Young Aisha and the Prophet

Young Aisha (r.a.) and her marriage to the holy Prophet (pbuh).

Terms and Definitions;

Western Terminology

Pedopile; A pedophile is someone (male or female) with a sexual preference for pre pubescent girls and boys, as young as less than a year old up to puberty. It is usually an uncontrollable urge and sickness, that results in multiple attempts and acts of sexual abuse. The motivation is a warped sexual craving carried out by individuals and gangs of individuals working together for lowly sexual fantasies or financial gain. These people range from police officers, Judges, politicians, Drs, Priests, Nurses, Teachers, Business men as well as non Professionals.

It is not characterised as someone offering his daughter to you in marriage nor a single occurrence. It seems more likely that the Prophet had a stronger preference for older women than he did for younger girls.

Hebophile; Hebophilia refers to the sexual preference for individuals in the early years of puberty (generally ages 11–14).

Teleiophiles; Teliophila is used for individuals with a sexual preference for adults.

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Islamic Terminology;

Rushd or Raashid (Intellectual maturity).

Bulugh or Baaligh (physical maturity).

Bulugh for girls is 9 lunar years and for boys is 15 lunar years, this does not mean that automatically they are married off at this age.

Pubety is the natural/biological dividing line between the body being able to produce children and not being able or ready. It may, rarely, arrive slightly later or earlier among some families.

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Aisha (r.a.) and her marriage to the holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

1) Different narrations exist regarding how old she was, some say she was even 14 when she was married. See Seyed Ammar Nakshwani talk http://www.4shared.com/audio/ZcBcJYlJ/Aisha_was_older.html?

2) People that usually accuse the Prophet of being this or that, when they mention Aisha go on about Aisha as if she never grew up and as if she stayed the same age all her life. Aisha was a young girl who attained puberty that grew into a woman. If you look at some girls around the world today whose interests are their hair and nails and boys they just do not seem mature at all. But in other countries girls of similair ages are physicaly more built or are mentally and emotionally more equpied to deal with life's challenges. Not all girls in all cultures behave and mature them same way, some are behind others in development. And other more developed women still keep teddy bears and cuddle up with them.

3) If Aisha was so traumatised by the marriage it would of been clear from her up bringing and her personality but if you look at the life of Aisha you will not find what you would expect of someone traumatised by an early marriage. Aisha has the third or fouth largest collection of narrations, over 2000 hadeeths, after Abu Hurayrah 5300, amongst our sunni brothers, whilst Abu Bakr, her father one of the close companions of the Prophet and some say the best companion of the Prophet, does not have 150 hadeeths. In fact if you put Abu Bakr, Umer and Ali's hadeeths altoghether they would not add up to the amount of hadeeths narrated from this young wife of the Prophet Muhammad (That is from the view point of the sunni books).

4) One of the reasons that the Prophet married Aisha was for strategic tribal reasons. He was from the clan of Banu Hashim and she and her father was from Banu Taym or Banu Tamim a sub clan of the wider Quraysh. The same with Hafsa and Umer they were of the Adi or Uday sub tribe of Quraysh. By marrying between the tribes it would bode well for stronger ties and nearness when it came to issues of war and peace as well as other issues. It was via this and other methods like the pairing between Immigrants (Muhajireen) and Helpers (Ansar) in Medina and making the Muslims aware of the ties of kinship and its rights as well as brotherhood amongst the Muslims that enabled the Prophet to achieve what no other man had achieved in 23 years since he was made a Prophet to humanity. He was responsible for a system of law that influenced other cultures on many continents, he was responsible for stopping the burial of infant children, he was responsible for a code of non violence except in times of assault on your population. He was responsible for a system of spirituality focusing on worship of God, he was responsible for establishing, without a fight, the first Muslim city in Medina formerly (Yathrib). All this and more in terms of whilst family loved ones were dying. He lost his favourite wife Khadijah his uncles Abu Talib and Hamza, his three sons Qasim, Abdullah and Ibrahim. Not to mention his parents also dying. He was married to some 12 wives but only had one daughter who married his nephew Ali. He was abused in life and still abused in death but those that praise him are more than the abusers. The Prophet is praised even by hosts of angels. The Prophet in his lifetime was called a lier, a madman, a magician, a false Prophet all manner of names, but did it stop him? Did it stop the Muslims? Did it stop Islam? No. As Allah says in the Quran 'it is Allah that will make it prevail over all ways of life no matter how much the guilty dislike it'. All this and still people claim he was responsible for writing the Quran in 23 years, the content of which is unmatched by any other book as old or older than it, without need for being edited or updated, what a man.

5) For our Christian brethren, where in the bible does it state the upper age of marriage as well as the minimum age for marriage?

