) had seen her making ablutions and told her, ‘Glory belongs to Him who has created you!’ Muhammad (s) meant that God is not one to have children who are in need of purification as she was. When Zayd came home, she told him about the Prophet (s) coming there and saying to her ’Glory belongs to Him who created you.’” Zayd did not understand what the Prophet (s) meant by that. He thought that the Prophet (s) had said that because he (s) admired her beauty. So he went to the Prophet (s) and told him (s), ‘O Prophet of God! My wife has a bad temper, and I want to divorce her.’ Then the Prophet (s) told him, ‘…Retain thou (in wedlock) thy wife, and fear Allah…’ The Honorable the Exalted God had already informed Muhammad (s) about the number of his wives, and that this woman was to be one of them. The Prophet (s) kept this to himself and did not say anything to Zayd fearing that the people might say that Muhammad orders the slave which he himself has freed, ‘your wife will be mine!’, and thus blame the Prophet (s). Thus the Honorable the Exalted God revealed, ‘Behold! Thou didst say to one who had received the grace of Allah…’ that means by Islam, ‘and thy favour’ that means by freeing him, ‘…Retain thou (in wedlock) thy wife, and fear Allah.’ But thou (Muhammad) didst hide in thy heart that which Allah was about to make manifest: thou didst fear the people, but it is more fitting that thou shouldst fear Allah...’ Then Zayd ibn Ha’ritha divorced her and she completed her waiting period. Then the Honorable the Exalted God married her off to His Prophet Muhammad (s), and revealed (the following verse in) the Qur’an in this regard. The Honorable the Exalted (God) said, ‘…Then when Zayd had dissolved (his marriage) with her, with the necessary (formality), We joined her in marriage to thee: in order that (in future) there may be no difficulty to the Believers in (the matter of) marriage with the wives of their adopted sons, when the latter have dissolved with the necessary (formality) (their marriage) with them. And Allah’s command must be fulfilled.’ The Honorable the Exalted God knew that the hypocrites would criticize the Prophet for marrying her, so the Sublime God revealed, ‘There can be no difficulty to the Prophet in what Allah has indicated to him as a duty...’

https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/11/2/15/1

[Syed Ali Mehdi Shah Naqvi]

13 hours ago, shadow_of_light said:

Quote:

Ibn Babawayh etc. have narrated from reliable chains of narrators from Imam Ali Reza ((عليه السلام).) that one day the Holy Prophet (S) went to the house of Zaid bin Haritha bin Sharjeel Kalbi. When he entered, he saw that the wife of Zaid was taking a bath. The Holy Prophet (S) said: “Glory be the one Who has created you.” By this statement he meant that she must consider the Almighty Allah as pure and free from the saying of infidels who say that angels are the daughters of God, as the Almighty Allah has Himself said

 

 

 

So he entered Zaid's house without knoching on the door and getting permission? And then after seeing his wife, instead of turning his head, he started admiring his beauty???!!!!!!

Dont believe this shameful story. The prophet was the most pious man throughout the history.

Quote ref for this hadeeth.

Where did you take it from and where did Allamah Majlisi said its authentic?

I checked for it in Bihaar Al-Anwaar and Allamah Majlisi said nothing about its authenticity.

Sheikh Sadooq after quoting this hadeetb says:

قالَ مُصَنِّفُ هذا الْكِتاب: هذا الْحَدِيثُ غَريبٌ مِن طَرِيق عَلِىِّ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الجَهْمِ مَعَ نَصبِه وَبُغضِهِ وَعَداوَتِهِ لأهْلِ البِيْت‏ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّلاَمُ

The author of this book (Sheikh Sadooq) said, This is a strange tradition narrated on the authority of Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Al-Jahm due to his being one of the Nasibites , and his hatred and animosity with the Members of the Holy Household (s).

[Syed Ali Mehdi Shah Naqvi]

Breif Analysis of chain:

حَدَّثَنا تَمِيمُ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّه بْنِ تَمِيمُ القُرَشِي رَضِىَ اللهُ عَنْهُ قالَ: حَدَّثَني أَبي عَنْ حَمْدانَ بْنِ سُلَيْمان النِيْسابُوريُّ، عَن عَلِىِّ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الجَهْمِ قالَ حَضَرْتُ مَجْلِسَ الْمَأْمُونِ وَعِنْدَهُ الرِّضَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ مُوسَى‏ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ

1. عَلِىِّ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الجَهْمِ

Sadooq Said this person hated Ahlebait and was a Nasibi and he is the only one to narrate this hadeeth.

Ali Namazi also mentioned this comment of Sadooq under heading of this narrator

From Al Mufeed Min Mujam Ur Rijal Al-Hadeeth:

7972 - 7970 - 7984 - علي بن الجهم: عن مروج الذهب انه بلغ من النصب انه كان يلعن أباه لأنه سماه عليا - قال ابن شهرآشوب: قال أبو العيناء لعلي ابن الجهم إنما تبغض عليا لأنه كان يقتل الفاعل والمفعول وأنت أحدهما، فقال له يا مخنث، فقال أبو العيناء وضرب لنا مثلا ونسي خلقه ".

See how Maloon this person was.

And first two narrators are Also Majhool as per Khoei.

[Guest airbender]

1 hour ago, Syed Ali Mehdi Shah Naqvi said:

Where did you take it from and where did Allamah Majlisi said its authentic?

The OP has quoted this from the book Hayatul Quloob, the link for the book is there is in the OP.

[Guest Psychological Warfare]

"Worrying Account"

Put anything under this generic title of 'Worrying Account' and ask the following question(s).

1) Is your understanding better compared to the people of that time - especially the enemies would have used whatever worries you "Now" as a weapon to undermine the Claim.

2) If they did not , why do you Now use it as a weapon to undermine the claim? 

The Only answer is- there was nothing to worry about as it was (whatever it was) well within the the norms of the Society at that time. 

So, find another angle to attack. 

[Syed Ali Mehdi Shah Naqvi]

6 hours ago, Guest airbender said:

The OP has quoted this from the book Hayatul Quloob, the link for the book is there is in the OP.

Hayat ul Quloob is a big book brother. It has thousands of pages.

Plus i saw it in Bihaar Al-Anwaar and there was no comment made by Majlisi there.

Secondly Sadooq mentioned after quoting narration that Ali Bin Muhammad Bin Al-Jaham is a Nasibi and he hated AhleBait (عليه السلام) moreover this narration is only narrated via him.

How would majlisi declare it reliable?