Child Marriage in Islamic Law

Pedophilia is permitted in the Qur'an, was practiced by Prophet Muhammad and his companions, and some Muslims today continue to commit the crime, following their prophet's example.

Definition of Pedophilia

Pedophilia ^(US) or paedophilia ^(UK) is the paraphilia of being sexually attracted to prepubescent or peripubescent children.^[1] A person with this attraction is called a pedophile or paedophile.

Some pedophiles are sexually attracted to children only (exclusive pedophiles) whilst others are sexually attracted to both children and adults.^[2][3]

In contrast to the generally accepted medical definition, the term pedophile is also used colloquially to denote significantly older adults who are sexually attracted to adolescents below the local age of consent,^[4] as well as those who have sexually abused a child.

In contemporary law enforcement definitions, the term "pedophile" is generally used to describe those accused or convicted of the sexual abuse of a minor. Pedophilia is considered a taboo and is illegal in most societies, cultures and religions; except in the Islamic world with regards to Islam.

Primary Articles Exploring Islam's Relationship with Pedophilia

The following are summaries of pages discussing Islam, in relation to pedophilia:

Pedophilia in the Qur'an

The Qur'an permits pedophilia. The following Qur'anic verse allows sex with pre-pubescent girls who have not yet menstruated.

What is being discussed is the Iddat (العدة‎), which is a waiting period a female must observe before she can remarry. According to this verse, the stipulated waiting period for a divorced girl who has not yet menstruated is three months.

Muhammad Fits the Clinical Definition of a Pedophile

Muhammad was a pedophile, even according to the most stringent clinical definition of pedophilia - the DSM-IV-TR:

Muhammad was engaged to Aisha when she was only 6 year old and he was 51, and consummated the marriage while she was still pre-pubescent, aged 9 lunar years old. Thus he fulfilled all three requirements needed for a positive diagnosis.

Do Some Islamic Sources say Aisha was Really 17 or 18 Years Old?

Some Islamic apologists have tried to cast doubt on the age of Aisha when she married and had sex with Muhammad despite the many sahih hadiths in which Aisha explicitly and directly states her age.

They sometimes seek to explain that Aisha was in fact not nine-years-old as the Sahih hadiths of Aisha’s own testimony claim, but seventeen or eighteen-years-old at the time.

The most common of these arguments is propounded by the “Learner”, or Moiz Amjad. Other transmitters of these arguments include T.O Shavanas, “Imam” Chaudhry (word-for-word plagiarism of Amjad's work), and Zahid Aziz.

On closer inspection of these polemics you will discover that the various claims can be broadly categorized into these categories; unjustified slanders against Hisham ibn Urwah and the Iraqi narrators, the use of non-sahih information to refute otherwise sahih hadiths, the use of secondary and indirect sources in preference of direct testimonies, the use of ‘imprecise’ dating in preference to specific dates and statements of age, the use of misquoted references and erroneous information, the use of incorrect logic, and personal opinion.

Aisha was nine lunar years old at the time her marriage to the Islamic prophet was consummated and there is simply no valid evidence that suggests otherwise.

The vast majority of Muslims today also agree with this, and many of these honest Muslims take offense to these lies propagated by western Muslim apologists who are embarrassed by their own prophet's actions.

Muhammad's Companions and Pedophilia

Besides Muhammad himself, his companions also committed pedophilia. Umar was the 2^nd caliph of Islam and married Umm Kulthum at a time when she was 10-12 years old. Some sources even say that she was five years old when Umar married her.

Contemporary Pedophilic Islamic Marriages

Because of its many endorsements within Islamic scripture, child marriages are permitted by the majority of Muslim scholars and leaders, and in many Islamic countries it is common practice.

Girls far below the age of puberty are forcibly married to older persons (sometimes in their 50s and later) for various personal gains by the girls' guardian. Pedophilic Islamic marriages are most prevalent in Pakistan and Afghanistan, followed by other countries in the middle east and Bangladesh.^[5][6] This practice may also be prevalent to a lesser extent amongst other Muslim communities, and is worryingly on the rise among the growing Muslim populations in many Western countries, such as the United Kingdom^[7] and the United States.^[8] There are many reasons and justification that may be given by the world-wide practitioners of pedophilic Islamic marriages, the common denominator being Islam. In August, 2010, the Malaysian State of southern Malacca legalized child marriages specifically between Muslim men and Muslim girls below the age of 16. In a country where Muslims now amount to 60% of the total population, they enforce "Sharia law which operates in parallel with the civil legal system." Ivy Josiah, the executive director of the Women's Aid Organisation, says "It is really a regressive move. It is turning back the clock." ^[9] News like this leaves one wondering what will happen to child abuse laws in Western countries once Muslims form a sizeable portion of the population.

