The Muslims of today are living in an era of unprecedented discrimination against Islām. Their religion is constantly vilified and attacked because the theological beliefs it propagates are seen to be counterproductive to Western society. The Prophet of Islām (sall Allāhu alayhi wasallam) has been the major target of these attacks by orientalists, liberals and modernists alike, all of whom have done so under the guise of freedom of speech in order to promote their own personal and political interests.
Amongst the barrage of insults and false accusations levelled against the Prophet (sall Allāhu alayhi wasallam), is the claim that he was a paedophile because he consummated his marriage to ‘Ā’isha bint Abu Bakr (radi Allāhu anha) when she was 9 years old. Due to the nonsensical and unsubstantiated nature of the allegation, the author feels that any attempt to refute it using evidence will give this ill contrived accusation a sense of legitimacy. For this reason, it should be ignored and thus confined to the aisles of history as another feeble attempt to defame a man who was known, even by his greatest enemies, to epitomise the best of morals and character. Instead, this article will free the Prophet from the lies attributed to him, by exposing the hypocritical actions of individuals who have conveniently appeared in the last century to criticise the Prophet (sall Allāhualayhi wasallam) and his marriage to ‘Ā’isha. This in turn, will help expose the agenda of some in the West that have championed, the ludicrous belief that they are the rule by which all moral standards (throughout all of history) should be judged.
It should first be made clear that Islām does not support paedophilia or child abuse in any shape or form. In fact, the Qur’ān clearly stipulates that marriage can only take place between individuals who have matured in their biological and psychological development (puberty). [1] On the other hand, modern age restrictions on marriage in the West are not based on evidence, but on arbitrary numbers that contradict the biological and social development of individuals that they seek to safeguard.
It is also imperative to understand without any qualms or hesitation, that the Prophet (sall Allāhualayhi wasallam) married ‘Ā’isha (radiAllāhu anha) when she was 6 years old, and they consummated the marriage when she reached puberty at the age of 9. [2] This is the only explicit piece of evidence that has directly identified the age of ‘Ā’isha (radiAllāhu anha) when she married the Prophet (sall Allāhualayhi wasallam). On the other hand, the reports that suggest she was older are implicit, and derived from very tenuous assumptions based on events that occurred during her life. [3]
With this in mind, many academics have successfully refuted the allegation of paedophilia against the Prophet (sall Allāhualayhi wasallam) using evidences that clearly disassociate him from such a label [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]. However, this has led to a further onslaught of similar claims against him that have repeatedly been refuted by Muslims and non-Muslims alike [9], illustrating that a clear agenda exists to defame the Prophet even though his accusers are well aware that the slanderous claims they attribute to him are false. This is supported by the primitive nature of these allegations because their single objective is not to prove that he is guilty, but rather to tar his name with these iniquitous ideas, thus attempting to create hatred in the hearts and minds of society towards the religion he founded. Therefore, it is felt that disproving this false charge using evidence will produce nothing but a never-ending cycle of accusations that will only end once the antagonists have achieved their objectives. Thus, to prove that the Prophet is free from the allegations he is accused of, the claims brought forward by Western polemics will be refuted based on the very same standards that the Western world have used to measure their own moral behaviour, and thus prove that their opposition to the Prophet is steeped in hypocrisy.
Firstly, Islamaphobes judge the actions of the Prophet using a moral compass that is only applicable to modern society. In order to justify their Islamophobic sentiments, they seek to impose moral judgments that are only relevant in the present, on practices that occurred 1400 years ago, where rules and cultural norms were different to the norms and customs of today. This is something that anthropologists who study cultural phenomena warn against, because it is unacceptable to judge previous cultures and civilisations based on modern standards of living. Instead, a society and people must be judged by the rules and cultural norms that existed in their era. Therefore, if marriage to a 9 year old was a normative practice throughout various civilisations over 14 centuries ago, then it is just as valid as current legislation in the UK, which states that people cannot be married until they reach the age of 16.