6) In western, modern, advanced countries that some deluded people think have always had this favour over other people on the earth, what was the age of marriage one hundred years ago in England for example? And then what was the age of marriage in England before the English started shipping people off to Australia and America etc what was the age of marriage 1000 years ago in this part of the world? You might be shocked to find that there was no difference at all in the marriage customs of people when it came to marrying young. Whether it was an older person with a younger person or two young people, early marriage and late marriages were allowed and accepted. You cannot hold a man guilty for a crime 1400 years ago when no crime took place.

7) Under what right and law do people born 1400 years after the practice of early marriage have to judge that such a practice of early marriage was wrong when it is still practised today in western and non western countries? Not only that but is was a practice of "royalty".

8) If early marriage is so bad why is it still happening today amongst non Muslims? Just look at how early young girls can marry in European counties and in American states?

9) In England and America scientists are admitting that Puberty is getting earlier, meaning the bodies and sexual awareness of these young girls and boys is kicking in much sooner than it used to.

10) Does this mean that every adult male should now go out and marry girls just reaching puberty? No of course not, and nor has it been the trend amongst Muslim men in all ages and countries. The Prophet also allowed men to marry up to four women but did not make it compulsory, it comes with its responsibilities. Just because something is allowed it does not mean you break the laws of the country that you live in. If the country that you live in forbids the marrying of 14 year olds etc then that is up to them. But laws change, in Britain marriage to a 12 year old used to be allowed and this is many 100s of years after the Prophet Muhammad, were they following the advice of the Prophet Muhammad or other customs?.

11) The Prophet married Aisha he did not kidnap her. He did not stalk her until he caught her alone. He did not have multiple cases of young marriages nor was he some sort of serial hebophile or peadophile practising and indulging his whims and fancy for many young girls. He did not demand the hand of Aisha but rather it was the suggestion of Abu Bakr. Some men cannot look after one wife nor raise one child. The Prophet had no children from Aisha so she was not some sort of breeding machine either. He had 3 children from other wives but those children died whilst young, except one daughter Fatima (a.s) who was a fine specimen of a woman and a leader and educator of women.

12) Before the Prophet married Aisha he was married for 10 years to one woman before she died, her name was Khadijah (a.s) After her death he still did not go and marry Aisha but he married Sauda (which is the feminine for black in Arabic). Sauda daughter of Zam'a daughter of Qays was also a Qurayshi woman and said to be quite tall she was a widow, her tribe was Banu Amir bin Luayy.

13) If this is the strongest weapon that some people have against the Prophet to try and crush him and brand him as immoral it has not worked the more they try to throw mud it seems to just get people talking more and reading more and becoming Muslims. I think one reason why alot of people seem to be angry at the Prophet is not really because he had a young wife no, it is an excuse to try bury him under weak arguments and accusations for the plain reason that alot of people are becoming Muslims, whether sunni or shia. Even those that try to preach against the Prophet are finding their friends, workmates, children or parents have become Muslims. They are aware that Muslims may become a substantial proportion in certain western countries. That is why certain racist groups are being revived to cause problems for Muslims, as some sort of buffer to quell the numbers or reduce the speed at which people are becoming Muslims by trying to contain it whatever they have to do. Attack, attack, attack in all forms overhand tactics as well as underhand, how disgraceful. We do not condone any form of terrorism "Muslim", Atheist, Secularist, Christian, Nationalist, Zionist or Racist, terrorism.

14) Are arranged marriages always bad, can they never work? Are all non arranged marriages always good, do they always work? So when Abu Bakr gave his daughter to the Prophet he knew what he was doing, he knew this was no ordinary man. He knew that this was the person who was known for being trustworthy and truthful. He knew that he could sleep well knowing that Aisha his favourite daughter was in the best hands and was being looked after. Not only did Abu Bakr feel this way but so too did Umer and many fathers who wished that their daughter had married the Prophet. Even though the Prophet lived humbly and not in a palace like later Muslim leaders did.

15) The Prophets wives were not living altogether in the same house, and nor did they share the same bed. But some people who have nothing better to do but mock and joke at the life of the Prophet deliberately do not want people to know how upright the Prophet was. Unlike some leaders who when they get a chance indulge in orgies and such likes and have many children. You cannot measure the Prophet against your standards and laws that chop and change as you wish.

16) Rape is wrong, sexually molesting a minor is wrong, child pornography and child sex industry is wrong but the Prophet did not encourage any of this. He encouraged marriage and taking the contract and responsibility of marriage seriously. So the fact that he may have married a young person suggests forsight and vision. He knew that cultures and laws differ and would differ but still he did not say marry girls only when they reach 16 or 18 because this would mean that alot of girls from the age of between 9 and 16 would go the way of fornication, pregnancy outside marriage and abortion, and this is a fact in all countries of the world.

to be continued..........