Following Posted in Why Islam FAQs of Islam section.
http://whyislam.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1525&PN=1
Question:
1. Why did the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) marry a 9 year old?
Answer:
1. When talking about Islam, there are many questions that are asked by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. One of the most common questions is about Prophet Muhammad’s (Peace be upon him) marriage to Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). The reason for this question to arise is because of the age difference between the two. Prophet Muhammad was 54 years old and Aisha was 9 years old when the marriage was consummated. They were engaged when Aisha was 6 years old, and Prophet Muhammad waited until she reached the age of puberty to marry her.
Because of this difference in age, there has been some undeserved and unnecessary controversy about this marriage. People have also disgraced and humiliated Prophet Muhammad by calling him a pedophile, child molester, pervert, and many other degrading terms and phrases. During that time, once a man or woman reached puberty, they were eligible for marriage. Though it is not practiced in many societies today, it was practiced during those times in Arabia and the rest of the Middle East, and in Europe.
Though Prophet Muhammad has been maligned for this marriage, he had no history of committing illegal sexual acts, nor did he lust or fantasize about anyone. Besides this marriage, all his other marriages were to women 17 years and older; some of them were widows. Except for one, all of the marriages were to spread and pass on Islam by creating and strengthening relations (Prophet Muhammad married his first wife Khadijah after she proposed to him; this marriage took place before his Prophethood). This was also a reason why Prophet Muhammad had three of his daughters married to Uthman and Ali, who would become the last two caliphs of Islam.
The information below will give a clear and concise explanation of the legality of this relationship, thus hoping to clear any undeserved and unnecessary controversy created.
Brotherhood
In pre-Islamic times, people were accustomed to befriending one another to the extent that they behaved like brothers by blood. Therefore, they would not marry the daughters of the men they befriended and took as brothers. One of the female companions Khawlah bint Hakim organized the engagement between Aisha and Prophet Muhammad. When she went to Abu Bakr he said: “Could Aisha be lawful to him (i.e. Prophet Muhammad) while she was his brother’s daughter?” When Khawlah went back to Prophet Muhammad and told him what had happened, he said: “Tell him, you are my brother in Islam and your daughter is lawful to me.”
Thus, this example of Prophet Muhammad showed the people that Islamic brotherhood is not the same as blood brothers and it did away with the pre-Islamic practice of forbidding men to marry the daughters of their friend.
It should be noted that there are no accounts of anyone within their society disagreeing with the marriage, not even Aisha herself. It is only now in recent times that people are attacking this marriage.
In a tribal society, it was customary to seal treaties through marrying into tribes. Prophet Muhammad’s closest Companions later became the four caliphs who led Islam at the critical stage after his death. Two of them were the fathers of his wives Aisha (daughter of Abu Bakr) and Hafsa (daughter of `Umar); the other two married his daughters (`Uthman married Ruqayyah and Zaynab in succession, and `Ali married Fatimah). (i have to add a couple of sentences and some rephrasing of the paragraph)
Brief History of the Marriage Arrangement
At first, Prophet Muhammad was hesitant to marry again after the death of his first wife, Khadijah. He had dreams of the angel Gabriel carrying Aisha wrapped in sheets where Prophet Muhammad was told “This is your wife.” He said to himself that if this was a true dream from Allah, it will happen. These dreams were kept to himself thinking he was much older than her and that Abu Bakr, her father, had already given her hand in marriage to a man named Mut’im. With the memories that he had of Khadijah, he did not give any indication of getting married again. One should notice that since a proposal was already made, this indicated that Aisha was eligible for marriage.
It was not until his housekeeper, Khawlah bint Hakim, insisted that Prophet Muhammad get married because she thought it would be better for him to have a companion instead of being alone. Khawlah suggested that he could marry Aisha, or Sawdah bint Zam`ah, who was an old widow. The suggestion of Aisha confirmed the dream that Prophet Muhammad had of Aisha. He told Khawlah to arrange both marriages.
When Abu Bakr found out about Prophet Muhammad’s request to marry Aisha, he went to Mut’im to cancel his marriage with Aisha, and he amicably agreed.
Islam does not specify a minimum age when man and woman should be married, but both should be able to perform their marital duties. Prophet Muhammad was more than capable, and Aisha had the help of Sawdah. She guided and helped Aisha, until her death, as she was learning her role as a wife.
Pedophilia and Lust
Here is a definition:
"Pedophile: also spelled PEDOPHILIA, psychosexual disorder in which an adult's arousal and sexual gratification occur primarily through sexual contact with prepubescent children. The typical pedophile is unable to find satisfaction in an adult sexual relationship and may have low self-esteem, seeing sexual activity with a child as less threatening than that with an adult." Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998
Though he is criticized for marrying Aisha, one can see that none of his marriages can lead to the conclusion that he is a pedophile; all of his marriages, with the exception of Aisha, were with women that were the age of 17 or older. If he was a pedophile, he would not have waited for three years to consummate the marriage. He would have taken her to his home immediately at the age of 6 without marriage. If Prophet Muhammad had a desire for women he would choose someone over 9 years old who had an ideal appearance; he would not wait for a person to turn a certain age to achieve beauty.
