Child Brides

By Vin Ienco

Pedophilia: sexual perversion in which children are the preferred sexual object.

What are the essential features of pedophilia?

Professors of psychiatry, Harold I. Kaplan MD and Benjamin J. Sadock MD. of New York University Medical School states the essential features to diagnose pedophilia are:

1. Identification with and narcissistic investment in immature sexual objects.

Muhammad's infatuation and relationship with Aisha fits this criterion. And Mohammad was vain too - he liked to use perfume and dye his hair (even as an old man).

2. Control, domination and seduction of children.

A slight recalcitrance on the part of his wives was met by intolerant threats like: "if he (Muhammad) divorce you, (Allah) will give him in your place wives better than you, submissive, faithful, obedient, penitent, adorers, fasters, widows and virgins." [K 66.5]

3. Sexual activity with children is preferential and occurs repeatedly.

Aisha was ever present, right up to his last fatal breath and he preferred spending his nights with her. Aisha became Muhammad's favorite wife. And the sexuality in the relationship was predominant. [Sahih Bukhari 1.270, 3:36, 7:6, 3:148, 3:149, 3:150, 7:142, IbnSa'd pg165]

Is menses necessary indicator of sexual maturity?

Sexual maturity is NOT PURELY RELATED TO MENSES as for some peculiar reasons many Muslims have tried to say.

In the first place having or not having menses is not the criterion for sexual maturity, and thus of pedophilic behavior. We have cases here, of abducted girls, 12, 13, 14, well past their mens, and yet preferred by pedophiles as sexual objects.

Besides when Aisha was about 4-5 years old Muhammad started dreaming of a union with her [Sahih Bukhari 5:235]- I am sure Aisha was not menstruating then . Or do Arab girls menstruate at the age of 4-5?

From Islamic Holy Text

Sahih Muslim Book 008, Number 3310:
'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house when I was nine years old.

Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 64
Narrated 'Aisha:
that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e., till his death).

Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 65
Narrated 'Aisha:
that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old. Hisham said: I have been informed that 'Aisha remained with the Prophet for nine years (i.e. till his death)." what you know of the Quran (by heart)'

Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 88
Narrated 'Ursa:
The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with 'Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death).

Some Muslims claim that it was Abu Bakr who approached Muhammad asking him to marry his daughter. This is of course not true and here is the proof.

Sahih Bukhari 7.18
Narrated 'Ursa:
The Prophet asked Abu Bakr for 'Aisha's hand in marriage. Abu Bakr said "But I am your brother." The Prophet said, "You are my brother in Allah's religion and His Book, but she (Aisha) is lawful for me to marry."

Volume 8, Book 73, Number 151:
Narrated 'Aisha: I used to play with the dolls in the presence of the Prophet, and my girl friends also used to play with me. When Allah's Apostle used to enter (my dwelling place) they used to hide themselves, BUT the Prophet would call them to join and play with me. (The playing with the dolls and similar images is forbidden, but it was allowed for 'Aisha at that time, as she was a little girl, not yet reached the age of puberty.) (Fateh-al-Bari page 143, Vol.13)

Volume 7, Book 62, Number 17:
Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah:
When I got married, Allah's Apostle said to me, "What type of lady have you married?" I replied, "I have married a matron' He said, "Why, don't you have a liking for the young virgins and for fondling them?" Jabir also said: Allah's Apostle said, "Why didn't you

Volume 7, Book 62, Number 67:
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "A matron should not be given in marriage except after consulting her; and a virgin should not be given in marriage except after her permission." The people asked, "O Allah's Apostle! How can we know her permission?" He said, "Her silence (indicates her permission)."

Where sex is akin to a crime, silence is admission of your guilt. What a corruption of "fitrah" (human nature).

What religion condones the destruction of childhood? What are we who daily avow our undying love for Allah to do against a system that ruthlessly oppresses its youngest and brightest?

What was Aisha's age?

I have heard other figures ... (A question also known as: How many of your own sources will you deny?)

All the relevant sources (Bukhari, Ibn Hisham, Tabari, Ibn al-Athir, Ibn Sa'd, Ibn Hanbal, etc.) maintain that Aisha was betrothed to Mohammed when she was 6, and the marriage was consummated 3 years later.

'Mohammad - The Word of Allah' written by Anne-Marie Delcambre. (Anne-Marie Delcambre has a doctorate in 'Islamology', and taught Islamic Civilization at the Saint Joseph University of Beyrouth in Lebanon). On page 69, it says that he was married to her when she was 9 years old.

Dates commonly accepted by scholars: Birth Muhammad (570), birth Aisha(614 or 615). Bethrothal (620 or 621), Consummation of marriage (623 or 624). In particular the "consummation" of marriage is said to have taken place after the hidjra in Shawwal 1 or 2. Between 621 and 623 Asiha is said to have contracted a disease whereby she temporarily lost her hair. (Ref 1)

She could not have been more than 10 years when she went to live in Muhammad's house. The fact that she took her toys with her to her new home indicates that she was psychologically and socially still a child. And the fact that she was allowed to play with DOLLS indicates that she had NOT reached puberty by this time. ("The playing with the dolls and similar images was(is) forbidden, but it was allowed for Aisha at that time, as she was a little girl, not yet reached the age of puberty."Fateh-al-Bari page 143, Vol.13).

