Child Marriage in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions

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]] [[Hadith|ahadith]] collection. These Muslims will usually resort to questioning the English translation <ref>[http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/ USC's Compendium of Muslim texts - translated by Dr. Mushin Khan]</ref> 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.