Islamic apologists in the West argue furiously that child marriage has nothing to do with Islam, and that the idea that Muhammad married a child is the invention of greasy Islamophobes. The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, unaccountably, seems to be one of those Islamophobes.
In reality, 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.”
According to Amir Taheri in The Spirit of Allah: Khomeini and the Islamic Revolution (pp. 90-91), 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.
“Saudi Arabia Grand Mufti says no opposition to underage marriage,” by Habib Toumi, Gulf News, December 21, 2014 (thanks to Naveen):
Manama: Saudi Arabia’s efforts to edge closer to setting a minimum age for marriage have received a blow after the Grand Mufti said there was nothing wrong with girls below 15 getting married.
“There is currently no intention to discuss the issue,” Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh said, quoted by local daily Al Riyadh on Sunday.
In a bold attempt to force changes on the grounds, the justice ministry has been pushing for setting up the minimum age.
Two years ago, it submitted an integrated study on the negative psychological and social effects of underage marriages to religious scholars and requested a fatwa that sets a minimum age.
The study included medical, social and religious views as well as a set of recommendations, sources told the daily.
However, the scholars have not responded and the statement by the Grand Mufti seemed as a clear indication of the difficulties to impose a minimum age for marriages in the country.
Changes that the justice ministry wants to reinforce include mentioning the age of the bride and groom in the marriage contract to ensure there are no abuses and the bride is at least 15 years old.
The ministry said that only competent courts could endorse the marriage of a bride less than 15 years old after judges make certain that specific conditions are fulfilled.
One recommendation for the exceptional underage marriage is to ensure it is not consummated immediately and that the bride should be given sufficient time to prepare her psychologically and train her for family requirements, the sources said.
No underage marriage should be allowed until the bride’s father presents a report in which medical staff and social workers testify that the bride is not physically and mentally at risk, the sources added.
The drive to set the minimum age has been consolidated by human rights groups that have been pushing for setting a minimum age.
They recommended the consent of both the bride and her mother as a sine qua non condition to go ahead with the wedding plans and called on judges to make sure that the bride would not be harmed in any way by the marriage.
Exceptions should be kept to a strict minimum and should be confined to girls with no families and living in orphanages, they said.
Jack HOLAN says
This is exactly the type of info to disseminate to the public to differentiate Islam from Judeo-Christian values
Lee Hicks says
Yes, child marriages (pedophilia) are an integral part of Islam, as Mohammad “married” a child, setting the examples for all followers of Islam. As Satan is the real false god behind the mask of Allah, this comes as no surprise.
In the garden, God told Satan that his defeat would come through the seed of the woman, who would crush his head. This was the first prophecy regarding the coming of Christ. From that time forward, the enemy has had hatred for women and children, knowing that they would be the vehicle for his defeat.
When viewed through this lens, the motives behind Islamist beliefs are easy to understand. The subjugation and hatred of women and the absolute cruelty towards children are directly from the false god of this world, who opposes and resists the one true God.
Islam shows the truest portrait of Satan daily, revealing his cruelty, hatred of all mankind (even those who foolishly follow him), and his deceptive and deceiving nature. Islam itself is the problem, not just the “extremist” factions or violent Jihadists. All Islam is Jihadist in nature and goals, and shows some of the clearest fingerprints of Satan on display, so their view of child “brides” and the dehumanization of women come as no surprise at all, at least from my perspective.
Threesixteen says
You are absolutely right in your views.
somehistory says
All of what you said is true. And the True God set a time when He will make all things right and in harmony with His will, when satan’s head is crushed beneath Christ’s feet. That time is soon to be. Thankfully!
Descendantofacrusader says
Most thinking people will agree that Islam is violent and detrimental to both society and culture. There are also those who will take this observation a bit further in referring to Islam as “evil”, but most are not bold enough to connect this evil belief system, called Islam, with the dark spiritual forces that drive and motivate it’s adherents. You are one of those few and I applaud you for your clarity of thought. I believe the Apostle Paul said it best regarding the battle with evil in Ephesians 6 when he said: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” It is so sad, however, that so many Christian’s today, who should above all people be able to discern “good” from “evil”, appear to be so hopelessly paralyzed both intellectually and spiritually when it comes to Islam.
Jack Holan says
I am a Jew born and raised in the USA. I have a theory regarding your last two sentences from my limited experience. Those Christians I’ve known through out the years whom I feel and sense truly believe in JC and tenets of the faith believe so strongly in good that it is not fathomable for them to think that there does not exist somewhere within this Muslim, “good” that he/she may be saved. I may be totally off but as an outsider this is how I see it.
nothosaur says
What, specifically, did Jesus command on the issue of resisting evil?
xxxChurch100 says
What a profound and accurate summation of what is unfolding before our eyes in the world , as the True word of God ” The Bible ‘ forecasted .
