The Prophet SAWS and his marriage to 'Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her)

[Michael]

A couple of years ago, when I was a devout Roman Catholic, I tried to convince my friend who had accepted Islam to leave it. I wrote to Matt Slick on www.carm.org (many of whose arguments are refuted on www.answering-christianity.com/ac.htm) and he sent me three documents. One of them was about the Prophet Muhammad and his marriage to 'Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her). Whoever wrote the document examines ahadith to "prove" that 'Aishah was 9 and he then brings out scientific evidence to show that marrying a 9 year old girl is wrong and causes damage to them both mentally and physically. He also has a section at the end explaining how Allah isn't as good as the "God" of Christianity.

When I talked to Muslims during Islam Awareness Week, I confronted them about the marriage of the Prophet SAWS to 'Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) and they said that yes, it did happen, but that Jews and Christians at that time did it as well. The sheikh at the mosque said the same thing. However, last night I was reading in the mosque library, and some little girls came in to talk. In their conversation, one mentioned that she was ten years old. I just remember thinking that it would seem disgusting for one of those little girls to marry a man who was old enough to be their father.

Can anyone help me refute this document? You can get it at http://www.esnips.com/web/Islam-RefutationsNeeded/ The document is called "Muslim view on women"

 

[Isambard]

Once a girl reaches puberty, it was and (still is in some rural) cultures for them to get married to older men.

That said, there are a few questions of mental and emotional development raised and especially true from someone who claimed to get his knowledge from God.

 

[snakelegs]

just wondering -
you are a brand new revert. shouldn't you be focusing more on learning about islam than on refuting critics? (there is a lot to learn).
:hiding:

 

[Md Mashud]

I think, its hard to imagine this, due to the modern society we live in. Remember, this was 1400 years ago, alot of customs, alot of culture was very different. Also, it is thought that the maturity of Aisha was great, so much so that she was even a scholar of Islam. To be a scholar of Islam is a great task indeed, it required ampled knowledge - The 9 year old is nothing like the 9 year old in present times.

This is why, scholars do not recommend this for our times, merely that this was common in previous times and you can't compare both.

 

[north_malaysian]

how abt this: http://www.themodernreligion.com/prophet/prophet_aisha.htm

 

[syilla]

:salamext:

i thought during the olden days was normal for the girls to married young...

my grandmother got married when she is 9.

 

[جوري]

You might be surprised that in the civilized west the age of consent in such states as Delaware was only 7yrs of age, and only a century and a half ago~

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. Women reformers and advocates of social purity initiated a campaign in 1885 to petition legislators to raise the legal age of consent to at least sixteen,

source

you might also be surprised that legal age of consent per bible and the Torah is about 0 to 3 for a girl!..

What is the minimum age of marriage according to Jewish law?
by Rabbi Naftali Silberberg

Our Sages state1 that "it is forbidden for one to marry off his daughter until she is an adult and says 'this is the one I want to marry.'"

It is forbidden for one to marry off his daughter until she is an adult and says 'this is the one I want to marry'!
In ancient (and not so ancient) times however, marriage was often-times celebrated at a rather young age. Although we do not follow this dictum, technically speaking, a girl may be betrothed the moment she is born, and married at the age of three.2 A boy may betroth and marry at the age of thirteen.3

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Footnotes

1. Talmud Kiddushin 41a.
2. Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 37:1.
3. Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 43:1.


What is the minimum age of marriage according to Jewish law? | AskMoses.com - Judaism, Ask a Rabbi - Live

You might be surprised still? that many scholars and historians don't agree on the actual age of Aisha RA when she got married to the prophet P.. some say she was 17.. documentation wasn't as good centuries ago as it is today.. under any circumstance that is actually inconsequential.. you see if I were that guy whom ever he is making accusations, I'd tell him--
'If I wereyou I'd probably have so much editing to do in the bible'.

From Solomon to David to Jacob, to Issac to Abraham... perhaps in the new version of the bible, they'll all be idealistically married to just one at the appropriate age of 27?.. That is just the unfortunate problem with these Evangelists and bible thumpers-- they seldom read their own book.. It is kind of funny when you think about it!

as for the fellow who mocks and questions the mental status of 'someone who claims he gets his knowledge from God'.. what can we say, sorry, the American reformers and the American psychiatric association, hadn't constituted then to define who is mature for marriage and who isn't..perhaps at some stage when they form a solid opinion and stick with it, the rest of the world wouldn't be so confused?..

