I have to agree with shardmanny......a 9 year old in different parts of the world today is capable of vastly different things. Heck, I grew up in Canada and by 10 I was cooking the family meal; depends on how you are raised and what your family's needs might be.
Would I agree to a union with 40 years between the husband and wife....not likely. How do I perceive the prophet's action? I believe that it was a combination of a) the need to illustrate that marriage can take place as soon as a girl becomes a woman and b) a politically motivated gesture to create an alliance between two tribes.
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Not every act of the prophet Muhammad (SAW) is to be emulated by the Ummah.
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Many Muslim I know will certainily disagree with that point, the whole point of God sending us his prophets is so we can follow their example.
Many things were acceptable in those days but prophets were sent to seperate the darkness from the light. Its interesting to see that their are many Muslims who do not accept the age being but actually a lot older.
I think the entire age topic is a bs made up by ppl to support their own agendas.
If people will accept the accounts of the so called sources and compilations then they should accept the rest as truth as well.
So what do you suppose is my agenda? Do you think there is a racist link just because I ask a question which may be seen as being controversial?
Many Muslim I know will certainily disagree with that point, the whole point of God sending us his prophets is so we can follow their example.
Many things were acceptable in those days but prophets were sent to seperate the darkness from the light. Its interesting to see that their are many Muslims who do not accept the age being but actually a lot older.
Well then your many Muslim acquaintances need to study up !!!
I hope they will tell you there are some things that just cannot be emulated ... the prophet (SAW) could expose his thigh, that was not part of his awra - it is for the rest of us.
The tahajjud was mandatory on RasoolAllah (SAW) it is only optional for us.
Many other things were forbidden to be done ... that he (SAW) did and many other things that Sayyiduna Muhammad (SAW) did not do but he (SAW) instructed us to do through the Qur'an and Wahi of other forms.
It is clear from the ahadith of the marriage of Aisha (RA) that neither a forbidding was done nor a mandating - it was merely a matter of historical fact ... Many use this account to justify marriage to girls of age - but we are left with so much room to advise against emulating that particular marriage - because it was not something specifically advised for us to be doing.
In such circumstances we need to conclude that it was a special case - and indeed it was - for Sayyiduna Muhammad (SAW) did not marry Sayyidah Aisha (RA) out of any personal need ... he (SAW) was instructed by Allah (SWT) to do it ... This is our belief and we understand it may not be shared by others ... but it is our belief and fully backed up by hadith to show how this eventful marriage took place ... which was by Divine instruction.
This is a frequent/ recurrent topic for non-Muslims to open now and then, there are a lot of thread s on this topic - There are great replies in there. I have taken just two replies from one post.
Post by brother** Lajawab ** My favourite poster here - unfortunately doesn’t post here any more.
Mughal…Stop telling these infantile thinkers to even think…They might hurt themselves…
These idiots don’t know, that the Holy Prophet :saw: was so powerful and so believed at the time, all he had to do was point to any number of girls or women and they would have been placed at his feet and no one would have dared to do anything about it…
Perhaps these screwball intellectuals who are graduates straight out of anti-Islamic websites don’t know that every wife that the Holy Prophet :saw: had was either a divorcee or a widow…
The most powerful man in the world had only a single virgin wife, and that too which was a marriage ordained by Allah :swt:…Just like Allah :swt: ordained the birth of Jesus :as: through a virgin mother…
We have to look at the life of Aiesha radhiallahu 'anha afterwards. She was without doubt one of the foremost scholars of Islam. It is even said that she had attained in her lifetime the position of Mufti - someone capable of giving religious rulings - a position very few Muslims will ever occupy.
She was seeked by many, both men and women, who hungered for knowledge and they came to her from all directions, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria. History does not know of any woman who was approached by so many for such a noble purpose.
If indeed she had became a victim of sexual abuse she would in most probability be devastated emotionally, psychologically, mentally and perhaps even physically but the achievements she had made in her life after the death of the Prophet proved that she was a woman who was in complete control of her faculties, becoming one of the intellectual giants of Islam.
And the fact that she had spoken so dearly of the Prophet was indicative of the innocence of the marriage and of the impeccable character of her husband because given the trust enjoyed by her by the virtue of her relationship with him, she could have unleashed a vengeful attack against him by attributing to him words or deeds of horrendous nature if indeed she was a victim of his supposed lust, destroying both the Prophet and Islam.
No sexual abuse victim would ever spoke positively of her attacker, much less becoming a channel that promote love and understanding of him and the message which he had brought.
Today child marriage customs affixed as arrange marriage are fairly widespread in parts of Africa, Asia, Ocenia, North America and South America and Europe According to the UNICEF reports:
47% of married women in India get married before age 18.
40% of the world’s child marriges take place in secular, Hindu-majority India.
70% of married women in Niger, chad, Ethiopia and Nigeria get married before age 18.
Yemen follow the tribe tradition where women married before age 18. But after the incident held in 1998, a law was passed in April 2009 where marriage with minor is prohibited.
Prophet Muhammad marriage with Hazrat Aisha r.a. either in age 9 or 19 was not less than a miracle from one and same true God ‘Almighty Allah’ who cause the birth of Hazrat Isa a.s. (Jesus) from a virgin mother Maryam a.s. (Mary).
