Bill Clinton: 'Prophet would have let wife behind wheel'

The Times of India ^ | January 19 2004 | Reuters

[knighthawk]

JEDDAH: Former US President Bill Clinton urged Saudi Arabia on Monday to push ahead with reforms, saying the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom could not fight the "tide of change".

In a challenge to traditionalists in the birthplace of Islam, where women cannot drive and say they are marginalised, Clinton said if cars had been around 1,400 years ago Prophet Mohammad would have let his wife get behind the wheel.

"He probably would have made Saudi Arabia the first automobile producing nation on earth and put her in charge of the business," Clinton told a conference in Saudi Arabia 's Red Sea city of Jeddah .

He was warmly applauded by women delegates, covered in black robes, or abayas, and segregated from men by a screen running the length of the conference hall.

The world's biggest oil exporter, facing a wave of militant violence and growing economic challenges, has embarked on a programme of cautious reform despite fierce opposition from some powerful religious figures.

Clinton said Saudi Arabia had to address ways of broadening political participation in the absolute monarchy "without compromising your faith and culture".

Saudi policy "cannot be based in the long run on fighting change because you cannot fight the tide of change," he said.

Economists say women make up more than half the graduates from Saudi universities but just five percent of the work force.

Saudi Arabia 's Crown Prince Abdullah has promised limited reforms, including municipal elections later this year, although no date has been set and the government has yet to say if women will be allowed to vote.

Saudi Arabia is also battling a wave of Muslim militant attacks -- blamed on Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network -- that killed more than 50 people in attacks on foreign compounds in the Saudi capital Riyadh last year.

Al-Qaeda has also been blamed for the September 2001 attacks in the United States -- carried out by hijackers who were mostly Saudis -- which strained relations between Riyadh and Washington .

US critics say Saudi Arabia 's austere Wahhabi Islam and school curricula breed intolerance and provide a permissive environment for militancy in the kingdom.

Clinton , describing what he said was a "tug-of-war" between "an old order and a new world" in the country, called for education "which does not exclude religion but includes science, technology and political science".

The former president also proposed Saudi Arabia switch some of its overseas aid, which is partly channelled through religious charities accused of terror links, to practical projects providing drinking water in poorer Muslim countries.

[The Old Hoosier]

...and if we really want to make them hate us, we could send him there permanently.

[Mr. Mojo]

He was warmly applauded by women delegates

Simply trolling for a harem.

[Monty22]

Ouch, asking for a fatwa..

Not too bright there toon

[smith288]

Clinton would love it there.... He can sleep with as many women as possible and he wont get blamed. The women would be the one getting stoned. Clinton would be in heaven.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Well, he's saying some things that need to be said. The messenger may be a buffoon, but the message is good - and something Saudi Arabia needs to hear and take heed of.

[Steel Wolf]

Muhammed would have let a nine year old drive a car?

[Tijeras_Slim]

Ouch, asking for a fatwa..

He thought they said Fat One, and had fond memories of Monica.

[RightOnline]

Yeah, Bill, I'm sure you'll just charm 'em all right out of centuries of tradition and religious dogma. Golly but yer da berries, Bill. Can hear the swooning now.

[smith288]

Muhammed would have let a nine year old drive a car?

*highhat*

[smith288]

Muhammed would have let a nine year old drive a car?

*highhat*

[LS]

" . . . prophet would have let his wife behind the wheel."

Which one? He had four. One was 12. Do you want a 12-year-old behind the wheel?

[knighthawk]

Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 122
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "If a woman spends the night deserting her husband's bed (does not sleep with him), then the angels send their curses on her till she comes back (to her husband)."

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/062.sbt.html#007.062.122

Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 54, Number 460
Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Apostle said, "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."

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/054.sbt.html#004.054.460

Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 33
Narrated Usama bin Zaid:
The Prophet said, "After me I have not left any affliction more harmful to men than women."

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/062.sbt.html#007.062.033

Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 31
Narrated Ibn 'Umar:
Evil omen was mentioned before the Prophet: The Prophet said, "If there is evil omen in anything, it is in the house, the woman and the horse."

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/062.sbt.html#007.062.031

Sahih Bukhari Volume 2, Book 18, Number 161
..... I also saw the Hell-fire and I had never seen such a horrible sight. I saw that most of the inhabitants were women." The people asked, "O Allah's Apostle! Why is it so?" The Prophet replied, "Because of their ungratefulness." It was asked whether they are ungrateful to Allah. The Prophet said, "They are ungrateful to their companions of life (husbands) and ungrateful to good deeds. If you are benevolent to one of them throughout the life and if she sees anything (undesirable) in you, she will say, 'I have never had any good from you.' "

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/018.sbt.html#002.018.161

Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 6, Number 301
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:
Once Allah's Apostle went out to the Musalla (to offer the prayer) o 'Id-al-Adha or Al-Fitr prayer. Then he passed by the women and said, "O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women)." They asked, "Why is it so, O Allah's Apostle ?" He replied, "You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you." The women asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?" He said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn't it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?" The women replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her religion."

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/006.sbt.html#001.006.301

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[knighthawk]

He had 9 at a certain time, and he married Aisha when she was 6.

[dixierat22]

It's presumptuous and arrogant of WJC to think that he would know how the Prophet would think at any time and under any condition. Were I Islamic, I would have been highly insulted. It's no different than if he had tried to say what Jesus would have thought about any thing.

[Bobby777]

the Saudis don't want women to drive, have their faces uncovered or think ... they won't touch a pregnant woman and old king Faisal wanted to make sure no women was controlling his plane when it landed in the USA some time back ... yeah, I imagine this won't be too well-received by the Saudis ...

[VOA]

Clinton said if cars had been around 1,400 years ago Prophet Mohammad would have
let his wife get behind the wheel.

Then The Prophet would have taken care of the insolent wife with one quick
sweep of some Damascus steel to her neck.

[avg_freeper]

Clinton: "The first muslim president"

[Cultural Jihad]

It's almost humorous to think that Bill Clinton, who renounced his moral authority, is lecturing Muslims on right and wrong.