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Aisha
"The Prophet's" 9 year-old bride
Hadith Topics ^ | 10/23/2000 | Sahih Bukhari
Posted on 03/07/2006
12:59:17 PM PST
Aisha
— 9 year-old bride Sahih Bukhari
Narrated
Aisha: The Prophet (Muhammad) 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 (out). 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 Allright, 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 (Note the use of the word “APOSTLE”
continually in this article – Islam is not based or founded upon the Koran but in their own
teaching Islam is founded upon the five books of Moses. And in the Greek
Septuagint the word Apostle is used in regards to Moses and his call. Muhammad claims to be the embodiment of what
Moses Prophesied “that one would come like unto him.” But in actuality Muhammad is just one of a number of false prophets
that was prophesied of by Moses that would later appear “saying let us go after strange gods” – Note also that in Islam that Muhammad and his wives are all revered
as gods and are worshipped every time their names are mentioned. Certainly this
was never done unto Moses, neither was this done regarding Christ’s name when
he was upon earth or any of the Apostles he appointed – This practice is flat
Idolatry and in so doing they make Muhammad out to be equal with Christ as he
is recognized in Christianity and then in Islam they make Christ out to be not
equal with God but a mere prophet – so Mohammad has by his own words unseated
Christ and has assumed his position at the right hand of God.)
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. Volume 5, Book 58, Number 234
Narrated
'Aisha: I used to play with the dolls in the presence of the Prophet, and
my girl friends also used to play with me. When Allah's Apostle used to enter (my dwelling place) they
used to hide themselves, (her girl friends) but the Prophet would
call them to join and play with me. (The playing with the dolls and similar
images is forbidden, (In Islam) but it was allowed for 'Aisha at that time,
as she was a little girl, not yet reached the age of puberty.) (Fateh-al-Bari
page 143, Vol.13) Volume 8, Book 73, Number 151
Sahih
Muslim
Chapter
10: IT IS PERMISSIBLE FOR THE FATHER TO GIVE THE HAND OF HIS DAUGHTER IN
MARRIAGE EVEN WHEN SHE IS NOT FULLY GROWN UP.
'A'isha
(Allah be pleased with her)
reported: Allah's Messenger (Angel)
(may peace be upon him)
married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house at the
age of nine. She further said: We went to Medina and I had an attack of fever
for a month, and my hair had come (grown back) down to the earlobes. Umm Ruman (my mother)
came to me and I was at that time on a swing along with my playmates. She
called me loudly and I went to her and I did not know what she had wanted
of me. She took hold of my hand and took me to the door, and I was saying:
Ha, ha (as if I was gasping), until the agitation of my heart was over. She
took me to a house, where had gathered the women of the Ansar. They all blessed
me and wished me good luck and said: May you have share in good. She (my mother)
entrusted me to them. They washed my head and embellished me and nothing frightened
me. Allah's Messenger,
(may peace be upon him) came
there in the morning, and I was entrusted to him.
Book 8, Number 3309.
'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported:
Allah's Apostle (may
peace be upon him) married me when I was six years old, and I was
admitted to his house when I was nine years old. Book
8, Number 3310
'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her)
reported that Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) married her when she
was seven years old, and he was taken to his house as a bride when she was
nine, and her dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she
was eighteen years old. Book 8, Number 3311
Sunan
Dawud
Narrated
Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin: The Apostle
of Allah (peace_be_upon_him)
married me when I was seven or six. When we came to Medina, some women came.
according to Bishr's version: Umm Ruman came to me when I was swinging. They
took me, made me prepared and decorated me. I was then brought to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him),
and he took up cohabitation with me when I was nine. She halted me at the
door, and I burst into laughter. Book 41, Number 4915:
Narrated
AbuUsamah: The tradition mentioned above (No. 4915) has also been transmitted
by AbuUsamah in a similar manner through a different chain of narrators. This
version has: "With good fortune. " She (Umm Ruman) entrusted me
to them. They washed my head and redressed me. No one came to me suddenly except the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) in the forenoon. So they entrusted me to
him. Book 41, Number 4916:
Narrated
Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin: When we came to Medina, the women came to me when I
was playing on the swing, and my hair were up to my ears. They brought me,
prepared me, and decorated me. Then they brought me to the
Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him)
and he took up cohabitation with me, when I was nine. Book
41, Number 4917
As
an older man of fifty-plus years, Muhammad married a mere child of six years
old and co-habited with her when she was 9 years old.
As quoted above, the most trusted collections of
hadiths establish the authenticity of this oral tradition. But still, Western
Muslims are embarrassed by these hadiths. Sometimes they
use a Weak hadith defense to excuse Muhammad's child marriage.
