look at what these famous non muslims say about muhammad
I understand what you're trying to say (I think), but if we held to those values we wouldn't have the modern world as it is today.
Here is what another famous non-Moslem had to say about Mohammed
http://www.worldofdante.org/comedy/dant ... o.xml/1.28
I don't think it's strictly true to call what Muhammad did in the context of 7th century Arabia paedophilia. Yes, he married and had sex (or what we could call rape) with a child, but again, this seems to be quite commonplace in that era and time. He doesn't seem to have had a preference for children, and the concept of paedophilia probably would not have existed then. Doesn't change the fact that this guy is a horrible, horrible role model.
The real problem is that Muslims are essentially endorsing this behaviour today by trying to make out that their boy was infallible. Which is why child marriage and child rape is still quite legal in places like Saudi Arabia and that country and a few others like it do cater for paedophiles.
Since you're not religious you'll probably not understand what I say to the fullest extent (or even argee), but moral values are absolute and eternal. The correct moral atitude in each situation doesn't change through time. So unless it's something that is out of their range of power, the founders of good religions should have near perfect moral discipline. And that sure is not the case of mohammed. Jesus, as far as I know had a very good moral discipline, so I consider those who follow (only) the new testament followers of a good religion. mohammed, on the other hand, could have avoided all the horrible things he did. But he didn't, so islam is not, imo, a good religion.
And one other thing that is very important: only evil men considered pedophilia as acceptable. The degree of evil varies acording to culture, of course, but it's still evil. As an example, Plato, who liked 13/14 year old boys wouldn't touch them in what he called something like "virtuous restraint". So even hundreds of years before mohammed there were men who thought pedophilia was wrong. So it's not a good practice to excuse horrible behaviours with social influence. That would withraw responsability of the nazi soldiers and simpathisers, puting all the responsability on propaganda.
I actually agree. I don't go in for historical relativism any more than cultural relativism - and I'm an atheist.
Child sacrifice, slavery, executing people for who failed to keep the Sabbath, these don't indicate historical/cultural relativism to you?
Or did I misunderstand you?
The problem is: who decides what is right and what is wrong? Homosexuality, for instance, hasn't been legal all that much throughout history, and a lot of people would be horrified at the thought of people having sex. Ditto people watching hardcore porn.
I don't think that what Muhammad did was really any more acceptable in the 7th century than in the 21st, but you have to remember that this was commonplace, as horrid as it was.
I don't think it's strictly true to call what Muhammad did in the context of 7th century Arabia paedophilia. Yes, he married and had sex (or what we could call rape) with a child, but again, this seems to be quite commonplace in that era and time. He doesn't seem to have had a preference for children, and the concept of paedophilia probably would not have existed then. Doesn't change the fact that this guy is a horrible, horrible role model.
The real problem is that Muslims are essentially endorsing this behaviour today by trying to make out that their boy was infallible. Which is why child marriage and child rape is still quite legal in places like Saudi Arabia and that country and a few others like it do cater for paedophiles.
SHE WAS AN ADULT. She reached the age of puberty and was considered a fully matured woman, thus making it a legal marriage. Age doesn't determine marriage, maturity does in Islam.
Read this:
1-It was a divine inspiration:
Before describing the rationale behind this married relation, let it be known that the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) married Sayyida Aisha not of his own desire rather it was a Divine inspiration. Read the following Hadith;
Narrated ‘Aisha:
That the Prophet said to her, “You have been shown to me twice in my dream. I saw you pictured on a piece of silk and some-one said (to me). ‘This is your wife.’ When I uncovered the picture, I saw that it was yours. I said, ‘If this is from Allah, it will be done.” {Bukhari :: Volume 5 :: Book 58 :: Hadith 235}
2-It was not out of his physical desires:
The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) did not marry Sayyidah Aisha out of his physical desires. One need to note that for first 54 years of his life he had only one wife. His only wife till 50th year of his life was Sayyida Khadija. He spent his entire youth with her and she was a two time widowed woman, 15 years elder to him. For next four years his only wife was Sayyidah Sa’uda.
