It’s noteworthy that Aalia Suleman is more worried about Islam’s image than about the child victims of pedophilia that is sanctioned by Muhammad’s example, but that is par for the Islamic supremacist course. In reality, Islam’s image is and ought to be tarnished by this arrest, and it ought to become the starting-point for genuine reform — but it won’t. This is because Muhammad’s example sanctifies the abuse of children in this way. The Catholic Church was plagued by pedophile priests who were protected by venal bishops, but at no time did the Church teach that such behavior was acceptable.
By contrast, Ahmad Saleem had every reason to believe, by his lights, that what he was doing was perfectly acceptable, since Muhammad did it. That is what needs to be addressed here, but it won’t be.
Islamic apologists in the West argue furiously that child marriage has nothing to do with Islam, and that the idea that Muhammad married a child is the invention of greasy Islamophobes. In reality, few things are more abundantly attested in Islamic law than the permissibility of child marriage. Islamic tradition records that Muhammad’s favorite wife, Aisha, was six when Muhammad wedded her and nine when he consummated the marriage:
“The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)” (Bukhari 7.62.88).
Another tradition has Aisha herself recount the scene:
The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became Allright, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, “Best wishes and Allah’s Blessing and a good luck.” Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah’s Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age. (Bukhari 5.58.234).
Muhammad was at this time fifty-four years old.
Marrying young girls was not all that unusual for its time, but because in Islam Muhammad is the supreme example of conduct (cf. Qur’an 33:21), he is considered exemplary in this unto today. And so in April 2011, the Bangladesh Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini declared that those trying to pass a law banning child marriage in that country were putting Muhammad in a bad light: “Banning child marriage will cause challenging the marriage of the holy prophet of Islam, [putting] the moral character of the prophet into controversy and challenge.” He added a threat: “Islam permits child marriage and it will not be tolerated if any ruler will ever try to touch this issue in the name of giving more rights to women.” The Mufti said that 200,000 jihadists were ready to sacrifice their lives for any law restricting child marriage.
Likewise the influential website Islamonline.com in December 2010 justified child marriage by invoking not only Muhammad’s example, but the Qur’an as well:
The Noble Qur’an has also mentioned the waiting period [i.e. for a divorced wife to remarry] for the wife who has not yet menstruated, saying: “And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women, if you doubt, then their period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated” [Qur’an 65:4]. Since this is not negated later, we can take from this verse that it is permissible to have sexual intercourse with a prepubescent girl. The Qur’an is not like the books of jurisprudence which mention what the implications of things are, even if they are prohibited. It is true that the prophet entered into a marriage contract with A’isha when she was six years old, however he did not have sex with her until she was nine years old, according to al-Bukhari.
Other countries make Muhammad’s example the basis of their laws regarding the legal marriageable age for girls. Article 1041 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran states that girls can be engaged before the age of nine, and married at nine: “Marriage before puberty (nine full lunar years for girls) is prohibited. Marriage contracted before reaching puberty with the permission of the guardian is valid provided that the interests of the ward are duly observed.”
According to Amir Taheri in The Spirit of Allah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution (pp. 90-91), Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini himself married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight. Khomeini called marriage to a prepubescent girl “a divine blessing,” and advised the faithful to give their own daughters away accordingly: “Do your best to ensure that your daughters do not see their first blood in your house.” When he took power in Iran, he lowered the legal marriageable age of girls to nine, in accord with Muhammad’s example.
“Ahmad Saleem – a paedophile – and the tarnished image of Islam in the US,” by Aalia Suleman, Express Tribune, June 8, 2015:
This week, American Muslims find themselves holding their heads and groaning over the new wave of sneering and jeering coming their way again. The tidal wave was set in motion last week with the arrest of Ahmad Saleem in Florida in a sting operation that busted a major child sex ring.
Saleem was one of the 100 men arrested in attempting to have sex with girls between the ages of 12 and 14. Police officers in Lake and Polk counties in Florida posed as young girls on chat forums to lure in these predators. When Saleem arrived at the arranged house looking to have sex with a 12-year- old, what he found instead was a detective.
