Linda Sarsour: ‘My Beloved Prophet Muhammad Was a Human Rights Activist’

Video has surfaced of the hijab-wearing feminist heroine Linda Sarsour speaking in California in December, complaining about her education:

I went to public school. My parents couldn’t afford to send seven children to Islamic school … As I grew older, I realized that I got cheated out of my Islamic education. You know what I feel like I got cheated out of? Nobody told me that my beloved Prophet Muhammad was an activist. He was a human rights activist.

Muhammad was a human rights activist?

Only if Jews do not count as humans.

The Qur’an depicts the Jews as fabricating things and falsely ascribing them to Allah (2:79; 3:75, 3:181, 5:64); loving to listen to lies (5:41); disobeying Allah and never observing his commands (5:13); disputing and quarreling (2:247); hiding the truth and misleading people (3:78); staging rebellion against the prophets and rejecting their guidance (2:55); being hypocritical (2:14, 2:44); and giving preference to their own interests over the teachings of Muhammad (2:87).

It gets worse. The Qur’an accuses the Jews of wishing evil for people and trying to mislead them (2:109); feeling pain when others are happy or fortunate (3:120); being arrogant about their being Allah’s beloved people (5:18); devouring people’s wealth by subterfuge (4:161); slandering the true religion and being cursed by Allah (4:46); killing the prophets (2:61); being merciless and heartless (2:74); never keeping their promises or fulfilling their words (2:100); being unrestrained in committing sins (5:79); being cowardly (59:13-14); and being miserly (4:53).

And then there’s the bad stuff.

The Qur’an tells Muslims that Jews will be their worst enemies (5:82) and that they’re under Allah’s curse (9:30), and that Muslims must wage war against and subjugate them under the hegemony of Sharia, denying them basic rights (9:29).

Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour said Muhammad was a human rights activist?

Perhaps if women do not count as humans, either.

The Qur’an teaches that men are superior to women, and should beat women from whom they “fear disobedience”:

Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them (4:34).

Muhammad’s child bride Aisha — she was six when forced to marry him — says in a hadith:

[Muhammad] struck me on the chest which caused me pain, and then said: “Did you think that Allah and His Apostle would deal unjustly with you?” (Sahih Muslim 2127)

The Qur’an likens a woman to a field (tilth), to be used at will by a man:

Your women are a tilth for you, so go to your tilth as you will (2:223).

The Qur’an declares that a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man:

Get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as you choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her (2:282).

The Qur’an allows men to marry up to four wives — and to have sex slaves:

If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly, then only one, or one that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice (4:3).

The Qur’an rules that a son’s inheritance should be twice the size of a daughter’s inheritance:

Allah directs you as regards your children’s inheritance: to the male, a portion equal to that of two females (4:11).

The Qur’an allows for marriage to pre-pubescent girls, stipulating that Islamic divorce procedures “shall apply to those who have not yet menstruated” (65:4).

Islamic law (Sharia) stipulates that a man’s prayer is annulled if a dog, a donkey, or a woman passes in front of him as he is praying:

Narrated ‘Aisha: The things which annul the prayers were mentioned before me. They said, “Prayer is annulled by a dog, a donkey and a woman (if they pass in front of the praying people).” I said, “You have made us (i.e. women) dogs.” I saw the Prophet praying while I used to lie in my bed between him and the Qibla. Whenever I was in need of something, I would slip away for I disliked to face him (Sahih Bukhari 1.9.490).

A hadith depicts Muhammad saying that the majority of the inhabitants of hell are women:

I looked into Paradise and I saw that the majority of its people were the poor. And I looked into Hell and I saw that the majority of its people are women (Sahih Bukhari 3241; Sahih Muslim 2737).

When asked about this, Muhammad explained:

“I was shown Hell and I have never seen anything more terrifying than it. And I saw that the majority of its people are women.” They said, “Why, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Because of their ingratitude (kufr).”

It was said, “Are they ungrateful to Allah?” He said, “They are ungrateful to their companions (husbands) and ungrateful for good treatment. If you are kind to one of them for a lifetime then she sees one (undesirable) thing in you, she will say, ‘I have never had anything good from you’” (Sahih Bukhari 1052).

Muhammad explained further in another hadith:

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) went out to the musalla (prayer place) on the day of Eid al-Adha or Eid al-Fitr. He passed by the women and said, “O women! Give charity, for I have seen that you form the majority of the people of Hell.”

They asked, “Why is that, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religious commitment than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you.”

The women asked, “O Messenger of Allah, what is deficient in our intelligence and religious commitment?” He said, “Is not the testimony of two women equal to the testimony of one man?” They said, “Yes.” He said, “This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Is it not true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?” The women said, “Yes.” He said, “This is the deficiency in her religious commitment” (Sahih Bukhari 304).

Muhammad is depicted condemning wives who do not provide sex on demand:

If a husband calls his wife to his bed [i.e. to have sexual relation] and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning (Sahih Bukhari 4.54.460).

So Muhammad was a human rights activist?

Perhaps — if every single non-Muslim does not count as a human. Here are some more quotes attributed to Muhammad in the Hadith:

— I have been made victorious through terror (Sahih Bukhari 4:52.220).

— Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war. … When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them …

If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya (a tax on non-Muslims). If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands.

If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them (Sahih Muslim 4294).

— I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah (Sahih Muslim 30).

— May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for they built the places of worship at the graves of their Prophets (Sahih Bukhari 1.8.427).

Perhaps Linda Sarsour had the following quote from Muhammad in mind when she declared him to be a “human rights activist”: