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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.
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
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.
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.
“Chhattisgarh: Family being pressurised to get a 9-year-old rape victim married to the Maulana who brutalised her, complaint lodged,” OpIndia, August 13, 2020 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Last week, a 25-year-old Madarsa teacher, Maulana Mohammed Arshad Rehmani, was arrested in Raipur, Chhattisgarh for the alleged rape of a 9-year-old girl. As per reports, the family of the Maulana is pressurizing the family of the victim to marry her to the alleged rapist. They have also been threatening the girl’s family to withdraw the case against their son.
According to reports, the victim’s father has filed a complaint with the Khamardih police station in Raipur, in this regard. The police who have already started probing the rape charges will now also investigate the alleged threats issued to the girl’s family, based on the complaint lodged by the victim’s father.
The police had arrested Maulana Mohammed Arshad Rehmani, who was also a teacher in a Madarsa, on August 9 (Sunday) after he had allegedly raped the 9-year-old girl. The Maulana had been visiting the home of the 9-year-old girl for the past fifteen days to teach her younger sister Arabic. Recently, he began teaching the victim too.
Maulana was booked under POCSO Act
The accused, who reportedly had been accused of a similar crime in the past too, has been booked under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The incident
In what transpired, the Maulana assaulted the girl sexually on Sunday after he found the little girl alone in her house. After committing the heinous crime, Rehmani reportedly fled from there. Afterwards, the child told her parents about the ordeal following which they promptly reported the matter to the police.
Victim’s father says he is being threatened
As per reports, the father of the victim has stated that he is getting threats from the local madarsa to withdraw the case against the Maulana. He has stated that some people associated with the madarsa have asked him to withdraw the rape case, failing which his daughter (the victim) will be vilified and ostracized from the local community. The victim’s father has stated that he will now register complaints against anyone who asks him to take back the complaint or ‘compromise’ with the Maulana….
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
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.
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.
“Chhattisgarh: Family being pressurised to get a 9-year-old rape victim married to the Maulana who brutalised her, complaint lodged,” OpIndia, August 13, 2020 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Last week, a 25-year-old Madarsa teacher, Maulana Mohammed Arshad Rehmani, was arrested in Raipur, Chhattisgarh for the alleged rape of a 9-year-old girl. As per reports, the family of the Maulana is pressurizing the family of the victim to marry her to the alleged rapist. They have also been threatening the girl’s family to withdraw the case against their son.
According to reports, the victim’s father has filed a complaint with the Khamardih police station in Raipur, in this regard. The police who have already started probing the rape charges will now also investigate the alleged threats issued to the girl’s family, based on the complaint lodged by the victim’s father.
The police had arrested Maulana Mohammed Arshad Rehmani, who was also a teacher in a Madarsa, on August 9 (Sunday) after he had allegedly raped the 9-year-old girl. The Maulana had been visiting the home of the 9-year-old girl for the past fifteen days to teach her younger sister Arabic. Recently, he began teaching the victim too.
Maulana was booked under POCSO Act
The accused, who reportedly had been accused of a similar crime in the past too, has been booked under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The incident
In what transpired, the Maulana assaulted the girl sexually on Sunday after he found the little girl alone in her house. After committing the heinous crime, Rehmani reportedly fled from there. Afterwards, the child told her parents about the ordeal following which they promptly reported the matter to the police.
Victim’s father says he is being threatened
As per reports, the father of the victim has stated that he is getting threats from the local madarsa to withdraw the case against the Maulana. He has stated that some people associated with the madarsa have asked him to withdraw the rape case, failing which his daughter (the victim) will be vilified and ostracized from the local community. The victim’s father has stated that he will now register complaints against anyone who asks him to take back the complaint or ‘compromise’ with the Maulana….