Homosexuality not 30 something yrs ago, was considered an act of sexual deviance in the DSM-IV of mental disorders in 1973.. after some lobbying it was deemed 'normal'.. perhaps a homo psychiatrist was offended and lobbied some?.. I have no doubt 20 yrs from now, the necrophiliacs will lobby some too and make it out of that book and people like Carl Tanzler will exhume the bodies of their dead loved ones add some wax to their decaying corpse and sleep next to them? I don't know what will be deemed appropriate 30 years from now, and that is usually the case of fickle man made laws--'opinions'!
Silly me, I still think in many parts of the world where the life expectancy is as low as 41, they aren't going to care much of what someone else, perhaps one erudite who was thought to have an incestuous relation to his daughter, such as Freud, deems appropriate, and modish to follow!
Now I am off for fajr!

 

[Malaikah]

Did you know that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was in love with her husband? Did you know she was one of the top scholars of Islam?

How could that have been the case if she was mentally disturbed from her marriage? There is nothing to suggest that she was physically harmed either!

It was perfectly normal in their society for the young to marry the old. They didn't have a problem. We should not impose our culture norms onto others.

Also, nine year olds vary from society to society. It is pretty obvious that in some cultures, 9 year olds are kids and very immature. However in other cultures they may be more mature, both physically and mentally. Don't forget that Aisha was actually already in puberty. She wasn't a child.

 

[Amadeus85]

I have a question. For me a life of muslim prophet Muhammed is not known so well.So i ask, did Muhammed consumed the marriage with Aisha when she was 9, or he just married her when she was nine, and slept with her, when she was older?

 

[IbnAbdulHakim]

whats interesting is that the disbelievers during the time of the prophet could have taken advantage of this like every other case which seemed awkward to them (such as laylatul miraj) and pounce on him BUT they didnt say a single thing about it. WHY? Because due to the times and custom this was perfectly normal. Let it be known that every muslim believes his marriage to aisha was an order from Allah, this is evident from the fact that all his other wives were previously married and much older....

 

[Malaikah]

I have a question. For me a life of muslim prophet Muhammed is not known so well.So i ask, did Muhammed consumed the marriage with Aisha when she was 9, or he just married her when she was nine, and slept with her, when she was older?

No, the marriage was consumed when she was nine. Nine was the age when she reached puberty.

 

[NoName55]

just wondering -
you are a brand new revert. shouldn't you be focusing more on learning about islam than on refuting critics? (there is a lot to learn).
:hiding:

exactly!!!

I was gagged from posting to this person, so I won't exept to say that there are well nigh 100 threads on this subject already

wa salaam

 

[chacha_jalebi]

the marriage was a divine order from Allah swt.

if there was any mental harm, how could Aisha ra, be known as the best woman scholar! also sahaba use to ask her islamic Qs and go to her to confirm hadiths, if she was in a mental state would she be able to answer and remember things, like she was the 4th highest hadith teller

so her memory was great, she was relied upon the sahaba as a source of info!

a person in a mental state cudnt do that

 

[chacha_jalebi]

if someone physically harmed you, would you love that person? NO!!!
Aisha ra, loved the Prophet (pbuh) so much, she would get jealous when he talked bout Khadijah ra, also she spent as much time as she could with him i.e - when the people where doin a sort of show by playin wit swords, Aisha ra, had her head on the Prophets (pbuh) shoulder to watch it, and she said she wasnt enjoyin the show as much she was having her head on his shoulder

this threads full of refutations anova one for the collection

 

[Woodrow]

Michael,

I can understand your enthusiasm as a new revert. us reverts are quite notorious at trying to refute every anti-Islamic statement that we read.

The key to refutations is to first read and learn, second to read and learn and third read and learn.

In order to refute properly we need to be able to back up our refutations with specific, verifiable facts. The greatest refutation and defense is to live our life as the best Muslim we know to be.

We must always exercise patience, knowledge and truth in our refutations. It is a waste of time for us to seek out arguments to refute and opens the door for us to lead people astray. Leave the refutations to the experts, us newbies only mess things up although we mean well. Far better to live as a Muslim and use refutations only when directly attacked. By, seeking out people to refute we run a risk of misguiding them or of appearing to be Evangelical.

Nothing further needs to be said here. To prevent the possibility of error it is best we let this thread sleep.