There have rarely been historical figures more virulently anti-women than Muhammad, yet alongside many other characteristics of the prophet of Islam that are lauded by Dr. Craig Considine, Considine insists that Muhammad is inherently humane. Dr. Considine frequently repeats an interesting rebuttal to the claim that Islam oppresses women in the character of Aisha, one of Muhammad’s wives and ‘the mother of the faithful’. But what does Muhammad and Islam really teach about Aisha and women?
While Aisha may have been instrumental in particular aspects of the spread and upholding of Islam, to state this alone is to paper over the real issues in her story. She married Muhammad as a small girl; this is covered in Sahih al-Bukhari 5133, Sahih al-Bukhari 5158, Sahih Muslim 3481, Sahih Muslim 3482 and Sunan Abu Dawud 2121, which unanimously repeat that Aisha was married to Muhammad at age six and that the marriage was consummated when she was nine years old.
Aisha was also prepubescent at the time of marriage to the ‘perfect man’, Muhammad. In Sahih Muslim 3481, when she was taken to consummate the marriage, she was playing with dolls, which is forbidden, as they are images. Only prepubescent girls were allowed to play with dolls because they were not yet morally accountable, which is explained in detail, with this very example, in Sahih al-Bukhari 6130.
Muhammad’s escapes were not limited to Aisha, however. In Ibn Ishaq, page 311, Muhammad himself exclaims at a newborn baby crawling around that ‘if she grows up (meaning age six) and I am still alive I will marry her’. The baby, who is Um-Habib, is listed on Muhammad’s proposals, so some time between then and his death fairly soon after, he did propose marriage.
In Sahih al-Bukhari 268, we read ‘The Prophet used to visit all his wives in a round, during the day and night and they were eleven in number. I asked Anas, “Had the Prophet the strength for it?” Anas replied, “We used to say that the Prophet was given the strength of thirty (men).” And Sa`id said on the authority of Qatada that Anas had told him about nine wives only (not eleven)’. Sahih al-Bukhari 5068 echoes the same story; ‘The Prophet used to go round (have sexual relations with) all his wives in one night, and he had nine wives’.
As a segue into Islam on women more broadly; we can observe in Surah 2:228 that Allah says a man has to wait three monthly cycles before he can divorce her. In Surah 65:4, it gives exceptions to that rule, namely women who are too old, women who are too young, or women who are pregnant. This shows that child marriage was permissible in order for the rules to be implemented for divorcing children.
In Sahih al-Bukhari 5133, the chapter heading reads; ‘Giving young children in marriage is permissible by virtue of Statement of Allah’. The chapter cites verses 65:4 and Aisha, who says once again that Muhammad consummated their marriage when she was nine years old. And worrying teachings from the perfect, direct, unchangeable, eternal, perfectly preserved word of Allah aren’t restricted to child marriage.
Surah 2:282 explains in detail that if there are not two men available to judge, one man and two women are sufficient because ‘if one of them should make an error, the other may cause her to remember’. The intellectual capacity of women is also brought into question by Muhammad in Sahih Muslim 7099, where he says; ‘Never will succeed such a nation as makes a woman their ruler’.
In Surah 4:24, women are property when married. It reads; ‘And married women [are also forbidden], except all that your right hand possesses. This is the decree of Allah for you. And it is lawful to you, besides this, to seek out women with your money, chaste without fornication. So, whatever you enjoy by it (their sexual parts) from them, so give them their wages; it is an ordinance’. In Surah 4:34, ‘Men are in charge of women’ and unless a women obeys her husband, ‘of whom you fear rebellion, so preach to them and separate from them in the beds and scourge them’. Of course, rebellion for men is encouraged as temporary marriage or ‘mutah’, is famously permissible in Sahih al-Bukhari 5075.
One of the key elements of Jannah is the 72 virgins a man will receive to eternally deflower. This odd objectification of women is found abundantly in the sources; see Surahs 78:31-34, 55:54-57, 41:51-55, 52:20, 55:70-74, 56:22-24 and 56:35-37. Interestingly, the nature of Jannah also raises an interesting theological issue. When the actions and characteristics of Jannah are described as such, it is inherently sinful by Islam’s own standards (see also the rivers of wine in Surah 47:15), so in Jannah, all sin will be made sinless. The issue is that desiring paradise is ultimately desirable; yet thinking of or committing these acts is ultimately undesirable, so how can Jannah be morally desirable (unless you desire sin)? Details about Jannah’s strange erotica on page 351 of Al-Suyuti Al-Itqan fi Ulum Al-Qur’an and Sunan Ibn Majah, Zuhd 39, also provide a disgusting insight into relationships in Jannah.
I believe the sources presented in this article clearly demonstrate not only what Allah sees of women, but Muhammad’s actions with women. The dynamic between Islam, Muhammad, Aisha and women is certainly not as Dr. Considine presents it.