This is reminiscent of the many, many sickening cases in which Roman Catholic priests sexually assaulted young girls and boys. The difference is that while sexual assault, even of young children, occurs in all cultures, only in Islam does it have divine sanction. In this case, victim was eight years old. This may have been because the perpetrator’s reverence for Muhammad led him to think of children as sexual objects. Islamic apologists in the West routinely deny that Muhammad consummated his marriage with (i.e., raped) Aisha when she was nine, and go through all sorts of contortions to deny the evidence of the texts, but the fact that child marriage is accepted in wide swaths of the Islamic world, even by the directorate of religious affairs in once-“moderate” albeit now rapidly re-Islamizing Turkey, most clearly shows their dishonesty. The Diyanet wouldn’t approve of child marriage if it weren’t Islamic, as it explains in its own defense. And child marriage has abundant attestation in Islamic tradition and law.
“Islam has no age barrier in marriage and Muslims have no apology for those who refuse to accept this” — Ishaq Akintola, professor of Islamic Eschatology and Director of Muslim Rights Concern, Nigeria
“There is no minimum marriage age for either men or women in Islamic law. The law in many countries permits girls to marry only from the age of 18. This is arbitrary legislation, not Islamic law.” — Dr. Abd Al-Hamid Al-‘Ubeidi, Iraqi expert on Islamic law
There is no minimum age for marriage and that girls can be married “even if they are in the cradle.” — Dr. Salih bin Fawzan, prominent cleric and member of Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council
“Islam does not forbid marriage of young children.” — Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology
Hadiths that Muslims consider authentic record 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 all right, 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.
These kinds of incidents are where such thinking leads.
“JAILED: ‘Respected Blackburn community figure’ sexually attacked girl, 8,” by Peter Magill, Lancashire Telegraph, December 12, 2019:
A ‘RESPECTED community figure’ in Blackburn is beginning a six-year jail sentence after being convicted of sexual assaults on an eight-year-old girl.
Preston Crown Court heard that the attacks by Sabbir Ibrahim had shattered the youngster’s self-confidence.
She had also been physically sick at the prospect of having to relive her ordeal during a trial, the court was told.
Ibrahim, 66, had denied offences of assault by penetration and sexual assault but was convicted by jurors following an earlier hearing.
Prosecutor John Wyn Williams said that the eight-year-old had reported the penetration offence to her mother, almost immediately after it happened, and the police were called in.
It has also emerged that the father-of two had a separate previous sexual assault conviction, dating back to 2017, in relation to a 17-year-old girl.
Passing sentence, Judge David Potter said: “This was not the first time that you had shown an unlawful sexual interest in someone.”
He told the court how Ibrahim had approached his earlier victim from behind and placed his hands on her shoulders, before cupping her breasts and moving down to her crotch area. The teenage victim fled and also later reported him to police.
Judge Potter said he could only conclude, as a result of these cases, that the defendant had a sexual interest in young females
Referring to his most recent conviction, Judge Potter added: “The sexual abuse of young children is something which can cause emotional issues well into adulthood.”
Ibrahim, of Warrington Street, Little Harwood, will serve a six-year prison term, minus 95 days he had spent on a qualifying curfew during the most recent proceedings.
He must also sign the sex offenders register for life and will be the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
Gordon Cole QC, defending, said that not withstanding the fact his client maintained his denials of the most recent offences, he wished to challenge assertions in his pre-sentence report that he did not appreciate the impact the trial had on the complainant.
Mr Cole said: “He was quite specific in his account to me, that he was remorseful and sorry that the young girl had to come to court.”
Ibrahim had always been a hard-working man, Mr Cole told the court, and was a well-respected figure in his community.