In the garden the God of the Bible breathed life into the nostrils of this creation Adam .
Where as Satan is the author of death …. and his followers carry his wish out .
Jesus , ordained with ALL authority in heaven and on earth and under the earth has destroyed death.
And on his Glorious return … the universal will be purged of sin and sinners .
Bukkdem Jizheads says
I think Satan, a.k.a. Mohammed, came in response to Jesus and probably could never have been anticipated, it was such an unthinkable devolution of humanity.
Mohammed upended thousands of years of monogamy, which cherishes and protects girls, wives and grandmothers from the superior strength and sexual predilections of men. It was probably observed from healthy animal husbandry.
Satan changed this to a system based on beasts, where the strongest male took a herd of women by defeating and ostracizing lesser males.
OK but the difference is that these large female mammals mate with males only if they are fertile, which is maybe once a year, and is is known as ‘estrus’. It gives the females of the herd some dignity and ‘choice’ albeit dictated by nature.
With humans, God gave us the the joy of sex any time we want or ‘menus’ with the ability to get pregnant a dozen times a year. But the superior strength of males know no limits under Islamic polygamy and pedophelia. Women and children can be raped any time, fertile or not. Enslaved, sold. It’s all good with Satan.
Satan will NOT be defeated by women, they are already completely defeated. The sexual drives of men are unbridled and made hallowed in his hellish teachings. Even young boys and female domesticated animals are fair game.
Salah says
Amnesty International report: Yazidi women and girls face ‘Islamic State’ sexual violence
“Hundreds of Yazidi women and girls have had their lives shattered by the horrors of sexual violence and sexual slavery in IS captivity,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Response Advisor, who spoke with the former captives in northern Iraq.
“Many of those held as sexual slaves are children – girls aged 14, 15 or even younger,” Rovera added.
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/amnesty-international-report-yazidi-women-and-girls-face-islamic-state-sexual-violence/ar-BBh88Qu?ocid=mailsignoutmd
Greyhound Fancier says
Those unfortunate women and girls’ only hope as they express it is to be killed in the crossfire of the war. Islam is Satan’s playground. Pray for mass conversion of the Muslims.
Threesixteen says
This is why i love Judeo-Christian values. Islam is just a sick religion. Everything about it is repulsive.
Ralph says
Monkey See, Monkey Do…
mortimer says
So when Reza Aslan denies child marriage, he’s lying, right? He…and all Muslims…actually know child marriage is normative Islam, right? They are pretending and telling us a fib. Aisha was actually 9 years old, wasn’t she?
My conclusion is that ‘All of Islam has NOTHING TO DO with Islam’ … if it is temporarily embarrassing or unpopular. Then it changes miraculously when a GREAT GRAND MUFT-OLLAH speaks from his hat.
So Muslims lie and feel absolutely no guilt about lying to dirty kafirs. Then the Great Grand Poohbah speaks and exposes their lies by telling the truth to a Muslim audience.
JayKay86 says
All religions are evil, but Islam has managed to raise the bar. I wish there was a hell for these psychos.
Jack Holan says
Why is it that you feel all religions are inherently evil. You have your perspective however life experiences have driven you to this conclusion. So as not to intrude, can you give us a general idea why you believe this?
katarzyna says
Walid Shoebat has a video about sex slavery in Saudi Arabia from 1964.
Merry Christmas to you all.
boakai ngombu says
” … the scholars have not responded and the statement by the Grand Mufti seemed as a clear indication of the difficulties to impose a minimum age for marriages in the country. ”
these hobble others. they use a simple thread – chain – employing the SHARIA (enslavement tool) and prohibit movement away from the ignorant ramblings of the malevolent, belligerent Allah god of Islam (unknowable; the best of all deceivers) which desires to enslave the world.
these would allow no light in darkness and cannot countenance the good news that the power of such darkness is broken. these must maintain their assets and please their benefactors; they serve their belly, they are blind to evil.
The LORD of Hosts is not pleased that the likes of these modify His Law meant for mankind. these rape, adulterate, despoil, corrupt, disfigure, maim, kill, to maintain their way. they are blind to light and shall endure utter darkness for their reward from the Unique God who would otherwise change them and bring them to repentance.
these despoil the entire message of the Incarnate Son of God at this time and shall pay dearly
Wolfpelt says
“Religious scholars”? Do they mean astrologers and alchemists or am I confused here?
