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Muhammad's Urine Fixation

Over and over again, when reading through the Hadith collections, I found myself reading about urine, and urination. So, I've decided to compile all of Muhammad's teachings on the topic, as they are strange, and they exemplify the bizarre kinds of things that any reader of the Hadith will have to endure.

Torment in the Grave because of Urine

Muhammad taught that before the final judgment, there is the potential to be tormented while awaiting in your grave, something called The Punishment of the Grave:

Sahih al-Bukhari 1372

Narrated Masruq:
Aisha said that a Jewess came to her and mentioned the punishment in the grave, saying to her, "May Allah protect you from the punishment of the grave." Aisha then asked Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) about the punishment of the grave. He said, "Yes, (there is) punishment in the grave." `Aisha added, "After that I never saw Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) but seeking refuge with Allah from the punishment in the grave in every prayer he prayed."

The fact that Muhammad himself was terrified of being punished in the grave, as mentioned above, is covered in another article, but there are a few narrations in which, puzzlingly, he says that most of this torment is a result of urine:

Sunan Ibn Majah 348

It was narrated that Abu Hurairah said:
"The Messenger of Allah said: 'Most of the torment of the grave is because of urine.'"

This teaching is reiterated in Sunan an-Nasai 1345. What does it mean, though?

Well, there is a story which is repeated very often in the Hadith, which relays an instance of the Punishment of the Grave because of allowing oneself to be soiled with urine:

Sahih al-Bukhari 216

Narrated Ibn Abbas:
Once the Prophet, while passing through one of the graveyards of Medina or Mecca heard the voices of two persons who were being tortured in their graves. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "These two persons are being tortured not for a major sin (to avoid)." The Prophet (ﷺ) then added, "Yes! (they are being tortured for a major sin). Indeed, one of them never saved himself from being soiled with his urine, while the other used to go about with calumnies (to make enmity between friends). The Prophet (ﷺ) then asked for a green leaf of a date-palm tree, broke it into two pieces and put one on each grave. On being asked why he had done so, he replied, "I hope that their torture might be lessened, till these get dried."

This is also narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari 216, 218, 1361, 1378, 6052, 6055, Sahih Muslim 292a, Sunan Abi Dawud 20, Sunan Ibn Majah 347, 349, Sunan an-Nasai 31, 2068, 2069, and Jami at-Tirmidhi 70.

From the above, we see that Muhammad hears two people being tortured in the grave, one of which was due to him not being careful to not soil himself with urine. Luckily, Muhammad alleviates their suffering for a few days, until the leaf that he placed over their grave dries out.

Therefore, to begin, we learn that one of the most important things for Muslims to do is to utterly avoid soiling oneself with urine. Men with prostate cancer? Too bad. One of the dozens of other medical problems that can cause incontinence? Too bad. Figure it out, or you too may very well find yourself tormented in the grave because of urine.

Satan Urinating in One's Ears

The following excerpts are rather self-explanatory:

Sahih al-Bukhari 1144

Narrated Abdullah:
A person was mentioned before the Prophet (ﷺ) and he was told that he had kept on sleeping till morning and had not got up for the prayer. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Satan urinated in his ears."

Sahih Muslim 774

Abdullah bin Mas'ud reported that a mention was made of a man who slept the whole night till morning. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked:
That is a man in whose ears the devil urinated.

This is also narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari 3270, Sunan an-Nasai 1608, 1609, and Sunan Ibn Majah 1330.

When reading the above, it may be tempting to think that Muhammad was simply insulting the man, or being sarcastic, rather than actually attributing the man's missing prayer to the Devil urinating in his ears.

However, Muhammad is the same one who said that the Devil:

  • Resides in your nose at night (Sahih al-Bukhari 3295, Sahih Muslim 238)
  • Ties three knots at your neck when you sleep (Sahih al-Bukhari 1142, Sahih Muslim 776)
  • Circulates in the bodies of people (Sahih al-Bukhari 2038)
  • Causes people to yawn, then enters them while they yawn (Sahih al-Bukhari 3289, 6223, Sahih Muslim 2995a-c)
  • Touches the body of every newborn baby with two fingers (Sahih al-Bukhari 3286, 3431, Sahih Muslim 2366a-c)
  • Is the cause of bad dreams (Sahih al-Bukhari 3292, 6984-86, 6995, 7005, Sahih Muslim 2261a)
  • Is the cause of donkeys braying (Sahih al-Bukhari 3303, Sahih Muslim 2729)
  • Prefers bells as a musical instrument (Sahih Muslim 2114)
  • Can be thwarted by a closed door at nightfall (Sahih al-Bukhari 3304, Sahih Muslim 2012e)
  • Does not untie a water-skin, open a door, or uncover a vessel (Sahih Muslim 2012a, Sunan Ibn Majah 3410, Jami at-Tirmidhi 1812)
  • Snatches items away at night (Sahih al-Bukhari 3316)
  • Eats with his left hand, therefore you must not do so (Sahih Muslim 2019)
  • Eats bones and animal dung (Sahih al-Bukhari 3860)
  • Eats food dropped on the ground (Sahih Muslim 2033b-d, 2034)
  • Farts loudly whenever the call to prayer is made (Sahih al-Bukhari 608, 1222, 1231, 3285)
  • And finally, was even captured briefly on different occasions by Muhammad (Sahih al-Bukhari 461, 1210, 3423), and Abu Huraira (Sahih al-Bukhari 3275)

So, in light of these other anthropomorphisms, and descriptions of Satan's activity, we are compelled to take Muhammad literally when he says Satan pees in people's ears.

