Islam, Child Marriage, and the Washington Post

The Washington Post recently published an article titled: “Six-Year-Old Afghan Girl Reportedly Sold in Marriage.” The article claims that child marriage is an Afghan tribal practice that violates the teachings of Islam. Apparently, writers at the Washington Post have never studied Islam. In Islam's most trusted sources on the life of Muhammad, we read:

Sahih Muslim 3480—It was narrated that Aishah said: “The Prophet married me when I was six years old, and consummated the marriage with me when I was nine years old.”

Sahih Muslim 3482—It was narrated from Aishah that: “The Messenger of Allah married her when she was six years old and consummated the marriage with her when she was nine years old, and he died when she was eighteen years old.”

Nigerian Child Bride Wasila Umaru Murders Husband and Others

According to the Qur'an, Muhammad is the pattern of conduct for Muslims (33:21). Muhammad married a child bride named Aisha when she was only six years old, and he had sex with her when she was nine years old. The result is that child marriage is rampant in Muslim countries.

Child brides, however, often aren't psychologically prepared for marriage.

Daily Mail—A child bride forced into marriage in Nigeria killed her husband and three of his friends by lacing a meal with rat poison, police said.

Wasila Umaru, 14, was married last week to 35-year-old Umaru Sani, according to assistant superintendent Musa Magaji Majia.

But when Umaru invited a dozen friends to celebrate in northern Ungwar Yansoro village, near the city of Kano, the teenager slipped the deadly chemical into a rice dish.

Umaru died the same day along with friends Nasiru Mohammed and Alhassan Alhassan, while another female victim, Indo Ibrahim, died in hospital hospital while receiving treatment.

Wasila admitted buying the poison at a local market and putting it into the food.

'The suspect confessed to committing the crime and said she did it because she was forced to marry a man she did not love,' Majia said.

Umaru is cooperating with police and likely will be charged with culpable homicide, according to Majia.

Child marriage is common in Nigeria and especially in the mainly Muslim and impoverished north, where the numbers increase in times of drought because a bride price is paid and it means one less mouth to feed.

Fifty percent of Nigerian girls living in rural areas are married before they turn 18, according to the U.N. children's agency. (Continue Reading.)

CNN Calls Islamic Child Marriage an "Inhumane and Cruel Tradition," Condemns Muhammad and Allah

CNN posted a short clip about a six-year-old girl being married off in Afghanistan. Fortunately, the little girl was rescued and returned to her father (thanks to a Western group that focuses on helping Afghan girls).

Interestingly, CNN calls the Islamic practice of child marriage "inhumane and cruel":

What CNN apparently still doesn't know is that this "inhumane and cruel tradition" is thoroughly grounded in the teachings of Islam.

According to the Qur'an (Surah 33:21), Muhammad is the pattern of conduct for Muslims. But Muhammad himself married a child-bride:

Sahih al-Bukhari 3896—Narrated Hisham’s father: Khadija died three years before the Prophet departed to Al-Madina. He stayed there for two years or so and then he wrote the marriage (wedding) contract with Aishah when she was a girl of six years of age, and he consummated that marriage when she was nine years old.

Sahih al-Bukhari 5158—Narrated Urwa: 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).

Sahih Muslim 3310—Aisha reported: Allah’s Apostle married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house when I was nine years old.

Sahih Muslim 3311—Aisha reported that Allah’s Apostle married her when she was seven years old, and she was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she was eighteen years old.

Sunan Abu Dawud 2116—Aishah said: The Apostle of Allah married me when I was seven years old. (The narrator Sulaiman said: Or six years.) He had intercourse with me when I was nine years old.

As if Muhammad's example weren't bad enough, the Qur'an specifically allows Muslim men to divorce prepubescent girls after having sex with them.

According to Surah 2:228, if a Muslim man wants to divorce his wife, he should wait until she has gone through three monthly cycles (i.e., three periods) in order to make sure that she isn't pregnant. But the question later arose: What about wives who do not have monthly cycles? How long should their husbands wait to divorce them? The Qur'an answers this question in Surah 65:4, where it gives divorce rules for (1) women who do not have monthly cycles because they are too old, (2) girls who do not have monthly cycles because they are too young, and (3) women and girls who do not have monthly cycles because they are pregnant. The verse declares that, if Muslim men want to divorce girls who haven't yet reached puberty, they must wait three months (after having sex with them). The verse reads:

Qur'an 65:4 (Hilali-Khan)—And those of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the 'Iddah (prescribed period), if you have doubts (about their periods), is three months, and for those who have no courses [(i.e. they are still immature) their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is three months likewise, except in case of death]. And for those who are pregnant (whether they are divorced or their husbands are dead), their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is until they deliver (their burdens), and whosoever fears Allah and keeps his duty to Him, He will make his matter easy for him.

In case there is confusion about the meaning of this verse, here are three classic Muslim commentaries and one modern commentary on Qur'an 65:4:

Tafsir Ibn Kathir—Allah the Exalted clarifies the waiting period of the woman in menopause. And that is the one whose menstruation has stopped due to her older age. Her `Iddah is three months instead of the three monthly cycles for those who menstruate, which is based upon the Ayah in (Surat) Al-Baqarah [see 2:228]. The same for the young, who have not reached the years of menstruation. Their `Iddah is three months like those in menopause.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn—And [as for] those of your women who (read allà'ï or allà'i in both instances) no longer expect to menstruate, if you have any doubts, about their waiting period, their prescribed [waiting] period shall be three months, and [also for] those who have not yet menstruated, because of their young age, their period shall [also] be three months.

Tafsir Ibn Abbas—(And for such of your women as despair of menstruation) because of old age, (if ye doubt) about their waiting period, (their period (of waiting) shall be three months) upon which another man asked: “O Messenger of Allah! What about the waiting period of those who do not have menstruation because they are too young?” (along with those who have it not) because of young age, their waiting period is three months.

Tafsir Maududi—Here, one should bear in mind the fact that according to the explanations given in the Qur'an the question of the waiting period arises in respect of the women with whom marriage may have been consummated, for there is no waiting-period in case divorce is pronounced before the consummation of marriage. (Al-Ahzab: 49). Therefore, making mention of the waiting-period for the girls who have not yet menstruated, clearly proves that it is not only permissible to give away the girl in marriage at this age but it is also permissible for the husband to consummate marriage with her. Now, obviously no Muslim has the right to forbid a thing which the Qur'an has held as permissible.

Hence, in condemning Islamic child marriage, CNN has condemned both Muhammad and Allah. We couldn't agree more. But CNN refuses to address the Islamic component of child marriage. As long as Western journalists continue to speak out against a practice while cowering in silence about the cause of the practice, they'll never get to the root of the problem, and child marriage will go on.

Sixty Percent of Girls in Afghanistan Are Forced into Marriage as Children

According to Islam, Muhammad is the pattern of conduct for Muslims (see Qur'an 33:21). Muhammad married a young girl named Aisha and had sex with her when she was only nine years old. The result of Allah affirming Muhammad as the ultimate pattern of conduct is that Islam will never be able to stop child-marriage.

This problem is complicated even further by the Qur'an explicitly allowing sex with prepubescent girls. Qur'an 65:4 gives rules for divorcing prepubescent girls after having sex with them, so Allah clearly has no objections to sex with prepubescent girls.

Not surprisingly, the less Westernized a Muslim country is, the higher the rate of child-marriage. Afghanistan is among the least developed Muslim countries (thanks primarily to the Taliban turning back the clocks on what was once a rapidly developing nation). A recent study showed that approximately 60% of girls are forced to marry as children.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - A new report on human rights in Afghanistan released by the U.S. State Department reveals that girls as young as six can be "married" away or betrothed and are the victims of frequent sexual abuse from older men, sometimes within their own families.

Although the Taliban have a reputation for religious conservatism, that conservatism does nothing to protect women and girls from the sexual depredations of men. Women and girls are commonly victimized and those that speak out are likely to be blamed themselves, regardless of age differences.

Afghan law requires that girls be 16 before they can marry and boys 18. Such laws are rarely respected and about 60 percent of all girls are forced to marry before 16. Since most of the marriages in Afghanistan are unregistered and few people even have birth certificates, it is virtually impossible for the government to enforce the law.

Other Afghan laws designed to protect women from abuse also have little enforcement.

In 2013, incidents of rape also increased in Afghanistan. Most of the victims were children. (Continue Reading.)

Syrian Mothers Selling Daughters as Prostitutes to Wealthy Saudis in Accordance with Sharia

"I sacrifice myself for my family."

~Muslim girl sold to a Saudi as a prostitute

The Prophet of Islam allowed his followers to practice a form of prostitution called Muta. In Muhammad's time, a Muslim could pay a woman for "temporary marriage," which would last a few hours, days, weeks, or months (depending on the agreement). Many Muslims today claim that Muhammad eventually changed his mind about this obviously immoral practice, and that Muta is now forbidden in Islam (certain Muslim sources suggest this). But these Muslims fail to mention that some of Islam's most trusted sources plainly declare that Muhammad never prohibited Muta. For instance, the following passage in Sahih Muslim says that Muslims were practicing Muta well beyond the lifetime of Muhammad:

Sahih Muslim 3248—Ibn Uraij reported: 'Ati' reported that Jabir b. Abdullah came to perform 'Umra, and we came to his abode, and the people asked him about different things, and then they made a mention of temporary marriage, whereupon he said: Yes, we had been benefiting ourselves by this temporary marriage during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet and during the time of Abu Bakr and ‘Umar.

Some hadith claim that it was Umar, rather than Muhammad, who outlawed Muta:

Sahih Muslim 3250—Abu Nadra reported: While I was in the company of Jabir b. Abdullah, a person came to him and said that Ibn 'Abbas and Ibn Zubair differed on the two types of Mut'a (Tamattu’ of Hajj 1846 and Tamattu’ with women), whereupon Jabir said: We used to do these two during the lifetime of Allah's Messenger. Umar then forbade us to do them, and so we did not revert to them.

Hence, Muslim men who want to hire prostitutes can simply point out that Muhammad, Islam's final prophet, allowed prostitution, and that later Muslims (like Umar) cannot overrule Muhammad. Moreover, since Muhammad allowed sex with prepubescent girls, pedophiles are free to seek out child prostitutes. That's exactly what's happening in Syrian refugee camps.

While the overall accuracy of this news report is excellent, the narrator makes one important (politically correct) blunder. After pointing out that Sharia allows marriage to "very young girls," she says that this is only an "extreme interpretation" of Sharia, for "Islamic law rejects forced marriage in principle." She seems to be confusing a few different concepts here, so let's separate and clarify them.

First, as I have pointed out, there is some disagreement in the Muslim sources as to whether Muta is allowed today. Nevertheless, since there are strong narrations reporting that Muhammad never prohibited Muta, any Muslim who signs a temporary marriage contract can easily defend his actions.

Second, there is no disagreement whatsoever in the Muslim sources as to whether a grown man can marry a prepubescent girl. Both the Qur'an and the Hadith allow men to marry prepubescent girls, and Muhammad himself married and had sex with Aisha when she was only nine years old. Thus, it's simply false to say that marriage to young girls is only allowed under an "extreme interpretation" of Sharia. Marriage to young girls is permitted under any serious interpretation of Sharia.

Third, the narrator believes that Islamic law forbids "forced marriage," and she thinks that these marriages qualify as "forced" because the girls' families are pressuring them. But family pressure (e.g., "You must do this for your family") has nothing to do with the Islamic concept of forced marriage. As long as a girl or woman gives verbal consent to marriage, or even if she remains silent when asked, the marriage does not count as forced. Notice that Umm Majid (the "marriage broker") specifically says to the girls, "I have a 70-year-old Saudi, who wants a girl no older than 13 years. Who of you wants to meet him?" One of the girls responds, "Me." Umm Majid obtains the girl's consent in order to make the marriage fully Sharia-compliant.

So we see once again the depressing fruits of Muhammad's teachings and example. The Prophet of Islam allowed his followers to practice Muta. He allowed his followers to marry prepubescent girls. He allowed men to beat their wives. The result? Wealthy Saudis are taking young Muslim girls back to their hotels, beating and raping them, and it's all perfectly in line with Sharia. (The same thing is happening in Egypt.)

Where are CAIR and ISNA when these little girls are being raped? It seems that Muslim organizations in the West are too busy complaining about Islamophobia to care much about the horrendous abuse of vulnerable little girls in the Middle East. Indeed, many Muslims get far more upset about people like me reporting the abuse than they do about the abuse itself.

You can learn a lot about a religion by noticing what tends to outrage its adherents. Welcome to Islam.

Reza Aslan Caught Lying about Age of Aisha

In No God but God, Reza Aslan assures his readers that Aisha was merely betrothed to Muhammad when she was nine years old, but that no sex took place until after she had reached puberty.

Islam's most trusted sources, of course, tell a completely different story. For instance, here's a brief sample of narrations from Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, and Sunan Abu Dawud (Islam's three most respected hadith collections).

Sahih al-Bukhari 5158—Narrated Urwa: 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).

Sahih Muslim 3311—Aisha reported that Allah’s Apostle married her when she was seven years old, and she was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she was eighteen years old.

Sunan Abu Dawud 2116—Aishah said: The Apostle of Allah married me when I was seven years old. (The narrator Sulaiman said: Or six years.) He had intercourse with me when I was nine years old.

Reza Aslan

(For a much more thorough collection of narrations, see Sam Shamoun's article here.)

Usually, when I hear a Muslim say that Aisha was older than nine when Muhammad had sex with her, I assume that the Muslim is simply ignorant of his sources (i.e., that the Muslim isn't trying to deceive anyone; he's merely ill-informed). Reza, however, claims to be an "internationally acclaimed scholar of religions" (even though he's an associate professor of creative writing). In carefully examining Islam's sources as research for his book, surely he must have come across dozens of narrations reporting Aisha's sexual relationship with Muhammad when she was only nine years old. The fact that Reza contradicts the unanimous testimony of his sources can mean only one thing: Reza is lying to his readers in an effort to make Muhammad seem better than he actually was.

Here's a recent discussion of Reza's claim (on ABN's program Jihad Watch):

For more on Muhammad's relationship with Aisha, click here.

Eleven-Year-Old Nada Al-Ahdal Flees Home to Avoid Forced Marriage in Yemen

Nada al-Ahdal

The Qur'an allows Muslim men to marry and have sex with prepubescent girls. Indeed, Muhammad himself had sex with Aisha when she was only nine years old. Yet whenever Westerners condemn Muhammad's teachings, we're called "racists," "bigots," "hate-mongers," and "Islamophobes." Fortunately, even Muslims are recognizing the devastating impact of Islamic law (though they often don't even know that Islam is the source of the problem).

Recently, an 11-year-old Muslim girl named Nada Al-Ahdal ran away from home to avoid a forced marriage. Her own mother threatened to kill her (an "honor killing") if she refused to marry a much older man. We can all be thankful that Nada's uncle has chosen to live a far better life than his religion commands him to live. He is not only protecting Nada, but allowing her to expose an evil practice in Yemen.

Click here for a related story.

UK Muslims Challenge Law against Marrying Child Brides

Muhammad had sex with Aisha before she reached puberty, when she was only nine years old. The Qur'an allows men to have sex with prepubescent girls. Not surprisingly, many Muslims are dissatisfied with Western laws that protect young girls.

Growing Number of Child Brides Among Muslims ... in London

Behold the glories of multiculturalism. We keep telling ourselves that all cultures are equal, and that no one should judge another person's cultural practices. But then we have to face reality: Other cultures follow Muhammad's example and see no problem with old men having sex with nine-year-old girls. So now we have a dilemma on our hands. Do we protect the young girls, thereby showing that we don't really believe the absurd myth that all cultures are equal? Or do we sacrifice the young girls on the altar of political correctness and false tolerance?

UNITED KINGDOM--An alarming number of under-age girls – some as young as nine – are being forced into marriage in Islington [a neighborhood in London], according to a leading campaign group.

The Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) claim that at least 30 girls in the borough were forced into marriage in 2010.

The practice was condemned by the Imam of Finsbury Park Mosque, who said such marriages were against Islam and “unacceptable”.

He pledged to invalidate any marriage which he said were carried out by “back-street Imams”.

IKWRO, which made headlines last month when they revealed there had been almost 3,000 “honour-based” violence cases in 2010, has shown the Tribune records which revealed at least three 11-year-old girls and two nine-year-olds had been forced into marriage with older men within Islington. The oldest girls involved were 16.

They have warned that hundreds of Islington girls could be suffering sexual, emotional and physical scars as a result of the child marriages every year and are calling for teachers, social workers and police to be better trained to spot and manage the abuse.

Information from the Ministry of Justice, following a Freedom of Information request, revealed that 32 Forced Marriage Protection Order applications were made for children under 16 in Britain last year.

Six of these were made for under-16s within Islington at the Royal Courts of Justice, although these were not necessarily made for Islington residents.

At the Islington court, “five or fewer” orders were made to protect children between the ages of 9-11.

The orders are a form of injunction that threaten legal punishment if marriage takes place due to emotional or physical force.

In most cases, the children fear they will be killed if they reveal the truth to anybody, while others believe they will be separated from their families and taken into social services’ care.

Dianna Nammi, director of IKWRO, explained that the girls are married in a mosque’s sharia court. This means they are not legally married according to British law, rendering the Home Office unable to recognise or prove the abuse.

“They are still expected to carry out their wifely duties, though, and that includes sleeping with their husband,” she said.

“They have to cook for them, wash their clothes, everything. They are still attending schools in Islington, struggling to do their primary school homework, and at the same time being practically raped by a middle-aged man regularly and being abused by their families. So they are a wife, but in a primary school uniform.

“The reason it doesn’t get out is because they are too terrified to speak out, and also the control their families have over them is impossible to imagine if you’re not going through it. The way it is covered up is so precise, almost unspeakable.” (Read more at Islington Tribune.)

Child Marriage in the Qur'an

Funny, I was about to make a video where I put together the Muslim commentaries on Surah 65:4, but someone beat me to it.

Raymond Ibrahim: New Saudi Fatwa Defends Pedophilia as 'Marriage'

While Western Muslims assure us that Islam supports human rights, minority rights, women's rights, etc., the evidence continues to show otherwise. Again and again, Muslim clerics condemn legal efforts to protect children from being married off and raped by much older men. Raymond Ibrahim has the latest over at Jihad Watch.

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Muslim "child-marriage"—euphemism for pedophilia—is making headlines again, at least in Arabic media: Dr. Salih bin Fawzan, a prominent cleric and member of Saudi Arabia's highest religious council, just issued a fatwa asserting that there is no minimum age for marriage, and that girls can be married "even if they are in the cradle."

Appearing in Saudi papers on July 13, the fatwa complains that "Uninformed interference with Sharia rulings by the press and journalists is on the increase, posing dire consequences to society, including their interference with the question of marriage to small girls who have not reached maturity, and their demand that a minimum age be set for girls to marry."

Fawzan insists that nowhere does Sharia set an age limit for marrying girls: like countless Muslim scholars before him, he relies on Koran 65:4, which discusses marriage to females who have not yet begun menstruating (i.e., are prepubescent) and the fact that Muhammad, Islam's role model, married Aisha when she was 6-years-old, "consummating" the marriage—or, in modern parlance, raping her—when she was 9.

The point of the Saudi fatwa, however, is not that girls as young as 9 can have sex, based on Muhammad's example, but rather that there is no age limit whatsoever; the only question open to consideration is whether the girl is physically capable of handling her husband/rapist. Fawzan documents this point by quoting Ibn Batal's authoritative exegesis of Sahih Bukhari:

The ulema [Islam's interpreters] have agreed that it is permissible for fathers to marry off their small daughters, even if they are in the cradle. But it is not permissible for their husbands to have sex with them unless they are capable of being placed beneath and bearing the weight of the men. And their capability in this regard varies based on their nature and capacity. Aisha was 6 when she married the prophet, but he had sex with her when she was 9 [i.e., when she was deemed capable].

Fawzan concludes his fatwa with a warning: "It behooves those who call for setting a minimum age for marriage to fear Allah and not contradict his Sharia, or try to legislate things Allah did not permit. For laws are Allah's province; and legislation is his excusive right, to be shared by none other. And among these are the rules governing marriage."

Fawzan, of course, is not the first to insist on the legitimacy of pedophilia in Islam. Even the former grand mufti of Saudi Arabia supported "child-marriage," since "the Koran and Sunna document it."

Nor is this just some theoretic, theological point; the lives of many young girls are being destroyed because of this ruling. Recall, for instance, the 13-year-old girl who died while her much older husband was copulating with her (it was later revealed that, due to her reluctance, he was tying her up and "raping" her—as if there is another way to describe sex with children); or the 12-year-old who died giving birth to a stillborn; or the 10-year-old who made headlines by hiding out from her 80-year-old "husband."

Then there are the countless anonymous girls who do nothing to warrant any media attention—such as die—and have learned to live with their elderly husbands pawing at them, like, no doubt, the girl who married Islam's most popular cleric, Yusuf Qaradawi, when she was 14.