Paul says
I’m not convinced that
Why not?
So, it appears that we should interpret Bukhari’s claim as follows:
A month of a lunar year is shorter than a month of our civil calendar, which counts solar years. This shorter month, which has just 29.53 days, is called a synodic month and is “the most familiar lunar cycle, defined as the time interval between two consecutive occurrences of a particular phase”, reports Wikipedia. So, how many solar years is nine lunar years?
(29.53 days/synodic month)(12 mo) = 354.36 days
(354.36 days)(9 lunar years) = 3,189.24 days
(3,189.24 days)/(365.2425 days) = 8.732 solar years.
Aisha was as young as eight solar years, eight solar months, and twenty-four days old. It should go without much further comment that we don’t call a girl of that age “nine”, but just eight. Granted, Aisha might have been 9 lunar years plus several lunar months. She might have been just a month short of being ten lunar years old, but such detail isn’t evident from the selections from Bukhari above.
Anyhow, it’s reasonable to suspect that Aisha was LESS than nine years old at the time of consummation, and, for similar reasons, that the marriage was BEFORE her sixth birthday. Aisha could have been married at five and consummating her marriage at eight.
Bill says
“Exceptions should be kept to a strict minimum and should be confined to girls with no families and living in orphanages, they said.”
So that endorses grooming of under age girls living in care homes, especially in the UK in Northern towns and cities such as Rotherham and Rochdale to name just two out of scores of places. They have less value…
Angemon says
Unless they’re marrying to another girl.
DogOnPorch says
We wouldn’t want to cast Muhammad in a bad light???…lol. Yeah, buddy…no worries there.
wiederganger says
As an agnostic who has been reading JW for a while I gotta say I do feel quite offended by some of the more ‘hardcore’ Christians posting here.. However I am willing to set aside our differences to take a stand against this monstrosity called Islam.. Just please do understand Jesus is not going to save us, we will save ourselves. We have the power, the intelligence, the will.. We are the chosen if we choose to be chosen
Cindy says
These people are freaking evil to the core. They are selfish ,vile men who want to justify their actions. So they claim their leader said it was okay. Very sick they need the healing power of Jesus Christ and for this I pray.
Shees.Abdul.Razak says
I thought I’m on an Islamic site but, reading you people’s Comments I’m convinced that this is a Islamophobic-muslim-hating-site!. If a girl has no opposition in marrying whoever she wants, and if her parents have no opposition, and if Prophet Muhammad was also willing to marry Aisha(R.A)….who are you to look into their life? who are you comment? as long as they’re happy together who are you to feel bad? If you want to think of something as negative, only negative things will come to you. Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) married Aisha for a noble reason, not cause he was like you guys blabbering about. Have you ever wondered why he married his other wives who were much older than him? who were not attractive? and you think he’s what you think he is? when all the great non-muslims of the past glorify him? SERIOUSLY? I respect Jesus more than you man, he’s our prophet, and he never died, and he will come back and show you the “light” as you say. Show me a word called Merry Christmas in Bible and I’ll give up my religion….all you guys follow is wrong biased preachment, the real word of Jesus is no more followed by you namesake-christians…check yourself first before you check others life.
dumbledoresarmy says
Get. lost.
Yes, we hate Islam: because it is vile.
And you have a *hide* to claim that you honour Jesus.
No you don’t. Because if you did your fellow-Muslims wouldn’t be murdering Christians left right and centre in Iraq, and in Pakistan, and raping Christian girls in Iraq and Nigeria and Pakistan, and basically treating us like garbage.
When you say you ‘honour Jesus’ you are using Islamic doubletalk. You use the word ‘jesus’ but *you’re* talking about a cheap foe-fic ripoff / blasphemous fake and caricature called ‘Isa’ – and that word “Isa” doesn’t even work as an Arab version of the name Yahoshua – and NOT about the Jew Yeshua of Nazareth – the Incarnate Word of the living God. And the living God, YHWH, the Holy One of Israel, is *not* the same thing, at all, as your deceving, lying, vicious, nasty, blood-thirsty arab demon of blood and war called ‘allah’.
boakai ngombu says
and to carry on dumbledores’ comments
Shees, have you suffered no criticism for dresscode violation? have you ever endured loving taps to the bottom of you feet to encourage you to be better disciplined? have you ever been entertainment for a night to your husbands quest? have you never been sent to “the room” until you take back something you thought or said? how’s your clitoris these days? have you ever been alone in public and been close to other men? are you able to prepare meals for your husband which are not too hot and not too cold? have you ever been suspected of hanky-panky?
