Islamic tradition records that Muhammad consummated his marriage with (i.e., raped) Aisha when she was nine, and the resultant fact that child marriage is accepted in wide swaths of the Islamic world.
“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. Nowadays in the West there are elaborate efforts to deny all this. An Islamic scholar/apologist named Joshua Little has constructed an elaborate argument from close study of the chains of transmitters (isnads) of various traditions about Aisha, claiming that those traditions, despite appearing in Sahih Bukhari, the hadith collection Muslims consider most reliable, are actually inauthentic. Little’s argument, however, is absurd and self-contradictory. He acknowledges that the hadiths are late and unreliable from a historical standpoint, and even admits that the chains of transmitters, like the stories themselves, were freely forged. Then he bases his whole argument for the traditions being inauthentic even on Islamic grounds on the basis of the isnads that he just admitted could be forged. He claims to be able to know when and where they were forged based on their contents, and constructs his argument for their inauthenticity based on that. This is highly speculative at best, and will never do anything to erase the impression among Muslims that Muhammad left his followers this example.
Little also denounces people he calls “Islamophobes” for making much of Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha. He ignores the primary reason why anyone cares about this: not because, as he claims, “Islamophobes” contend that Muhammad’s example forces Muslims to condone child marriage, but because all too many Islamic authorities do condone child marriage. 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.
Turkey’s directorate of religious affairs (Diyanet) said in January 2018 that under Islamic law, girls as young as nine can marry.
“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
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.
As for the sex slaves, the Qur’an teaches that Infidel women can be lawfully taken for sexual use (cf. its allowance for a man to take “captives of the right hand,” 4:3, 4:24, 23:1-6, 33:50, 70:30). The Qur’an says that a man may have sex with his wives and with these slave girls: “The believers must win through, those who humble themselves in their prayers; who avoid vain talk; who are active in deeds of charity; who abstain from sex, except with those joined to them in the marriage bond, or the captives whom their right hands possess, for in their case they are free from blame.” (Qur’an 23:1-6)
The rape of captive women is also sanctioned in Islamic tradition:
Abu Sirma said to Abu Sa’id al Khadri (Allah be pleased with him): O Abu Sa’id, did you hear Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) mentioning al-’azl? He said: Yes, and added: We went out with Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) on the expedition to the Bi’l-Mustaliq and took captive some excellent Arab women; and we desired them, for we were suffering from the absence of our wives, (but at the same time) we also desired ransom for them. So we decided to have sexual intercourse with them but by observing ‘azl (Withdrawing the male sexual organ before emission of semen to avoid conception). But we said: We are doing an act whereas Allah’s Messenger is amongst us; why not ask him? So we asked Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him), and he said: It does not matter if you do not do it, for every soul that is to be born up to the Day of Resurrection will be born. (Sahih Muslim 3371)
It is also in Islamic law: “When a child or a woman is taken captive, they become slaves by the fact of capture, and the woman’s previous marriage is immediately annulled.” (Umdat al-Salik O9.13)
The Egyptian Sheikh Abu-Ishaq al-Huwayni declared in May 2011 that “we are in the era of jihad,” and that meant Muslims would take slaves. In a subsequent interview he elaborated:
Jihad is only between Muslims and infidels. Spoils, slaves, and prisoners are only to be taken in war between Muslims and infidels. Muslims in the past conquered, invaded, and took over countries. This is agreed to by all scholars—there is no disagreement on this from any of them, from the smallest to the largest, on the issue of taking spoils and prisoners. The prisoners and spoils are distributed among the fighters, which includes men, women, children, wealth, and so on.
When a slave market is erected, which is a market in which are sold slaves and sex-slaves, which are called in the Qur’an by the name milk al-yamin, “that which your right hands possess” [Koran 4:24]. This is a verse from the Qur’an which is still in force, and has not been abrogated. The milk al-yamin are the sex-slaves. You go to the market, look at the sex-slave, and buy her. She becomes like your wife, (but) she doesn’t need a (marriage) contract or a divorce like a free woman, nor does she need a wali. All scholars agree on this point—there is no disagreement from any of them. […] When I want a sex slave, I just go to the market and choose the woman I like and purchase her.
Around the same time, on May 25, 2011, a female Kuwaiti politician, Salwa al-Mutairi, also spoke out in favor of the Islamic practice of sexual slavery of non-Muslim women, emphasizing that the practice accorded with Islamic law and the parameters of Islamic morality.
A merchant told me that he would like to have a sex slave. He said he would not be negligent with her, and that Islam permitted this sort of thing. He was speaking the truth. I brought up [this man’s] situation to the muftis in Mecca. I told them that I had a question, since they were men who specialized in what was halal, and what was good, and who loved women. I said, “What is the law of sex slaves?”
