In this video, Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-‘Arifi answers the question of whether there is a minimum age for marriage. He concludes that there is not — noting that Muhammad married Aisha when she was seven and consummated the marriage at nine because she was “ready.” Accordingly, it is perfectly ok for some girls to be married off at an age when they could not even get on some amusement rides at Disneyland due to their age.
Al-‘Arifi states
“There is no agreed-upon minimum age for the marriage of a boy or a girl. It depends upon their maturity. Let’s assume that someone wants to marry your 20-year-old daughter. But your daughter’s mentality and capabilities… She wouldn’t know how to handle it. You feel that her marriage is bound to fail, because she has no understanding of how she is supposed to behave. You think that this girl is not ready to get married. It would be best to wait two or three years.
We don’t want to marry her off, and then have her husband divorce her after 2-3 weeks, saying: “What is this?! This girl doesn’t know what to do, she has no appreciation of marital life. She knows nothing.” In such a case, it is better to delay marrying her off.
He then has a fun trivia game with his panel:
Al-‘Arifi: In the days of Prophet Muhammad and his companions, people would get married at a younger age. For example, how old was ‘Aisha when the Prophet Muhammad married her? I will give you a hint.
Panel member: She was seven years old. [holding up seven fingers]
Muhammad Al-‘Arifi: And how old was she when he had sex with her? [holding up nine fingers]
Panel member: Fourteen.
Muhammad Al-‘Arifi: Fourteen?! No way, she was nine. You are getting married tonight and you still can’t count…
She was nine years old. People might think it is strange that he married such a young girl. But this was the age at which they used to get married. The proof is that when the Prophet told Abu Bakr that he wanted to marry ‘Aisha – what did Abu Bakr say? He said: “You are more than welcome, oh Messenger of Allah, but my daughter is already married.” At seven years old she was already married.
[…]
If a girl’s physical and mental build allows her to get married, it is okay for her to get married. There is no minimum age for a girl’s marriage set by Islam.
Physical and mental build at seven and then sex at nine? That is like telling a jury in a pedophilia case that “the kid had the body of a nine-year-old but the mind of an adult.” Apparently, some children “know what to do.”
We have previously seen Al-‘Arifi who often explains Islamic principles on television to the Saudi people, though I hope and trust he is viewed as an extremist. For example, he previously counseled men on the proper way under Islam to beat your wife.
Oh….You must be defeated ChaZ…You have defamed Mohammad…
It must also be clearly noted that we all view marriage differently than how they viewed it long time ago. Marriage in the olden time was a way for women to survive in male-dominated environment. Also, the short life span must be noted. There was no school for kids to go to learn. All children were placed in hard labor the moment they learn how to walk and lift things.
It also must be emphasized that there was no Koran to guild Muslims while Mohammad was a leader/prophet of his tribe. There was no form of written database on what Mohammad have preached to his followers so there was many years of hearsay that eventually got documented, which would explain why Koran is all messed up, not in chronological order.
It is safe to assume that since Mohammad was a leader of a powerful tribe that could easily destroy and assimilate other tribes, anything he says is henceforth “word of god” and how are we to know if he’s making up stuff to get what he wants?
Here’s a link to a comic that clearly illustrates of how he get his ways around:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djskyler/4625203703/in/photostream/
Yes, the Bible does not say you can’t get married at 7, which is why we so often see Priest and Rabbi’s talking about how Jesus and Moses married 7 year olds and you can too.
As is noted, not in the Bible either. Those fanatics who are so afraid of Shariah law but want the country to live under Biblical based law, should have it pointed out to them that there would be very little difference between the two. However if they just went by the new testament we could completely defund the defense department which might be a plus….. Oh yes, since George Washington is on the dollar, Washington could raise taxes as high as they please because of the “render unto Caesar” clause….
In the transcription of the vid: “what did Abu Bakr say? He said: “You are more than welcome, oh Messenger of Allah, but my daughter is already married.” At seven years old she was already married.”
That should be “engaged” not “married”.
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Look up “anal retentive” and it should re-direct to “religious custom”.
near the turn of the century my maternal grandmother was married at the age of 14 and had 10 children, half of which died before reaching late adolescence due to disease and accidents. That was not uncommon for working/lower class people at that time. That was then and thankfully those days can be behind us.
No one in a civilized country, or a country that wants to be considered civilized, should be living like that today. At some point the past just needs to be let go of or it strangles the future in its crib.
Frank,
The only change I would make to your post would be to add “of fairy tales” to the end of it.
“Most of the Hippies I know need prunes today….” -AY
🙂
And, yes, to what Frank said.
Well Dredd,
Most of the Hippies I know need prunes today….but your point is salient…
Wow, and the establishment here used to hassle the Hippies, who were prudes by comparison.
Well, theoretically the bible places no age restrictions on marriage either. So the imam may well be correct. It is yet another example of why people have to separate the laws of States from the hodge-podge of, often unclear, rarely relevant and always contradictory edicts put down in 1300 year old books
Great. More good press for Islam to live down. The cleric was basically speaking theoretically, but just watch the Islamophobes run with this meaningless cleric opinion as if it was mass rape of little girls in the making.
AY
Billy Beer is considered an import in Arkansas. It comes from that left wing commie state of Georgia.
Well, mespo if you bring the hat….then you must have the beer:
http://www.the-forum.com/advert/BILLY.HTM
AY:
You can also choose a plastic sooie hat. Here’s a familiar looking guy in one:
http://www.uncoverage.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ClintonHogHat.jpg
rcampbell,
When entering Arkansas….do not forget to exchange head gear at the state line….
It’s a pretty sorry statement that a major religion can to be accurately compared to life in Arkansas. That might be reason enough to change Islamic laws.
And this differs from Arkansas exactly how?
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In Arkansas, they substitute the “John Deere” cap for the keffiyeh.
Any evil is always worse when it has the veneer of religion – pedophile priests, pedophile imams, we need a couple of pedophile rabbis to round out the picture.
And this differs from Arkansas exactly how? All’s it takes there is consent of a parent regardless of age….
Murder as religion, forced conversion as religion, and now pedophilia as religion. I’m starting to see a common thread.