History is clear; Muhammad was by all accounts illiterate, foul tempered and supersticious. He came to his prophecy revelations had following several “scary nights” in a dark cave believing he had been conversing with “Evil.” His wife, Khadija bint Khuwailid, a widow who was fifteen years his senior, convinced Muhammad who he spoke with in the cave was actually the angel Jibril (Gabriel) who revealed to him basis for the Qur’an. Muhammad married a 6 year old, then ‘came to know her’ her when she was 9; I know traditional countless Muslim apologists have multiple counter narratives to ‘maintain’ Muhammad’s status as a righteous prophet, though herein is discovered the truth through the words of their own scriptures; to include an account narrated by his child bride herself:

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While this does refute the claim that Muhammad was the ultimate moral guide, he convinced his followers He knew what was best. We note that Islam as a religion is much newer than Judaism. He was nothing less of a tyrannical warlord that participated in the despicable practice of marrying children. Aisha wasn’t the only young girl Muhammad had eyes for:

 

(Suhayli, ii. 79: In the riwaya of Yunus I. I. recorded that the apostle saw her (Ummu'lFadl) when she was a baby crawling before him and said, 'If she grows up and I am still alive I will marry her.'  But he died before she grew up and Sufyan b. al-Aswad b. 'Abdu'l-Asad al-Makhzumi married her and she bore him Rizq and Lubab… (Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah, translated by A. Guillaume [Oxford University Press, Karachi], p. 311) Muhammad saw Um Habiba the daughter of Abbas while she was fatim (age of nursing) and he said, "If she grows up while I am still alive, I will marry her." (Musnad Ahmad, Number 25636)

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One of the biggest problems we are facing today is that Muhammad is seen as the ideal man, the perfect human, the perfect Muslim. That means that the highest commandment for a male Muslim is to imitate Muhammad, to live his life. This does not happen according to our social standards and laws. According to Islamic doctrine, Muhammad married a girl named Aisha when she was six or seven years old, adding “What do we call it, if it is not pedophilia?”

 

Faced with the arguments of Western critics, Muslim apologists sometimes piece together information from various accounts in an attempt to deny that Aisha was as young as critics often claim:

 

The popular misconception as to Aishah’s age may be removed here. . . . Isabah, speaking of the Holy Prophet’s daughter Fatimah, says that she was about five years older than Aishah. It is a well-established fact that Fatimah was born when the Ka’bah was being rebuilt, i.e., five years before the Call. Aishah was therefore born in the year of the Call or a little before it, and she could not have been less than ten years at the time of her marriage with the Holy Prophet in the tenth year of the Call. . . . And as the period between her marriage and its consummation was not less than five years, because the consummation took place in the second year of the Flight. The popular account that she was six years at marriage and nine years at the time of consummation.

 

Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated that the Prophet (may the blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) married her when she was six years old, and he consummated her in marriage when she was nine years old. Then she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death). Khadijah died three years before the Prophet (the blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) departed to Madina. He stayed there for two years or so and then he married Aisha when she was a girl of six years of age, and he consummated that marriage when she was nine years old. Urwa narrated: The Prophet (may the blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) wrote the (marriage contract) with Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years. Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house when I was nine years old.

 

Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) 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. This is just a sample of the early Muslim traditions reporting Muhammad’s marriage to the young Aisha, but it is sufficient to show that she certainly wasn’t fifteen years old at the time of the consummation, as some Muslims claim.

