Ehteshaam Gulam Proclaims: Muhammad's Life Was Extremely Offensive!

Recently, our friend Ehteshaam accused Nabeel of making offensive comments about Muhammad. I asked Ehteshaam to provide the offensive comments. He responded:

Sure. Here it is (And I swear to Allah I am not making this up):

"By the way, if you'd like to debate the age of Aisha when Muhammad had SEX with her, I'm sure we can arrange that as well."
-Nabeel Qureshi said this on facebook.

He also said: ..That Muhammad had sex with a 9 year old girl?

I can give more examples but for now this would suffice. If you want print outs of the actual comments I would be more than happy to send them.

These comments are extremely offensive. Imagine if Nabeel said that in front of Muslims, imagine how angry they would get.

This is so offensive: "...when Muhammad had sex with her..."

As a devoted Muslim, I find this highly offensive. I am sure other Muslims will agree with me. Let me ask you question, David Wood. Wouldn't it be better if he said at what age did he MARRY her at? Did he really have to use "sex"? All Nabeel could have said is that "I find Prophet Muhammad marriage to Aisha wrong" or something like that.

So according to Ehteshaam, it's "extremely offensive" to say that Muhammad had sex with a nine-year-old girl. Well, there are two problems here. First, Islam's major collections of ahadith declare that Muhammad had sex with a nine-year-old girl. So if it's offensive for Nabeel to say this, it must also be offensive for everyone from Aisha herself to al-Bukhari to say the same thing.

Moreover, if Ehteshaam finds it offensive to say that Muhammad had sex with a young girl, he must be embarrassed about the fact that Muhammad had sex with Aisha.

But we need to be clear here, Ehteshaam. Nabeel's comments weren't offensive. They reported straightforward factual information taken directly from your most reliable sources. Hence, it's not Nabeel's words that are offensive to you. It's the life of Muhammad that it offensive to you. Why are you still a Muslim?

SOURCES:

Sahih al-Bukhari 3895: “. . . and he consummated that marriage when she was nine years old.”

Sahih al-Bukhari 5133: “. . . and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old.”

Sahih Muslim 3309: “. . . and I was admitted to his house at the age of nine.”

Sahih Muslim 3311: “ . . . and she was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her . . .”

Sunan Abu Dawud 2116: “Aisha said: . . . He had intercourse with me when I was nine years old.”

Sahih al-Bukhari 6130: “Narrated Aishah: ‘I used to play with the dolls in the presence of the Prophet’ . . . It was allowed for Aishah at that time, as she was a little girl, not yet reached the age of puberty.”

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.”

Mary Jo Sharp vs. Ehteshaam Gulam: "Did Jesus Die on the Cross?"

Yes, we've got a girl debater.

Advice to a Young Muslim Apologist--Part One: Avoiding Nadir Ahmed

Our new friend Ehteshaam has decided to be an apologist and a debater. Since several of us on this blog made the same decision years ago, I think we should help Ehteshaam with some advice that may be helpful to him. In this post, I would like to share some thoughts about Nadir Ahmed.

In our recent debate, Ehteshaam recommended Nadir's website as a good source of information about Christianity and Islam. I am not aware of a single meaningful critique of Christianity on Nadir's site, and I've never seen a reasonable defense of Islam by Nadir. Thus, while I understand pointing people to Bassam Zawadi's website for information (Bassam is an excellent apologist), I have no clue why anyone would send people to Nadir's site. (The first time Nabeel visited www.examinethetruth.com, he called me and said he felt like he needed to take a bath afterwards.)

I can only assume that Ehteshaam isn't aware of Nadir's reputation among Christians and Muslims, so I will offer some information.

Nadir attacks any Muslim apologist who is more qualified than he is (and I can't think of a Muslim apologist less qualified than Nadir). For instance, Nadir refers to Shabir Ally (one of Islam's top debaters) as a "dummy." He also says that Shabir is "weak-minded," and that debating Shabir is like debating someone's grandmother!

Nadir is known for his violent tendencies as well. Indeed, Nadir even threatens his fellow Muslims! Consider the following email, in which Nadir threatens to kill Osama Abdallah, a Muslim apologist. Nadir also accuses Osama Abdallah of having a homosexual relationship with Sami Zaatari. (NOTE: I put stars over some words due to Nadir's foul language.)

Osama, you f***ing kaffir.. how dare you insult our Prophet(P) by saying he has a mental disease wallahi, if I ever meet you on the street.... youre done.... and it WILL happen. watch your back. and as for your gay lover Saami, the fact that you support this piece of s**t osama.. the same holds true for you. I have ways and means... I promise u. I have made a screen shot of your defamation of our Prophet(P), so you dont try to hide your kuffar. Thanks, Nadir Ahmed www.ExamineTheTruth.com

(For more on Nadir's violent character, see "Nadir Ahmed, Jihad, and Taqiyya.")

I first met Nadir when we debated in 2006. As I documented here, Nadir deceptively got me to exchange criticisms with him prior to the debate (i.e. he gave me the criticisms he would use against Christianity, and I gave him the criticisms I would use against Islam). This was my first encounter with Taqiyya--the Muslim belief that it's morally acceptable to deceive people in order to defend Islam. When Nadir started debating, he used criticisms that were quite different from the ones he had sent me. (I've found it very difficult to trust Muslim apologists since then.)

Nadir's career as a debater should have officially ended after his crushing defeat at the hands of Sam Shamoun (one of the most one-sided debates in history, as the audience poll shows). Even Muslims were condemning Nadir's performance. In an act of complete desperation, Nadir even came on this blog under a false name and praised his own debate skills! (For more on Nadir's pitiful efforts to defend his poor performance, click here, here, and here.)

Nadir should have retired. Instead, he took a trip to James White's church and challenged James to a debate. When a Muslim comes to your church and challenges you, there isn't much choice. So James debated Nadir, and Nadir failed even more miserably than he did in his debate with Sam. Indeed, in the middle of the debate (on the reliability of the New Testament), Nadir started answering allegations that he has sex with prostitutes! Who thinks like this?

We will be examining Nadir's claims and character more closely in some posts that will follow. But it should be clear to Ehteshaam that associating himself with Nadir is disastrous. Christians regard Nadir as a deceptive, egomaniacal, violent, ignorant man who cares far more about himself than he does about Islam. Many Muslims share this view. Thus, when giving a conclusion, should a young Muslim apologist recommend the works of Nadir Ahmed?

It's one thing to be friends with Nadir. It's something else to say that he's a good apologist or that people should study his writings. Hence, my first piece of advice to Ehteshaam is this: Don't mention your association with Nadir Ahmed. It will only hurt your credibility.

For more on Nadir, visit Answering Islam's page here.