Secondly, it is interesting to note that these accusations against the Prophet were only brought forward during the last century. Before 1905, no such claims against the Prophet existed and were only introduced and popularised by David Margoliouth, a British historian who was affiliated with the Zionist movement. This was because 100 years ago in many countries around the world (including the USA), the general age of consent for marriage was 10 years old, and in one state it was even lower at 7 years old. [10]
Thus, by using the moral index of the West, it appears that the Prophet is free from the accusations that are levelled against him because the very nations that accuse him of despicable crimes 1400 years ago, allowed the same acts to take place within their own societies only 100 years ago. This has clearly exposed the double standards that exist in Western society and shown how certain individuals have purposely tried to damage the reputation of the Prophet for the sole reason of achieving their aims and objectives.
So the question remains, why have certain individuals in the West remained silent about non-Muslims who married prepubescent girls between the ages of 7 and 10, but have chosen to single out the Prophet (sall Allāhualayhi wasallam) in their attacks? It is because these attacks have been used to push public opinion against Islām and thus given certain figures in the West the opportunity to achieve their political objectives.
To further prove their hypocrisy, Islamaphobes fail to mention that in the US, the current minimum legal age for marriage in New Hampshire is 13 [11]. Where is the grievance there? The same modern rules by which Islamaphobes seek to judge the practices of seventh century Arabia dictate that children should be a lot older and mature before they can be given the choice to marry. So why does the charge of paedophilia not enter the discussion when individuals marry children at the age of 13 today in the state of New Hampshire? In fact, why is the state law system not put under the same scrutiny for not stipulating—as Islām does—that puberty is a condition for consummation of marriage? This is another example of the hypocrisy that exists in individuals who attack Islām because they pick and choose what they publicise. Will accusations of paedophilia be leveled at individuals who openly practice marriage with 13-year-old children, who may not have reached puberty yet, or are these attacks only limited to Islām and the Prophet?
To further outline the hypocrisy of individuals who accuse the Prophet of paedophilia, they conveniently choose to ignore cases where central figures of other religions married children under the age of 12. For example, those who contest the Prophet’s marriage to ‘Ā’isha have never mentioned that the last of the ten saints in Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh, married a 12-year-old girl called Mata Sundari. [12] Now unlike with ‘Ā’isha, it was never established whether Mata Sundari reached puberty before she consummated her marriage with Guru Gobind Singh. Also, it is well known that from the Christian understanding, Mary married Joseph when she was between the age of 12-14 and Joseph was 90. [13] Why is this fact left out during debates about underage marriage in religions? Furthermore, according to Judaic traditions, 3-year-old prepubescent girls were forced to have sex with men under the guise of Mosaic Law. [14] However, under Islamic traditions, such claims against Prophet Mūsa (alayhi salām) are completely rejected and are falsely attributed to him by the corruption of other faiths. Additionally, Jewish law states that the age of consent for girls to marry is 12, regardless of whether they have reached puberty or not. [15] Yet we find that Islām and the Prophet have been slandered for a practice that carefully considered the rights of females when it was undertaken. The fact that these individuals conveniently overlook the above-mentioned issues proves that their accusations are fuelled not by a moral opposition to the Prophet’s (sall Allāhualayhi wasallam) marriage to ‘Ā’isha, but by a dislike for Islām and its Prophet, as well as the need to achieve their political objectives.
These facts have clearly exposed the hypocrisy of those who attack the Prophet for marrying ‘Ā’isha because while they have opted to vilify a man who married a young girl in accordance with the biological and social framework of his time, they have voiced no concerns or disagreements regarding practices that existed in other major traditions. Additionally, the height of their hypocrisy is palpable in their silence on clear-cut examples of paedophilia that are being practiced around the world and in Western countries today. Therefore, before such people make false accusations against the Prophet, it would be far more appropriate for them to address the problems that exist in their own cultures first. They may benefit from pondering over the clearly more sensible conditions of biological and psychological maturity that Islām requires for marital relations to occur, compared to the plucking of an arbitrary minimum age out of the air for many societies today. In doing so, Islām—uniquely—prevents harm to pre-pubescent children as well as the plethora of societal ills that result when human beings are prevented from fulfilling their biological needs in a safe and honourable way, when the minimum age is too high for an individual.