What’s horrifying about Saleem is that his long list of credentials include being a former employee of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim youth coordinator not only very well known in the Florida area but also in other states, and the founder of Saleem Academy that focused, most ironically, on the empowerment of Muslim youth. CAIR is the foremost Muslim civil liberties advocacy organisation headquartered in Washington DC with state offices throughout the country and significant impact both within the US and internationally.
The plates on Saleem’s car read “Invest in children”. Though only 22, Saleem had built repute for himself across the country by networking extensively with Muslim community leaders in other states through major Islamic forums such as the Muslim Student Associations (MSA) at colleges and universities, Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), conferences, and interfaith meetings focusing on youth development.
At present, CAIR, most vocal as an ‘organisation that challenges stereotypes of Islam and Muslims’ working on civil liberties anti-defamation cases, finds itself in hot water over the association of an active young community leader in a scandal as perilous as paedophilia. Prior to the arrest, the CAIR website had nothing but glowing words for Saleem that covered nearly an entire page. A paragraph reads,
“Ahmad Saleem is an active community organiser in Orlando, Florida. He is responsible for spreading CAIR Florida’s impact and presence in the Orlando community which includes serving and protecting the civil rights of the community as well as maintaining healthy relationships with other Muslim organisations, non-profit organisations, government entities, and the media. He is the son of Pakistani immigrants. His father, a paediatrician, and his mother, a school teacher, instilled in Ahmad the joy of caring for others and serving them wholeheartedly with love and dedication.”
However, following the arrest, as expected, CAIR immediately removed all mention of Saleem from its website. The Florida CAIR office also issued a general statement stating,
“CAIR Florida is shocked and deeply concerned by the serious crimes Ahmad Saleem is alleged to have committed. We trust in the legal system to hold to full account any and all persons found guilty. CAIR Florida takes the safety and security of the community very seriously and as such we attempt to thoroughly vet any potential employment candidates through standard hiring practices.”
The paedophilia displayed by Saleem is defined as a sustained sexual attraction for children 13 years of age or younger. Despite the reprehensive nature of the crime, paedophilia is classified as a mental disorder according to the American Psychiatric Association. However, although this bars the sentencing from being as strict as many people would like to believe, paedophilia in itself is considered among the most stigmatised of mental disorders. The negative societal attitude towards paedophiles works as a double-edged sword where it not only affects child abuse prevention but also discourages paedophiles from seeking help.
Studies show that societal attitudes towards paedophilia rank it as being more morally deplorable than even homicide. Although paedophiles may get off with less of a punishment than the greater number of population would like, the absolute and irrevocable societal and personal disgrace and condemnation faced by those caught in the act are worse than a double life sentence.
Saleem threw all caution to the wind in behaving in this manner and vilified not only his own reputation but the name of Islam in the process. Since Saleem’s arrest, the parents of the children with whom he had been in contact at the camps he had organised or the youth groups he ran are starting to get concerned over the exact nature of his behaviour and for how long it had gone undetected. In addition to this, there is a violent spew of derogatory and near blasphemous articles on Islam on the web. All articles invariably bring in and taunt Islam, Muslims and the names of CAIR and the other organisations with whom Saleem had been associated even remotely.
Needless to say, given the image of the ‘perfect Muslim’ that he portrayed with his appearance, words and actions, Saleem has managed to garner an unprecedented level of notoriety for all Muslims with his reckless behaviour. Even if paedophilia is his sickness, it is a pity he did not seek help given the fact that he is the son of a paediatrician and holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology himself….
clap says
Can’t use the Islamophobia card on this one. America doesn’t care about race, religion, and all that other stuff when it comes to child molesters. All they see is a scumbag that needs to be removed from society by any means necessary.
mortimer says
Pedophilo-phobia.