Other Important Articles

The Meaning of 'Consummate'

A growing number of Muslims (primarily in the West) cannot bring themselves to accept the narrations given by Aisha in which she states that she was married to Muhammad when she was six years old and that he consummated his marriage with her when she was nine years of age, even though these are recorded in Bukhari's sahih ahadith collection. These Muslims will usually resort to questioning the English translation ^[10] of Dr. Mushin Khan, without addressing the ahadith in their original Arabic. A reading of the relevant Bukhari ahadith make it clear that Muhammad had sexual intercourse with Aisha when she was nine years of age. The terms used are: "udkhilath" and "bana biha", which can only mean "sexual intercourse" in the context of the ahadith. The confusion from Muslims regarding this comes from their lack of understanding regarding the English phrase "consummation of marriage", their ignorance of Arabic and their unwillingness to admit that their prophet had sexual intercourse with a nine year old child. Instead of attacking the English phrase "consummation of the marriage", it might better serve Muslim apologists to read the relevant ahadith in the original Arabic before venturing a rebuttal.

Islamic Writing and Pedophilia

There are many references to the permissibility of pedophilia, to be found in authentic Islamic scripture.

The Harmful effects of Abuse, Documented in Islamic Scripture

It is no secret that sexual abuse of children has serious consequences on its victims and, among Muslims and non-Muslims alike, it is no longer a secret that the Qur'an explicitly condones pedophilia. Of course, for Muslims to finally acknowledge the harmful effects of abuse on a child it becomes necessary for us to expose those effects through authentic Islamic sources. That is why we find Aisha, Muhammad's third and "favorite" wife, to be the perfect model for assessing pedophilia and its consequences on the victims. The life of Aisha bint Abu Bakr truly was a seventh century tragedy.

Pedophilia and the Tu Quoque Defense

This article refutes the claim that Joseph, the husband of Mary (the mother of Jesus Christ), was a pedophile, a popular yet erroneous tu quoque argument used to defend Prophet Muhammad's pedophilic marriage to Aisha. Upon reading the non-canonical apocrypha, the Christian equivalent of da`if (weak) or maudu (fabricated) hadith, we find it does not say Mary married Joseph when she was aged only 12. It in fact says she was possibly 17 years of age at the time the marriage was eventually consummated, if ever (Mary's perpetual virginity, the belief that Mary remained a virgin her entire life, is an essential article of faith for the majority of the world's Christians). The most decisive argument against the claim that Joseph was a pedophile is the fact that the same non-canonical writings which are used to gather information on Joseph and Mary's age, also confirm Mary's status as "ever virgin" (in The History of Joseph the Carpenter, Jesus says on Joseph's death "my mother, virgin undefiled").

Muhammad a Pedophile? Another Look

A second look at the question; was Muhammad a pedophile? One of the most disturbing things about Islam is that it does not categorically condemn pedophilia. Indeed, it cannot, for to do so would draw attention to the pedophilia of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Many Muslims cannot condemn pedophilia even if they would like to, for they would have to abandon Islam. Muslims tacitly approve of pedophilia, even if they are embarrassed to say so. So mesmerized are Muslims by the example of Muhammad's pedophilia that they are unable to categorically denounce pedophilia or feel shame. It is prevalent in many Muslim countries disguised as child marriage. The UN is today trying to stop the evil of child marriage among the backward Islamic regions of Asia and Africa. The future of some 300 million young girls depends on it.

Proof that Aisha was Still Pre-pubescent Aged Fifteen

The doll-playing exegesis used in "Aisha's Age of Consummation" in itself proves Aisha's status as pre-pubescent at the time of the consummation of her marriage to Muhammad, but most Muslims are unaware that the Sahih ahadith say that Aisha, was below the age of puberty when she was at least fourteen years old, and remained in that state till the age of sixteen. This is because they have never read the Sahih ahadith in Arabic. The narrators of the Sahih ahadith were not ashamed that Muhammad had married and had sexual relations with Aisha when she was below the age of puberty. Hence, from the original Arabic, it is clear that Aisha was below the age of puberty at the age of 14 (at the time of the raid on the Bani Mustaliq) or 15 (at the time of the Ethiopian slaves dancing incident), and begun her first menstrual period at the age of 16 (during the journey for hajj).

See Also

Articles

• Pedophilia (Translations of Arabic/Islamic Media)
• Quotes on Muhammad relating to Pedophilia
• Islam and Bestiality
• Muslim Statistics (Children)

Multimedia

• Videos on Islam: Pedophilia

Satire

• Aisha (Farsideology)

Other Core Articles

Core articles contain an overview of other articles related to a specific issue, and serve as a starting point for anyone wishing to learn about Islam:

• Islam and Apostasy
• Islam and Homosexuality
• Islam and Miracles
• Islam and Propaganda
• Islam and Science
• Islam and Scripture
• Islam and the People of the Book
• Islam and Violence
• Islam and Women

External Links

• Link between child porn and Muslim terrorists discovered in police raids
• A Complete Guide to Pedophilia in Islam
• Images of pedophilic Islamic marriages
• Let's clear up all this pedophilia garbage... - Forum discussion on another defence of Muhammad's marriage to a child

News regarding Pedophilia among non-Muslims

• Poland okays forcible castration for paedophiles (9/28/2009) - related: Chemical castration at wikipedia

References