Thus, it is not difficult to see that the basic premise of the attack against the Prophet is a flawed one, as it is illogical to apply the incidental tastes and moral standards of today to seventh century Arabia. It has clearly been proven that the disparaging claims directed at the Prophet are false because they are built on unconvincing and dubious foundations, in order to suppress the increasing support and growth of Islām that the world has witnessed during the last century. The aspersions cast against the Prophet are borne out of hypocrisy and double standards because the very nations that first created and spread the accusations allowed the same practices to take place in their own societies just over a century ago. Moreover, the paedophilic crimes that have taken place within other religions are not criticised but are met with silence, which not only forces one to question the intentions behind the attacks against the Prophet, but also frees him from the accusations that are levelled against him for his marriage to ‘Ā’isha. Therefore, since these accusations only surfaced a century ago, it is no exaggeration to say that they were and still are, fuelled by a desire to tarnish the name of the Prophet (sall Allāhualayhi wasallam), and to promote the personal and political agendas of those who fabricated them.
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source: www.islam21c.com
[1] Qur’an 4:6
[2] Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 88
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE_zypf8DAU
[4] The marriage took place at a time when the greatest enemies of the Prophet (sall Allāhualayhi wasallam) were extremely hostile towards him. The Quraysh scrutinised his every move, and they did not waste any opportunity to insult and spread slanderous propaganda against him by fabricating claims that he was a liar, a soothsayer and someone who was mentally ill. However, despite all the false claims made against the Prophet, they never questioned the age of ‘Ā’isha (radiAllāhu anha) when the marriage was consummated.
[5] ‘Ā’isha was engaged to Jubair ibn Mut’im before she chose to marry the Prophet, thus proving it was a customary practice and a cultural norm of the people at that time in Arabia and different parts of the world to marry young girls, as they were biologically and psychologically considered adults once they reached puberty.
[6] The idea of marrying ‘Ā’isha was not conceived by the Prophet but was suggested to him by Khawlah bint Hakim (radiAllāhu anha), a woman who was well respected for her character and morals in Madinah. Therefore, it becomes inconceivable that she publicly suggested that the Prophet take part in a marriage that was immoral and purely for the sake of fulfilling his desires.
[7] From a medical perspective, paedophilia is defined as an exclusive sexual attraction towards individuals that have not physically reached puberty [16]. Therefore, such an accusation cannot be applied to the Prophet, as he waited three years until ‘Ā’isha reached puberty before he consummated the marriage with her [17]. To support this claim, ‘Ā’isha stated that she was a woman when she reached the age of 9 and suffered symptoms of premenstrual syndrome before the marriage was consummated. [18] [19]
[8] As the Prophet (sall Allāhualayhi wasallam) waited three years for ‘Ā’isha to reach puberty before the marriage was consummated, it illustrates that he was aware of the importance of physical and psychological maturity before marital relations could take place between a husband and wife. This level of self-control is not characteristic of paedophiles because they lack the ability to control their impulses, thus are unable to control their sexual urges for prepubescent children. In fact, ‘Ā’isha documented that the Prophet was not characterised by this problem because he had the ability to control his desires like no other person [20] [21]. Additionally, paedophiles lack the ability to adopt a sexual demeanour towards adults or those of their own age or older [22]. This was not true in the case of the Prophet (sall Allāhualayhi wasallam) as he had many adult wives, all of whom he spent a lot of time with.
[9] Islamaphobes use a very tenuous argument by stating that ‘Ā’isha took dolls to her new families home. This is a ridiculous claim especially since the BBC produced a documentary proving that adult women above the age of 18 still play with dolls and stuffed animals. [23] This claim was also supported in the New York Times, which stated that there was an increase in the number of white, conservative, Christian adult women who play with dolls. [24] It is also widely accepted that sexually active female adults love to receive dolls and stuffed animals as an expression of love between them and their partners. Furthermore, it has also been documented that dolls were produced for adults and children before the year 1700 [25]. This is supported by evidence that ‘Ā’isha played with dolls that were permitted for adults. [26]
Additionally, if one investigates the social environment where ‘Ā’isha lived it becomes evident that different varieties of entertainment that are accessible today were not available. Therefore, dolls would have been the only way for individuals of her age to spend their time, despite their level of maturity. Taking this into consideration the fact that ‘Ā’isha played with dolls when her marriage was consummated does not prove that she had not reached puberty.