 

Narrated 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 Al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 234)

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SAHIH MUSLIM

'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house at the age of nine. She further said: We went to Medina and I had an attack of fever for a month, and my hair had come down to the earlobes. Umm Ruman (my mother) came to me and I was at that time on a swing along with my playmates. She called me loudly and I went to her and I did not know what she had wanted of me. She took hold of my hand and took me to the door, and I was saying: Ha, ha (as if I was gasping), until the agitation of my heart was over. She took me to a house, where had gathered the women of the Ansar. They all blessed me and wished me good luck and said: May you have share in good. She (my mother) entrusted me to them. They washed my head and embellished me and nothing frightened me. Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) came there in the morning, and I was entrusted to him. (Sahih Muslim, Book 008, Number 3309; see also 3310)

 

'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) married her when she was seven years old, and he 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. (Sahih Muslim, Book 008, Number 3311)

 

SUNAN ABU DAWUD

Aisha said: The Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) 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. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Number 2116)

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Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin:
 

The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) married me when I was seven or six. When we came to Medina, some women came. According to Bishr's version: Umm Ruman came to me when I was swinging. They took me, made me prepared and decorated me. I was then brought to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him), and he took up cohabitation with me when I was nine. She halted me at the door, and I burst into laughter. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 41, Number 4915)

 

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin:
 

The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) used to kiss her and suck her tongue when he was fasting. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 13, Number 2380)

 

SUNAN ABU DAWUD

Aisha said: The Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) 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. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Number 2116)

 

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin:
 

The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) married me when I was seven or six. When we came to Medina, some women came. According to Bishr's version: Umm Ruman came to me when I was swinging. They took me, made me prepared and decorated me. I was then brought to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him), and he took up cohabitation with me when I was nine. She halted me at the door, and I burst into laughter. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 41, Number 4915)

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) used to kiss her and suck her tongue when he was fasting. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 13, Number 2380)

 

IBN HISHAM

He married ‘A’isha in Mecca when she was a child of seven and lived with her in Medina when she was nine or ten. She was the only virgin that he married. Her father, Abu Bakr, married her to him and the apostle gave her four hundred dirhams. (Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasulullah (The Life of Muhammad), translated by Alfred Guillaume [Oxford University Press, Karachi, tenth impression 1995], p. 792)

 

According to official Sunni Muslim sources, Muhammad married Aisha when she was around the age of six or seven. This marriage took place three years before Muhammad’s migration to what eventually became known as Medina. Muhammad consummated the marriage to Aisha approximately four years later, or in the second year of his arrival to Medina when the latter was nine years old. The Muslim sources generally date Muhammad’s migration to Medina (known as the Hijrah) in the year 622-23 AD. And these sources also say that Muhammad was born in the Year of the Elephant, the year 570 AD. This means that Muhammad was fifty years old when he married Aisha, and roughly fifty-four years old when he actually slept with her.

 

The problem is not merely that Aisha was nine when Muhammad married her, but that Muhammad was a man who was well into his fifties. Muhammad was old enough to be Aisha’s grandfather. Aisha was the only virgin that Muhammad ever married. Muhammad gave the following reason for marrying young virgin girls:

 

Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah:
 

I was accompanying the Prophet on a journey and was riding a slow camel that was lagging behind the others… When we approached Medina, I started going (towards my house). The Prophet said, "Where are you going?" I said, "I have married a widow." He said, "Why have you not married a virgin to fondle with each other?" I said, "My father died and left daughters, so I decided to marry a widow (an experienced woman) (to look after them)." He said, "Well done." … (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 38, Number 504)

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Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah:
 

While we were returning from a Ghazwa (Holy Battle) with the Prophet, I started driving my camel fast, as it was a lazy camel A rider came behind me and pricked my camel with a spear he had with him, and then my camel started running as fast as the best camel you may see. Behold! The rider was the Prophet himself. He said, 'What makes you in such a hurry?" I replied, I am newly married " He said, "Did you marry a virgin or a matron? I replied, "A matron." He said, "Why didn't you marry a young girl so that you may play with her and she with you?" When we were about to enter (Medina), the Prophet said, "Wait so that you may enter (Medina) at night so that the lady of unkempt hair may comb her hair and the one whose husband has been absent may shave her pubic region. (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 16)

 

Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah:
 

When I got married, Allah's Apostle said to me, "What type of lady have you married?" I replied, "I have married a matron." He said, "Why, don't you have a liking for the virgins AND FOR FONDLING THEM?" Jabir also said: Allah's Apostle said, "Why didn't you marry a young girl so that you might play with her and she with you?" (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 17)

