iboladeji:
>>> Did Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) marry a child? <<<

People wonder and ask,
Did Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) marry a child?
Was this a normal practice 1400 years ago?
What was the wisdom behind it?

According to authentic sources, the Prophet Muhammad married Aisha (RA), when she was 6 years old, and the marriage was consummated after she was 9. However, it is important to understand things in their historical context. For instance, it would be silly to ask, what kind of milk did they drink 1400 years ago. Or what kind of engine did they have back then.

Therefore, one must understand that things 1400 years ago were very different from now, times have changed and so humans. 1400 years ago, it was very common for women to marry at a young age. It is a historical fact that girls from the ages of 9 to 14 were married off in Europe, Asia, Africa and America.
For example:
Saint Augustine in 350AD married a 10 year old girl
King Richard II in 1400AD married a 7 year old
Henry VIII in 15000AD married a 6 year old girl

Even in the Bible, "but save for yourselves every GIRL who has never slept with a man" Numbers 31:17-18

According to Catholic Encyclopedia, "Mary the mother of Jesus was 12 when she married 99 year old Joseph"
Before 1929, Church of England minister could marry 12 year olds in Britain.
Before 1983, Catholic canon laws permitted priests to marry off brides at the age of 12.

A lot of people are unaware that in the Delaware (United States) in 1880, the minimum age for marriage was 7 years old and in California was 10 years.
Even now, the marriage age for some states are
12 for Massachusetts
13 for New Hampshire
14 in New York

At the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), those who refused his message tried every method and strategy to discredit him. They were always looking for opportunities to attack him verbally and even physically. Some of this verbal abuse consisted of calling him magician, soothsayer, crazy. However, they never thought to point out or object to his marriage to Aisha (RA). Why? Because it was the norm of the society, meaning it was completely normal.

Do you know that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had only one wife, Khadijah, throughout the first 54 years of his life?
Did you know that she was a widow?
Did you know that she was 15 years older than him?
He (PBUH) spent his entire youth with her.
He was committed to her until and after her death by keeping ties with her friends.

What about Aisha, was she a child when she agreed to marry Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)?

Note: The age of puberty varies throughout different times and different places.

According to scientific references, "Girls might enter full-blown puberty anytime between the ages of 9 and 15" LiveScience.
Also, "The average temperature of the country is considered the chief factor with regard to menstruation and sexual puberty" Women:An Historical Gynecological, and Anthropological Compedium Volume 1, Lord & Bransby, 1988, p.563

So was Aisha a child? No she was not!
So what about the wisdom behind this marriage?
God always knows best!
But the marriage of Aisha (RA) was an instruction from God (Bukhari Volume 5: Book 58: Hadith 235)
Aisha (RA) narrated to us more than 2200 hadiths (sayings) of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Aisha (RA) was exceptionally intelligent, and since she married the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) at a young age, she was able to learn so much from him. She later played an important role as a teacher, expert and interpreter of Islam
So there was so much wisdom behind this marriage!
For those who do not know the Prophet Muhammad (PHUB), He did not come to seek worldly pleasure, but he warned us against them!
His companion described him as a man of morality and they said he was shyer than a virgin in seclusion.
When believers asked him an awkward question, he would cover his face out of shyness.
He taught us that each religion is know for a kind of morality and the morality of Islam is Shyness/Modesty.


Transcribe from a DeenShow video
http://www.thedeenshow.com/watch/2962/marriage-to-aisha

parisbookaddict:


My apologies. .it's a nairaland automated quoting error. It has been corrected as I can see. I have seen the link .. u haven't made an points unless if u posted some tin since I last checked. anyway I found ur posts here amusing.. u often blast usermane for rejecting the hadiths..it's funny that u now reject some of it.. why don't u reject the whole thing..

usermane:


Because in most cases Hadith lovers have a hard time coming to terms with gross hadith teachings. Empiree, is talking about science of hadith, according to this so called science of hadith, the hadith that reported Muhammad married and cohabited with 9 years old Aisha is Authentic.

Redoil:
there was never a time an adult of over 50 years was allowed to marry a child below 8 years but if you continue to argue then and i give up. Very sad

Empiree:
do you follow the thread at all

onetrack:
Atheist here. This whole issue of Muhammad marrying a 6-year-old girl is not a big deal from a historical perspective, as it is rightly pointed out that many cultures have accepted child marriage until quite recent times. I personally do not use the 'Muhammad-as-pedophile' approach, as he was a man of his time.

The problem is that Muslims hold up Muhammad as the role model for all of humanity for all time.

