I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm just asking questions. These are good answers, by the way, very interesting.
Thank you. And thank you for asking questions instead of accusing. In fact, asking such questions gives us Muslims a chance to clear up matters, so I thank you for that. I must have misread your post's intonation. I apologize for that.
Have you been asked about Mohammed's wife, Aisha, yet? I would think that you would have by now, as that's a common question, but I haven't seen it so far. (If you did, you can direct me to the post or page instead of answering again, that's fine.) So, do you think Aisha really was 6 when Mohammed married her, and 9 when they consummated their marriage? If so, do you think this was a mistake Mohammed made, or do you think that's an acceptable practice?
There are two Prophetic Traditions in which Aisha (ra)--the wife of the Prophet--says that she was nine years old when the
Ruksathi was performed.
Ruksathi means when a bride moves into the house of her newly wed husband.
These two Prophetic Traditions are *in* the Islamic canon and are beyond dispute. Only defeatists and apoletics seek to deny them, but the problem is that they destroy their entire faith in the process. The same source which says that Aisha (ra) was nine is also the same source from which almost *all* of our fundamentals of faith come from. So yes, you may have defended the Prophet (s) in this *one* matter, but you only happened to destroy our faith in the process. I know that many people on this forum were just repeating arguments they heard from others, and I am not accusing these posters of being defeatists and apologetics. I am simply saying that the people they *got* these arguments from are defeatists and apologetics.
It is an established fact that Aisha's
Ruksathi (moving into the husband's house) took place right after she passed through puberty. It is narrated in the Islamic canon that Aisha (ra) waited three years after she was bethroated, and this was to wait until she had passed through puberty.
In all ancient societies, including the Arabian one, both males and females were considered adults after they passed through puberty. Hence, Aisha (ra) was an adult when she moved in with the Prophet (s) and not a child. The average lifespan during that time was around 40-50 years. Because their lives were much shorter than today, people got married at much earlier ages and girls were married off right after puberty (and were considered adults).
Aisha (ra) is but *one* example of a girl married off at an early age during that time. In fact, it was the cultural norm. The examples abound in the Arabian history, including Fatima (ra) who married at around nine and Umm Kulthoom (ra) as well, and so many others.
Historically, people used to get married at the age of puberty in "primitive" cultures. For example, in Ancient Rome, women were married off at the onset of puberty, around 8-14 years of age. The same was true for Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, and for basically every civilization that existed prior to the Industrial Revolution. In other words, it was common practise in ALL of humanity to marry women off between the ages of 9 and 12, based on when they went through puberty. Are we now going to condemn all of humanity before the Industrial Revolution to be sickos or pedophiliacs?
Now I shall show some proof. If you look at this website on Roman Emperors (
http://www.roman-emperors.org/aggiefran.htm), you will see that it was the norm for girls of the Byzantine Empire to marry off their girls at the age of 8-13 years of age. The article is written by professors at the University of New England and University of Western Australia.
I will provide some relevant excerpts from this academic historical piece:
"Child brides, whether Byzantines or foreign princesses, were the norm rather than the exception, especially from the late twelfth century. Irene Ducaena, wife of Alexius I Comnenus, was twelve at her marriage, and empress before she was fifteen; the Byzantine princess Theodora, Manuel's niece, was in her thirteenth year when she married Baldwin III of Jerusalem; and Margaret-Maria of Hungary married Isaac II Angelus at the age of nine. Agnes's age, then, was not unusual, especially as it was customary for young engaged couples in Constantinople to be brought up together in the house of the socially superior partner."
(source: Roman Emperors,
http://www.roman-emperors.org/aggiefran.htm )
Note: The site seems to be down but you can see google's cache of it here -->
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cach...cousin+once+removed.&hl=en&gl=pk&ct=clnk&cd=1
The reason people of ancient times used to get married so early was because there was no such thing back then as "adolescence," which is a new phenomenon. People became adults as soon as they entered puberty. At this time, they usually started their own families and were no longer considered dependants. Anyone past this age who did remain behind as a dependant was considered a burden on the family and it was unacceptable. It was only in recent times that people no longer become adults when they pass puberty, but instead go through this superficial phase called "adolescence."