The mufti said, “With the law of sex slaves, there must be a Muslim nation at war with a Christian nation, or a nation which is not of the religion, not of the religion of Islam. And there must be prisoners of war.”
“Is this forbidden by Islam?” I asked.
“Absolutely not. Sex slaves are not forbidden by Islam. On the contrary, sex slaves are under a different law than the free woman. The free woman must be completely covered except for her face and hands. But the sex slave can be naked from the waist up. She differs a lot from the free woman. While the free woman requires a marriage contract, the sex slave does not—she only needs to be purchased by her husband, and that’s it. Therefore the sex slave is different than the free woman.”
In January 2016, a female al-Azhar professor stated that Allah allowed Muslims to rape non-Muslim women in order to humiliate them.
“Asmaa Mohamed, Widow Of Islamic State (ISIS) Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi: ISIS Is A Black Stain In History; Al-Baghdadi Kept Multiple Yazidi Slave Girls; All The ISIS Emirs Did, They Were Obsessed With Women; They Dreamed Of Conquering Rome,” MEMRI, February 15, 2024:
Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia) aired on February 15, 2024 a detailed interview with Asmaa Mohamed, the first wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who was killed by American forces in 2019. Mohamed said that ISIS was a “black stain” on history, that it is over, and she does not think it will be resurrected. She told Al-Arabiya Network that ISIS had become “obsessed” with women, that she estimates Al-Baghdadi kept more than 10 Yazidis slave girls, one of whom was a child who stayed with her own children for two months. She said that all ISIS emirs kept Yazidi slave girls. Mohamed said that slavery is unacceptable for any human being in the 21st century. She said that all Al-Baghdadi cared about was conquest and his personal security, and that ISIS dreamt about conquering Rome. Asmaa Mohamed, along with other family members of Al-Baghdadi have been repatriated in Iraq recently. It is assumed they were held in Turkey until now.
Asmaa Mohamed: “[Al-Baghdadi] became arrogant. He did not care anymore about the people around him. All heard cared about was conquests and his personal security, how they can expand the [Islamic] State… They had big dreams about conquering Rome… In my view, these were all fairy tales.
[…]
“Before the Caliphate was declared, he married a Syrian woman, from Aleppo. Her name was Aesha Qatmawi and she had five children. She was married to the leader of one of the factions in Syria. She lived in Saudi Arabia after her husband was killed, but she came from Saudi Arabia to Syria in order to marry Al-Baghdadi. So she married Al-Baghdadi, and immediately after the Caliphate was announced, he married a third woman, a 14-year old Iraqi. She was the daughter of someone close to him, Abdallah Al-Zobaie.”
Interviewer: “What about his Chechen wife?”
Mohamed: “Her he married in July 2015.
[…]
“[His third wife] was a child, the same age as my children. This marriage was done.”
Interviewer: “What about the Chechen woman?”
Mohamed: “We knew nothing about her either. We were at home, during the Ramadhan, and this foreign woman walked in, and he said she was his wife.
[…]
Interviewer: “Some people say that Al-Baghdadi had nine or ten Yazidi slave girls.”
Mohamed: “I can tell you that there may have been even more. I did not see them, but because of the obsession about women back then, the Islamic State turned into a ‘women’ state. With regard to taking slave girls, as a matter of faith, I believe that this was mentioned in the Quran – ‘whom your right hands possess’. However, this was normal at a certain point in time, but in my view, in this day and age, in the 21st or 22nd century, slavery has become unacceptable for any human being.
[…]
“None of the [captured] Yazidi women stayed with me. Maybe just for 2-3 days, or maybe a week. The most any one of them stayed with was maybe two months. Her name is Riham. She was a child and stayed with my children. With regard to the rest of the Yazidi women, I did not know where he was taking them, or what he was doing with them. They were not part of my circle.”
Interviewer: “It was said that he gave one of the Yazidi women to Abu Mohammad al-Adnani…”
Mohamed: “I have no knowledge of these details. All I know is that all of them owned Yazidi women. All the emirs owned Yazidi women.”
Interviewer: “Some Yazidi women who managed to escape from this ISIS hell testified that they were raped by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.”
Mohamed: “I cannot confirm or deny this, but this is very possible. Back then, he and the entire ISIS organization became…”
Interviewer: “Obsessed?”
Mohamed: “Obsessed, barbaric… They had a thirst for it. They became inhuman in this regard.
[…]
“I believe that ISIS is a black [stain] in history, and it is over. Women should become more knowledgeable. They should not follow this dream, this illusion. ISIS is over and I do not think it will be resurrected.”
[…]
Interviewer: “Were you [women] asked to carry out suicide operations?”
Mohamed: “He suggested that we wear explosive belts, but we completely refused this. We have children. I could not do such a thing. I have children. I am thinking about their future. Allah prohibited suicide…”
Interviewer: “But he committed suicide when the U.S. forces got to him, and he also killed his son and two of his wives.”