What do we make of the fact that it is always Islam's religious, authoritative voices—not aberrant voices, not "terrorists," "extremists," or any other euphemism coined for the occasion—that are constantly demonstrating Sharia's savageries? Weeks before this fatwa, a female politician and activist in Kuwait called for institutionalizing sex-slavery (recommending that Muslims buy and sell female Russian captives from the Chechnya war); a popular Egyptian preacher not only said the same thing, but added that the solution to Islam's poverty is to go on jihad and plunder the lives and possessions of infidels.

Sounds odd? Perhaps; but it is perfectly consistent. After all, distilled and in the eyes of the non-believer, Sharia law is nothing less than a legal system built atop the words and deeds of a 7th century Arab, whose behavior—from pedophilia and sex-slavery to war mongering and plundering—was very much that of a 7th century Arab. Having enticed or enslaved his contemporaries into following him, his teachings continue to entice and enslave their descendants; and, now as then, it is always the innocent who suffer.

Muslim Cleric Gets Four Years in Prison for Sex with Minor

According to Islam, Muhammad is the ultimate moral example.

Qur'an 33:21—Ye have indeed in the Apostle of God a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for any one whose hope is in God and the Final Day, and who engages much in the Praise of God.

The problem is that Muhammad had sex with a nine-year-old girl.

Jakarta—An Indonesian court sentenced a wealthy Muslim cleric to four years in prison on Wednesday for having sex with a 12-year-old girl he took as his unofficial wife.

Pujiono Cahyo Widiyanto, 45, from the Central Java city of Semarang, sparked nationwide controversy over his decision to wed Lutfiana Ulfa in August, 2008.

"The defendant has been proven to have had a sexual relationship with an underage girl, Lutfiana Ulfa. We sentence him to four years in prison," judge Hari Mulyanto said.

Lutfiana screamed hysterically when she heard the sentence read out in court.

"We'll appeal against the decision," Widiyanto's lawyer OC Kaligis said.

Widiyanto — also known as Sheikh Puji — said the girl had reached puberty when he married her in an unofficial religious ceremony, and claimed his actions were acceptable under Islam.

The age of consent in Indonesia is 16 for married females and 18 for males.

Indonesian law has harsh penalties for pedophilia, but unregistered marriages between older men and under-age girls are common in rural areas. (Source)

The cleric was right about one thing. Sex with young girls is certainly acceptable in Islam.

Muslim Cleric Hafiz Rahman Sent to Jail after Molesting Teenage Girl (While Supposedly Teaching Her the Qur'an)

Well, at least she had probably reached puberty, unlike Muhammad's wife Aisha.

A Muslim cleric has been jailed for a year after sexually assaulting a young girl while he was meant to be teaching her the Qur'an.

Hafiz Rahman, 67, was paid by families to teach their children after stepping down as a respected Imam.

He went to the 15-year-old victim's home and molested her when they were left alone.

A judge described the attack as the 'worst breach of trust imaginable' and said he believed it would have continued if the girl's father had not unexpectedly returned home.

A jury of eight men and six women at Portsmouth Crown Court took less than two hours to find Rahman guilty of sexual activity with a child.

Rahman, a former Imam at Jami Mosque in Portsmouth, Hampshire, is a Hafiz - someone who has memorised the entire Qur'an.

Judge Roger Hetherington said: 'The parents of the child came to retain your services because they understood that you were a respected and indeed revered member of the community, who had, until recently, been an Imam to the mosque.

'On the jury's verdict and on abundant evidence, for whatever reason, you took advantage of that situation for your own sexual gratification.

'It must have been a very frightening experience for that girl.

'Given your position in the Muslim community and the respect with which you were accorded as a result by the family that you were visiting, this was as bad a case of breach of trust as it is possible to imagine.

'I accept that for all your life apart from this incident you have behaved properly and you may well have done many good things to other people during your life.

'Nevertheless this was a terrible lapse on your part.'

Stephen Smyth, defending, said Rahman had lost his standing as a respected member of the community, following the attack on December 27 last year.

He said: 'This means it will be over for him and he will be deported.

'Everything goes and he has to go back to a Muslim country convicted of what he is convicted of, which will be very seriously regarded.

'He has nothing to look forward to in his life.' (Source)

For more on Islam's teachings about sex with young girls.

Child Bride Horrors Last a Lifetime

Qur’an 21:107—We sent thee not, but as a Mercy for all creatures.



I. QUR’AN ON SEX WITH PREPUBESCENT GIRLS

Qur’an 65:4 (Shakir)—And (as for) those of your women who have despaired of menstruation, if you have a doubt, their prescribed time shall be three months, and of those too who have not had their courses; and (as for) the pregnant women, their prescribed time is that they lay down their burden; and whoever is careful of (his duty to) Allah He will make easy for him his affair.

Qur’an 65:4 (Hilali-Khan)—And those of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the 'Iddah (prescribed period), if you have doubts (about their periods), is three months, and for those who have no courses [(i.e. they are still immature) their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is three months likewise, except in case of death] . And for those who are pregnant (whether they are divorced or their husbands are dead), their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is until they deliver (their burdens), and whosoever fears Allah and keeps his duty to Him, He will make his matter easy for him.

Qur’an 33:49 (Hilali-Khan)—O you who believe! When you marry believing women, and then divorce them before you have sexual intercourse with them, no 'Iddah [divorce prescribed period, see (V.65:4)] have you to count in respect of them. So give them a present, and set them free i.e. divorce, in a handsome manner.

