Mohammed - A wife 6 years old? True or False?

Danye

Hi,

Did Mohammed really have a 6 year old wife?

I'm not here to offend anybody and I really am genuinely interested about Islam.

cowboyBuilder

I heard she was 9, but this was 1000s of years ago, we can't impose our morals on those times .
:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Danye

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

I heard she was 9, but this was 1000s of years ago, we can't impose our morals on those times .
:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

I'm not sure why you've used the rolleyes symbol in your reply? It is a genuine question by somebody who's uneducated about the faith of Islam.

You say we can't impose our morals on those times? I think regardless of what time it was, having a sexual relationship with a child is wrong and can't be defended. And after all, are people of the Islamic faith not living by the morales that Mohammed lived by all those 1000s of years ago?

Tom Dunne

Oh, this old chestnut. We haven't had this one in, what has it been, six months?

Here's my standard answer - do you take an account of a situation that was alleged to have happened over 1400 years ago, passed down orally over many generations and ultimately written down as being the truth?

Me personally? No, I don't. Can it be conclusively proven as true or false? Absolutely not.

ECO_Mental

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Oh, this old chestnut. We haven't had this one in, what has it been, six months?

Here's my standard answer - do you take an account of a situation that was alleged to have happened over 1400 years ago, passed down orally over many generations and ultimately written down as being the truth?

Me personally? No, I don't. Can it be conclusively proven as true or false? Absolutely not.

would apply that rule so to the whole Quran and the bible as well? Can you believe any of it, bible Torah and all

Danye

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Oh, this old chestnut. We haven't had this one in, what has it been, six months?

Why so tetchy? I'm only asking a genuine question.

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Here's my standard answer - do you take an account of a situation that was alleged to have happened over 1400 years ago, passed down orally over many generations and ultimately written down as being the truth?

But is that not the same why the whole foundation of the Islamic faith has been recorded??

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Me personally? No, I don't. Can it be conclusively proven as true or false? Absolutely not.

So do people of this faith decide on what they want to believe when it suits them? Do they decide what bits of the story that has been passed down orally over many generations and ultimately written down as being the truth, only when it suits them?

JustShon

Danye wrote: »

So do people of this faith decide on what they want to believe when it suits them?

That's hardly unique to Islam.

Peregrinus

Danye wrote: »

Hi,

Did Mohammed really have a 6 year old wife?

I'm not here to offend anybody and I really am genuinely interested about Islam.

According to the tradition, depending on which source you prefer, Aisha was between six and nine when betrothed to Muhammed. (This involved the breaking off of her first engagement!) She didn't actually go to live with him until about three years after the betrothal, so at some age between 9 and 12.

She was the only one of the prophet's wives who had not been previously married, and according to the literary conventions of the time her age may have been intentionally understated in order to emphasise and call attention to her virginity. Nevertheless, by our contemporary standards she was certainly extremely young both when married and when the marriage was consummated, and probably below what is nowadays considered the age of consent.

But of course that would have been fairly standard at the time, and not just among Muslims. Particularly amoung political leaders in all cultures, betrothal in childhood or even in infancy was standard, and consummation basically as soon as sexual maturity occurs. Several centuries later, in Western Europe, Mary of Scotland was betrothed at the age of 6 months to Edward of England, who was five-and-a-half years old, on the understanding that they would marry when Mary was 10. When Mary was 4, this engagement was broken off, and she was instead engaged to Francois of France, then aged 4. Mary and Francois married when she was 15 and he was 14.

Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet's parents are concerned that she isn't married yet, and She's Not Getting Any Younger. She's thirteen. Shakespeare obviously didn't expect his readers to be squicked out by this, and there's no evidence that they were.

Danye

JustShon wrote: »

That's hardly unique to Islam.

I never said it was.

I remember the nun that taught us in 6th class, very down to earth modern nun.
She told us Mary was probably between 12 & 14 when she had Jesus but she would have been betrothed to Joseph for years before then.
So she was saying Mary was pretty lucky that Joseph married her!!

Taltos

Mod Note
Danye - I find this very interesting
From

I'm not here to offend anybody and I really am genuinely interested about Islam.

To

You say we can't impose our morals on those times? I think regardless of what time it was, having a sexual relationship with a child is wrong and can't be defended. And after all, are people of the Islamic faith not living by the morales that Mohammed lived by all those 1000s of years ago?

In just one post.

This forum is for people who have a genuine interest in the faith to come and get some help. It will not be used as a platform to take subtle swipes at actions that occurred in a different age when life expectancy was lower and man's biggest worry was where could they find clean food and water as opposed to where could they charge their phone.

Thread closed before it descends further into creationism or similar.