Much have been said about sex in Islam lately, from both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. This came about when Yeo Bee Yin, the state assemblywoman for Damansara Utama championed a campaign on rape awareness with the tagline, “Without her consent, it is rape. No excuse.” This is seen by some as an attack on Islam where there is no such thing as marital rape. No, there is no such thing as a marital rape in Islam, but there are guidelines on the sexual relationship between husbands and wives. The Quran has more than 20 verses outlining the dos and don’ts between husbands and wives. While the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has been quoted as saying that a wife has to submit to a husband’s sexual needs even while they are riding the back of a camel as mentioned by the Mufti of Perak, Islam recognizes the women’s need for love, affection and foreplay. Imam Ibn al-Qayyim reported in his famous “Tibbun Nabawi” that the Prophet (pbuh) forbade in engaging in sexual intercourse before foreplay (al-Tibb an-Nabawi 183, from Jabir ibn Abdullah).
The issue above has caught the attention of many up to the point that non-Muslims are ridiculing Muslims and Islamic practices on the social media. What drove Yeo Bee Yin, a Christian with known affiliation to the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, to come up with such a campaign tagline is beyond me. A simpler “Protect Women From Rape“, or “Say No To Rape“, or “Women Expect Men To Protect Them From Rape” would have been more acceptable, instead of creating the perception that Muslims are barbarians whose main reason of existence is to be able to cum as many times as they can in a day. Perhaps, in her subtle way, Bee Yin was trying to undermine the sanctity of Islam as the Religion of the Federation as stipulated in the Federal Constitution of Malaysia. I will let you decide that on your own. Maybe Bee Yin et al should also highlight what else God had said about sexual intercourse and how barbaric a religion can be:
1. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. (Remember women, you are your husband’s property)
2. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.
3. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. (So, wives should not say no to sexual advances by the husbands).
4. The sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine (if you follow this, no semen would have penetrated by 4cm).
5. If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. (Death to gay men).
6. Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves. (Young girls? Is this Islamic? Oh, but Muhammad married a child!)
Now from which verses of the Quran did I pick those up?
1. 1 Corinthians 7:4
2. Proverbs 5:18-19
3. 1 Corinthians 7:5
4. 1 Timothy 1:10
5. Leviticus 20:13
6. Numbers 31:17-18
Perhaps the Christian Evangelists want to have a look at their own backside backyard first before commenting on others’? Once that is done then Bee Yin can again congratulate Allah’s soldiers.
STOP USING RELIGION TO MASK YOUR POLITICAL AMBITIONS, YEO BEE YIN!