[10] Arthur Siccan – ‘What’s Wrong in America: A Look at Troublesome Issues in Our Country’
[11] http://law.justia.com/codes/new-hampshire/2010/titlexliii/chapter457/section457-4/
[12] D. D. Dhillon (1988). Sikhism Origin and Development. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors.
[13] Charles Souvay – St. Joseph – (1910) The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company
[14] http://www.answering-christianity.com/age3.htm
[15] http://www.jewfaq.org/marriage.htm
[16] World Health Organisation, 2007
[17] Sharh Muslim, 9/206
[18] Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Kitab al-Nikah
[19] Sahih Bukhari Volume 5, Book 58, Number 234
[20] Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 6, Number 299
[21] Sahih Muslim Book 6, Number 2439
[22] L. J. Cohen, & I. Galynker, (2009). Psychopathology and Personality Traits of Pedophiles. Psychiatric Times.
[23] http://www.today.com/id/26970782/ns/today-today_news/t/bogus- baby-boom-women-who-collect-lifelike-dolls/#.UuKdv2TFKX0
[24] http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/motherhood-reborn-and-everlasting/
[25] http://www.good2link.net/about-doll/about-doll.htm
[26] Majmoo Fataawa al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Uthaymeen, 2/277-278
Quran 6.112
Should explain every thing and Quran says prophet Mohammed (saw) does what there are told.
Plus there said don’t tell lie about me and who ever does will enter he’ll fire as u will be discarding this ayat 6.112
Allah bless Muslims and none Muslims like prophet Ibrahim(saw) said in Surah ibrahim
Bismillah.
Assalaamu alaykum.
Nice article ma shaa Allah, jazakAllah khair.
Just two points:
1 – do paedophiles marry the young person or just secretly indulge in their carnal desires? Did Jimmy Seville, Rolf Harris etc marry their hundreds of victims?
2 – look at the history of the British Monarchy – there are many examples of what they term “child brides”. One CLEAR EXAMPLE is King Richard II’s marriage to Isabella of Volois in 1396 CE when she was 6 or at the most 7. Don’t believe me? Please research.
I think any sensible person would drop this argument before making an utter fool of himself.
Peace be upon every seeker of truth – wasalaamu alaykum.
Well said.
Mashaallah, Nice work!
The problem here is that you have no understanding of female puberty. It takes years. Just because a child has started her period early, doesn’t mean she is “ready” to be penetrated by a fully grown man. Do you have any idea of how severe the pain and suffering a nine year old child would feel during penetration? You do not care for the suffering of the child, you only care about the sexual pleasure of the ******* penetrating her.
You have no concept of what it’s like to go through miscarriages or pregnancy. You have no idea of what it’s like to go through hours or days of agonising, life risking child birth – unless you have been kicked in the testicles non stop for hours or days at a time and then pushed a 7-10lb kidney stone though your penis (the pain would be equivalent to labour and vagina ripping delivery). yet, you would quite happily see children impregnated and going through childbirth, in which most would die a slow and agonising death and those who survive would be left with life long health issues.
You’re right, it’s not only the Islamic faith that advocates causing pain and misery to young girls for the sexual pleasure of *******, other religions do too. That’s why all religions belong in the past.
Not only is your compounded ignorance exhibiting itself in the tired, oft-recited fallacies involving a purely arbitrary assignment of something you call “religions” but of values itself, to mention biology. At the end of the day, I’m afraid you won’t easily get away with denying/diverting attention away from empirical facts because of your blind popular culture-following ideology/values. The inconvenient fact is that Islam is the system that actually gave a structure to sexual relationships based on biological, psychological and societal benchmarks, rather than stupidly assigning an arbitrary age plucked out of thin air. You cannot use contemporary examples where the biology, psychology and sociology has changed significantly (as has been proven empirically) and then try desperately to smear Islam, without being exposed; not on this site at least.
You can go ahead and carry on in your ingratitude whilst enjoying the benefits that these systems brought our modern society, but just remember: those ancestors following your values framework (of sheep following the shepherd of public opinion) would have had a far tougher time before Islam brought them out of the gutters.
