Just a Few Questions for Abdul El-Sayed

I don’t wish to bring up the fact that Abdul El-Sayed reacted to the attempted mass murder of Jews at Temple Israel in Michigan with the statement “hurt people hurt people.” He meant, you see, that the terrorist in question had relatives in the terror group Hezbollah whom the IDF had killed, so that explained — actually justified — his murderous attempt.

Nor do I want to ask Abdul El-Sayed about his half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, who wrote openly about her family’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood in social media posts in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, days after Egypt elected Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi as president, she wrote, “My family has long been MB.” El-Sayed has denied his family has any ties to the Brotherhood, which the American government proscribes as a terror organization.

Nor do I want to rebut El-Sayed’s claim that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza by disaggregating the total number of people who died in the Strip into the Hamas combatants, those who died from accidents and disease, those who died from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad missiles misfiring, and those civilians — less than 1% of the Gazan population — who died as a result of the war.

No. I simply want to ask Abdul El-Sayed a few questions about his Islamic beliefs. After all, Islam is central to his identity, Islam the faith that motivates and guides him. So he surely won’t mind a handful of questions.

Here they are:

#1 Mr. El-Sayed, as I understand it, Muhammad at one point in the Qur’an is described as “uswa hasana” (33:21), that is, the Model of Conduct. And elsewhere in the Traditions he is described as “al-insan al-kamil,” or the Perfect Man. Do you believe that Muhammad remains the Model of Conduct for Muslims? And do you think he was indeed the Perfect Man?

#2. As I am sure you know from the hadith of Al-Bukhari, the most authoritative of the compilers of the most authentic hadith, little Aisha became betrothed to Muhammad when she was six years old. And Muhammad consummated that marriage — that is, had sexual intercourse with her — when she was nine and he was 54. Ever since then many Muslims have followed Muhammad’s example and married girls as young as nine. Do you have any comment on Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha?

#3. In the Qur’an, Muslims read that they are “the best of peoples” (3:110) and that non-Muslims are “the most vile of created beings.” (98:6). Could you comment on those two Qur’anic passages?

#4. In one well-known hadith, Muhammad says that “I have been made victorious through terror.” You can find this statement at Sahih Bukhari ((Hadith 2977) and Sahih Muslim (Hadith 523f), narrated by the companion Abu Huraira. Would you care to comment on Muhammad’s use of terror to achieve victories over his enemies?

#5. In another hadith, Muhammad says that “war is deception.” That can be found in the major canonical Sunni collections of both Al-Bukhari and Muslim, as well as in that of Sunan Abu Dawud. It is attributed to Muhammad through companions such as Abu Hurairah, Jabir ibn Abd Allah, and Ka’b ibn Malik. Do you agree that Muhammad’s own life as a warrior proves the truth of that statement? Can you provide examples of Muhammad’s use of deception?

#6. At various times, Muhammad expressed his desire that he “be rid” of three people who had mocked him. These were the female poetess Asma bint Marwan, the 120-year-old Jewish poet Abu Afak, and a third poet, Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf. Muhammad was infuriated by the verses Asma wrote mocking him, and hearing of his complaint, Umayr ibn Adi al-Khatmi, a blind follower from her same tribe, entered her house at night and killed her with a sword. Muhammad was glad to learn of her death. He was also angry with Abu Afak, who was 120 years old, and said aloud “who will deal with this rascal for me?” Whereupon Salim b. Umayr, one of his followers, went forth and killed him. And then there was Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf, a prominent leader in Medina and a poet of mixed Arab-Jewish descent (associated with the Banu Nadir tribe), whose hostility to the Muslims angered Muhammad. And as with Asma bint Marwan and Abu Afak, Muhammad asked aloud who would deal with Ka’b. Muhammad ibn Maslamah volunteered and, with the Prophet’s approval, used a ruse — approaching Ka’b at night under the pretext of a financial or food transaction to lure him out of his fortress before killing him. Maslamah and his companions brought Ka’b’s head back to Muhammad, who was well pleased.

Now, Abdul — may I call you that? —have you any comment on the deaths of Asma bint Marwan, Abu Afak, and Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf?