Children trust adults, and are to be obedient to adults who are in authority over them. This make them vulnerable to an adult who seeks their own pleasure at the cost of what is best for the child. Jesus said that it is better for an adult to suffer drowning with a millstone tied about his neck than to abuse and mistreat a child (Matt 18:6). He laid before us an example of tenderness, love, and compassion for children (Matt 19:14).
The Bible’s teaching that children are to be treated with compassion is in striking contrast with the treatment of children by Muhammad, who is an example Muslims are to follow. In Islam, sexual mistreatment is the norm for all children, both boys and girls. This deviant behavior should not be accepted in our society.
A pedophile is not just an adult having sex with a child. A pedophile is also a sexual predator who preys on innocent and trusting children to satisfy his own sexual lust. He traumatizes children, and they will live their broken lives with fear and regrets. Actions and memories that cannot be undone will haunt them to their grave.
The Culture & Life Expectancy Justification
Foolish Muslim apologists will try to defend the record of Muhammad having sex with a child, suggesting that even in our Western culture we used to marry younger. More than a century ago, it is true that some were legally married in Western Civilization as young as 12 years. In Alabama, one could get married as young as 14 with parental consent. In Medieval England, one could marry as young as 12 years old, however, then one could expect to not live past the age of 40. From the 1500s through the 1800s in the Virginia Colony, you were lucky to see your 25th birthday.
The problem with this argument is that life expectancy for many throughout the world today is well passed 70 years of age. Regardless of the age a person might be expected a die, civilized society should not tolerate efforts to snatch away a child’s life and thrust him/her into the work and roles of adulthood for the benefit of another. The power of Muhammad’s example as the perfect man to Muslims has brought, and will continue to bring, much pain to children.
The Qur’an on Child Brides
The Qur’an teaches that after the death of, or divorce from your spouse, one is to wait three months before remarrying. This includes a wife who has not had her first menstrual period. Thus allowing men to marry a child who has not yet had her first period.
If you are in doubt concerning those of your wives who have ceased menstruating, know that their waiting period shall be three months. The same shall apply to those who have not yet menstruated. As for pregnant women, their term shall end with their confinement. God will ease the hardship of the man who fears him. Surah 65:4
The Example of the Prophet
The record is clear, in the Hadith we learn that Muhammad married Aisha at 6 years of age. He had intercourse with her after her first period when she was 9 years old.
When Muhammad took her to be his wife, she was still playing with dolls like a child would. (Sahih Muslims 8:3311 and 31:5981). Dolls were haram, forbidden, and seen as idolatry for adults. Muslims scholars defend Aisha having them because she was still a child.
From this Hadeeth it is understood that playing with dolls (al-banaat) is not like the amusement from other images (suwar) concerning which the threat (wa’eed) of punishment is mentioned. The only reason why permission in this was given to ‘Aa’isha (may Allah be pleased with her) is because she had not, at that time, reached the age of puberty.
Shaykh Abdul-Azeez Ibn Abdullah Ibn Baaz
The point I am making is that Aisha was a mere child, doing the things children do, playing dolls with her friends. Muhammad snatched away her childhood to fulfill his sexual lust. We have no record of her choosing to marry Muhammad, only that it was arranged by those who had power over her. One cannot argue that it was two consenting adults making a union. Muhammad was 53 years old; almost nine times her age.
Aisha’s Narrated for the record her testimony of her wedding consummation.
The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became all right, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, “Best wishes and Allah’s Blessing and a good luck.” Then she entrusted me to them, and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah’s Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age.
Sahih Bukhari 5:58:234
To Muslims, Muhammad is the “great exampler”, the “perfect man.” Every good Muslim is to follow the pattern of Muhammad. His wives and daughter layout the pattern for faithful women to follow. It matters not what culture or time period you live in. There is no division between the secular and the sacred in Islam as Allah’s ways are higher than the laws or traditions of man.
Child brides in the Shariah
The Shariah is the pathway for Muslims to follow. It teaches them how one is to live in obedience to Allah’s will. The following are three statutes which involve young girls when it comes to marriage, wet nursing, and divorce.
ROT m8.2 A guardian may not marry his prepubescent daughter to someone for less than the amount typically received as marriage payment.
ROTn2.3 Neither sunna nor unlawful innovation means the divorce of a wife who is prepubescent, postmenopausal, pregnant, or one with whom one has not yet had sexual intercourse.
ROT n12.1(a) the milk comes from a female at least nine years old, whether it is occasioned by sexual intercourse or something else;
The Harm of Child Marriages
Mali is ninety percent Muslim and was the focus in a report by UNICEF. The report revealed that about 70,000 young girls between 9-12 years old, die each year as a result of child birth complications. The report called early marriage a “death sentence.”
Muhammad is not the example of a holy, righteous prophet, rather, he is filled with sinful sexual lust and preyed upon a child. There are other passages that he “fancied” and “desired” infants. This is why some Imams rule that there is no minimum age for a girl to be given in marriage.
The example Muhammad leaves encourages an oppressive, criminal lifestyle that should be banished from our society to protect our Youth. One only needs to read about the large sex rings in the North of England where Muslims preyed on British girls with untold misery.
Muhammad is an example of wickedness and was an unrighteous prophet.
