Taking Bill O'Reilly To School (Yet Again)

Despite being regularly pilloried by the Left for being a "right-wing nutjob", Fox News' Bill O'Reilly has pretty consistently shown himself to be willfully clueless about Islam.

This was demonstrated again yesterday during a segment on O'Reilly's show about the alleged rape of a Libyan woman by Muammar Gaddafi's forces. O'Reilly interviews Wafa Sultan, a former Muslim of Syrian origin, and author of A God Who Hates. Sultan appropriately pointed out that under Islamic law, rape is essentially legalised and encouraged due to the fact that four male witnesses are required to testify to a sexual assault on a woman. Failure to present these four witnesses will result in the victim being accused of adultury and quite possibly stoned to death.

O'Reilly responded incredulously, stating: "I find it hard to believe that the Prophet Muhammad would preach a religious doctrine where women can be abused at any time by any Muslim man and the man can be not held accountable in heaven or hell."

Well Bill...believe it.

Start with this hadith, taken from Sahih Bukhari, the collection of Muhammad's traditions considered most sacred and reliable by Muslims. Read it all to get the full story, but here it is in summary: Muhammad's favourite wife Aisha - who also happened to be pre-pubescent, by the way - was accused of adultery, and because Muhammad did not like this, he received a "revelation" from Allah which exonerated her, and scolded her accusers for not producing four witnesses. This admonition remains in the Qur'an to this day: “Why did they not produce four witnesses? Since they produce not witnesses, they verily are liars in the sight of Allah.” (24:13)

This set the precedent in Islamic law that four male witnesses are required in order to justify an accusation of rape. The Hedaya, an important Islamic legal manual that is used today in Pakistan's sharia courts, says: “The evidence required in a case of whoredom [Arabic: Zina, meaning fornication or adultery] is that of four men, as has been ordained in the Qur'an, and the testimony of a woman in such case is not admitted”.

As many as 75% of women in prison in Pakistan are there because they were victims of rape. When the Musharraf government considered modernising these rape laws in 2006, a group of furious Islamic clerics protested. They demanded that the new law be withdrawn, since it would turn Pakistan into a “free-sex zone”. They insisted that the law was “against the teachings of Islam”, and that it had only been passed to appease the West.

Further evidence that Muhammad condoned and even encouraged rape can also be found in the following hadith, in which Muhammad permits his soldiers to rape female war captives, reassuring them that Allah will not allow the women to become pregnant and that therefore his men don't have to withdraw before ejaculation:

“We went out with Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) on the expedition to the Banu al-Mustaliq and took captive some excellent Arab women; and we desired them, for we were suffering from the absence of our wives, (but at the same time) we also desired ransom for them. So we decided to have sexual intercourse with them but by observing 'azl (Withdrawing the male sexual organ before emission of semen to avoid conception). But we said: We are doing an act whereas Allah's Messenger is amongst us; why not ask him? So we asked Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him), and he said: It does not matter if you do not do it, for every soul that is to be born up to the Day of Resurrection will be born.” (Muslim b.8, no.3371)

Then there is also divine permission given by the "Prophet" Muhammad for marital rape: “If a husband calls his wife to his bed [i.e. to have sexual relation] and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning.” (Bukhari v.4, b.54, no.460).

And all that's just for starters, Bill. You won't like the main course.