The discussion https://islamunmasked.com/2016/11/21/revisiting-the-issue-of-muhammads-cross-dressing/ concerning Muhammad’s dressing up in women’s garments continues.
Here I am going to be responding to the following attempt https://discover-the-truth.com/2016/11/21/aishas-lihaaf-blanket-cross-dressing-lie/ of a Muhammadan polemicist who tries to prove that Muhammad wasn’t dressed up in his child bride’s clothing when the “revelation” came to him, but was rather covered up with Aisha’s blanket. The neophyte quotes two English versions of al-Bukhari of a specific hadith where the translators rendered the Arabic phrase lihaaf as “blanket,” and then cites several lexicons to show that this is what the word actually means.
To begin with, let us see the range of meanings which the Arabic lexicons and dictionaries give for the word lahaf, from whence we get lihaaf:
= Lam-Ha-Fa = To cover WITH A CLOAK or a sheet, wrap IN A GARMENT, single lining garment (i.e. not doubled or stuffed), to be importune, demand with importunity, persist.
alhafa vb. (IV) – n.vb. ilhaf 2:273 (Project Root List http://www.studyquran.co.uk/13_LAM.htm)
… and it is the same whether the GARMENT be… or lined. (TA.) He says also, [in another place,] that the Arabs apply the terms… to a night-wrapper… [a single piece of stuff; i.e. not double, not lined nor faced, nor stuffed]… (lisan al-Arab, p. 3008 http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000262.pdf)
The next references are all taken from the following link http://ejtaal.net/aa/#hw4=1022,ll=2751,ls=30,la=4008,sg=931,ha=692,br=862,pr=139,vi=336,mgf=766,mr=620,mn=1259,aan=598,kz=2377,uqq=352,ulq=1536,uqa=383,uqw=1461,umr=986,ums=820,umj=746,bdw=800,amr=577,asb=881,auh=1452,dhq=509,mht=815,msb=217,tla=91,amj=737,ens=1,mis=1962.
… lahaf, INF. lahf, wrap up; lick; – IV. INF. ilhaf, wrap up; PUT A DRESS ON TO, ROBE… DRESS (n.); (m.) stay in bed; – VIII. INF. iltihaf =v.; BE DRESSED… lihfa-t, way of wrapping one’s self up OR DRESSING. (Steingrass, p. 912)
To wrap o.’s self in (A CLOAK)… To wrap o.’s self in (A GARMENT, sheet)… Covering.
Way of wrapping.
Sheet, wrapper, cloth…
WIFE. Blanket. Waist-wrapper.
Bed-sheet, blanket…
Bed-sheet sewed to a blanket… (Hava, p. 672)
… l-h-f OUTER GARMENT, bedcover, to wrap up; to bestow favour, to request or ask persistently, to demand urgently. Of this root, only… ‘ilhad occurs once in the Qur’an. (Brill, p. 837)
… HE CLOTHED HIM OR DRESSED OR WRAPPED HIM WITH CLOTHES… (M. G. Farid, Dictionary of Qur’an, p. 734)
TO COVER WITH A CLOAK (A. A. Nadwi, Vocabulary of Quran, p. 575)
LAHAFA… TO COVER WITH A CLOAK or a sheet, WRAP IN A GARMENT… (Dictionary of the Holy Quran, p. 508)
The readers should immediately spot the deception and dishonesty of this neophyte. The Arabic word can and does refer to clothing/wrapping/dressing/robing oneself in clothes, such as a cloak or a garment. On what basis then does this Muhammadan choose “blanket” as the definition of the term, when there is absolutely nothing in the context of the hadiths to suggest that this is what Muhammad meant?
In fact, when we keep in mind that some of the other narrations we cited employed the words mirt and thaub, expressions that clearly refer to clothing, then the only plausible meaning of lihaaf in this respective context has to be robe/dress/garment. Therefore, the hadith from al-Bukhari, which this neophyte appealed to, should be translated in the following manner:
“… When I mentioned it to him the third time, he said, ‘Do not injure me regarding ‘A’isha. THE REVELATION DOES NOT COME TO ME WHEN I AM IN THE DRESS OF ANY OF YOU WOMAN EXCEPT HER.’”
Finally, and more importantly, even if the word is better translated as blanket in this particular narration, this still does absolutely nothing to refute the fact of Muhammad being a cross dresser who enjoyed wearing women’s clothing. This hadith would only be providing some additional details left out by the other reports.
Therefore, by taking all of these narratives into account we would come to the conclusion that what Muhammad actually said was that “inspiration” only came to him when he happened to be dressed in Aisha’s garment and sleeping under her blanket. In other words, Muhammad was claiming that “revelation” only came to him when he so happened to be wearing Aisha’s dress as he slept in her bed.
So much for the feeble and desperate attempt by this Muhammadan to refute the plain and explicit evidence that his prophet was indeed a cross dresser.
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