Islamic apologists in the West routinely claim that Muhammad did not marry a child and that child marriage is not permitted in Islam, but actually, few things are more abundantly attested in Islamic law than the permissibility of child marriage. Islamic tradition records that Muhammad’s favorite wife, Aisha, was six when Muhammad wedded her and nine when he consummated the marriage:
“The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)” (Bukhari 7.62.88).
Another tradition has Aisha herself recount the scene:
The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became Allright, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, “Best wishes and Allah’s Blessing and a good luck.” Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah’s Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age. (Bukhari 5.58.234).
Muhammad was at this time fifty-four years old.
Marrying young girls was not all that unusual for its time, but because in Islam Muhammad is the supreme example of conduct (cf. Qur’an 33:21), he is considered exemplary in this unto today. And so in April 2011, the Bangladesh Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini declared that those trying to pass a law banning child marriage in that country were putting Muhammad in a bad light: “Banning child marriage will cause challenging the marriage of the holy prophet of Islam, [putting] the moral character of the prophet into controversy and challenge.” He added a threat: “Islam permits child marriage and it will not be tolerated if any ruler will ever try to touch this issue in the name of giving more rights to women.” The Mufti said that 200,000 jihadists were ready to sacrifice their lives for any law restricting child marriage.
Likewise the influential website Islamonline.com in December 2010 justified child marriage by invoking not only Muhammad’s example, but the Qur’an as well:
The Noble Qur’an has also mentioned the waiting period [i.e. for a divorced wife to remarry] for the wife who has not yet menstruated, saying: “And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women, if you doubt, then their period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated” [Qur’an 65:4]. Since this is not negated later, we can take from this verse that it is permissible to have sexual intercourse with a prepubescent girl. The Qur’an is not like the books of jurisprudence which mention what the implications of things are, even if they are prohibited. It is true that the prophet entered into a marriage contract with A’isha when she was six years old, however he did not have sex with her until she was nine years old, according to al-Bukhari.
Other countries make Muhammad’s example the basis of their laws regarding the legal marriageable age for girls. Article 1041 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran states that girls can be engaged before the age of nine, and married at nine: “Marriage before puberty (nine full lunar years for girls) is prohibited. Marriage contracted before reaching puberty with the permission of the guardian is valid provided that the interests of the ward are duly observed.”
Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini himself married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight. Khomeini called marriage to a prepubescent girl “a divine blessing,” and advised the faithful to give their own daughters away accordingly: “Do your best to ensure that your daughters do not see their first blood in your house.” When he took power in Iran, he lowered the legal marriageable age of girls to nine, in accord with Muhammad’s example.
“Pakistan’s religious body endorses underage marriage,” PTI, May 22, 2014 (thanks to Traveller 45):
ISLAMABAD: In a retrogressive step, a religious body in Pakistan has declared girls as young as nine years old eligible to be married “if the signs of puberty were visible”, a media report said today.
Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) chairman Maulana Mohammad Khan Sheerani of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) said after a meeting yesterday that media and ‘some other segments of society’ were not taking the council’s decisions seriously.
He said laws that defined a minimum age for marriage were not Islamic and should be repealed, adding that the council would recommend that the Parliament amend these laws to bring them in accordance with Islamic principles, Dawn news reported.
He also criticised the Sindh Assembly which last month passed Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Bill, banning underage marriages.
The CII chief said marriages that were solemnised at a time when both individuals were minors were only binding if they were arranged by the ‘wali’ (father or grandfather) of the two individuals.
In cases where marriages were solemnised by someone other than the ‘wali’, both individuals had the option to refuse or reconsider the match upon achieving adulthood.
Clarifying the decision, Sheerani said that a ‘nikah’ could be performed at any age, but the bride could only start living with the groom after reaching puberty, the report said.
The CII chief also said that most of the clauses of the existing Muslim Marriage Law, 1961 were un-Islamic.
He said that section 6 of the law, which required men to seek permission from their wives before entering into another marriage, was not in accordance with Islamic principles….
Jaladhi says
Muslims have to follow their pedophile leader who set “good” example for Muslims. When he was 54 year dirty old man, he married Aisha, only a six year old child. No wonder child marriage is allowed in Muslim countries and not frowned upon. How can Muslims go against Mohammad’s ideal behavior!!!
Brain dead morons, can’t ever think for themselves!!1
mortimer says
Exactly. Muslims turn morality and common sense upside down by claiming pedophilia and piracy are moral since they are done by a self-declared man of god.