 

Hence, Muhammad’s comments indicate that his reason for marrying Aisha while a young virgin is so that he could fondle and sexually play with her! Muhammad also had eyes for an infant girl, promising to marry her when she grows up. Ibn Ishaq places this event during the time of the Battle of Badr in 624 AD when Muhammad was roughly 54 years old. (Guillaume, pp. 310-312)

 

Now let us be generous and assume that Muhammad would have waited for the girl to reach the age of ten to marry her, Muhammad would have been at least 62 years old at that time! So here we have two instances where a man well over fifty has his eyes on two prepubescent girls! Now this is a problem. Beyond even this, Muhammad died when Aisha was eighteen years old, leaving her a widow for the rest of her life.

 

Regarding Mohammad’s “mercy” for all creatures: Aisha is an actual proof that Muhammad was anything but a mercy. For instance, recall that in the above cited traditions Muhammad left Aisha a childless widow at the age of eighteen. What makes this so terrible is that Muhammad passed on a command forbidding anyone from marrying any of his widows!

 

O ye who believe! Enter not the Prophet's houses, - until leave is given you, - for a meal, (and then) not (so early as) to wait for its preparation: but when ye are invited, enter; and when ye have taken your meal, disperse, without seeking familiar talk. Such (behaviour) annoys the Prophet: he is ashamed to dismiss you, but G-d is not ashamed (to tell you) the truth. And when ye ask (his ladies) for anything ye want, ask them from before a screen: that makes for greater purity for your hearts and for theirs. Nor is it right for you that ye should annoy G-d's Apostle, or that ye should marry his widows after him at any time. Truly such a thing is in G-d's sight an enormity. S. 33:53 Y. Ali

 

Ibn Kathir wrote regarding this passage:

<And it is not (right) for you that you should annoy Allah's Messenger,> "This was revealed concerning a man who wanted to marry one of the wives of the Prophet after he died. A man said to Sufyan, `Was it `A'ishah?' He said, `That is what they said.’" This was also stated by Muqatil bin Hayyan and `Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam. He also reported with his chain of narration from As-Suddi that the one who wanted to do this was Talhah bin `Ubaydullah, may Allah be pleased with him, until this Ayah was revealed forbidding that. Hence the scholars were unanimous in stating that it was forbidden for anyone to marry any of the women who were married to the Messenger of Allah at the time when he died, because they are his wives in this world and in the Hereafter, and they are the Mothers of the believers, as stated previously. Allah regarded that as a very serious matter, and issued the sternest of warnings against it…

 

 According to the authors of The True Guidance:

Al-Suyuti said in Asbab al-Nuzul: "Talha came to one of the Prophet’s wives and talked with her; he was her cousin. But Muhammad said to him: ‘You will never do this again.’ Talha said: ‘But she is my cousin, and Allah knows that neither I nor she said anything abominable.’ But Muhammad said: ‘There is none more jealous than Allah, there is none more jealous than me.’ He left, and after that he said: ‘On the death of Muhammad I will surely marry Aisha after him.’ When Muhammad heard about it, he said: ‘…neither marry his wives after him.’" (The True Guidance (Part Five) Comments on Quranic Verses, First English edition: 1994], p. 236)

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Thus, Muhammad’s jealousy led him to have a "revelation" forbidding his wives from ever remarrying. In this Muhammad contradicts the Holy Bible which states:

 

" Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. - {Romi’im/Romans 7:1-3}

 

Aisha wasn’t the only one to suffer this rather unfortunate fate. Muhammad married a Jewess named Safiyyah after the former killed her family at the battle of Khaybar:

 

The apostle seized the property piece by piece and conquered the forts one by one as he came to them. The first to fall was the fort of Na‘im; there Mahmud b. Maslama was killed by a millstone which was thrown on him from it; then al-Qamus the fort of B. Abu’l-Huqayq. The apostle took captives from them among whom was Safiya d. Huyayy b. Akhtab who had been the wife of Kinana b. al-Rabi’ b. Abu’l-Huqayq, and two cousins of hers. The apostle chose Safiya for himself.