Boston Tea Party says
The more I learn about Islam, the more I’m convinced that its highest moral goal is simply the defense and promulgation of Islam itself—indeed, that’s the criteria by which any act is considered moral or immoral by Muslims. Violent jihad and the killing of non-Muslims? If it succeeds in truly advancing Islam, then it’s fine. If it creates bad publicity and hurts the spread of Islam in the West, then it’s bad. That’s the standard by which everything is judged.
dumbledoresarmy says
Yes.
Indeed, one Hugh Fitzgerald, a very learned gentleman who used to post here often, some years ago – and contributed excellent articles just as Raymond Ibrahim does today – stated on more than one occasion that in Islam the *real* object of worship is Islam itself. And *that* boils down to …the Ummah, the Mohammedan Mob. Malignant narcissism and megalomania.
mortimer says
The real object of Islam is the emolument of the rulers.
mortimer says
Mohammed the perfect man was a PEDOPHILE,
so PEDOPHILIA is normative Islam, rather than an aberration.
gravenimage says
Absolutely true, Boston Tea Party.
The only question as to “morality” in Islam is whether it aids the spread of Islam itself, and whether it was practiced by the baleful “perfect man” Muhammed.
The *only* time decent Infidel morality ever factors in to things is if—as here—it makes Islam “look bad”, in which case it is the appearance and the inconvenient disapproval from influential Kuffar which is the issue, not the ugliness of Islam itself.
And this only holds where the opinion of the Infidel matters, as in the free West—where supremacist Muslims hold full sway, as in the Islamic State, we see *exactly* in what esteem they hold non-Muslim opinions of Islam—none at all, and they are “free” to abuse and brutalize Infidels without compunction.
Angemon says
I guess they’re regretting cracking all those jokes at Catholic’s expenses, eh?
That’s a Dateline Episode I’d love to see.
“Former” employee? Until his arrest was made public, CAIR’s site listed him as still working with them, even though he supposedly left CAIR in April.
Hamas-linked CAIR was designed as a terrorist group by the United Arab Emirates. CAIR has taken Saudi money, and constantly uses the blunt hammer of “islamophobia” to denigrate and try to silence the critics of “extremist” islam, all while portraying itself as the leading “moderate” group. For further information, I recommend the book “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America by Paul David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry.
Hindsight 20/20
Kepha says
Forgive my cynicism, but I see in Saleem a new EmCeePeeCee hero in the making–“Third World” and sexual deviant all in one. “Invest in childdren”–oh, how wonderful it sounds! Why, it makes me think of the ponytailed creeps who used to infest Bangkok knowing they were dying of HIV/AIDS and seeking partners as young as they could find them, all the while telling themselves they were “helping poor people”. Maybe it will take someone non-white and of non-Christian heritage to get the EmCeePeeCee screechers to realize that “children are sensual beings who respond to and can give physical love” or some other such claptrap.
Hey, they’ve put Harvey Milk on a postage stamp and show laudatory films on him to my school’s students in their “health” class–when the guy preyed on teenaged runaways ins San Francisco. What with the pressure not only to recognize but embrace active teenaged sexuality, maybe the only thing that will keep the incarcerated RC pedo priests from gaining media sympathy is that they were RC priests.
As for the image of Islam, much that the non-cynic in Uncle Kepha sees Saleem as an utter creep, I think Islam’s image problem is much, much bigger. Let’s take the cleansing of Christians from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and the PA for starters–coming as it is on the not so temporally distant cleansing of the Jews from Middle Eastern lands where they’d been resident far longer than Arabic was written. For another, let’s look at Islam’s penchant for strongman rule, evident since the days of that highly successful Hijazi warlord Muahmmad ibn Abdallah ibn Muttalib. Let’s look also at the bigoted savagery of mobs in Pakistan and other Muslim-majority countries; the utter lack of conscience in penalizing religious minorities for “blasphemy” whenever someone covets a poor widow’s meager holdings; the frank and open misogyny that begets honor killings, FGM, and second-class status for women; the division of the world into the realms of Islam and those of war, meaning the latter are legitimate targets of violence and predation; the utter unwillingness to consider that members of the house of Islam may actually be morally in the wrong in their dealings with Kufr; the general blur of violence that is the history of the Islamic lands; a “morality” that seems to be no more than blessing the lusts of dominant males in the community; a vicious suppression of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which Muhammad claimed to continue and which Muslims excuse themselves from reading; the propensity for treating guest workers as chattel….
