Child Marriage in Islamic Law

Child marriage in the Quran

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

This verse is in reference to 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's marriage to Aisha

Child Marriage and Muhammad's Companions

In the early 7th century was pedophilia was common. Some companions of Muhammad also engaged in pedophilia. Umar, the 2^nd caliph of Islam, married Umm Kulthum when she was 10-12 years old. Some sources even say that she was five years old when Umar married her.^[1]

Child Marriage in the Muslim World

Due to its many endorsements within Islamic scripture, child marriages are permitted by the majority of Muslim scholars (historically and today) and leaders, and in many Islamic countries it is common practice. Girls far below the age of puberty are often forcibly married to older persons (sometimes in their 50s and older) for various personal gains by the girls' guardian or with the intention to preserve family honor by helping her avoid pre-marital sex.

Pedophilic Islamic marriages are most prevalent in Pakistan and Afghanistan, followed by other countries in the Middle East and Bangladesh.^[2][3] This practice may also be prevalent to a lesser extent amongst other Muslim communities, and is on the rise among the growing Muslim populations in many non-Muslim countries, such as the United Kingdom^[4] and the United States.^[5]

In countries like Yemen, Bangladesh, Iran, and Northern Nigeria, attempts at reforming laws and banning child marriages have been opposed and stopped on the grounds that such a ban would be un-Islamic,^{[6][7][8][9][10]} and in the case of Malaysia, the growing Muslim population has effectively turned back the clock on social progress by passing new laws which allow for the practice of pedophilic marriages specifically between followers of Islam.^[11]

It is clear that Islamic Law, and Islam more generally, play an important role in the persistence of these practices

Dispute of Aisha's age

The age of Aisha was not disputed by earlier scholars but a surge of recent scholars claim that Aisha was actually older than nine lunar years at time of the consummation of her marriage to Prophet Muhammad. They find the Sahih hadiths of her own testimony mistaken, and opt to use indirect sources and disputed dating techniques to calculate different ages. These heavily criticized research techniques have led to several conflicting ages to be proposed for Aisha at the time of consummation, including 12, 14, 15, 17, 18 and 21 years.

The polemics can be broadly categorized into these categories; discrediting Hisham ibn Urwah and the Iraqi narrators, 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, as well as the use of misquoted references and oftentimes what is plainly erroneous information.

The majority of Muslim scholars agree with the sahih hadith of Aisha's young age. This has been the mainstream Muslim understanding throughout Islam's 1,400 year history, and many scholars take offense to the new claims of Muslim apologists.

The Meaning of 'Consummate'

Some reject the narrations given by Aisha in which she states that she was married to Prophet Muhammad when she was six years old and that he consummated his marriage with her when she was nine lunar years of age, even while these are recorded in Bukhari's sahih ahadith collection.

These apologists will usually resort to questioning the English translation of Dr. Mushin Khan, without addressing the ahadith in their original Arabic. A reading of the relevant Bukhari ahadith makes it clear, however, 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 regarding this comes from a lack of understanding regarding the English phrase "consummation of marriage", an ignorance of Arabic and an a general unwillingness to admit that the prophet had sexual intercourse with a nine year old child.

Articles

• Sex - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Sex

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 Science
• Islam and Scripture
• Islam and the People of the Book
• Islam and Violence
• Islam and Women

• 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 defense of Muhammad's marriage to a child