II. COMMENTARY ON 65:4

Tafsir Ibn Kathir (on Qur’an 65:4)—Allah the Exalted clarifies the waiting period of the woman in menopause. And that is the one whose menstruation has stopped due to her older age. Her `Iddah is three months instead of the three monthly cycles for those who menstruate, which is based upon the Ayah in (Surat) Al-Baqarah. [see 2:228] The same for the young, who have not reached the years of menstruation. Their `Iddah is three months like those in menopause.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn (on Qur’an 65:4)—And [as for] those of your women who (read allà'ï or allà'i in both instances) no longer expect to menstruate, if you have any doubts, about their waiting period, their prescribed [waiting] period shall be three months, and [also for] those who have not yet menstruated, because of their young age, their period shall [also] be three months.

Tafsir Ibn Abbas (on Qur’an 65:4)—(And for such of your women as despair of menstruation) because of old age, (if ye doubt) about their waiting period, (their period (of waiting) shall be three months) upon which another man asked: "O Messenger of Allah! What about the waiting period of those who do not have menstruation because they are too young?" (along with those who have it not) because of young age, their waiting period is three months.

Maududi, Tafhim al-Qur'an (on Qur’an 65:4)—Here, one should bear in mind the fact that according to the explanations given in the Quran the question of the waiting period arises in respect of the women with whom marriage may have been consummated, for there is no waiting-period in case divorce is pronounced before the consummation of marriage. (Al-Ahzab: 49). Therefore, making mention of the waiting-period for the girls who have not yet menstruated, clearly proves that it is not only permissible to give away the girl in marriage at this age but it is also permissible for the husband to consummate marriage with her. Now, obviously no Muslim has the right to forbid a thing which the Quran has held as permissible.

III. HADITH ON MUHAMMAD’S RELATIONSHIP WITH AISHA

Sahih al-Bukhari 3895—“. . . and he consummated that marriage when she was nine years old.”

Sahih al-Bukhari 5133—“. . . and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old.”

Sahih Muslim 3309—“. . . and I was admitted to his house at the age of nine.”

Sahih Muslim 3311—“ . . . and she was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her . . .”

Sunan Abu Dawud 2116—“Aisha said: . . . He had intercourse with me when I was nine years old.”

Sahih al-Bukhari 6130—“Narrated Aishah: ‘I used to play with the dolls in the presence of the Prophet’ . . . 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).”

Sahih al-Bukhari 5236—“Narrated Aishah: The Prophet was screening me with his Rida . . . So you may deduce from this event how a little girl (who has not reached the age of puberty) . . . should be treated in this respect.”

Yemeni Child Brides, Aisha, and Qur'an 65:4

I'd like to welcome our friend Yahya Snow to the "Answering Muslims School of Qur'anic Instruction."



Western Muslims are typically quite embarrassed by the fact that Muhammad had sex with a nine-year-old girl, and Muslim apologists are doing everything in their power to rewrite history in order to rescue their prophet from criticism. But are they willing to rewrite the Qur'an as well?

According to Surah 2:228, if a Muslim man wants to divorce his wife, he should wait until she has gone through three monthly cycles (i.e. three periods). But the question later arose: What are men who want a divorce supposed to do when their wives, for whatever reason, do not have monthly cycles? The Qur'an answers this question in Surah 65:4, where it gives divorce rules for (1) women who do not have monthly cycles because they are too old, (2) girls who do not have monthly cycles because they are too young, and (3) women and girls who do not have monthly cycles because they are pregnant. The verse declares that, if Muslim men want to divorce girls who haven't yet reached puberty, they must wait three months (after having sex with them).

Here are some translations of Surah 65:4.

Qur'an 65:4 (Shakir)--And (as for) those of your women who have despaired of menstruation, if you have a doubt, their prescribed time shall be three months, and of those too who have not had their courses; and (as for) the pregnant women, their prescribed time is that they lay down their burden; and whoever is careful of (his duty to) Allah He will make easy for him his affair.

Qur'an 65:4 (Arberry)--As for your women who have despaired of further menstruating, if you are in doubt, their period shall be three months; and those who have not menstruated as yet. And those who are with child, their term is when they bring forth their burden. Whoso fears God, God will appoint for him, of His command, easiness.

Qur'an 65:4 (Yusuf Ali)--Such of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the prescribed period, if ye have any doubts, is three months, and for those who have no courses (it is the same): for those who carry (life within their wombs), their period is until they deliver their burdens: and for those who fear Allah, He will make their path easy.

Qur'an 65:4 (Hilali-Khan)--And those of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the 'Iddah (prescribed period), if you have doubts (about their periods), is three months, and for those who have no courses [(i.e. they are still immature) their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is three months likewise, except in case of death] . And for those who are pregnant (whether they are divorced or their husbands are dead), their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is until they deliver (their burdens), and whosoever fears Allah and keeps his duty to Him, He will make his matter easy for him.

Qur'an 65:4 (Sher Ali)--And if you are in doubt as to the prescribed period for such of your women as have despaired of monthly courses, then know that the prescribed period for them is three months, and also for such as do not have their monthly courses yet. And as for those who are with child, their period shall be until they are delivered of their burden. And whoso fears ALLAH, HE will provide facilities for him in his affair.