Besides, there is also Aisha's own statement which implies that she had NOT reached puberty when she moved into Muhammad's house [Sahih Bukhari 7.163]. I am sure she would have been able to recount accurately as to when and where she got her first menses. Most girls do remember such events rather accurately. (Refs 2)

? Muhammad had started to dream of a union with Aisha already when she was 4-5 years old: "You were shown to me twice (in my dream) before I married you... (And) I said (to myself), 'If this is from Allah, then it must happen." He was to use a similar tactic when he wanted to marry his step son's wife. A tactic which Aisha later came to understand as fraud, as in: "Aisha said: O Allah's Apostle! I do not see, but, that your Lord hurries in pleasing you." (Refs 2)

Muhammad wasted no time in realizing what he had been dreaming. Already when Aisha was 6 "The Prophet asked Abu Bakr for 'Aisha's hand in marriage. Abu Bakr said "But I am your brother." The Prophet said, "You are my brother in Allah's religion and His Book, but she (Aisha) is lawful for me to marry." Here it does not seem that Abu Bakr consented to the marriage wholeheartedly.

Modern day Stats

In parts of Ethiopia and Nigeria, quite a number of girls are married before the age of 15 and some girls are married as young as the age of 7.

Yemen is full of child brides. Roughly half of Yemeni girls are married before 18, some as young as eight.

In Saudi Arabia clerics have justified the marriage of girls as young as 9, with sanction from the judiciary. There are no laws defining the minimum age for marriage in Saudi Arabia, and girls as young as eight years of age can marry.

Egypt, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Pakistan, India, and the Middle East: In the rural villages of these countries many young girls are rarely allowed out of their homes unless it is to work in the fields or to get married.

These uneducated girls are often married at the young age of 11. Some families allow girls who are only 7 years old to marry. It is very unusual for a girl to reach the age of 16 and not be married.

In Afghanistan, it is believed that between 60 and 80 percent of marriages are forced marriages.

Muslims will argue that Aisha was 19 or 20 or whatever. If that’s the case, how come so many Muslims get it wrong?

Emulate your Prophet

* Saudi Arabia, August 2009. A Saudi Arabian father forced his 10-year-old daughter to return to her 80-year-old husband Sunday, after she was found hiding at the home of her aunt for 10 days. Arab News reported.

The young girl’s husband, who denies he is 80 despite family claims, accused the aunt of violating the terms of his marriage, allowed by Sharia Law.

”My marriage is not against Sharia. It included the elements of acceptance and response by the father of the bride,” he told a local newspaper.”

* Yemen, March 2010: Thousands of Yemeni women, their faces covered in religious veils, demonstrated outside the parliament on Sunday to oppose proposed legislation banning the marriage of girls under 17.

The protesters held up banners proclaiming "don't ban what Allah made permissible," or "stop violating Islamic sharia law in the name of rights and freedoms," .Answering calls by Muslim clerics who oppose the proposal on grounds it goes against Islamic sharia law, the protesters arrived in organized buses.

* Yemen, March 2010: Nujood Ali tells how at age 9 she was forced to marry a man three times her age, raped and beaten, then made Yemeni history by getting a divorce.

At around ages 9, her impoverished father -- who had more than a dozen children, agreed for her to marry a 30 year old.

She says he took her out of school, drove her with his family to a village, and raped her the first night of their marriage. "No matter how I screamed, no one came to help me. It hurt awfully, and I was all alone to face the pain,"

* Indonesia, March 2010: A fifth-grader only identified as AG, had to run away and sneak into school just to attend classes after her father forced her to marry a 60-year-old man...

AG was married by a cleric in front of their parents with an $11 dowry. She refused the marriage at first but their father beat her severely with a leather belt and punched her in the head.

* Yemen, March 2010: Elham Mahdi Shoi 12 dies from internal bleeding from intercourse, 3 days after her wedding to a 23 year old man.

The girl's mother, Nijma Ahmed, 50, told the a reporter that before her daughter lost consciousness, her husband had tied her up and forced himself on her. "She looked like she was butchered," she said about her daughter's injuries.

* Egypt, March 2010: Former State governor, Yeriman Bakura, 65, has married a thirteen-year-old Egyptian girl.

The former governor, now a senator, paid a bride price of $100,000. He also divorced one of his wives to facilitate the marriage. In Islam a man is only permitted to have four wives.

Sources: trop.com, wikipedia.com, yahoonews.com, zimbio.com, jakartaglobe.com, reuters.com, realcourage.org, unicef.org, marriage.about.com, pbs.org


Left: Yemeni girl Nujood Ali, married and divorced by aged 10.
Right: Rosham Kasem aged 8, with husband on her wedding day.