Aisha and Puberty: Difference between revisions

In an attempted [[Ad hominem|tu-quoque]], the apologist claims "Marriage at the early years of puberty was acceptable in 7th century Arabia as it was the social norm in all Semitic cultures". With a little fact-checking you will find that in the Middle Ages, Jewish girls were traditionally married off around the age of 12-13,<ref>''[[W:Nashim|Kiddushin]]'' ([[W:tosafot|tosafot]]) 41a</ref> which was also the average age at menarche. However, this only strengthens the case against Aisha having reached her first menses when consummating her marriage to Muhammad, and it also opposes the assertion that this consummation between a 54 year old man and a 9 year old girl would have been the accepted cultural norm. In fact, in Jewish culture, a large age gap between the spouses was opposed,<ref>''[[W:Yebamot|Yebamot]]'' 44a</ref><ref>''Sanhedrin'' 76a</ref> yet the age gap between Muhammad and Aisha was a massive 45 years. As they themselves have left behind no written records, there is ''no'' evidence of pedophilic marriages being accepted among the non-Muslim Arabs of Muhammad's time. The only sources we have are Muslim sources, so to claim that such a marriage was a cultural norm among all Arabs is baseless conjecture.