Qur'an 65:4 (Rodwell)--As to such of your wives as have no hope of the recurrence of their times, if ye have doubts in regard to them, then reckon three months, and let the same be the term of those who have not yet had them. And as to those who are with child, their period shall be until they are delivered of their burden. God will make His command easy to him who feareth Him.

Here are three classic Muslim commentaries on 65:4.

Tafsir Ibn Kathir (on Qur’an 65:4)—Allah the Exalted clarifies the waiting period of the woman in menopause. And that is the one whose menstruation has stopped due to her older age. Her `Iddah is three months instead of the three monthly cycles for those who menstruate, which is based upon the Ayah in (Surat) Al-Baqarah. [see 2:228] The same for the young, who have not reached the years of menstruation. Their `Iddah is three months like those in menopause.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn (on Qur’an 65:4)—And [as for] those of your women who (read allà'ï or allà'i in both instances) no longer expect to menstruate, if you have any doubts, about their waiting period, their prescribed [waiting] period shall be three months, and [also for] those who have not yet menstruated, because of their young age, their period shall [also] be three months.

Tafsir Ibn Abbas (on Qur’an 65:4)—(And for such of your women as despair of menstruation) because of old age, (if ye doubt) about their waiting period, (their period (of waiting) shall be three months) upon which another man asked: "O Messenger of Allah! What about the waiting period of those who do not have menstruation because they are too young?" (along with those who have it not) because of young age, their waiting period is three months.

For Muslims who want to say that this verse could refer to divorcing prepubescent girls whose husbands haven't had sex with them, the Qur'an refutes this claim. Surah 33:49 says that there is no waiting period if a man has not had sex with his bride.

Qur'an 33:49--O ye who believe! When ye marry believing women, and then divorce them before ye have touched them, no period of 'Iddat have ye to count in respect of them: so give them a present. And set them free in a handsome manner.

Hence, the Qur'an says that there is no waiting period if a man hasn't had sex with his bride, and the Qur'an prescribes a waiting period for men who want to divorce their prepubescent child-brides. This presupposes that the men have had sex with them, which means that the Qur'an allows sex with prepubescent girls. This shouldn't be surprising, since Muhammad himself had sex with a girl who hadn't reached puberty.

Another Yemeni Child-Bride Hospitalized with Sex-Related Injuries

Apparently, the Muslims in Yemen trust the Qur'an and Hadith more than they trust Yahya Snow and other Westernized reinterpreters of Islam. (Note that, according to religious authorities in Yemen, people like Yahya are apostates.)

An 11-year-old Yemeni girl who was was married to a man in country's Hajja province was hospitalized today with genital injuries, said a human rights group in Sanaa.

It was the second incident involving a child bride in the last week. A 13-year-old girl died after being sexually assaulted by her adult husband. Both girls were married in the country's rural Hajja province.

The 11-year-old girl was married last year only under the condition that the adult husband would wait until she reached puberty to consummate the marriage. He did not wait, nor do many of the men who marry young brides, says Amal Basha, director of the Arabic Sisters Forum.

An estimated 50 percent of women in Yemen are married before age 18, some as young as 8. Less than a week ago the Sana'a-based human rights group reported the death of a 13-year-old bride in the same rural area. The Associated Press reported the girl was allegedly raped, and that her 23-year-old husband is now in police custody.

"She looked like she was butchered," said the girl's mother, Nijma Ahmed. The AP also cited police a report saying the husband forced himself on his young bride, feeling under pressure to prove his manhood.

An average of eight women die each day in Yemen due to child marriage, many of them in childbirth, according to the Arabic Sisters Forum. The group runs a hotline for victims of domestic violence and has been lobbying in support of a minimum marriage age now under consideration by the Yemeni parliament.

Pushing against the proposed law is the strong hand of Islamic conservatives in Yemen. Clerics have declared women like Amal Basha apostates from Islam for opposing child marriage, which they see as divinely ordained. The government, she says, is intimidated by the religious and tribal customs.

"They say this is Islamic…and they declared jihad against... the UN treaty on women's rights," she said.

"They say my campaign is a Western agenda, that it will lead to sex out of wedlock and prostitution," Basha said.

International groups like UNICEF and Oxfam have also lobbied for the rights of child brides, but tread carefully around what has become a explosive political issue.

"It's a deeply embedded social habit," said Naseem Rehman, a UNICEF spokesman told ABC News last year from in Sana'a. "For every one child marriage we can stop there are five more." Source.

There's no way around it. We're doing another show on child-brides this weekend. (The sad part is that Muslims like Yahya will be more upset with us doing a show on child-brides than they are when little girls are hospitalized or killed.)

Dead Yemeni Child Bride Tied Up, Raped, Says Mom

SHUEBA, Yemen (AP) -- A 13-year-old Yemeni child bride who bled to death shortly after marriage was tied down and forced to have sex by her husband, according to interviews with the child's mother, police and medical reports.

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

Elham Assi, 13, bled to death hours after she spoke to her mother and just days after she was married to a 23-year-old man. She died on April 2 in the deeply poor Yemeni village of Shueba, some 200 kilometers northwest of the capital. Her husband, Abed al-Hikmi, is in police custody.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen where a quarter of all females marry before the age of 15, according to a 2009 report by the country's Ministry of Social Affairs. Traditional families prefer young brides because they are seen as more obedient and are expected to have more children.

Legislation to ban child brides has been stalled by opposition from religious leaders. There has been no government comment over the case.

The girl -- one of eight siblings -- was pushed into marriage after an agreement between her brother and her future-husband to marry each other's sisters to avoid having to pay expensive bride-prices -- a common arrangement in Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East.