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Brother Alam, you should have made it known that the AGE OF CONSENT in DELAWARE, USA, was SEVEN until the late 19th century. Read the following —
In the late nineteenth century,”Age of consent” referred to the legal age at which a girl could consent to sexual relations. Men who engaged in sexual relations with girls who had not reached the age of consent could be criminally prosecuted. American reformers were shocked to discover that the laws of most states set the age of consent at the age of ten or twelve, and in one state, Delaware, the age of consent was only seven.
http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/teacher/aoc.htm
Masha’Allah well written article. It is also interesting to note that many British kings also married brides before the age of puberty (King Richard II married Isabella of Valois when she was 6 years old) but marriages were only consummated after the brides reached puberty.
Excellent article.
The other point which the Islamophobes fail to answer is if they claim the prophet was a peadophile then why wait 3 years to consumate the marriage. Surely a peadophile is one who abuses a child not a person who is (physically, biologically and mentally) a young adult.
If a man marries a 14 year old girl in the West today and then waits 3 years to consumate the marriage, will that man be considered a peadophile?
In actual fact it is Western way of life to consider marriafe is for the purpose of sexual gratification (hence the age of consent for marriage and sex is the same) whilst the Prophet taught otherwise; in the case of Hadhrat Aisha it was about opening the channels of education for women.
Lobby Ludd this is not forcing this is merely debunking.
Firstly, Islamaphobes judge the actions of the Prophet using a moral compass that is only applicable to modern society. In order to justify their Islamophobic sentiments, they seek to impose moral judgments that are only relevant in the present, on practices that occurred 1400 years ago, where rules and cultural norms were different to the norms and customs of today.
The above is your words, So why do you want to impose practices that occurred in Arabia 1400 years ago [and still do] in 21st century Europe?
I think you’ve misread the article. The writer isn’t trying to impose anything, but merely addressing the false accusations against the Prophet (peace be upon him).
I suggest that u lot read quran this Quran 6.112
Our (Muslims) moral standard is Quran and the life of our prophet (SWS), not 21 century Europe of course. Your moral accepts gay marriage and lesbian marriage but our moral doesn’t. Your moral accepts killing of children and innocent women but our moral doesn’t. So, fight between you and us will continue till the end of this world.
What about the issue with the age differences. Some debate shows have mentioned that.
You can use the same argument in the article when it comes to age difference. We Muslims know the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) did nothing wrong. If non-Muslims want to suggest otherwise, they need to show us why there is no moral opposition to what their own people did a century a go. Also once a person becomes an adult (during that time it was measured by when a person reached puberty), as was the case with A’isha (radiallahu anha) it shouldn’t matter how old the partner is. This is a common practice we see today. Age gaps between many people is massive 20-40 years, yet no one bats an eyelid to that.
The average life expectancy in the past was much lower than today which is not only why people married young but also why they worked at a younger age.
http://www.roman-empire.net/society/soc-marriage.html
The bride’s age varied greatly depending on wether it was her first marriage. Roman girls tended to marry very young, though the law prohibited them from marrying below the age of twelve.
Ma’sha’Allah a well constructed article brother Amar. Issues like these unfortunately lead Muslims to become apologetic or insecure about their Religion and thus leading to find ways of justifying their doubts with fabricated ideas.
For Muslims, we should always educate ourselves just like the brother here has done over such issues which the haters or simply the ignorant doubters will throw at us. Each and every one of us (not just the Imams and the Sheikhs) are the ambassadors of this Religion of Allah and consequently have to equip ourselves to debate with others with hikmah (good wisdom and good speech).
May Allah Azzawajal open the hearts of those who have clouds of hypocrisy, ill-thinking and/or unsureness. And of course may He reward you for this piece and make it a means of Sadaqa e Jariyah for you and whomsoever shares it with others 🙂
Jazak’Allahum Khair and keep writing such pieces Fisabililah
Assalamalaikum brothers and sisters. The westerners cannot accuse us of underage matrimony/consummation. The minimum legal age for concensual sex in many European countries is between 13-16 years. In the Vatican, minimum legal age is 14 years. In Canada, minimum legal age is 14 years. In stark contrast minimum legal age in muslim countries is 18+ years. Also look at the book –
‘Hazrat Aishah Saddiqah (raa). A study of her age at the time of her marriage’. By Ruqaiyyah waris Maqsood (based on the research of Maulana Muhammad Farooq Khan).