Mohamed: “With regard to the killing of his son, I don’t know how a human being can do that. He was a child, none of it was his fault. How could he kill a child who has done nothing wrong? This was very painful to me…”
Interviewer: “Even your 12-year-old daughter whom he married off…”
Mohamed: “Yes. Yes. This is the true nature of this organization.”
Mike says
RIP Kayla Mueller. Al-Baghdadi is broiling in Hell as we speak. Former President Trump correctly said, “He (al-Baghdadi) died like a dog.
Westman says
The Baghdadi bast— repeatedly raped an American humanitarian aid worker who was kept and tortured as a sex slave for over a year.
A US military operation, named in her honor, cornered him and he detonated an explosive vest killing himself and children.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/isis-leader-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-sexually-abused/story?id=33085923
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Abu_Bakr_al-Baghdadi
The modern-day Allah-approved existence of child brides and sex slaves are indelible stains upon Islam and proof of the primitive content of its doctrines which still create cavemen.
Walter Sieruk says
This article isa strong reminder that one scholar on Islam, Robert Spencer, wrote that the Islamic tradition records that Muhammad consummated his marriage with (i.e., raped) Aisha when she was nine, and the resultant fact that child marriage is accepted in wide swaths of the Islamic world. Child marriage has abundant attestation in Islamic tradition and law.”
Male Muslim marriage of an adult man to a young girl who is really only a child of common in the world of Islam. One of the “reasons” for this female child abuse in Islam is because of the corrupt and perverse wickedness in the hearts of men. This is seen and described in the Bible with reads “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9. [N.K.J.V.]
Furthermore, another “reason” girl/child marriages occur with middle aged and even old men is because the founder and prophet of Islam Muhammad married a child. Muslims throughout history as well as in current times actually view Muhammad as a “perfect man” and a “great example for them to follow.”
This well might prove the old saying to be true .The saying is that “Evil is always looking for an excuse.”
It’s also wise to remember prophet Muhammad did likewise engaged in brutal, ruthless murderous warfare. As do Muslims today such as the jihadist Muslim of ISIS, al Qaeda, Hezbollah Hamas and so forth. Many that old saying, just sited above, also explains the excuse for Muslim terrorism in the world today.
Jesus Himself taught “By their fruits you will know them.” Matthew 7:20. Which might explain the vile child “marriage” of Muhammad and his violent and deadly behavior .Likewise also explains the twenty- first century Muslims who in child marriages and blood and murderous violence of Islam .As they see the prophet Muhammad d as their example of who to follow.
With all this about the fruits of Islam along with fruits history reveals about the life of the prophet of Islam, Muhammad .It thus further appropriate to make known that it might be in keeping with teaching of Jesus that Muhammad could well have been an actual prophet . Nevertheless the very most important thing to understand is the Muhammad was not a prophet send by God. Instead Muhammad was a lying deceptive false prophet send by Satan to start a false religion to lead many people astray.
For Jesus taught “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” Matthew 7:15.
Walter Sieruk says
The child bride of that ISIS caliph al- Baghdadi is the result of the the Islamic practice of an adult male Muslim having a marriage with a little girl who is only a child is part of Islam since all Muslim admire the prophet of Islam, Muhammad and attempt to live like him and he did marry a 9 year old girl.”.
Nevertheless this heinous Islam tradition is accepted as “normal “in most of the Islamic world. Therefore, this may serve as an example of how the influence of Islam is able to warp the cogitation of the human mind to the extent that a person who is a Muslim might not be able to understand the obvious difference between right and wrong.
Such an awful thing as not having the discerning mental power to seethe clear difference is described in the Bible. For in Isaiah 5:20. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil…” [N.K.J.V.]
Pray Hard says
Isis is over? No, it isn’t. Such a liar. Isis is islam. Islam isn’t over and nothing about islam is over.
Keith O says
She is right, isis is a dark stain on humanity, much like a few other totalitarian ideologies such as Burn Loot Murder, Stalinism, Nazism, the vatican, scientology etc.
Joe says
The hadiths also had Mohammad sexually molesting his infant son. So do the Muslims honor that as well?
Tatanka says
Muslim men are the vilest creatures ever to walk the earth.
OLD GUY says
Sadly that is what they are taught as young children. When you indoctrinate your children at a vary young age they grow up believing what they learned is how life is. Teach them to love their fellow man or to hate and they will follow.
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness says
Of course he did. Nothing less should be expected from a male member of a hideous death cult.The West has lowered the bar by accepting this filthy excuse for a religion into their midst. Not until a thorough exposure in the public square as to the horrific nature of this cancer will the West stop conflating Islam with Judeo-Christian values.