Whether or not some European ruler married a 6 year old back in the year 1400 doesn't really matter because nobody would consider him to be best man in history, worthy of being imitated until the end of time, unlike Muslims who are expected to try to imitate the life of Muhammad as the proper way of living. As a result, any Muslim who is against child marriage could be rightly criticised from a strict Islamic point of view. The Quran even gives instructions on how to divorce your pre-pubescent wife. Considering that Islam is considered to be final and unchangeable, this means that child marriage can never really be outlawed in an Islamic state. That, in my view, is a problem.

I would note that Christianity does not actually forbid child marriage either, and that neither religion forbids slavery.

onetrack:
Atheist here. This whole issue of Muhammad marrying a 6-year-old girl is not a big deal from a historical perspective, as it is rightly pointed out that many cultures have accepted child marriage until quite recent times. I personally do not use the 'Muhammad-as-pedophile' approach, as he was a man of his time.

The problem is that Muslims hold up Muhammad as the role model for all of humanity for all time.

Whether or not some European ruler married a 6 year old back in the year 1400 doesn't really matter because nobody would consider him to be best man in history, worthy of being imitated until the end of time, unlike Muslims who are expected to try to imitate the life of Muhammad as the proper way of living. As a result, any Muslim who is against child marriage could be rightly criticised from a strict Islamic point of view. The Quran even gives instructions on how to divorce your pre-pubescent wife. Considering that Islam is considered to be final and unchangeable, this means that child marriage can never really be outlawed in an Islamic state. That, in my view, is a problem.

I would note that Christianity does not actually forbid child marriage either, and that neither religion forbids slavery.

true2god:
Sorry to ask, is 'science' of the hadith a social science, natural science, applied science, physical science or what?

Empiree:
This thread keeps going on in cycle. Nothing more discuss here beyond bigotry.

#unfollow....

Redoil:
If true that mohamed married a child in the presence of so many matured ladies arround him and in his defence such a long and uselles epistle where written to defend him then i have nothing to say but SAD

Ifeann:


The ignorant boy empiree is defeated and his arguments destroyed in his quest to defend the silly teachings of orthodox islam and he runs away...that's fine..run and renounce islam.

eyeview:



Though I don't care how muhammed lived his life(though I must confess that his action has caused many to boldly jump into paedeophile under the cover of muhammedic islam),but its necessary I correct you of the falsehood you tried to sell with christianity.
This correction is for you,any reader you may have misled with this and the possible source of your knowledge.
Mary,the mother of Jesus was not 12 when she got married.
First,when she perceived that she has become pregnant,she went to visit her cousin,elizabeth,not aunt,not mother,cousin. Now,being cousins means that though there can be some age gap between them,but they are contemporaries and friends(luke1:39-40). And Elizabeth herself has well aged and has even long entered menopause. Hence,mary couldn't be a teenager,not to talk of 12.
Secondly,it was also written that on getting pregnant,she relocated from her house to Elizabeth's where she stayed with her for 3months before going back to her own house(see luke1:56). I don't think a 12year old or even a teenager will be having her own house at that time and even now.
Thirdly,her ability to independently move from her city to another for 3months clearly shows that we are dealing with a mature woman,not a teen or even less.
Fourthly,she was addressed throughout by both the angel and her cousin as a woman(see luke1:28,42)
Fifthly,read her songs of exaltation from Luke1:46-55. It clearly shows the intelliegence of a full grown woman who is knowledgable in her ancestral history as she is of spiritual things.
As for Joseph,though no mention was ever made anywhere in the bible of his age,the bible describes him as a just man which modern scholars will refer to as a perfect gentleman.
Also,12years after Jesus was born,his parents were still going to Jerusalem for their annual thanksgiving and this was a journey of days by road. That would have put Joseph's age at 111 if he married her at 99. Had it been so,the bible would have mentioned it as chronological order was very important then.
Please,while we do not care about the lifestyle of your prophet,I plead that you do not spread falsehood of christianity in trying to justify this pitiable act of his.
Selah.

Bobbysworld28:


In ur own words Aisha at 9 was mature enuf for sex...? pardon me, but r u ok?
He married a woman 15 yrs older than him (maybe as a gold digger) and followed it up with pedophilia (as if the former justifies d latter).
Did he stop there? Nooo! He had several wives and concubines plus slaves dt he slept with. Kindly justify that recklessness.
The article tried to justify the man on vogueness of his time and I am free to extrapolate based on that.
Thank u

Ifeann:


The ignorant boy empiree is defeated and his arguments destroyed in his quest to defend the silly teachings of orthodox islam and he runs away...that's fine..run and renounce islam.

