The BNP and ‘Those whom their right hands possess’.

by

Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood.

Nick Griffin’s Abusive Remarks

On 18.01.06 Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party (BNP), began his trial for inciting racial hatred. He and his associate Mark Collett had been secretly filmed by the BBC for a documentary entitled ‘The Secret Agent’ – a programme which revealed some extraordinary beliefs and remarks.

I found the ignorance of Nick Griffin absolutely amazing, but what worried me most was the thought that his opinions were not unique to him but apparently shared by many other opponents of Islam. As is so often my reaction, I wished I had had the opportunity to sit down and defend Islam, for such criticisms are so often based on ignorance which can be speedily remedied.

Two major issues.

I saw two major issues:

1. I gather there had been some indecent behaviour on the part of a group of Asian men – fair enough for a BNP man (or anyone) to be outraged, but then he quite wrongly used the behaviour of these few coloured criminals to equate it with Islam.

2. Secondly, he accused Islam, a faith which urges a life of prayer and self-control in sexual matters, of wishing to increase its numbers through rape, and claimed that 'verse after verse of the Qur'an' encouraged men to rape women by force.

The Qur’an forbade rape

That is nonsense. Rape is an ancient enough practice, but the word of God through the Qur'an specifically ordered a stop to such practices amongst Muslims, by insisting that Muslim men should no longer seek any illicit sexual relationships outside marriage. If they wanted to enjoy sexual intimacy, they should take wives honourably with dowry payments if they were free women, or marry from amongst 'those their right hands possessed', at least granting their freedom in lieu of the dowry.

‘Those whom your right hands possess’

Nick Griffin’s belief that Muslim men were allowed to commit rape may have originated in the phrase ‘those whom your right hands possess (ma malakat aymanukum) which does occur 14 times in the Qur'an. It is an ancient expression, most often used with reference to women, but may actually be applied to both sexes. It usually refers to prisoners of war, but can refer to slaves or household retainers in general.

Muslim men who had positions of power over slave-girls, who had prior to Islam taken sexual advantage of them as a matter of course, were now forbidden from doing so.

sI would like to examine some of the key passages and also put them in context.

Surah 4.24-25

This first passage concerns orders specifically sent by Allah to the Prophet concerning both his own circumstances, and what should be the practice of his followers.

Surah 4.24-25:

· ‘This is the order of Allah relating to marriage prohibitions. You are forbidden to marry women who are already married, except those who have fallen in your hands as prisoners of war.

· All women other than these (already married women) are lawful provided you seek them in marriage with gifts from your property (ie. pay a dowry), desiring chastity and not lust. You are obliged to pay their dowry in return for the benefit you receive from your marriage relationship. However, you will not be held at fault if you change this agreement of dowry so long as it is by mutual consent. Allah is the Knowledgeable, Wise.

· If any of you cannot afford to marry a free believing woman, let him marry one of his own slave girls (ie. one ‘who your right hand possesses’) who is a believer; Allah knows how good you are in your faith. You all belong to one and the same community. Marry them with the permission of their family, and give them their fair dowry so that they may live a decent life in wedlock and not live as prostitutes or look for secret illicit relationships…….

· The concession of such a marriage is for those of you who fear that they might commit a sin if they do not get married, but it is better for you to practice self-restraint. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.’ (Surah 4.24-25).

It seems crystal clear to me that far from allowing or condoning abuse, the commands express honour, pragmatism and self-restraint. I did wonder at first about the notion of men being allowed to marry prisoners of war who were already-married women, until I met many cases of already-married refugees from the war in Bosnia. They had no idea whether the husbands from whom they had been rent asunder were alive or dead, and in due course made the decision to start new marriages with new spouses here in the UK. It seemed a similar situation, another result of the realities of war.

Surah 33.50,52.

A second key passage, the text of Surah 33.50,52, referred specifically to the personal limits set by Allah upon the wives of the Prophet himself. By the time this passage was revealed he had taken into his household a total of at least thirteen women, two of whom had passed away, and all except one being widows and divorcees, and most coming under his care with their existing children.