3-Age of Marriage in Old Ages:
One must first understand that 1400 years ago was very different than now, times have changed and so have humans. 1400 years ago it was something very common to marry young girls, in fact they were not considered young girls, and rather they were considered young women back then. It is a historic fact that girls from the ages of 9 to 14 were being married in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in fact even in the United States girls at the age of 10 were also being married just more than a century ago.
Yet with these facts no historian claims that all these people were sick perverts, historians would call anyone who made such a claim to be arrogant and very stupid who has no grasp or understanding of history.
Even in Indo-Pak Sub-Continent girls used to be married at 12-13 even 50-60 years ago. And those ‘girls’ infact raised much better families. There were less family problems then. A simple analyses of the divorce rate then and know would certainly make it clear that maturity level earlier used to be different i.e. people used to come of age rather quickly.
4-Child Brides in Byzantine Empire:
http://www.roman-emperors.org/aggiefran.htm
Visit this link to see how common were the child brides in the Byzantine Empire.This article clearly states;”Child brides, whether Byzantines or foreign princesses, were the norm rather than the exception, especially from the late twelfth century”.
5-The Pagans of the Prophet’s time:
The fact that it was a completely acceptable thing can also be seen from the response of the pagans at that time. No Muslim or even pagan objected to the marriage because it was widely practiced. And even until today in 3rd world countries (Muslims and non-Muslims), little girls as young as 9 or 10 do get married. Anyway, the reason no one objected was to the Prophet’s marriage was:1-People used to have very short life-spans in Arabia. They used to live between 40 to 60 years maximum. So it was only normal and natural for girls to be married off at ages 9 or 10 or similar.2-Marriage for young girls was widely practiced among Arabs back then, and even today in many non-Muslim and Muslim countries
6-Engagement with Jubair bin Mutim:
It ought also be noted that Sayyidah Aisha ( RA) was engaged to Jubayr son of Mut’im before Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him. This indicates the age of marriage and engagement in Prophet’s time. However, the engagement was later nullified by Jubayr’s parents due to Abu Bakr (RA) embracing Islam.Doesn’t this indicate there was nothing bad in marrying a 9 year girl at that time?She must have been even younger when she was engaged to Jubair
7-Sayyidah Aisha was fit for marriage:
Furthermore as to the Holy Prophet’s marriage with Sayyidah Aisha, something people will notice is that the completion of the marriage was done when Sayyidah Aisha was 9 years old, not when she was 6, and there is a reason for that. The reason why this happened is because Sayyidah Aisha had been through puberty by the age of 9, and in Islam a female who under-goes puberty is considered a lady and is fit for marriage.
If we read the hadiths, we find that right before Sayyidah Aisha got married off to the Holy Prophet that she was sick and not feeling too well:
Narrated Sayyidah Aisha:
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 Volume 5, Book 58, Number 234}
So as we can see, Sayyidah Aisha got ill and her body was going through some changes, indicating that she was going through her puberty.
8-Sayyida Aisha never showed her displeasure:
Another striking thing to observe is that among hundreds of her narrations there is not even a single one showing her displeasure about this marriage. Hence, she had no problem with this relation. Infect it is manifest from several traditions that she loved the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) too much and even felt some sort of jealousy when she found others around him. Does this not prove that she was extremely happy about this marriage? So, when she herself had no problem at all then what’s the matter of concern for others?
9-A 9-year old Thai girl gave birth:
A 9 old girl can become a mother. If you don’t believe me then see here is the proof;
The news item is from the New Straits Times, 10/3/2001.
In our world today, we still have people who marry very young girls. Why should we object to someone who married a 9-year old girl 1400 years ago, when we still practice it today? The girl above even gave birth at the age of 9!