Camel Urine as Medicine

One of the most prolific Hadith in the Sunnah is an account of some Beduins who were not accustomed to the local climate coming to Muhammad, and him prescribing medicine for them to recover:

Sahih al-Bukhari 6802

Narrated Anas:
Some people from the tribe of `Ukl came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and embraced Islam. The climate of Medina did not suit them, so the Prophet (ﷺ) ordered them to go to the (herd of milch) camels of charity and to drink their milk and urine (as a medicine). They did so, and after they had recovered from their ailment (became healthy) they turned renegades (reverted from Islam) and killed the shepherd of the camels and took the camels away. The Prophet (ﷺ) sent (some people) in their pursuit and so they were (caught and) brought, and the Prophets ordered that their hands and legs should be cut off and that their eyes should be branded with heated pieces of iron, and that their cut hands and legs should not be cauterized, till they die.

This account is narrated an incredible amount of times, also appearing in Sahih al-Bukhari 233, 1501, 3018, 4192, 4610, 5686, 5727, 6804, 6805, 6899, Sahih Muslim 1671a-c, Sunan Ibn Majah 2578, 3503, Sunan an-Nasai 305, 306, 4024-25, 4027-32, 4034-35, Sunan Abi Dawud 333, 4364, and Jami at-Tirmidhi 72, 1845, 2042.

In the account, we see that the men are recommended camel's milk and urine as medicine by Muhammad. The men later turn out to be evil, and Muhammad has them killed in a truly horrific, appalling way.

While the whole story is bizarre, Muslims must explain why Muhammad recommended the men drink poison as medicine. Camel's urine, as all urine, is poisonous, as urine is an animal expelling toxins and waste products from its body. All urine has bacteria. No non-Muslim doctor on earth recommends you drink urine, especially the urine of another species. That's a way diseases hop from one species to another:

Are There Health Benefits to Drinking Urine? - WebMD

Despite the common myth, urine is not sterile. It contains bacteria just like any other bodily excretion. Depending on the method for gathering urine, it may also contain bacteria introduced from the genitalia of the urine source. Some of these bacteria can lead to serious infections. Drinking any type of urine can cause serious health problems unless it has been sterilized separately.

Your urinary system specifically works to remove toxic substances from your body. When dangerous substances start to build up in your body, urine is one of the primary methods used to remove them. Anything your kidneys filter out of your body winds up in your urine to be removed. By drinking urine, you are consuming these toxins that your body explicitly intended to remove. This can lead to kidney damage or disease as these organs need to work harder to handle the increased concentration of toxic substances.

Miscellaneous Urine Hadith

The following is a list of other Hadith covering Muhammad's teachings about urine and urination:

  • You cannot urinate in the direction of the Qibla, or with your back to it
    • Sahih al-Bukhari 144, 394, Sahih Muslim 262a, Sunan Ibn Majah 317, 319-21, Sunan Abi Dawud 7, 9-10, Sunan an-Nasai 20-21, 41, Jami at-Tirmidhi 8, 16
    • Muhammad was caught violating this rule - Sahih al-Bukhari 145, 148, 149, Sunan Ibn Majah 325, Sunan Abi Dawud 13, Jami at-Tirmidhi 9-10
  • You cannot perform prayer while you have to urinate
    • Sunan Ibn Majah 617-619, Jami at-Tirmidhi 357
  • You cannot touch your penis with your right hand while peeing
    • Sahih al-Bukhari 5630, Sahih Muslim 267a, Sunan an-Nasai 24, Sunan Ibn Majah 310, Sunan Abi Dawud 31
  • You must squeeze your penis three times to remove extra urine when you are done peeing
    • Sunan Ibn Majah 326
  • Muhammad beckoned a man to come over to him while he was peeing
    • Sahih al-Bukhari 225, Sahih Muslim 273b
  • Muhammad urinated while squatting down, and may have forbade urinating while standing
    • Sunan Ibn Majah 307-309, 346, Sunan an-Nasai 29-30, Sunan Abi Dawud 22, Jami at-Tirmidhi 12
  • Muhammad may have said that you cannot urinate in a pit, because that is where Jinn live
    • Sunan Abi Dawud 29, Sunan an-Nasai 34

Conclusion

Muhammad, being the control-freak of a false prophet that he was, regulated every aspect of his followers' lives, including their urination. He taught bizarre things about urine, as well as what would happen to his followers if they failed to obey, all of which is entirely absent from the Bible that he claimed hundreds of times to affirm.