Citations: The Position of Women in Islam 8/30

Endnotes: chapter seven

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Ibn Maja, Nikah. Kanz al-`ummal, 21:194.
Kanz al-`ummal, 21:193.
al-Kasani, 2:228.
al-Bukhari, Nikah 2. Another tradition says, "`Uthman Ibn Maz`un wanted to castrate himself and be a hermit in the land. The Messenger of God said to him, `Do you not have me as a good example? I have intercourse with women, eat meat, fast, and breakfast. Fasting is the castration of my nation. There is none among my nation who castrates or is castrated himself'" (Ibn Sa`d, al-Tabaqat al-kubra (Beirut: Dar Sader, n.d.), 3:394).
Ibn Qutayba states, "Tawus narrated that the Messenger of God said, `There is no restraint or bridle in Islam, nor is monasticism, celibacy, or hermitage'" (`Uyun al-akhbar, 4:18).
Muslim, Janna 14; al-Darimi, Raqa'iq 108; Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 2:230,247,507.
Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, 5:163.
Ibn `Abd al-Barr, Usd al-ghaba fi ma`rifat al-Sahaba, Egyptian ed. (Tehran, 1969), 4:3. `Uyun al-akhbar, 4:18. Islam denounces celibacy and monasticism because they are a departure from the tradition of Muhammad. The Qur'an says: "And monasticism they initiated-- We did not prescribe it for them-- only seeking the good pleasure of God" (Sura al-Hadid 57:27). The Hadith says: "When this affair of `Uthman Ibn Maz`un, who showed no interest in women, was published, the Messenger of God sent for him. He said, ` `Uthman, I have not been commanded with monasticism; have you rejected my tradition?' He replied, `No, Messenger of God.' He said, `It is my sunna to pray and sleep, to fast and breakfast, to marry and divorce. Whoever rejects my tradition has no part with me'" (al-Darimi, Nikah 3). Sa`id al-Khudri narrated that a man came [to him] and said, "Instruct me!" He said, "I had asked the Messenger of God before you, and he said, 'I instruct you to fear God; this is the head [beginning] of everything, and you must fight, for this is the monasticism of Islam'" (Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, 3:82,266). "Castration and the building of churches are forbidden in Islam" (Kanz al-`ummal, 21:194).
Kanz al-`ummal, 21:196.
ibid. 21:197.
ibid. 21:200.
ibid.
al-Bukhari, Nikah 121.
`Uyun al-akhbar, 4:18. A single man, as Muhammad thinks, is exposed to fornication and immorality, and he cannot be delivered from this destiny except by fasting, if he were poor, or marriage. The Hadith says, "The Messenger of God saw a woman (and was apparently excited) so he had intercourse with Zainab, his wife, while she was dyeing a rawhide. After he fulfilled his desire, he went out to his friends and said, 'Woman comes in the shape of a devil and leaves in the shape of a devil. Any of you who sees a woman, let him have intercourse with his wife. This will repel that which is in his soul" (Muslim, Nikah 10; al-Tirmidsi, Radha` 9; al-Darimi, Nikah 31; Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 3:33,341,348,391).