Since when are pedophilia, piracy, torture, genocide, ethnic cleansing and contract killing acts of godliness?
Muslims suppress their moral compass.
Jay Boo says
One more item that enlightened university professors are scrambling to redefine and then add to their already bloated agenda of moral relativism.
mariam rove says
ISLAMABAD: In a retrogressive step, a religious body in Pakistan has declared girls as young as nine years old eligible to be married “if the signs of puberty were visible”, a media report said today.
This statement is PC correct. What they declared is, it is ok to rape and sodomize a 9 year old girl which exactly what their pedophile prophet did and still is commanding them to do so. M
Jasmine says
islamic clerics defend pedophilia by issuing fatwa stating that there is no age limit for girls to have sex with muslim man as long as the girl can bear the weight of her husband/rapist !!!! imagine that ..how disgusting can this religion be ? before the rest of the free world wakes up ! ……this is beyond disgusting ! Read on :
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/raymond-ibrahim/new-saudi-fatwa-defends-pedophilia-as-%E2%80%98marriage%E2%80%99/
( fatwa defends pedophilia as ‘marriage ‘ )
…”Scholars have agreed that it was permissible for fathers to marry off their young daughters, even if they are in the cradle,” Sheik Fawzan wrote in his fatwa. “But it isn’t permissible for their husbands to have sex with them unless they are capable of being placed beneath and bearing the weight of the men.”
Saudi cleric rules that men can marry baby girls “in the cradle”
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/07/saudi-cleric-rules-that-men-can-marry.html#.U34qHM9OWUk
Folks, this just made me so ill, that i think I am going to throw up ! :(…i dont want to hear any muslim apologists or muslims try to wiggle their way out of this one. If the cleric is from saudi arabia , the home of the 2 holy mosque and the birthplace of islam and where muslims all over the world go there for their pilgrimage and this clerics from the heartland of islam is issuing this kind of religious teachings then believe me , muslims better wise up and either leave this fake religion or else do something to correct the horrific teachings of the cult and bring it up to date with modernity, common sense, human decency and peace. Unless they do that someone else may do it for them and then it will be too late and all hell will break lose !
for more horrors see the reports in http://www.barenakedislam.com
dlbrand says
“Saudi cleric rules that men can marry baby girls ‘in the cradle.’”
No doubt about that. Hedaya provides many rulings with respect to the infant bride, as well as the prepubescent bride.
But I do believe we all know what an infant is, and, thus, just what one is talking about when they use that word to define precisely what they are talking about.
In brief, it likewise bears out, once the dower has been paid, the wife is then the property of the husband. And as such, as spelled out clearly in “Reliance” with these words, the “husband possesses full right to enjoy his wife’s person (A: from the top of her head to the bottoms of her feet, though anal intercourse (dis: p.75.20) is absolutely unlawful) in what does not physically harm her.”
(Reliance of the Traveller, A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law, Ahmad Ibn Naqib al-Misri, Revised, English; Text, Commentary, and Appendices Edited and Translated by Nuh Ha Min Keller, amana publications, Beltsville, Maryland, U.S.A., 1994. Marriage, The Husband’s Rights, m5.4, P 536.)
Just one more reason, I call for all less then at ease with such practices to call for the banning of the practice of Islam in our nation, because, wherever Islam is practiced, Islam will be practiced.
And this—detailing of precepts laid out above—this is Islam.
WhatsUpDoc says
There are several Hadiths of Mohammad that states ” There are three things which should be done asap, first a prayers must be performed when its time, second the dead should be buried asap and third a girl must be married upon first period”
MH says
Caption: “Why is my wife constantly playing “peek-a-boo”?
Answer:
Xero G says
Is pedophilia, piracy, torture, genocide, ethnic cleansing and contract killings also allowed in the afterlife? Seems reasonable that one would be allowed to emulate Muhammad both on earth and in Paradise.
mariam rove says
Actually no. The reason they do all of this is to get to the 72 virgins!!!!!!!!! M
CogitoErgoSum says
Now wait minute, Mariam and Xero. Let’s think about this a little. Perhaps…if you use “Paradise” and “Hell” as interchangeable terms… or….. maybe Paradise will be Hell and Hell will be Paradise for Muhammad and his emulators. But, hmmm… who is going to be doing what to whom…..??? I don’t doubt that Allah will be getting a big laugh out of it all…but, on second thought, let’s not think about it too much. Islam can take the mind where minds can’t usually go….and I don’t want to go there.
john spielman says
no , but a perpetual drunken orgy with both hetero sexual and homosexual delights exist for brave jihadis in their brothel in the sky!