 

Dihya b. Khalifa al-Kalbi had asked the apostle for Safiya, and when he chose her for himself he gave him her two cousins. The women of Khaybar were distributed among the Muslims. The Muslims ate the meat of the domestic donkeys and the apostle got up and forbade the people to do a number of things which enumerated. (Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, p. 511)

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When the apostle married Safiya in Khaybar or on the way, she having been beautified and combed, and got in a fit state for the apostle by Umm Sulaym d. Milhan mother of Anas b. Malik, the apostle passed the night with her in a tent of his. Abu Ayyub, Khalid b. Zayd brother of B. al-Najjar passed the night girt with his sword, guarding the apostle and going round the tent until in the morning the apostle saw him and asked him what he meant by his action. He replied, ‘I was afraid for you with this woman for you have killed her father, her husband, and her people, and till recently she was in unbelief, so I was afraid for you on her account.’ They allege that the apostle said ‘O God, preserve Abu Ayyub as he spent the night preserving me.’ (Ibid., pp. 516-517)

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He married Safiya d. Huyay b. Akhtab whom he had captured at Khaybar and chosen for himself. The apostle made a feast of gruel and dates: there was no meat or fat. She had been married to Kinana b. al-Rabi‘ b. Abu’l-Huqayq. (Ibid., pp. 793-794)

 

Narrated 'Abdul 'Aziz:

Anas said, 'When Allah's Apostle invaded Khaibar, we offered the Fajr prayer there early in the morning) when it was still dark. The Prophet rode and Abu Talha rode too and I was riding behind Abu Talha. The Prophet passed through the lane of Khaibar quickly and my knee was touching the thigh of the Prophet. He uncovered his thigh and I saw the whiteness of the thigh of the Prophet. When he entered the town, he said, 'Allahu Akbar! Khaibar is ruined. Whenever we approach near a (hostile) nation (to fight) then evil will be the morning of those who have been warned.' He repeated this thrice. The people came out for their jobs and some of them said, 'Muhammad (has come).' (Some of our companions added, "With his army.") We conquered Khaibar, took the captives, and the booty was collected. Dihya came and said, 'O Allah's Prophet! Give me a slave girl from the captives.' The Prophet said, 'Go and take any slave girl.' He took Safiya bint Huyai. A man came to the Prophet and said, 'O Allah's Apostles! You gave Safiya bint Huyai to Dihya and she is the chief mistress of the tribes of Quraiza and An-Nadir and she befits none but you.' So the Prophet said, 'Bring him along with her.' So Dihya came with her and when the Prophet saw her, he said to Dihya, 'Take any slave girl other than her from the captives.' Anas added: The Prophet then manumitted her and married her."

 

Thabit asked Anas, "O Abu Hamza! What did the Prophet pay her (as Mahr)?" He said, "Her self was her Mahr for he manumitted her and then married her." Anas added, "While on the way, Um Sulaim dressed her for marriage (ceremony) and at night she sent her as a bride to the Prophet. So the Prophet was a bridegroom and he said, 'Whoever has anything (food) should bring it.' He spread out a leather sheet (for the food) and some brought dates and others cooking butter. (I think he (Anas) mentioned As-Sawiq). So they prepared a dish of Hais (a kind of meal). And that was Walrma (the marriage banquet) of Allah's Apostle." (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 8, Number 367)

 

Narrated Anas bin Malik:
We arrived at Khaibar, and when Allah helped His Apostle to open the fort, the beauty of Safiya bint Huyai bin Akhtaq whose husband had been killed (by Mohammad) while she was a bride, was mentioned to Allah's Apostle. The Prophet selected her for himself, and set out with her, and when we reached a place called Sidd-as-Sahba,' Safiya became clean from her menses then Allah's Apostle married her. Hais (i.e. an 'Arabian dish) was prepared on a small leather mat. Then the Prophet said to me, "I invite the people around you." So that was the marriage banquet of the Prophet and Safiya. Then we proceeded towards Medina, and I saw the Prophet, making for her a kind of cushion with his cloak behind him (on his camel). He then sat beside his camel and put his knee for Safiya to put her foot on, in order to ride (on the camel). (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 59, Number 522) According to Muslim sources, Muhammad’s attack on the Khaybar Jews took place in 630 A.D.

