David Wood of Acts 17 Apologetics: Up to his Old Tricks (Sex with Prepubescent Girls Claim, AGAIN!)

Slow Learners or Deceptive?

It appears some people are slow learners; David Wood of Acts 17 appears to be amongst the slow learners. Wood has recently been repeating his malicious claims of Islam allowing sex with prepubescent girls. Those who are familiar with this issue will now begin to move away from the idea of him being ignorant and move to the idea of him being disingenuous.

I have ALREADY explained this issue to him via a debate which can be viewed here, thus he has no excuse for his continual propagation of falsehood.

David Wood, once again combines two Verses from the Quran (33:49 with 64:5) and comes up with a conclusion NO school of thought ever entertained. All four schools of Islamic Jurisprudence disallow sex with prepubescent girls. I have previously discussed this claim here

Look, this is OLD territory and David Wood knows he has been thoroughly refuted and embarrassed in the past; so much so that he was found to be DISTORTING Tafsir literature see here.

Wood’s conflation of (33:49 and 64:5 from the Quran) and his subsequent erroneous conclusions have been dealt with here.

Jesus Gave Tacit Approval?

Before moving onto a new Hadith he has incorporated into his repertoire I will remind you the famous Jesus scholar Geza Vermes suggested the Jewish practice at the time of Jesus was that of marrying girls prior to puberty and once they had reached the biological sign (puberty) marriage would be consummated [5]. A similar practice took place in Arab societies of the past. Both Jesus and Muhammad never prohibited such practices; however, Islam will only allow consummation when the female is physically capable. This was explained to David Wood previously, so we are in fact going over old ground.

He has added this into the following Hadith repertoire

Sahih al-Bukhari 5236—“Narrated Aishah: The Prophet was screening me with his Rida . . . So you may deduce from this event how a little girl (who has not reached the age of puberty) . . . should be treated in this respect.”

Here is another (more detailed) Hadith I found:

Narrated 'Aisha: Once I saw Allah's Apostle at the door of my house while some Ethiopians were playing in the mosque (displaying their skill with spears). Allah's Apostle was screening me with his rida' so as to enable me to see their display. ('Urwa said that 'Aisha said, "I saw the Prophet and the Ethiopians were playing with their spears.") (Book 8, Hadith 445)


Firstly, David Wood tries to get us to believe the Hadith cited proves Aisha was prepubescent at the time of consummation (and living with the Prophet). This could not be further from the truth.

This Hadith is referring to the time prior to consummation - Aisha had not begun living with the Prophet at this time. The marriage was formally drawn when Aisha was six and then consummated in the year 1 AH in Madinah after a period of roughly three years [1] [2]. Aisha having reached puberty at the time of consummation is confirmed by the classical scholars [3]

Again, the question is asked WHY did the Prophet wait for three years before consummating the marriage? Surely, if he thought having sex with prepubescent girls was allowed then he would not have waited three years. Obviously he waited for her to reach physical and mental maturity.

Going back to the Hadith the Islamophobe cites; it is referring to time during the wait for her to reach maturity – an acceptable condition for consummation. Sadly David Wood, hides this from his readers

I will allow Sheikh Moustafa Zayed to explain (perhaps he will get through to the slow learners out there; the ones who cling onto this malicious polemic in attempts to demonise Prophet Muhammad, Islam and all Muslims):

The most important rule as to marriage of females as per the majority of Muslim scholars is that the female had reached puberty and that she can mentally carry the responsibility of marriage. She has to be physically and mentally able to fulfil the duties of marriage…why was the Prophet waiting to consummate the marriage for three years? The answer is simple; for Aisha to reach the acceptable combination of conditions for her to be accepted as a wife. [4]

Like I say, Wood’s material is old hat and he is sounding like a stuck record; I guess even his small fanatical following are tiring of his regurgitated and tired arguments.

Please do visit the links presented above to ensure Wood’s disingenuous ways do not mislead you. If you are a supporter of the Acts 17 group then you need to have a long hard rethink.

David Wood’s partner, Nabeel Qureshi, is a slow learner too - he repeats misinformation here

There are other materials out there to aid the truth seeker on this subject. I’m sure you have had enough with ill-informed anti-Muslim characters. Here is an expert, Sheikh Hamza Yusuf speaking on the topic of Mohammad’s marriage to Aisha and educating us all in a very noble and erudite fashion. Do not be fooled by the charlatans on the internet who waste their lives spreading falsehood about Islam!



FEEDBACK: yahyasnow@hotmail.com

References

[1] Ar-Raheequl-Makhtum by Safi-ur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri, Darussalam, 2002 pg 176-177

[2] Sahih Al Bukhari 1/551, Talqih Fuhum Ahlil-Athar, p10

[3]Explanation of Muslim by Imam Nawawi, Book of Marriage, Hadeeth 75, Vol 9, p.207 Aisha said: ‘Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) engaged me when I was six years old, and consummated the marriage when I was a girl of nine years old.’... And Malik and Shafii and Abu Hanifa said: ‘The limit for that (consummation) is her (the female’s) capability for (sexual) intercourse.’ Dawudi said: ‘And Aisha then had physically matured well indeed’.”

[4] The Lies About Muhammad, Moustafa Zayed, 2010, pg 333

[5] Jesus the Jew, by Geza Vermes, 1973, William Collins sons and Co Ltd, pages 219-222

Appendix

Qur’an 65:4 (Hilali-Khan)—And those of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the 'Iddah (prescribed period), if you have doubt (about their period), is three months, and for those who have no courses [(i.e. they are still immature) their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is three months likewise, except in case of death] . And for those who are pregnant (whether they are divorced or their husbands are dead), their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is until they lay down (their burdens), and whosoever fears Allah and keeps his duty to Him, He will make his matter easy for him.

Qur’an 33:49 (Hilali-Khan)—O you who believe! When you marry believing women, and then divorce them before you have sexual intercourse with them, no 'Iddah [divorce prescribed period, see (V.65:4)] have you to count in respect of them. So give them a present, and set them free i.e. divorce, in a handsome manner.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appendix 2

It appears David Wood's partner has also been informed on this issue in the past by 1MoreMuslim...yet it appears Qureshi has not passed the info onto Wood.

1moremuslim said...

A week ago, I have sent references to Nabeel Qureshi, about the evolution of age of consent in the west, through the centuries. Take for example, at the end of 19th century, in Delaware (US), the age of consent was 7 year old!!! Nabeel Qureishi replied my email saying : " Interesting, thanks". We see here that he was not interested at all.

The missionaries will not give up their "best" tools against Islam, they don't have other solid arguments to persuade the less educated masses.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------