One day, I boarded a train to travel to my destination. After a while, a man sat down beside me; he looked like a religious scholar. He wore a cap on his head and a beard without a mustache. He kept glancing in my direction.
When I asked him why he was looking at me, he replied that I seemed to be following the culture of non-believers. According to him, the Prophet Muhammad had instructed Muslims not to adopt the customs of unbelievers.
Moulvi: You look like someone from a Muslim household, but your clothing and hairstyle make you appear like a non-Muslim.
Me: Moulvi Sahib, the long robe you’re wearing is also worn by non-Muslim Arabs. And the beard you have is common among Jewish and Christian clerics as well. Why do you feel so much hostility toward non-Muslims?
Moulvi: We are the community of the final prophet, so it is obligatory for us to follow what he taught. Allah has forbidden friendship with Jews and Christians in the Qur’an.
Me: Moulvi Sahib, why do you consider Muhammad a prophet? What evidence do you have that he truly was one?
Moulvi: The proof is Allah’s Book, the Qur’an, where Allah calls Muhammad His prophet. The greatest proof of his prophethood is the Qur’an itself.
Me: And what is the proof that the Qur’an is the book of the Creator?
Moulvi: The angel Gabriel brought it to Muhammad. The Prophet said it was the word of Allah, and therefore we believe it.
Me: What proof do you have that Allah exists?
Moulvi: The proof is the Prophet Muhammad, for it is the duty of Muslims to follow him without question. We believe in Allah without needing any proof.
Me: What kind of person was the Prophet Muhammad?
Moulvi: Our prophet is the greatest human being of all time; Allah has never sent a better person to this earth.
Me: Moulvi Sahib, how many children do you have?
Moulvi: I have two daughters. One is six years old and the other is nine.
Me: If a friend your age came to you and said that Allah had shown him your daughter in a dream, and that he wanted to marry your six-year-old daughter — what would you do?
Moulvi: Impossible. That could never happen. I could never give my six-year-old child in marriage to a middle-aged man. She is far too young; she is not of marriageable age.
Me: And if a fifty-year-old man were to marry a six-year-old girl — how would you view that?
Moulvi: How should I see it? That would be nothing less than sexual abuse of a minor. I would certainly call it child rape.
Me: Moulvi Sahib, according to a hadith in Sahih Bukhari, Muhammad married the daughter of his friend Abu Bakr, Aisha, when she was six years old — what would you call the Prophet Muhammad then?
His eyes turned red. He seemed to grow angry, unable to respond to my question. After a moment, he stood up and got off the train.
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