There is always a reason behind it. I think the foremost reason is that rather one see his young sister/daughter getting addicted to arts of lewd (moral looseness) is better to get her married. I don’t understand why every social ill pinned on Islam, anti-muslim activists portray child marriage as unique to Muslim communities and cite Islamic law as a major obstacle to ending the practice.
that is possible also is possible that a 9 year old is able start her own home.
by 9 i myself could have looked after a wife and lived independently. you need to appreciate theres some settings which develop people much faster.
also since advertising (refering to sex stereotyping, ideal partner stereotyping) is not present in all environments. attraction, affection, love can still flourish in age different marriages
by the way it is upto the man to care. woman makes the bricks a home but the commitment of the man towards the marriage is what differentiates between a genuinely loving marriage and something less genuine
this idea of ideal partnership you have only serves the unmarried relationships scenario, dating and the modern wealthy parent whose children grow up very slowly.
things can be different 9 year old can be serious or be childish. a 9 year can have a cause in life or be wondering with the winds.
while the relative maturity between the same age people could be different, the rule of thumb has always been that the more aged a person, the more mature he or she is.
I dont know how you can keep advocating the marriage of a child with an adult because supposedly that person was the prophet of God. I would not think about marrying off my children at that tender age!!! perhaps when any one of you advocates become the parents, you might as well want to marry your children off at such a young age.
I have said it before and i will say it again. Religious beliefs do make people go blind.
marriage is not all about cooking meals. if you were married you would know. it is such a great responsibility and a 9 years old is simply not capable of taking on that responsibility.
Not every act of the prophet Muhammad (SAW) is to be emulated by the Ummah.
Imagine the most beautiful creation known in the universe - it was him!
Imagine sweat that had the fragrance of perfume - it was his!
Imagine a person who can see behind himself as we see infront of ourselves - he could do this
Imagine a prophet living in your time - a person sent by Allah (SWT)
Imagine the most amazingly soft and kind person - with perfect character - it was him
Would I give my daughter who became of age to a prophet in marriage? - What an honour that would be ... Would I do the same for a high street imam? - not likely.
I still wont give my 9 years old daughter to a man even if he is such a perfect man.
its another thing that the perfect man is a myth. all followers of a specific man would apotheosize him. no wonder that has been done in the case of Prophet Muhammad too.
so Abu Bakar thought his daughter could become a victim of the moral looseness? from your logic, it seems like he was thinking like that.
buddy, if you think a child of that age could be into lewd acts, then God have mercy on your thinking.
I think the foremost reason is that rather one see his young sister/daughter getting addicted to arts of lewd (moral looseness) is better to get her married.
But why marry her when she is no more than a child?
Also, if this is the concern then boys should also get married in childhood.
Lastly, it would be even better if girls are married while infant. Isn't it?
Are you saying that marrying early should not be allowed in Islam?
How can you forbid something which has not been forbidden by Allah or Prophet? Isn’t it the very definition of bidat?
You may or may not agree but there are many Muslims who marry young girls the age of their grand daughters, only on this basis.
For all the women supporting marriage in infancy or childhood, I wish YOU were married in your infancy or childhood.
So young are some girls, Mosleh says, that they hold onto their toys during the wedding ceremony. And they usually become mothers in their early teens, while they are still children themselves.
“When we speak with girls who married very young, they usually say, 'It feels like we didn’t have a life, we didn’t have childhood,'” Mosleh says. “These girls don’t even remember their wedding day because they were so young. They say, ‘We had a wedding, but we didn’t even understand what the ceremony meant.’”
…
Badriya Hassas, a gynecologist in Rabiya Balkhi Hospital in Kabul, says that shortly after being married, many young girls are admitted to hospital in a state of shock from serious physical injuries and psychological trauma. “Some of these girls suffer irreversible physical damage,” Hassas tells RFE/RL. “They suffer from tearing and extensive bleeding. Besides, they usually come to hospital too late – after massive bleeding, and in a state of shock. We have personally seen many such cases.”
Knowing prophets life, his commitment to khadija(ra) its hard to comprehend.
But then we muslim are scared to show our disbelief , out of our love for prophet we leave this unspoken, untouched.
Till a non muslim made an issue about it.
May be it never occurred to you, or to Sister Tawheed, that she didn’t go through all that trauma because she was NOT that young, and her young age was the exaggeration on the part of Hadith writers?!
I want to prove that Hazrat Aisha was not 4/5 year old when she got married.
In my opinion, this exaggeration was done for political reasons. In those times in Arabia, some people yearned for young girls. Thus in order to make Hazrat Aisha the MOST favorite wife of the prophet, they made her as young as possible.
while the relative maturity between the same age people could be different, the rule of thumb has always been that the more aged a person, the more mature he or she is.
I dont know how you can keep advocating the marriage of a child with an adult because supposedly that person was the prophet of God. I would not think about marrying off my children at that tender age!!! perhaps when any one of you advocates become the parents, you might as well want to marry your children off at such a young age.
I have said it before and i will say it again. Religious beliefs do make people go blind.
marriage is not all about cooking meals. if you were married you would know. it is such a great responsibility and a 9 years old is simply not capable of taking on that responsibility.
I still wont give my 9 years old daughter to a man even if he is such a perfect man.
its another thing that the perfect man is a myth. all followers of a specific man would apotheosize him. no wonder that has been done in the case of Prophet Muhammad too.
so Abu Bakar thought his daughter could become a victim of the moral looseness? from your logic, it seems like he was thinking like that.
buddy, if you think a child of that age could be into lewd acts, then God have mercy on your thinking.
jaanaan ... if your daughter had your sensibilities then she would not be good enough anyway ...
If prophet could do it but others can’t then there should be CLEAR Hadith or Aayah declaring it illegal or not-liked in Islam. Where is such declaration? If there is not declaration and still some people consider it not good while accepting that prophet did it, then it is a clear example of bidat.
Also, if it not a good practice then where is the opposition from clerics against this WIDE-SPREAD practice among Muslims, especially in Afghanistan?
marriage with Hazrat Aisha r.a. either in age 9 or 19 was not less than a miracle from one and same true God ‘Almighty Allah’ who cause the birth of Hazrat Isa a.s. (Jesus) from a virgin mother Maryam a.s. (Mary).
