As a steadfast advocate of Islam, I must speak out against the rampant criticisms hurled against our noble faith. In a recent debate, the apostate Nuriyah dared to accuse Islam of “legalizing cheating” due to its allowance for men to practice polygyny. This is far from the first time that liberal minds have launched attacks such as this against a time-honored practice.
Many of us Muslims are quick to point out the hypocrisy of these criticisms, especially in light of the fact that Western countries have recorded a staggering rate of adultery. According to the LA Intelligence Detective Agency, the statistics on this deplorable behavior are extremely alarming:
• 30 to 60 percent of married couples will cheat at least once in the marriage
• 74 percent of men and 68 percent of women admit they’d cheat if it was guaranteed they’d never get caught
• 60 percent of affairs start with close friends or coworkers
• An average affair lasts 2 years
• 69 percent of marriages break up as a result of an affair being discovered
The numbers speak for themselves: anywhere between 30 and 60 percent of married couples will cheat on their spouse at least once during their marriage, while 74 percent of men and 68 percent of women admit they would cheat if it was absolutely certain that they would never be caught. Moreover, 60 percent of affairs are with close friends or coworkers, and on average, an affair lasts two years. Worst of all, 69 percent of marriages collapse due to the discovery of an affair.
But there is an even more egregious irony at play here, and this is that almost all liberal countries have effectively legalized adultery, especially for women. When a wife is caught cheating on her husband and is taken to court, what does she risk? No Western country will exercise punishment against such a woman. In fact, she may win a great deal in divorce proceedings! And yet, these murtadds (apostates), infatuated with Western liberalism, have the audacity to allege that Islam somehow “legalizes cheating.”
As a conservative orthodox Muslim, I am absolutely appalled by the ignorance and hypocrisy of these accusations. It is high time that the Western world confronts its own moral decay before going around pointing fingers at Islam. Let us protect our families, uphold the sanctity of marriage and preserve our cherished traditions.
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Let us now consider Catholicism, which, like Islam, condemns adultery. However, it also prohibits polygyny, a practice that is permitted by Islam under certain conditions. But before Catholics and other detractors of Islam accuse us of condoning adultery, let us examine their own history and practices.
Let me bring to your attention that the saints of the Roman Church actually defended the legalization of prostitution houses as a necessary evil.
Thomas Aquinas, echoing Augustine of Hippo, famously said:
Prostitution in the towns is like the cesspool in the palace: take away the cesspool and the palace will become an unclean and evil-smelling place.
Moreover, Thomas Aquinas, three times in his theological sum, defended the tolerance for prostitution within a Christian kingdom. Given that a significant portion of the clientele of these houses is married men, is this thus not a form of legalized adultery, since it essentially permits adultery?
RELATED: The Pope Says Adultery Not a Serious Sin While Christian Apologist Mocks Hadith
On the other hand, Islam is the last holdout as the only religion that still condemns cheating, a crime which is punished with the death penalty, highlighting its great severity.
It is also crucial to distinguish between fidelity and loyalty, which Islam strongly emphasizes.
Islam does not propagate the idea that a man should remain exclusive to his wife. Instead, Islam enjoins men to be loyal to their wives, which can be achieved by helping them worship their Lord as they ought to; taking care of their physical and emotional needs; spending on them generously; protecting them; and remembering the favors done unto them by their wives.
Allah says in the Qur’an:
But if you divorce them before you have touched them [in intimacy], and you have already determined for them an obligatory dowry, then [give them] half of what you have already determined, unless they grant remission [of it], or the one in whose hand is the marriage contract grants remission [of it]. Yet if you [believers] grant remission [of the full amount], it is, indeed, nearer to [the virtue of] fearing Allah. Thus do not forget benevolence among yourselves. Indeed, Allah is all-seeing of all that you do. (Qur’an, 2:237)
It is truly disappointing that the enemies of Islam continuously sink so low as to try and use criticisms that apply more aptly to themselves. When they tire of accruing failures, they should take some time to introspect and acknowledge their biases against Islam.
