Female Infanticide:-
In the Arabian Peninsula where food shortages were not uncommon, the Bedouins controlled their population by killing the newborn females to reduce more births and hence more mouths to feed. Muhammad alludes to this in the following verses:
6: 151 Say:" Come I will rehearse what Allah hath (really) prohibited you from": join not anything as eaqual with Him; be good to your parents; kill not your children on a plea of want, We provide sustenance for you and for them….."
16: 58 When news is brought to one of them of (the birth of) a female (child) his face darkens and he is filled with inward grief!59 With shame does he hide himself from his people because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain it on (sufferance and) contempt or bury it in the dust? Ah! what an evil (choice) they decide on!
# The practice of female infanticide is condemned in scathing terms. Female children used to be buried alive by the Pagan Arabs. It was an evil choice to decide on. Either alternative-to keep the poor girl as a thing of sufferance and contempt, bringing disgrace on the family, or to get rid of it by burying it alive-was cruel and indefensible#
*** The reasoning above is faulty and untrue since it should be noted that Khadija bore Muhammad four girls and two boys - the boys died in infancy - before he became powerful, that is during the "period of ignorance".
Muhammad was obviously not in shame, since he did not kill any of them. The killing of female babies was purely a population control mechanism under severs circumstances only since a female would procreate adding to the mouths to be fed - a greater burden - and is not of assistance to the family as a defender nor as a bread winner unlike the males ***
17:31 Kill not your children for fear of want; We shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you; verily the killing of them is a great sin
#The Arabs were addicted to female infanticide. In a society perpetually at war, a son was a source of strength whereas a daughter was source of weakness. Even now, infanticide is not unknown for economic reasons#
*** The interpreter is only partially correct since a male was preferred as an added help to the father and to protect the family and tribe, none the less, this reason alone could not be the purpose to murder the females of the tribe. Only the inability to sustain the mouths of the tribe - an economic reason - could force the tribe to adopt such an unnatural and extreme measure ***
53: 19 Have ye seen Lat an Uzza 20 And another the third (goddess) Manat?21 What! for you the male sex and for Him the female? 22 Behold such would be indeed a division most unfair
*** If the pagan Arabs despised females so much, they would not have associated with their Allah, the supreme god of the Ka'ba three daughters and no sons.
Khadija would not have been as wealthy and powerful as the Ahadith assert, if females were thought to be so lowly. Female infanticide was purely a very important population control mechanism.
It is one of the great ironies of history, that under Muhammadan Islam, women are treated not much better than donkeys and dogs
Sahih Al-Bukhari HadithHadith 1.493 Narrated byAisha
The things which annul prayer were mentioned before me (and those were): a dog, a donkey and a woman. I said, "You have compared us (women) to donkeys and dogs. By Allah! I saw the Prophet praying while I used to lie in (my) bed between him and the Qibla. Whenever I was in need of something, I disliked to sit and trouble the Prophet. So, I would slip away by the side of his feet." ***
60: 12 O Prophet! when believing women come to thee to take the oath of fealty to thee that they will not associate in worship any other thing whatever with Allah that they will not steal that they will not commit adultery (or fornication) that they will not kill their children that they will not utter slander intentionally forging falsehood and that they will not disobey thee in any just matter then do thou receive their fealty and pray to Allah for the forgiveness (of their sins): for Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.
81: 8 When the female (infant) Buried alive is questioned 9 For what crime she was killed;
*** Since the Ahadith were written by the victorious followers of Muhammad, they portrayed his enemies - the pagan Quraysh especially - as vile, unmerciful, stupid and ignorant people, to make Muhammad and his followers seem superior morally and intellectually.
In reality and based upon the Hadiths themselves, the Pagan Arabs had SUPERIOR morals, loyalties, honour and bravery than Muhammad and his followers ***