At
other times, they use an Arabic culture defense by claiming that no one has the
right to judge Oriental culture by Occidental norms. Now, this is a strange
defense to make, since Muslims frequently criticized Western culture as being
morally decadent. If another culture cannot be morally evaluated, then other cultures
must not be judged as morally decadent. But, this conclusion is not acceptable
to Muslims, since they argue that an Islamic culture is the better culture. So,
we must conclude that cultures may be evaluated morally, or that, someone is
hypocritically judging others while not permitting themselves to be judged by
the same standard.
However,
if hypocrisy is not a good alternative, then it is concluded that cultures may
be evaluated morally. In fact, it is permissible, and even desirable, to have
moral discussions on cultural issues. Moral discussions on cultural issues
occur in many different cultures.
So, the problem of Muhammad marrying a
child cannot be defended on Eastern cultural grounds. The issue remains as to
whether or not Muhammad acted rightly in marrying a six year old. Certainly,
it is wrong according to the natural order of Allah's creation. In fact, many
nations of the world list such behavior as a crime against nature. Thus, it is
concluded that Muhammad committed a grave moral sin against the moral order of
Allah's creation. And, his behavior is no example for others to follow. It is tragic to read news reports of old men marrying children in
some Islamic countries, because they believe they are following the example of
Muhammad who married a child. Muhammad had an interest in fondling young girls,
so he criticized the lawful marriage union of two grown adults.
Narrated
Jabir bin 'Abdullah: When I got married, Allah's Apostle said to me, "What type of lady have you married?"
I replied, "I have married a matron' (a mature woman) He (Muhammad) said, "Why, don't you have a liking for the virgins and for fondling
them?" Jabir also said: Allah's Apostle said, "Why didn't you marry
a young girl so that you might play with her and she with you?' Sahih
Al-Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 17.
In the classic history of "The Life of Muhammad" (Sirat
Rasul Allah) by Ibn Ishaq, there is an account in which Muhammad expressed a
marital interest in a crawling baby. This event seems to
have occurred around the time of the Battle of of Badr which would have made
Muhammad approximately 55 years old. He had married Ayesha two years earlier,
when he was 53 years of age.
(Suhayli,
ii. 79: In the riwaya of Yunus I. I. recorded that the apostle saw her (Ummu'lFadl)
when she was a baby crawling before him and said, 'If she grows up and I am
still alive I will marry her.' But he died before she grew up and Sufyan b.
al-Aswad b. 'Abdu'l-Asad al-Makhzumi married her and she bore him Rizq and
Lubab...1
So, Muhammad's interest in young girls extended beyond Ai'sha
('Ayesha). Why would anyone think that Muhammad's sexual interest in babies be
"the timeless expression of the Will of Allah?"
How does such a prurient desire support Muhammad's claim to be a prophet of Allah?
Such a desire by an old man is contrary to nature, and it is a perversion
against the moral order of Allah's universe.
An
example of one of the problems of child marriages: "Sierra Leone's silent
sufferers. Most commonly (after one of these child brides become pregnant) the head of the foetus is too large to enter the
birth canal, (because
it is not fully developed in a small child) and presses
the bladder against the bony side wall of the (child’s) pelvis. Crushed in
that way over a period of days, the tissue (in the child’s womb) dies and a hole is created. From that moment the
women are never free of the trickle of urine. Fatmata's experience was as
typical as it was catastrophic. She was (after having given birth) rejected
by her husband, and by her family. Regarded as unclean (by Islam according to the law
of Moses)- and by some as jinxed (cursed of God)
- she was driven out of her village. (and cursed with death should she ever return)...
They
included 15-year-old Sia Foday who was married off by her family at the age of
nine and was quickly pregnant. Sia - small for her age - was only 10 when she
tried to give birth and ended up incontinent (with a constant trickle of urine coming out of
her for the rest of her life). Another of the
women, Aminata Kanda, said she only survived because her children collected
firewood to sell and helped her tend a small garden. "Life was really horrible for me. When I was in this sickness
the urine was coming non-stop... the odour of the urine is horrible... that is
why even my husband wouldn't allow me to stay in his house,"
she says."
Yet,
according to Islam, Muhammad is the perfection of humanity and the prototype of
the most wonderful human conduct. He married a nine year-old and leaves an
enduring legacy for old Muslim men to fulfill their carnal desires contrary to
natural law and to the life-long devastation of young girls.
1 Ibn
Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah, Translated
by A. Guillaume, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, (Re-issued in Karachi,
Pakistan, 1967, 13th impression, 1998) 1955, p. 311. Last edited 10/23/2000