This is a very interesting study. The evidences presented are compelling.
The point is where did this arbitrary number of 18, 16, 14 come from? It doesn’t matter that the Muslim world only allows 18 year olds to be married, as the article mentions this will lead to a host of societal ills if the minimum age is too high. The Qur’an is our guide and it stipulates marriage should be legal at puberty.
Salam ‘alaykom
Yarhamuk Allah. I love Islam for the reason that its laws are perfect as everything Allah subhana w t’Ala determined as legal for us is a form of justice; whereas what He determined as illegal is a form of oppression. We say: We hear and obey. From the actions of Rasul Allah sal Allah ‘alayhi w salam, we learn the actions we are permitted to make, in any time or place. Subhan Allah. Allah alone knows what is best for us and al hamdulillah He gave us knowledge so that we can perform acts pleasing to Him alone, not by being subjected to the changing winds of time. Ya Rabbana zidna ‘ilma.
Jazak Allah khairun brother Amar.
Good article-although i have read in other reference that the age of Aishah when the prophet consummated the marriage was actually older at about 17. Also the author should justify that in ancient Arabia marriage at the said age was an accepted norm in the society
As the article mentions the evidence to say sA’isha was older than 9 is based on weak evidence and derived from events that do not add up.
Why does it need to be justified that it was a norm for people to be married young (once they hit puberty) when it was? If you read the footnotes it explains A’isha was engaged before she married the Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam), so this is one proof that it was a normal practice at that time.
Other civilisations around the world also followed a similar age, where once people hit puberty they were married.
very informative article, author is right to say that some people have an agenda to defame islam so that they attack on prophet (sall Allāhualayhi wasallam).
May Allah give you reward.
One of the points that was interesting for me was that we shouldn’t deny this fact, our Prophet married Aisha when she was 9. He did it and there’s nothing shameful about it and he did married a Khadija who was way older than him. If someone tries to deny this fact he/she would be deviated from the right pass, like shias who deny this and just got stuck to their own mistake. Because like westerners they tried to explain the logic of this marriage according to todays customes.
How can the West claim to have the moral high ground when they encourage HOMOSEXUALITY and allows ZOOPHILIA. They condones what is unnatural but detest what is natural. Such is their warped mentality and moral degradation. The author is correct with insinuating that the West is hypocritical against Islam and Muslims so that they can fulfill they political agenda. That is taking control of the world’s resources which the Muslim nations have in abundance.
Another piece of information which will be interesting to those people who would like to silenced the Islamophobes is that in most Western countries it is legal to have sex with animals. Checkout Wikipedia on ZOOPHILIA.
Salaamu Alaikum – Peace be upon you all. Jazaka’Allahu Khayran for this great article brother, exposing the hypocrisy of Islamophobes. I think you be of interest in the following articles I have written in past:
1.Age of Consent in European & American History
http://discover-the-truth.com/2013/09/09/age-of-consent-in-european-american-history/
2. Marriage of Marry to Joseph Carpenter, historical evidences prove she was 12 years old when married off to Joseph the carpenter.
http://discover-the-truth.com/2013/09/30/marriage-of-mary-to-joseph-the-carpenter/
3. Child Marriage in Ancient Israelite times
http://discover-the-truth.com/2013/09/14/bible-child-marriage-in-ancient-israelite-times-paedophilia/
4. Child marriage sanctioned in the Bible
http://discover-the-truth.com/2013/11/14/bible-does-numbers-3118-sanction-pre-pubescent-marriages-child-marriage-2/
Salaam
Excellent article, very well written masha’allah may Allah azza wa jal reward you.
MashAllah, may Allah bless you Amar for this piece. I would only have added a message in there for a minority of Muslims today who seek to find alternative ages for our mother, Aishs (ra) at the time of the marriage and to make it clear that this positioning of theirs comes from nothing more than an inferiority complex and deficiency in their iman.
An excellent article. May Allah reward the writer for defending our dear Prophet.
Good article, jzk