Prophet Muhammad’s Marriages
Prophet Muhammad did not have lust for any woman. Many women who were believers offered him themselves in marriage. He could have had any woman he wanted, but he married the woman he needed to marry to cement and create relations with other tribes to spread Islam.
Including the marriages of Aisha, Prophet Muhammad had married 12 people. Out of Prophet Muhammad’s 12 marriages, 11 were socio-political. He married first wife, Khadijah, when she proposed to him. From islamonline.net: “Most of his wives after the death of Khadijah were old, devoid of beauty, and previously married, except Aisha, who was the only young virgin. He married from other nations and religions; some were the daughters of his worst enemies, and his marriage to one woman won all her people into Islam. Regardless of his neutral feelings towards many of them, he was a model example of equal justice and kindness to them all, and he would never discriminate among them.”
The Quraish
The Quraish was a tribe that was present during Prophet Muhammad’s time. This tribe did not believe in the word (Islam) Prophet Muhammad revealed to the people. The tribe found every opportunity to belittle, mock, and humiliate him at any open opportunity. This can be seen when reading about Prophet Muhammad. If they knew Prophet Muhammad was marrying a person who was not yet eligible to be married, they would have harassed him when they had the chance. Since they knew this marriage was legal, this proved two things: Marriages with young women who had reached puberty was normal and that it must have been practiced by other people, Muslim or not.
Aisha’s Intelligence
Aisha from a very young age was known to have a formidable memory. She was born into Islam, as her parents reverted before she was born, and therefore was taught from a very tender age by her pious father Abu Bakr. When she married Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) her education continued. She transmitted more than 2000 hadiths of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Az-Aubairi said, ‘if we compared Aisha’s knowledge to all women, Aisha would surpass them. Hisham ibn Urwa said. I have never seen anyone who could have knowledge of an ayah, an obligatory act, a sunnah act, poetry, history, lineage, judgment or medicine better than Aisha. I asked her, ‘what about medicine, how did you learn it aunt?’ She answered, ‘when I was sick, Prophet Muhammad prescribed (treatment) for me as did he when the people became ill. I also heard people prescribing treatment to each other. Thereby I memorized such prescriptions.’ So by her marriage to Prophet Muhammad, many prophetic traditions were passed down through generations to reach us today.
Abu Bakr, father of Aisha, companion of Prophet Muhammad
Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, was the successor of Prophet Muhammad, making him the first caliph. He was also the father of Aisha. The marriage between Prophet Muhammad and Aisha was also done to cement the relationship between Abu Bakr and Prophet Muhammad, to make it stronger: “Prophet Muhammad’s love for Aisha was a sign of his love for her father. On being asked about the dearest person to his heart, Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, mentioned Aisha. Then, on being asked about the dearest man to him and he, peace and blessings be upon him, mentioned her father, Abu Bakr.”
Middle Ages, Mary – Mother of Jesus Christ, the West
Marriage ceremonies were usually simple during this time where the Church was not that involved. Christian marriage ceremonies became part of a wedding when the Middle Ages ended. The marriages were arranged marriages where often the couple was very young. Sometimes girls were as young as 12 years of age, and the man could have been as old as 50.
Today in western societies such as America, there are several laws and freedoms. An example is that people who are 18 years or older are considered adults and if they have sexual relations with a person under the age of 18, they are categorized as “statutory rapists.” But at the same time, it is permissible to have sexual relations with people who are 12 and 13, 14 and 15, etc. Men have multiple girlfriends and women have multiple boyfriends. Extra-marital affairs are very common. These actions are so common that no one sees these actions as immoral. Actions like this are encouraged everyday. But if a marriage to someone that young is done, it is considered controversial, such as the marriage between Prophet Muhammad and Aisha. When assess this one can see which action is moral and which one is immoral.
Mary, according to Christian scholars, was around the age of 14 when she took the responsibility of bearing Jesus Christ. Mary was sent to study at the temple and enjoyed frequent visits from
holy angels. At the age of fourteen, a priest wanted to send Mary home to be married but she argued that she vowed virginity and couldn't have a husband. All Jewish women were to marry someone as an accomplishment of a natural duty. Joseph was chosen by the Holy Ghost
to marry the virgin.
After Mary and Joseph were wed, she was visited by the angel Gabriel and asked to bear the son of god. At first, Mary was frightened and curious as to how she was to keep her virginity if she was pregnant. If Mary had declined this proposal, God would have had to find another. Mary agreed to bear a child and was told that her child was to be born a boy named Jesus. The visitation of the angel and acceptance of Mary is known as the Annunciation.
If one would assess this, one would say that this event is controversial for two reasons. One is that how could a young girl get pregnant. If you assess this with today’s society, people would look at shame to a 14 year old pregnant female. (I need to rephrase and continue this paragraph)
Conclusion
The marriage between Prophet Muhammad and Aisha has received unnecessary exposure due to the age range between the two ages. Aisha had reached the age of maturity and began her life with Prophet Muhammad. During their time together, they gained a love and devotion that many people respect and admire. The information that was passed down to her from Prophet Muhammad has been vital to Islam and its followers. After Prophet Muhammad’s death, many of his hadith and sayings were passed down by Aisha to the followers of Islam. Prophet Muhammad married Aisha for the benefit of Islam and Humanity, under the command of Allah. (I have to edit and rephrase this)