your mufti is blind because he is blinded to what is not pleasing to the Unique God. He sent from Heaven the Anointed One – uncreated (contrary to what the “noble” Koran … your shepherd … says). the One Anointed came In order to pay the “dear price” to ransom your soul from everlasting existence without knowledge of the love and grace and forgiveness of the Unique God ….that would also be everlasting existence with all the evil jinn, to you.
in no way are you able to obey all your SHAIRA (enslavement tool) commands. you’re doomed. just as any cannot obey the Law given to Moses by the Unique God. you cannot bring salvation to yourself nor are you able to win if for another. but the One Anointed – Jesus (The LORD of the Covenant saves) – has done just that, even for you.
Angemon says
Shees.Abdul.Razak posted:
“I thought I’m on an Islamic site”
The title mislead you? Were you hoping this was a site where brave islamic keyboard warriors would post “”allahu akbar IN CAPS and circle jerked over the latest isalmic atrocity?
“but, reading you people’s Comments I’m convinced that this is a Islamophobic-muslim-hating-site!”
“ Islamophobic-muslim-hating-site“? As in a site who hates islamophobic muslims?
“If a girl has no opposition in marrying whoever she wants, and if her parents have no opposition, and if Prophet Muhammad was also willing to marry Aisha(R.A)….who are you to look into their life?”
Right, we all know how 9-year-old girls are lining up to marry 60-year-old camel-piss drinking disgusting perverts…
“ If you want to think of something as negative, only negative things will come to you.”
Hang on shees, you might be on to something. The quran goes into great detail while describing the torments that await in hell. Hmmm, does that mean that muslims only get negative things? Well, if that were the case, then they’d say something like “we love death more than you love life”, and they would consider fun to be haram… oh, wait…
“Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) married Aisha for a noble reason, not cause he was like you guys blabbering about.”
He was a pedophile. Deal with it.
“Have you ever wondered why he married his other wives who were much older than him?”
Because he liked to flaunt how the quranic commandment to marry up to four wives didn’t apply to him?
“who were not attractive?”
What’s implied here is that muhammad married a 6-year-old girl and consummated the marriage when she was 9 (keep in mind that those are LUNAR years, which are shorter than our years based on a solar calendar) becasue he found her to be attractive. Basically, he’s a pedophile.
“ when all the great non-muslims of the past glorify him?”
Such as? Oh, wait, Hitler kinda liked islam.
“I respect Jesus more than you man, he’s our prophet, and he never died, and he will come back and show you the “light” as you say.”
If you don’t believe Jesus is the son of God who died in the cross and came back to life then you’re not respecting the same Jesus that Christians respect.
“Show me a word called Merry Christmas in Bible and I’ll give up my religion….”
The fallacy here is that muslims consider the Bible to be corrupted – shees will not believe anything in the Bible that contradicts islam anymore than an atheist will believe that the quran is the qord of a god.
BC says
The cancer at the heart of Islam is sexual repression which causes Muslim males specially to be obsessed with sex and women bodies, ironic when the intention is the opposite. It is contrary to nature and humanity to forbid all contact between the sexes outside marriage. This is the driving force for suicide bombers ( unlimited sexual gratification in paradise) and the torrent of raping going on in IS controlled territory
“They recommended the consent of both the bride and her mother as a sine qua non”, Given that the females in a family are usually under the control of the father, the more so as in many instances the girl is married to pay of debts and obligations of the father, this completely meaningless
Truth says
Saudi Arabia is full of evil sleazy people…..Muslims. 11 of the 14 attackers on 9-11 were from Saudi Arabia.
hammar says
Not only is Saudi Arabia full of evil, but our own universities as well with liberal professors who sprew
propaganda like the nazi’s did during WWII. Sin is sin and you cannot banish it without faith and the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at all these protestors and killings, are they doing anything good? No and never will.
But more act up terrorists till the real terrorists riot among us here on US soil.
Lioness says
Dirty old men raping under age girls is just fine according to this twisted, perverted “religion”. Where are all the “human rights” leftists on this issue?
Jae M says
Child marriage is just another justification for the carnal lust fulfillment of the demonically motivated Prophet of perversion and his sick minded followers who are being led straight into hell by this barbaric ideology.
GKP says
Mufti statement showing the ugly and anti human character of the religion . More religious means more criminal character. Humanity can only be saved by eliminated these criminals