 

When Muhammad came to Medina in the year 623 AD. (A.H. 1), Safiyyah was young:

 

He took them past the waterhole of Liqf, then down to Madlajatu Mahaj (276), then past Marjih, Mahaj, then down to Marjih of Dhu’l-Ghadwayn (277), then the valley of Dhu Kashr; then by al-Jadajid, then al-Ajrad, then Dhu Salam of the valley of A‘da’, the waterhole of Ta‘hin, then by al-Ababid (278), then by way of al-Fajja (279). Then he took them down to al-‘Arj; and one of their mounts having dropped behind, a man of Aslam, Aus b. Hujr by name, took the prophet to Medina on his camel which was called Ibn al-Rida’, sending with him a servant called Mas‘ud b. Hunayda. From ‘Arj the guide took them to Thaniyyatu’l-A’ir (280) to the right of Rakuba until he brought them down to the valley of Ri’m; thence to Quba’ to B. ‘Amr b. ‘Auf on Monday 12th Rabi‘u’l-awwal at high noon. (Guillaume, pp. 226-227)

 

‘Abdullah b. Abu Bakr b. Muhammad b. ‘Amr b. Hazm told me that he was told that Safiya d. Huyayy b. Akhtab said ‘I was the favourite child of my father and y uncle Abu Yasir. When I was present they took no notice of their other children. When the apostle was staying in Quba’ with B. ‘Amr b. ‘Auf, the two went to see him before daybreak and did not return until after nightfall, weary, worn out, drooping and feeble.’ I went up to them in childish pleasure as I always did, and they were so sunk in gloom that they took no notice of me. I heard my uncle say to my father, "Is he he? Do you recognize him, and can you be sure?" "Yes!" "And what do you say about him?" "By God I shall be his enemy as long as I live!"’ (Ibid., pp. 241-242)

 

Thus, we can safely assume that Safiyyah was still young, perhaps in her mid to late teens, when Muhammad married her. Muhammad died in 632 AD. (A.H. 9), or roughly two years after marrying Safiyyah. One Muslim website says that she was seventeen when Muhammad married her, meaning that she was roughly twenty when he died:

 

Safiyah was born in Medinah. She belonged to the Jewish tribe of Banu 'I-Nadir. When this tribe was expelled from Medinah in the year 4 A.H, Huyaiy was one of those who settled in the fertile colony of Khaibar together with Kinana ibn al-Rabi' to whom Safiyah was married a little before the Muslims attacked Khaibar. She was then seventeen. She had formerly been the wife of Sallam ibn Mishkam, who divorced her.

 

 

Muslims search for reasons to justify Muhammad’s relationship with Aisha because they are convinced that everything Muhammad did had a divine purpose behind it. When critics point out Muhammad’s numerous murders and assassinations, Muslims claim that these violent acts were just. When critics note the extent of Muhammad’s polygamy, or his participation in the slave-trade, or his countless robberies, Muslims provide answers based on the view that Muhammad was an outstanding moral example. Similarly, when Muslims are confronted with the evidence for Muhammad’s sexual encounters with Aisha, they assume that there must have been a reason for it. They then invent reasons for Muhammad’s behavior (i.e. the other little girls needed someone to talk to about sex), and they offer these reasons as a defense of Muhammad’s morality. However, non-Muslims do not share this confidence in Muhammad’s moral perfection. Indeed, when non-Muslims hear about Muhammad’s violence, his greed, his polygamy, and his support of spousal abuse, most aren’t as quick to say "He must have had a reason" as Muslims seem to be. Because of this, Muslim justifications for Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha sound hollow when presented as a logical defense of his actions.