Their problem with Islam is not one of any actual substance but merely an emotional disorder.
They should know that it’s never too late for them to go and seek help.
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This was her sheer ignorance of Islam. When couldn’t prove her points, she used this cheap tactic of throwing accusations on Islam and Br. Daniel.
Another dumb off topic criticism she used was the rape in war thing. Well, there are plenty of examples of mass rapes done by atheists and secularists, and those that banned hijab.
For example, the rapes done by the atheists Soviets of Berlin during WW2 and invasion Afghanistan, the rape of Algerian women by the liberal French, and the rape of Syrian women by the Baathist Assadist Nusayris, whose regime is rather secular.
In the West cheating is widespread, legalized and for women it’s even a way to make money by pulling the trigger of the divorce process.In the west women cheat at least 50 times more than men thanks to social media and dating apps(tinder) where they get literally(!) thousands of messages from men in their neighborhood, city, country and even internationally.
The only men in the west that get to cheat that much are only celebrities/politicians/CEOs etc , not even the most physically attractive man can reach the same level of easy access to the opposite gender as the least attractive and morbid overweight woman.
And muslim men from the western world should be aware of this fact, don’t be fooled and be aware of the reality of our current time we got to live.
And this is what they want in the muslim world when they talk about women empowerment.
Show the proof that in the west women cheat more than men. Because all polls and stats say otherwise: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.yourtango.com/heartbreak/55-percent-this-type-men-cheat-in-their-relationships%3famp
I got the impresion that many Muslim men have been brainwashed by western men into thinking western men are opressed. True, feminism is big in the west but western men only support the parts that fit them like abortion and women in the workforce
For starters I’m a western man.
Women cheat much more than men now. The last time men cheated more in the west was during the 90’s.With the advent of the internet, social media and smartphones women cheat much more than men.This goes to the point that the french government prohibits men to make DNA tests to their new born baby’s with the excuse of “maintaining the peace between families”.Thousands of French men cross to neighboring Spain every year to make those DNA tests.
Because they dont want to provide for women and children. If they were actual feminists they Will rally to ban prostitution which is big business in the west. You are basically falling in the far right trap that western men are victims and violence against women only happen in Muslim countries.
What? When did I say that “western men are victims and violence against women only happen in Muslim countries”??
Talking about prostitution, feminists are divided in that matter, the communist leaning ones want too ban it and the others say it empowers women. I don’t understand why you brought that matter? It has nothing to do with the fact that women in the west cheat much more than men, simply because it’s very easy thanks to smartphones-social media.
And how exactly does islam recognize and honor the woman/wife’s emotional state in this case? It seems to me like gaslighting and emotional abuse to tell a woman that “islam does not propagate the idea that a man should remain exclusive to his wife”! How do you expect a 40 year old wife and mother to feel when her husband now has decided to marry a 22 year old???None of you so called knowledgeable imams ever touch on this ugly side of issue. It’s always pushed to the side and ignored. Pathetic.
False dilemma.
It’s not Muslim husband marrying a 22 years old as a second wife vs non-Muslim husband honoring her 40 years old wife.
The more often it’s the former vs non-Muslim husband leaving her wife for a 22 years old woman (if he has wealth) or cheating her 40 years old wife with multiple younger women (when he is relatively poor.)
How is that better than Islamic polygyny?
You dont need to be 40 to get cheated on. When I was in my 20s my former husband cheated on me multiple times, sometimes with older women.
How is it gaslighting and emotional abuse when the right of polygamy has been written explicitly in the law source? The right of Muslim men to marry up to 4 wives (provided that he deals equally and justly to all of them) is explicitly stated in the Qur’an, so if a woman comes in not knowing that right and gets hurt because of it, then she is the one at fault for not informing herself about her husband’s rights.
Statistically 5% of Muslim men are polygynists vs 55% of non Muslim men who cheat on their wives (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.yourtango.com/heartbreak/55-percent-this-type-men-cheat-in-their-relationships%3famp). So statistically, you have more chances of being cheated/dumped by a non Muslim than a Muslim man.