According to police notes from the interrogation of the husband, he was upset because he could not consummate their relationship and felt under pressure to prove his manhood.

Assi's mother said she also tried to persuade her daughter to have sex with her husband so as not to shame the family.

Al-Hikmi took his young bride to a nearby medical clinic, asking a doctor there to administer her tranquilizers so she would not resist his advances. The clinic said it refused.

Al-Hikmi then obtained performance enhancing pills, according to the police interrogation, and that night completed the act while she screamed.

The next day, he returned to the same medical clinic carrying Assi because she could not walk.

''I told him not to go near her for at least ten days,'' said Dr. Fathiya Haidar. She said Assi's vaginal canal was ripped.

A forensic report obtained by the AP showed that Assi's injuries were much more extensive, including extensive tearing around the vagina and rectum, suggesting that there might have been additional intercourse after the clinic visit.

Her mother said she visited Assi later that day, where she found her daughter fading in and out of consciousness.

''She whispered in my ear that he had tied her up and had sex with her violently,'' she said. ''I said to her husband, what have you done, you criminal?''

She said al-Hikmi told her that the young bride was just possessed by spirits and said he would take her to a folk healer to cast them out. Hours later, Assi was dead.

''She asked me to stay beside her,'' her mother said.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen and has drawn the attention of international rights groups seeking to pressure the government to outlaw child marriages.

''Early marriage places girls at increased risk of dropping out of school, being exposed to violence, abuse and exploitation, and even losing their lives from pregnancy, childbirth and other complications,'' said UNICEF's regional director Sigrid Kaag, in a statement Wednesday condemning the death.

A February 2009 law set the minimum age for marriage at 17, but it was repealed and sent back to parliament's constitutional committee for review after some lawmakers called it un-Islamic. The committee is expected to make a final decision on the legislation this month.

The issue of Yemen's child brides received widespread attention three years ago when an 8-year-old girl boldly went by herself to a courtroom and demanded a judge dissolve her marriage to a man in his 30s. She eventually won a divorce.

In September, a 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labor to give birth, a local human rights organization said. Source.

Saudi Arabia: 80-Year-Old Muslim Marries 11-Year-Old Child

Now where on earth would a Muslim get the idea that it's perfectly acceptable for an elderly man to have sex with a child?

News of a Saudi octogenarian marrying an eleven-year-old girl has outraged human rights activists amid calls on the government to regulate the marriage of underage girls, local media reported Saturday.

The Saudi National Human Rights Commission formed a committee to investigate the marriage, which activists consider a flagrant violation of human and children rights, the Saudi newspaper al-Riyadh said.

The marriage registrar, who was widely criticized since he agreed to seal the marriage contract knowing the girl's age, absolved himself of any blame.

"There is no law that prohibits the marriage of a girl under 18," he told the paper. "Plus, I summoned the girl and she declared her consent and signed the contract." . . .

The groom expressed his surprise at how the media leveled harsh criticism against him and his family for marrying the girl.

"It is very simple. We didn’t do anything wrong. It is a valid contract that meets all the conditions for marriage. What's the point of all this fuss?"

The groom has three other wives, all much younger, and they all have kids. Read More.

Muslim Apologist Declares: "There is no minimum age for sex in Islam"

In the comments section of a previous post on Muhammad and Aisha, Osama Abdallah offers several criteria for a male or female Muslim to get married. His conclusion, however, is startling:

"So again, there is no number of minimum age in Islam, nor is the female having her first period a condition."

Osama rightly points out (as Surah 65:4 proclaims), that Muslim men are free to have sex with girls who haven't reached puberty, so long as certain other conditions obtain. According to Osama, those conditions are as follows:

1- The person "balagha ashudduh" has reached the age of physical strength. This obviously varies from person to person. A 9 or 10-year old girl might be ready for marriage, while a 14-year old might not.

2- The person (male and female) is not "tifl" (child). Again, this is more of a mental condition and it too varies from person to person.

3- The females have become "FATAYA" (young ladies or young females or young teenage females, or young women). So a female who is still a child and not a fatah (singlular of fataya) is not permitted to get married.

4- The males have reached the age of "hulum". Hulum means had an ejaculation of semen either while awake or during sleep. Boys before this stage are also not permitted to get married, in Islam.

Well, I have a challenge for Osama and other Muslims who claim that they want to defend Muhammad, since I don't believe they're really willing to defend him. Here's the question for them, and I hope they will respond clearly and honestly.

QUESTION FOR MUSLIM MEN: SUPPOSE YOU LIVED IN A COUNTRY WITH SHARIA-COMPLIANT MARRIAGE LAWS. FURTHER, IF YOU'RE ALREADY MARRIED, PRETEND FOR A MOMENT THAT YOU'RE NOT. IF YOU WERE SEEKING A MARRIAGE PARTNER, AND A SUITABLE ARRANGEMENT WITH THE PARENTS OF A NINE-YEAR-OLD GIRL COULD BE MADE, AND THE GIRL WAS INTELLIGENT AND ABLE TO DO HOUSEHOLD CHORES, WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO MARRY HER AND HAVE SEX WITH HER?

There's the challenge. Now let's see who's really willing to stand up for Muhammad.

Muhammad and Aisha

A Muslim caller argues that when a girl gets her first period, God has given a sign that it's okay to have sex with her. Sam and I respond.