Kepha says
I’m actually going to express a tiny smidgeon of sympathy for Saleem–even though I believe him a creepy criminal. I’ve had young students try to flirt with me, even though I am old, fat, and no longer handsome.
I teach high school, and frankly admit that teenaged girls are just about the most physically beautiful of God’s creatures. If they weren’t, the human race wouldn’t propagate. Unhappily, a lot of these students come from circles where the measure of a man lies in his “conquests”; a female’s security comes from her attachment to someone who seems to be in a position of being a good protector and provider. For some, an over-aged US citizen with a decent job would be both the provider for any children who come along, and the way to documented residence–especially since that is the route some of their mothers have taken. The popular culture encourages sexuality. The girls who run away to live with boyfriends (usually slightly older) are admired as brave and progressive (rather than sconed as selling themselves way too cheaply). Add to this “emancipated” minors who end up some of the most exploitable beings out there. On the other side of fence, should a boy become the “victim” of a female teacher’s statutory rape, he will certainly boast of it to an admiring and envious peer group. Hence, if I tutor after school, I’ll let some other teacher on the floor know what’s going on, and keep the door open. At times, I’ve had to turn on the grouchy, middle-aged male teacher persona and remind girls that I am married, extremely old-fashioned, not touchy-feely, and that my interest in them is their academic progress. I have even had to nip in the bud flirting during class time itself.
In Saleem’s case, you have a young man full of testosterone, and a religion that doesn’t teach him to contain it around Kufr females (booty, after all). While I recognize that there are groups out there who groom Kufr girls for rape, and for all I know Saleem may run in such circles, I also accept that there are a few little Lolitas out there who’ll try to entice a man. No, don’t let Saleem off the hook. But perhaps one of the worst things about Islam in the West is that it brings in a culture that will exploit and increase some of the sordidness out there.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
Man, I should be in the PR business, cuz I knew instantly what the Hoop and the other guys over at CAIR should do on this one: issue a press release informing the news entertainers that the Holy Prophet Mohammed himself was a pedophile, and Aalia Suleman was (is) only following his faith in this great nation based on the freedom of religion.
Yeah, Spencer noted the same in his report above, but I’m claiming intellectual rights one this and plan to file a business process patent on it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
S.P. DSilva says
You are right Sir ! I feel the same
Kepha says
Groan. I get your gist, Alaramed.
Tell ya what. We’ll form Kepha and Alarmed–better yet, K&A Associates to write PR. You take your tack and sell it for CAIR’s Saudi money. I’ll take another tack.
I’ll use the creep’s Third World credentials, and do a piece linking child sexuality with quaint cultural practices, and call on this rapidly changing world to recognize a child’s need for sexual contact, blahblahblah and frame in terms of “children’s rights” and Third Worlders rights. I’m sure there’s a sexologists or something out there who can provide scientific evidence that there are benefits to pedophilia.
Oops. The cops are calling. I didn’t scribble in SARC fast enoguh! Bye, guys! They’re coming to take me away, ha-ha!
mortimer says
We know pedophilia is an abuse of power. The perpetrator wants to dominate someone helpless.
Since Allah did not raise the bar to adult monogamy, Islam is immoral, detrimental to a girl’s emotional well-being. Mohammed’s delusion was that ‘god’ told him to do something immoral, psychiatric and extremely harmful. Therefore, Islam is false.