Admittedly, we can understand why adolescence has emerged as a phase in society. No doubt it is the result of education; people are still going through extensive schooling throughout their teenage years, unlike people of ancient times who usually went to work. Because people are remaining in school and not earning to support a family, the average age of marriage has become greater. In fact, this has been a slow progression upwards throughout history. For example, during the Middle Ages, marriage was usually done right after puberty. After the Great Plague, the average age of marriage increased to 15 years of age for women, due to financial constraints. Just up until 1427, the average age a girl would marry was still 15, which is considered a child by today's standards. It was only until the Industrial Revolution that teenage girls stopped marrying, namely because teenagers were still going through schooling and vocational training. And even after that, people in so-called "primitive" lands up until this day, marry young.
Hence, we can clearly see that it is obnoxious for people of today to look down upon all of humanity before the Industrial Revolution for something that was the accepted norm. And frankly, it is dishonest of Orientalists to criticize the actions of Prophet Muhammad (s) when what he (s) was doing was the accepted norm of all societies back then. The Enemies of Islam during the time of the Prophet (s) would criticize him (s) for anything they possibly could, but they NEVER criticized him for his marriage to Aisha (ra). If it had been considered pedophilia back then, then they would have used that against him, but they never did. And even early Christian orientalists would criticize the Prophet (s) for polygamy, but they never ever said anything against him marrying such a young girl, because at that time, it was normal in the Christian empires as well. (See the article excerpt I posted above.)
The Prophet's marriage to Aisha (ra) was very much accepted by the society and even embraced; Aisha's own father was very happy at the marriage. The fact is that the Prophet of Allah waited until Aisha (ra) became sexually mature (i.e. passed through puberty) before she moved into the Prophet's house, and this was the accepted norm.
It is ironic that many of these Islam-haters are Christians, who don't realize that the Bible also contains stories of Prophets who married young girls. In fact, Mary gave birth to Jesus at the young age of twelve, and nobody in that society even blinked at that. Marriage and child-birth at that age were normal during the time of Prophet Jesus (as). Today, if a girl got pregnant at age 12, we'd all go crazy; but back then, it was the accepted norm. We cannot look back at these young marriages in ancient times and think that these people were pedophiliacs...for one thing, they had much shorter life spans, so obviously they did everything much earlier. What if a thousand years from now the average age of marriage jumps to 40 since people are living for about 150 years? Would it be right for the people of the future to look at all of us as pedophiliacs simply because we marry at around age 20-25 ?
Indeed, the average life-span back in the time of the Prophet (s) was around 40-50 years old only, and therefore people did *everything* much sooner. A girl married by fourteen, and it was considered odd if she remained a burden on her parents for a longer time. In the ancient history of both the Arabs and other peoples, we see that Caliphs and leaders were only 14 years of age and they would conquer entire empires at such a tender age. Could anyone imagine a 14 year old president of the United States? Obviously, back then people grew up much faster. It was, after all, thousands of years ago. Girls had to get married at a very young age so that they could also have children at a younger age due to reduced lifespans.
There is nothing wrong with the marriage of Aisha (ra) to the Prophet of Allah (s). It was accepted by society back then, and Aisha (ra) was NO longer a child when she moved into the Prophet's house, but rather she was an adult. If you wish to criticize and condemn the Prophet (s) for this marriage, then you are going to have to condemn all of Arabian society back then as well as the Christian empires back then and all ancient peoples as a whole.
What is odd is that the West only chooses to pick out Prophet Muhammad (s) for this and refuses to condemn anyone else even though it was the *norm* back then and history is replete with examples of this.
In Biblical times, the age at which a girl could marry was puberty. And even during the Middle Ages it was usually twelve years old. In fact, historically adulthood has always been linked to puberty, and only recently have people fought off this trend and disassociated puberty with adulthood. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica makes it clear that values regarding the proper age of marriage have been changing over the years:
". . . in the United States and parts of Europe the association of adult status with sexual maturity as expressed in the term puberty rites has been unwelcome".