· ‘O prophet! We have made lawful to you the wives to whom you have paid their dowers (ie. Khadijah bint Khuwaylid; Sawdah bint Zama’a; Aishah bint Abu Bakr; Hafsah bint Umar; Zaynab bint Khuzaymah; Juwayriyyah bint Harith; Umm Habibah/Ramlah bint Abu Sufyan and Maymunah bint Harith b. Hazn

· and those who your right hand possesses out of the prisoners of war God has assigned to you (ie. Safiyyah/Zaynab bint Huyayy b. Akhtab and Rayhanah bint Zayd b. Amr; Maryam Qibtiyyah

· and daughters of your paternal or maternal uncles and aunts who migrated (ie. made the hijrah from Makkah) with you; (ie. Umm Salamah bint Abu Umayyah and Zaynab bint Jahsh;

· and the believing woman who dedicates her soul to you if you wish to wed her (ie. Umm Sharik/Ghaziyyah bint Jabir of Yemen) this (concession) only for you and not for the believers (in general); We know what We have appointed for them as to their wives and the captives whom their right hands possess - in order that there should be no difficulty for you….

· It is not lawful for you (to marry more) women after this, nor to change your existing wives for (other) wives, even though their beauty may attract you, except from those already amongst your household staff: and Allah watches over all things.’

This revelation prevented him from his intention to marry his divorced cousin Umm Hani, (Ali’s elder sister) who happened to have been his childhood love 50 years previously, because although she was a daughter of a paternal uncle, she did not make her hijrah at the time of the Prophet’s hijrah.

Surah 4.3 – a verse that actually promotes monogamy

The third key passage is the much-quoted general advice given to Muslim men in Surah 4.3:

‘If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with orphan girls, then marry (other) women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (marry from among the captives) that your right hands possess. That will be nearer to prevent you from doing injustice.’

Some time after the death of the Prophet , Aishah gave the context of this revelation, explaining to her nephew Urwah that the main aim of the verse was to protect the rights of female orphans:

Aishah said, ‘O my nephew! (This verse was revealed in connection with) orphan girls who were under the guardianship of men who were attracted by their wealth and beauty and intend to marry them with a mahr (dowry) less than what other women of their standard deserved. So they (such guardians) have been forbidden to marry them unless they did justice to them and gave them their full mahr; or were ordered to marry other women instead of them.’ (Bukhari 7.2.)

The verse has also been used to promote monogamy, since it is virtually impossible to treat more than one wife with full justice.

The crime of Rape

As for Muslim men being encouraged to rape, this is totally the opposite of Islam and the penalties for rapists in Shari’ah law are severe.

Rape is a very different crime from sex outside marriage (zinah), although certain parts of the Muslim world have not yet made this clear enough in their systems of law. In Pakistan, for example, the adultery laws have been criticized for some time and are being re-examined at the present time to give better justice to women.

Categories of Rape

The crime of rape (zinah bi’l jabr) is enforced sex. It could be either

· against the will of the victim (not only females but also male anal rape),

· without the consent of the victim (as with small children, or people either unconscious or not fully conscious), or

· with consent when that was obtained by putting the victim in fear of death or hurt,

· by deception if the woman believed she was validly married to the man.

It is to all intents and purposes a male crime, and a very serious crime.

It can include zinah, or lust – but not on the part of the victims.

Any man whose depraved sexual urges led him to commit rape, whether of girl, boy, woman, wife or another man, or old lady, is certainly guilty of lust and has broken the Islamic law of sexual relations. Zinah, however, is a matter of public indecency. But the victims of the rape have not committed zinah – far from it! They would have suffered appalling fear, probable actual bodily harm, and traumatisation that could last a lifetime, and in some societies even social consequences that could stigmatise or shame them.

Rape is hirabah (a crime of violence)

However, one could most certainly argue that rape should not be counted in law as an example of zinah since it is rarely an act of public indecency but rather a crime of violence, or hirabah (which comes under the ruling given in Surah 5.33 and could include capital punishment as a penalty. Hirabah does not require the testimony of four witnesses. This was certainly the view taken by the scholar Ibn Hazm – it included ‘making people fear they would be killed, raped, or have money taken.’ (Sabiq 1993, 2.450). These days the testimony could include modern technological advances such as forensic examination and DNA testing. The taking of a person’s body or personal honour by force could be considered the very worst form of hirabah.

Alternatively, the crime could be categorised as jirah (wounding or bodily harm), which might even be applied to domestic abuse and marital rape, and could result in damages or financial compensation for the wounded woman. (Al-Maqdisi 1994, 36 – discussing applications of jirah under four Sunni schools of thought).

I hope these few thoughts give encouragement to those who might have wondered if Islam could really be as unpleasant as Nick Griffin suggested!