Linde Barrera says
I have to ponder this point: as a “Muslim youth coordinator”, did this creepy dirt bag Saleem get any pedagogical training? Whenever a person decides and commits to the noble calling of teacher of children, pre-K through 12th grade, that person learns in the first lesson of Education 101: “DO NO HARM”. And your professor will admonish you to “get professional help” if you even remotely think you may be a possible pedophile. So being a “Muslim youth coordinator” what steps did this creepy Saleem take to safeguard himself from anything like this happening between him and innocent children? I hope he gets lots of jailtime, and when he gets out, that he must not be allowed to work with children again. Enough is enough.
ECAW says
“The paedophilia displayed by Saleem is defined as a sustained sexual attraction for children 13 years of age or younger. Despite the reprehensive nature of the crime, paedophilia is classified as a mental disorder according to the American Psychiatric Association.”
This is interesting. Do the APA not realise what they’re saying about Mohammed? There’ll be trouble!
Kepha says
The APA will change its tune. They not so long ago came out in favor of the LGBT meme.
Grumpyoldguy says
Islam does have an image problem, and his name is Mohammad. This stooge is a low level annoyance by comparison. If all good Muslims must follow Mohammad and how he lived, then Mohammad is the albatross around Islam’s neck.
Across the span of human history, God has only spoken to a handful of prophets. Men like Abraham, Noah, Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and others. His last prophet was His Son, Jesus Christ. All of them heard directly from God himself.
There is one so called prophet absent from that chosen group, and he started his own religion. He did not hear from God directly. He allegedly got his information from the angel Gabriel. While Muslims say Christ is in heaven with God, they also acknowledge that Mohammad is buried in a hole in the ground.
As a Christian, I claim Christ as my true prophet. Just as Islam does with Mohammad. Let’s have a discussion about what Jesus said and did versus what Mo said and did. Only one of them speaks for God, and it’s not Mohammad.
Since Mo is the lynchpin for believing in the Qu’ran, I think it’s high time for a debate about his lack of credentials in the prophet category. He fails every test. Kill the myth of Mohammad and Islam must die out.
Michael Copeland says
There is a useful 12 minute video which uses only the source texts:
Answers 03 | Jesus vs Muhammad – YouTube
▶ 12:44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajfs7Tp35rQ
Kepha says
Back into serious mode.
Don’t forget that Jesus is king and priest as well as prophet.
Still, your idea’s a good one, Michael, even if it’s cropped up here a number of times before.
David-Paul Newton-Scott says
The ‘profit’ determined she was not yet ready for consummation, how how did he determine that kind of creepy in itself. Ever the practical man he invents thighing Mufa’kathat yeah we should talk a lot more about that ask Anjem Chowdray about that one the next time he is on a chat show.
Keith Jordan says
Your letter is impossible to figure out. Please learn to write. “Thighing” is not a word.
gravenimage says
This isn’t “impossible to figure out” if you anything about Islam.
The practice of thighing—Mufa’ Khathat—is rife in Islam. It involves a full-grown Muslim rubbing his penis between an infant or toddler’s thighs until ejaculation—it is usually practiced on children so tiny that they cannot be successfully vaginally or anally raped.
shrugger says
No it doesn’t tarnish Terror designated CAIR’s reputation at all. It’s exactly what we expect of them.
QuiCreva says
FYI: Khomeini was 28 yrs. old when he married a child. She was 10 at the time, not 12. Khomeini considered marriage to a pre-pubescent girl to be a “divine blessing”, so wonderful that he urged fathers to marry off their daughters before they had their first menses. Around the world millions of devout Muslim men agree with the ayatollah, which is why we continually hear stories of 8 year-old Muslim brides bleeding to death on their wedding nights.
As for Saleem – is any one really surprised? He is simply imitating Muhammad. I agree with Grumpyoldguy that Muhammad is the albatross around Islam’s neck. The entire religion is balanced precariously upon Mo’s credentials as a prophet, and he has NONE. “The wages of sin is death”, which is why Jesus is alive in Heaven and Muhammad is in a hole in the ground. Time to take the imposter down, permanently. It shouldn’t be difficult, either, since all we have to do is tell the truth about the “prophet” as illustrated in all the most trusted Islamic sources.