Walter Sieruk says
The reason the Muslim men of this Islamic Council endorses child marriage is explained in the Bible For the reason that some men have such a warped view of things that even go as far as child abuse , the Bible explains they have “their conscience seared with a hot iron.” First Timothy 4:2. [KJV]
The “Hot Iron” is this case is Islam.
General_T says
Islam is abhorrent. There is no denying all the dispacable, unnatural, cruel and vile events that are carried out in the name of this movement.
The sexual abuse and loss of innocence forced on these young girls will not be forgiven. I don’t care what period of history that this practice hides behind – it will always be wrong. How any human being with half a brain can call this gutter snipe a Prophet is totally beyond comprehension. Brain-washing from day one is the only possible explanation – that or you are born inherently stupid and evil!
Who can de-programme these lost depraved souls??
I wonder if there is a mass influx of pedophiles converting to Muslim for this sole purpose?
Absolute Filth!
izzy says
Lmao, its wrong to force a female child to marriage or force any female ot male to marry each others is against. The peacefully. Loving principles. Of Islam… Back in the days girls matured earlier then now.. N I guess no one brings about the obsolete ban n buring ones daughters or selling them In to people will use them and abuse as they desire. Muhammad stopped and banned such cultures practices that the pegan Arabs Christians and Jews use to practice in those days… So ohh wee lets just use this against Nuhammed the greatest. Man that ever lived on this pegan land as it is now. Islam keeps growing no matter what u fools thinks.. Its a Allah(1GOD) religion. N no one can stop it from growing no matter how much the Muslims are enslaved in there own countries by puppet rullers…Islam grows u become more diseased. Only Islam will guide to the rights path
Mirren10 says
Wrong, dummy.
http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina31103.htm
Just type in ‘muslims converting to Christianity’ into Google, there are hundreds of sites chronicling this.
In the end, your ‘islam’ will destroy itself, because it is, at its core, evil and inhuman.
To everyone else; why are all the mohammedans who post here always so stupid, illiterate, and ilogical ? 🙂
General_T says
Izzy,
I think you meant to say “It is wrong to marry a child…PERIOD vise against her will – as if any 9 year girl has the wherewithall to determine that. Do you have any proof that girls matured earlier in Mohammads time? I guess humans have devolved since then? What rubbish. Let alone you have a 54 year old male molesting a 9 year old girl. This is not natural – it is animalistic. Any rational person knows this.
Face facts…anything that makes any sense in Islam comes from Christian/Jewish tradition. All the perverse teachings/acts my Mohammad are from his unnatural desires and base human instincts. Mohammad is nothing more than a greedy self-serving warlord pedophile. History shows this to be the case.
I can look at my beliefs objectively and see what is right and what is wrong. Why does Islam lack this moral compass? No one can defend what Islam has done or is doing. Your willingness to justify this behavior shows you cannot be objective (brain washed) or you willingly follow out of fear or perversion. Whatever the case, we will all be held accountable for the choices of our heart soon enough. Are you ready to answer for your decisions??
Semeru says
Mr Spencer persists with lying about Ayatollah Khomeini
Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini himself married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight.
Yet Mr Spencer refuses to give any proof
Mirren10 says
I don’t know where Robert got his information about the age of Khomeini’s wife. According to Wikipedia, she died in 2009, at the age of 93. However, she was born in 1913, which would make her actually *96* when she died, not 93. Why the three year discrepancy ?
In any case, rather than harping on this, why don’t you comment on the **incontravertible and undisputable fact**, that Khomeini **lowered the marriageable age of girls in Iran to 9** ?
Because actually, you really have no problem with that, do you, mohammedan in a mask ?
Semeru says
Also Mr Spencer also writes
Islamic tradition records that Muhammad’s favorite wife, Aisha, was six when Muhammad wedded her and nine when he consummated the marriage:
This is not isIamic tradition, it is Sunni tradition, the Shiite loath Ashia, and do not regard her as his favorite wife. It is generally accepted by Sunnis and Shias that Khadija was Muhammad’s favorite wife without contest, and that Aisha or Umm Salama were only the favorite of his later wives.
Foolster41 says
@Vile Semeru:
Who cares if she was a favorite or not? The point is Mohammad married a 6 year old and had sex with her when she was 9! That’s vile!