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First, this is not meant to be an insulting or hateful question. Please prayerfully consider answering it for the sake of a true seeker soul. I have long respected and honored Islam and the Prophet Mohammed. I intend no harm. However, I have often considered becoming a Muslim, but have been held back by several things. The following is one of them that I hope to resolve.

Might I add that one of my closest life long friends is a Muslim and I am close to a local Sheikh and pray often at local Masjids. There is nothing hateful meant by this inquiry. I just want to learn.

There are stories of the Prophet's life that are horrendous, most of which I have no clue how to resolve their veracity. One example would be the murder of Umm Qirfa. This anti-Muslim site, here tells much of the story from what appear to be real sources from Hadith, etc.

Is this story true?

How can anyone justify so inhumane a murder?

Thank you,

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  • Do they really have to be this apologetic here?
    – arsaKasra
    Commented May 7, 2014 at 10:06
  • @haarijamilbenavraham Here is an article about the story written by a Muslim, hope it will definitely resolve the problem : archive.org/details/…
    – user36339
    Commented Feb 24, 2019 at 17:02
  • @haarijamilbenavraham Also read: islamweb.net/en/fatwa/192983
    – user36339
    Commented Feb 24, 2019 at 17:05
  • It is very strange that it was closed as unclear, there is no sufficient reason for that.
    – user36339
    Commented Feb 24, 2019 at 18:16

2 Answers 2

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I read the Article and the sources it is providing are not that authentic and after all even true it clearly indicates the action was not done by prophet(sa) himself. and He was not present there!!

You should never measure Islam by the actions of Muslims.

And if the Prophet was such a cruel person he would have ordered the death of leaders of Mecca who tortured the early Muslims by putting them on hot rocks and killing so many of the first believers. But instead Prophet forgave them all.

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  • @bluedream. Thank you for taking the time to read the article and provide an answer. Very kind of you. That was, however, only one example of the things I have heard. Is there some sort of definitive defense of his life that shows clearly he was not involved in these things? I understand no judging anyone by another, or a faith by its adherents. I have seen that Islam generally produces some of the greatest people imaginable. However, this issue really reared its head to me when I read Martin Ling's history of the Prophet, which had both positive and negative things in it. Commented May 4, 2014 at 18:18
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Ok so here is how I deal with such stuff:

1st, I know Islam is correct. I looked into other beliefs(Judaism, Christianity, Buddism, agnostic, etc...) and I realized this religion came from god. This religion made the most sense to me.

2nd, If you believe that Islam is correct, then evertime you find something that doesn't feel correct to you. you don't say that there is a problem with Islam. You know one of the names of allah is the Just. And since Allah brought this religion then you blame/accuse yourself, other people, or the culture that made you think this wrong.

One simple example: Now its becoming legal that gay marriage is allowed. If in the next decade seeing gay couples walking together is normal, does that mean Islam is false because it didn't allow gay marriages? You see the point ? Same thing with 4 wives or marrying at a young age(Not to mention it has been practiced by non-Muslims too), or having slaves(Common thing between non-Muslims, and Islam cane to stop it). Just because people has stopped practicing these things nowadays doesn't mean Islam is wrong. But it is the culture or the people who are wrong. Culture keep changing towards the worst. People are moving away from the human nature we were born with.

Other than that. In Islam it is encouraged to ask question. I don't like it when some people try to doge these questions by saying this wasn't authentic, or the prophet was not like that etc... Allah in the Quran say:

And We sent not before you except men to whom We revealed [Our message]. So ask the people of the message if you do not know. http://quran.com/16/43

Interpretation, Ask those scholars or knowledgebale people if you don't know. Coming to this website and asking this question is a good thing. Al-Hamdolelah. This is why we have this website and other websites on the internet. May allah reward you. If you see anything else you want to learn more about. Please feel free to ask here. Here is an example of a controversial question that has been asked which might help answer some of the claims on that website Is it true that Islam is a religion of peace?

Last advice, It is good to know about these controversial stuff. But I highly recommend you to stop visiting similar sites that only show controversial stuff and ignore the amazing teachings of Islam. Instead, dedicate your time to be a person that Islam wants, a person who have good manners i.e: Kind, merciful, Treat your parents and family well, etc...


UPTADE: To answer the claim regarding Um Qirfa. The story mentioned in the anti-Islam site is true but not all parts of it. The part that talks about putting her legs to rope is not true. Scholars said this is a really weak narration. Another point, Not mentioning the more authentic saying of the prophet regarding the mutilation of the dead bodies, even though they claim to know a lot about islam, killed their credibility. This is where I stopped reading the article.

Here is the hadith:

.....do not embezzle the spoils; do not break your pledge; and do not mutilate (the dead) bodies; do not kill the children

the 3rd point, The prophet didn't ask to kill her specifically. He asked "Zaid bin Harith" to attack the people of Um Qirfa because she asked more than 40 of men and their children to assassinate the prophet. Hence, the prophet told the muslims to stop them. When Ziad reached there with the muslims, the two groups got into a battle and Um Qirfa was killed there because she was in the battle with them too.

Source: [ARABIC] Islamweb - Um Qirfa incident

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  • Thank you very much. In response, I agree with your points and appreciate your gentle tone and reassurance. I feel welcome. However, I do not see much of an issue with the questions concerning slaves, polygamy, or young marriage. It is specifically the issue of murder or the order to take another's life that are bothersome. Commented May 4, 2014 at 18:22
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    @HaAriJamilbenAvraham, as I said, create another question with this specific topic. I didn't talk about this because I was just giving some general examples. :-)
    – Sohaeb
    Commented May 4, 2014 at 18:24
  • Oh, I see. Will do. Commented May 4, 2014 at 18:25
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    @HaAriJamilbenAvraham meta.islam.stackexchange.com/q/1071/3487 Commented May 4, 2014 at 19:34
  • @Suhaib. Thank you very much. Sorry I haven't gotten around to commenting back but will soon... Finals! Commented May 7, 2014 at 3:29

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