An interesting article on the age at which people married in Biblical times is "Ancient Israelite Marriage Customs", by Jim West, ThD - a Baptist minister. This article states that:
"The wife was to be taken from within the larger family circle (usually at the outset of puberty or around the age of 13) in order to maintain the purity of the family line;"
This is just one reference to the fact that the onset of puberty was considered the age at which young people could marry. That people in Biblical times married at an early age is widely endorsed. While discussing the meaning of the word 'almah, which is the Hebrew word for "young woman" or "adolescent female", Gerald Segal says:
"It should be noted, however, that in biblical times females married at an early age."
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica says in an article about Central Africa: "Women marry soon after puberty." [source: "Central Africa", The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th Edition (1987), Volume 15, page 646. See also "Aboriginal Australia", The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th Edition (1987), Volume 14, page 425. For additional references to the marriage customs in Biblical times, see Israel: Its Life and Culture, by Johannes Pedersen, Volume 1, page 60ff.]
One other important point is that girls reached puberty much sooner back then in ancient times, as well as in hotter climates. Girls matured much faster back then in the Arabian society. This is somewhat meaningless in regards to our specific discussion of Prophet Muhammad (s) and Aisha (ra), since the Prophetic Sayings makes it clear that she had reached puberty. And in fact, whereas there is doubt about Aisha's exact age, what is certain based on the Islamic canon is that she had passed through puberty. Nonetheless, we see that since girls of this civilization reached puberty much sooner, then they are obviously much more mature than the equivalent girl thousands of years later in the West.
"The average temperature of the country or province," say the well-known authors of the book "
Woman, "is considered the chief factor here, not only with regard to menstruation but as regards the whole of sexual development at puberty." (Herman H. Ploss, Max Bartels and Paul Bartels, Woman, Volume I, Lord & Bransby, 1988, page 563)
Raciborski, Jaubert, Routh and many others have collected and collated statistics on the topic of puberty. Marie Espino, summarizing the data says: the average age varies widely and it may be accepted as established that the nearer the Equator, the earlier the average age for menstruation.
It should also be noted that Prophet Muhammad (s) was married to Aisha (ra) for political reasons. In fact, many of the Prophet's marriages were done for political reasons, to cement ties with other tribes and promote unity between them. This was the norm for Muslims and non-Muslims including Christians. The emperor of one country would marry the princess of another state in order to cement ties with that state. The same is the case with Aisha (ra) who was bethroated at an early age in order to cement the tie between the Prophet (s) and Abu Bakr (ra)--the father of Aisha (ra)--and his kinsmen. In fact, it is said that the marriage was the Prophet's seal of approval of Abu Bakr (ra) as being the First Caliph, which he was.
Therefore, the Prophet (s) did not marry Aisha (ra) out of any lust or any such thing, but rather it was a political necessity without which the Muslims would have become disunited and therefore defeated.
Also, although Aisha (ra) did in fact say that she was nine years old when she moved into her husband's house, it should be noted that Arabs of that time were horrible when it came to recalling numbers in matters of recording history. They were known in their culture for using "fantastic" numbers in order to make a point. For example, Ibn Al-Athir--perhaps the most reliable of all Arab historians--is considered by the French historian A. Maalouf to be very reliable but warns in his book "Arabs often resorted to the use of fantastic numbers and this was not considered fabrication at the time." Whenever Ibn Al-Athir mentions a number in his book, the French historian is quick to mention that whereas the incident is true, the numbers are off. For example, Ibn Al-Athir reported that 100,000 inhabitants of a certain city were killed, but this is a fantastic number due to the fact that only 15,000 people lived in the city to begin with. He was simply trying to draw emphasis with a numerical value, as was common in the Arabic
Balagha (colloquialism).