Redoil:
there was never a time an adult of over 50 years was allowed to marry a child below 8 years but if you continue to argue then and i give up. Very sad

chuna1985:


Solomon had many wives and many concubines n slept with them and it was no sin.

chuna1985:


2000 years ago, there was no January to December Calender. So 9 years den might not be same as 9 years old now

chuna1985:


2000 years ago, there was no January to December Calender. So 9 years den might not be same as 9 years old now

chuna1985:


Solomon had many wives and many concubines n slept with them and it was no sin.

Redoil:
if this is the way you reason then i give up.

Was She Really Six / Nine Years?!

Imam Bukhari documents, narrated by 'Aisha herself, that she was married to the Prophet at the age of six in the 2nd year of Hijrah; and the marriage was consummated while she was 9years.

Note: The age varies from 6 - 7, then 9 - 10 as far as Sunni different documentations are concerned.

However, further investigations shows that:
Exhibit 1: Imam Ibn Jarir Tabari (d. 310 A.H), wrote in his ‘History’:

“In the time before Islam, Abu Bakr married two women. The first was Fatila daughter of Abdul Uzza, from whom Abdullah and Asma were born. Then he married Umm Ruman, from whom Abdur Rahman and Aisha were born. These four were born before Islam.”
{Tarikh Tabari, vol. 4, p. 50.}

It is a common knowledge that the holy Prophet propagated Islam for 23years. 13years in Makkah and 10years in Madinah. 'Aisha was said to be "six (6) years" in the 2nd year of Prophet's 10years in Madinah. So, how could this ever be when Imam Tabari reported 'Aisha along her elder brothers and sisters were born before Islam? That should make her at least be 15 - 16years in the 2nd year Hijri.

Exhibit 2: Imam Wali-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Khatib in a brief biographical notes on the narrators of Hadith reports. He writes under Asma, the older daughter of Abu Bakr:
“She was the sister of Aisha Siddiqa, wife of the Holy Prophet, and was ten years older than her. … In 73 A.H. … Asma died at the age of one hundred years.”
{ Mishkat al-Masabih, Edition with Urdu translation published in Lahore, 1986, vol. 3, p. 300–301.}

Exhibit3.: Imam Ibn Kathir, in his book "Al-bidayya wal-nihaya," seconded this submission:
“Asma died in 73 A.H. at the age of one hundred years. She was ten years older than her sister Aisha.”{Vol. 8, p. 346.}

If 'Asma died in 73 A. H at the age of 100years, that will make her 27 years in 1H (first year of Hijrah). Since, she's 10years older than 'Aisha, in the 1st Hijri, 'Aisha's age should be 17years (27 - 10 = 17).
And as agreed upon, she married the Prophet in the 2nd year of Hijrah, then she was 18years old then.
********************

Some Sunni scholars are hell-bent and desperately insisting that 'Aisha was six advancing their argument with the myth that only Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim were the most accurate book of tradition. They did this for two reasons:

1. To preserve and protect the claim of the "accuracy" of Sahih Bukhari. Admitting the age 6 is wrong is tantamount to finding fault in "almighty sahih al-Bukhari!"

2. To maintain the "status" of 'Aisha, according to them, being the "only virgin" the Prophet married. After all, a girl of 6years is a virgin?! Here, the intent is to prove her "spiritual purification".

This second point is thrown into thrash bin by the revelation of Surah Tahrim (Quran chap. 66).

Empiree:
You need to think beyond 21st century mentality sometimes. Nothing wrong with spooky ancient incidents but in this case of Aisha (ra) was false

Empiree:
You need to think beyond 21st century mentality sometimes. Nothing wrong with spooky ancient incidents but in this case of Aisha (ra) was false

Redoil:
though ur argument fits well and i like that. But so many respected islamic clerics have asserted that aisha was 8 or 9 years old when mohamed (as practice by people/nation arround saudi arabia of today) (saw) married her. So why are u trying to distort fact and what we are seening with our eyes been done by craddle robbers

Empiree:
And so many more are of different view as mine. My post is not my works but scholarly research. This is not even important subject. It's a mere matter of methodology. Hardly you see those defending 6 yr old theory married 6yr old girl themselves. Also there is no precedent.

Bobbysworld28:

The precedent is that Mohammed married a 6 year old. If he is d perfect example for mankind as u guys always put it, I dare say dt u r not a muslim for disputing perfection. It is safe for muslims to take his words as sacrosanct afterall, he is d only one dt received d revelation frm the angel. R u disputing his words or instructions?

Empiree:
[size=28pt]Proverbs 26:4[/size]

Bobbysworld28:

I dont get. Who is d fool? The pedophile or the clown who follows him?