10-It was absolutely legal:
Prophet Muhammad’s marriage with Aisha was 100% legal and acceptable by all laws and Divine Religions. It is important to know that girls during the Biblical and Islamic days used to be married off at young ages when they either had their first periods, or their breasts start showing off. In other words, when they turn into “women”, then they get married off. It was quite different for men on the other hand, because physical power and the ability of living an independent life had always been and will always be a mandatory requirement for men to have in life. So men waited much longer than women in terms of getting married. The guy had to develop both his body and mind before he was ready for marriage. That is why you see girls as young as 9 or 10 were married to men as old as 30 or even older. The culture back then and in many of the world countries today (NON-MUSLIM ONES TOO) is quite different than what you live in today.And there is no divine law which is broken in marrying a girl of nine at any costs.
11-Her parents never objected:
Sayyidah Aisha’s mother and the Muslim women back then were O.K with her marriage. It was part of the Arab custom and still is in many of the Muslim and non-Muslim countries today for girls to marry at a very young age. When a girl’s body starts showing up (her breasts and her height and physical size), then she would be ready for marriage
The only reason why Sayyidah Aisha’s father, Abu Baker Al Sidique, broke her engagement with Jober is because he was a non-Muslim. Later, a woman named Kholeah Bint Hakeem suggested for Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him to marry Sayyidah Aisha, because the Prophet and Abu Baker became best friends. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) engaged Sayyidah Aisha for 3 years before he married her.
12-Muslims never concealed it:
Had there been any bad thinking regarding this marriage in minds of the people at that time. Muslims would have tried there best to conceal at that time. But they didn’t.
13-Refuting unjust Pagan views:
There were many baseless traditions in practice among the Arabs in those days. So Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was usually ordered by the Almighty ALLAH to refute such traditions through personal examples. Similar is the case of Prophet Muhammad’s marriage with Umm al Momineen Aisha (R.A.)
1-For a bad omen, Arab considered Shawwal a month prohibited for marriage. Sayyidah A’isha’s betrothal and departure from her parent’s house took place in Shawwal. This changed the ridiculous custom.
2-Another bad custom was that the Arabs did not give the hands of their daughters to those who they “called” their brothers (though were not actual brothers). This was the objection raised by Abu Bakr himself, when the Prophet (peace be upon him) made the proposal. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) then told him that a brother in faith was not an actual blood brother to be placed in the prohibited category.
14-Great Wisdom behind this marriage:
Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) marriage with Sayyidah Aisha at that age was indeed a great blessings for all the Muslims ever since. Most of the matters related to cleanliness, married relationship and other household issues have been cleared due to her narrations. She lived a long time after the death of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and continued to teach the Ummah about matters of daily routine and great importance.
15-What was Sayyidah Aisha famous for ??
Well what was her specialty? I ask the critics.
Was it beauty?
Was it wealth?
No it was religion!Thus proving the DIVINE LOGIC.
Arwa Bin Zubair says, “I did not find anyone more proficient (than Aisha ) in the knowledge of the Holy Quran, the Commandments of Halal (lawful) and Haram (prohibited), Ilmul-Ansab and Arabic poetry. That is why, even senior companions of the Prophet used to consult Aisha in resolving intricate issues”.
(Jala-ul-Afham by Ibn Qaiyem and Ibn Sa’ad, Vol.2, p.26)
Also see this;
Abu Musa al-Ashari says: “Never had we (the companions) any difficulty for the solution of which we approached Aisha and did not get some useful information from her”. (Sirat-I-Aisha, on the authority of Trimidhi, pg. 163)
SOURCE:
http://islamgreatreligion.wordpress.com ... as-only-9/
Last edited by salad on 22 Jan 2013, 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
If Islam wasn't an aggressive religion with violently non-negotiable texts and not marinated in vicious adherents, we perhaps wouldn't bother too much. You don't hear me criticising the Bhagavad Gita too much.
