Patheos.com: It demands no introduction that many people, including Muslims, believe that Islam permits child marriage. As a result, Islam is often dismissed as a highly misogynistic religion by some non-Muslims, who believe it should have no place in our post-enlightenment era. “A medieval religion with medieval laws”, they say.
To be honest, growing up as a Muslim, I never really understood how Islam could permit child marriage. It wasn’t that I was particularly religious back then; in fact quite to the contrary, as is the norm. But, for some reason, this question kept me intrigued for many years. I never asked, because it felt somewhat taboo a subject, especially in the urban environment I was raised in.
Among other things, perhaps this was one of the sparks that lead me to pick up the Quran when I was about 18. And, to my surprise (read: delight), instead of condoning child marriages, the Quran actually seemed to condemn it! However, this, again, was a puzzling scenario. How could other Muslims not see what I was seeing? Now, thatquestion still fascinates me to this day.
A detailed historical analysis of whether Mohammad (may peace be upon him) married Ayesha (may peace be upon her) when she was 9 is beyond the scope of this essay. Some Muslims maintain that she seems to have been at least 19 years old at the time of marriage, for which the historical evidence seems very convincing (you can find some information here, here & here). Rather, this essay will purely focus on the question of whether Quran, which is supposed to be the primary source of Islamic law, permits child marriages or not.
Categories: Accepting Islam, Children, Equal Rights, ISLAM, The Muslim Times
Utterly unconvincing argument that would not be accepted by the vast majority of muslims- simple chain of logic:
1. mohammed was and always will be the perfect role model and every aspect of his life should be aspired to and emulated
2. mohammed had a child bride which was likely the custom of the age.
3. See point 1