In the Prophetic Tradition, Aisha (ra) was making use of such an Arabic "fantastic number" to drive home a point: namely that she was young when she married the Prophet (s). She was doing this because she sought to show her closeness to the Prophet (s) and prove to others that she had a right to the legacy of the Prophet (s). After the Prophet's death, civil war broke out and Aisha (ra) was on one side of the divide. The proponents of Ali (ra)--the Fourth Caliph--would use the fact that Ali (ra) was raised in the house of the Prophet (s) from a very early age. On the other side, Aisha (ra) would remind others that she was also with the Prophet (s) from a very early age.
In the marriage of Umar bin Khattab (ra) to Umm Kulthoom (ra), this is another incidence in which such fantastic numbers were used. The wife was described as a "suckling" even though she was actually marriageable age; it was a method of Arab exaggeration in numbers (i.e. hyperbole) to show that in fact the wife of Umar (ra) was very young, not that she was *actually* a suckling. Likewise, Aisha (ra) saying she was nine years old is simply her emphasis that she was very young at the age of the marriage.
Therefore, all that we have established is that Aisha (ra) was very young when the
Ruksathi of the marriage took place, not that she was exactly nine years old. In fact, people of the Arabian culture never actually recorded their birthdates or celebrated birthdays. They only guessed as to how old they are. This may seem strange to some people in the West, but I urge you to visit places like Pakistan in which the poor people do not have any idea what their ages are. I remember visiting once and this girl servant used to say that she was twelve years old even though she looked at least seventeen or eighteen. They simply guessed at their age, and in fact girls would always decrease their stated ages, as youth was seen as something positive. Now factor in the fact that it was many many years later that Aisha (ra) recalls that she was nine when her
Ruksathi took place; she was guessing how old she was when she herself was a very old woman.
As further proof of this claim, we see that if you look at the ages of most of the
Sahabah (Prophetic Companions) when they died, you will find drastically differing numbers, only estimates and guesses as to how old they were. Again, people were not picky about this back then.
In fact, if you take her age to be exactly nine, then there are many inconsistencies in her lifestory from a chronological standpoint. She said she was a "young girl" (jariyah) when the 54th chapter of the Quran was revealed nine years before the
Hijrah (migration, or start of the Islamic calender). But if we took Aisha's age (ra) to be exactly nine years old, then we see that she wouldn't even have been born nine years before, but rather have been born a year later than the 54th chapter of the Quran was revealed. Therefore, nine years old was simply an estimate, and it could be said that Aisha (ra) was very young and likely around 9-12 years of age when she was married. (And there are many other examples of how inconsistencies arise if we take the age to be *exactly* nine years of age. In fact, Arab historians always give a range when they state how old people were when they died, including Prophet Muhamamd
himself.)
But the bottom line point is that Aisha's Ruksathi (moving into the husband's house) took place *after* she went through puberty. This is a fact, and undisputed. The Islamic canon mentions how the Prophet (s) waited around three years after the bethroatal to Aisha (ra) before she moved into his house. And the reason that was known was that they were waiting for her to go through puberty.
Therefore, what is established is that Aisha (ra) moved into the Prophet's house after she passed through puberty and was considered an adult by the norms of society back then. She was around 9-12 years when it happened. Nobody back then blinked an eye at the marriage, as it was every day business.
In primitive societies people were/are always considered adults at an early age and consequently married off at such an early age. This tradition continues in many primitive societies even to this day, including parts of Africa and Asia. For example, in many Indian villages, girls are married off at around thirteen years of age even today! (Their parents often can't afford to support them after that age.) It was also the norm in the Western world for people to marry young girls, and it only changed after the Industrial Age. The stories of the Prophets of *all* of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic Prophets took place in ancient times in which there were vastly different cultural norms. Why is it that people will not think bad of Jewish and Chrsitian leaders in ancient history but will criticize the Islamic prophet for the very same things?
Take care.
Where I originally heard about Aisha would probably be considered by you to be a "Muslim bashing" book, but as far as I can tell what I've asked is a fair enough question, and not propaganda. I'm not trying to bash Muslims, I'm trying to figure out why in the world everyone would say Aisha was six when she was sixteen - that defies logic.
Maybe more tomorrow.