That too. Look at those idiots in Mali right now, destroying graves and mausoleums. Even as*hole atheists like me wouldn't pull a stunt like that.
But the responses to Mohammed cartoons or koran burnings are priceless, it works every time. If people would just ignore it, maybe there would not be so much reason to do it (and I personally don't burn books, but I think people should definatively have the right to do that).
Don't be a hypocrite. Do you know how enraged Americans become when people burn their flag?? There you go.
Child sacrifice, slavery, executing people for who failed to keep the Sabbath, these don't indicate historical/cultural relativism to you?
Or did I misunderstand you?
You misunderstood. I think Mohammed was still a child rapist even though the definition didn't exist at the time. I see paedophilia as a sexual orientation (though obviously Mo wasn't an exclusive paedo) and rape is sex without consent; whatever era or culture it occurs in, it's still rape.
And for the record, I don't think 9 year olds can consent. Not even supernaturally precocious ones, not even 1,400 years ago. Childhood development might've happened at a different rate back then, but I'm sure it wasn't that different.
Last edited by puddingmouse on 22 Jan 2013, 12:48 pm, edited 4 times in total.
The problem is: who decides what is right and what is wrong? Homosexuality, for instance, hasn't been legal all that much throughout history, and a lot of people would be horrified at the thought of people having sex. Ditto people watching hardcore porn.
I don't think that what Muhammad did was really any more acceptable in the 7th century than in the 21st, but you have to remember that this was commonplace, as horrid as it was.
I know it was commonplace. He might have had a rape mandate, but it was still rape.
The fact that it was so common at the time just means that things were sh***y for women back then - not that it wasn't perverted and wrong.
I'll happily wear that 'very stupid with no grasp of history' badge.
Anyone who screwed children ever is a sick pervert to me - especially if they did it in the name of God.
I suppose since Mary was what...12? 14? at the time of her Immaculate Conception, I'd include the Christian God in the pervert list.
Also, the whole 'she's had 1 period, so she's a WOMAN now and done with puberty' is false. I got my first period at 11 and wasn't done with puberty until 18. Your bodies still changing, and even though a girl may be able to conceive at 9, her body will not be ready to actually have the baby yet. There are girls in the modern world who have succesful births at that age, but you have to remember that with 7th century medicine, your life was very much in danger giving birth as an adult woman, let alone as a child. Plus, you can damage a girl by penetrating her before she's erm, full size, down there. This is only the physical side of puberty I'm talking about. Girls mature faster mentally than boys, but every girl is basically still a child in the head at 9 years old. I don't believe that anyone can be supernaturally mature enough to handle being a wife and mother at 9 (probably because I don't believe in the supernatural, anyway).
As for Aisha 'loving' Mo:
1. That's what they want you to think (if she hated him, do you think they would write that down?)
2. Stockholm Syndrome
Last edited by puddingmouse on 22 Jan 2013, 12:49 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Salad, you should read the posts before making one. Had you read the posts you had already seen that people argued (and agreed) that social convention is not a complete explanation for imoral behaviour. Individual responsability is always present.
Besides, if you consider that she was an adult, why do you need to justify all the rest with a gigantic post? Wouldn't you need just the "changes in her body" (which is completely ridiculous) part in order to prove your point? Are you, deep down, 1% ashamed of your "prophet"?
If you consider a 9 year old girl a fully matured woman, then you have lost your reason and common sense. Argue from a logical point of view, please.
Tequila, I should have been clearer when I said what I said about the absolute status of moral values (it still wasn't slear in my mind). It is only inherent in religious people. For a religious person, even if moral choices are dependent on context, they have an absolute side to them. Some call it god's judgement. Others call it karma. So, from that point of view, either a muslim believes that pedophilia is acceptable; or he is brainwashed into believing that moral values are both relative and absolute; or he is a moderate muslim, who doesn't take things literaly and so dismisses what contradicts what he believes to be the good character of the prophet.
