Islam's primary religious book is the Quran and it allows men to marry underage girls which is a social evil. The scripture about divorce said that a man should count his wife's menstrual periods to decide how much time to wait till completing the divorce. However, there are three times during a female's life that she doesn't menstruate: 1) during middle age after menopause, 2) during pregnancy, and 3) when she is a child. Sura #65, section 4 describes how to count the menstrual cycles of a wife who is not menstruating:
"Such of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the prescribed period, if ye have any doubts, is three months, and for those who have no courses (it is the same): for those who are pregnant, their period is until they deliver their burden"(“The Holy Quran”).
Apparently, a man is allowed to marry a child because he can divorce a wife who is not menstruating yet is neither pregnant or menopausal, which indicates she is a child. Furthermore, the narrator of the Quran, Muhammad, married a 6-year-old girl named Aisha and had sex with her when she was 9 according to numerous hadith scriptures (none mention that she was an adult or teen at the time of marriage). Because the founder of Islam is said to have married a child and the primary Islamic book allows child marriage, Islamic religious leaders often approve of child marriage.
Saudi Arabian marriage clerk Ahmad Al-Mu'bi said "The Prophet Muhammad is the model we follow. He took 'Aisha to be his wife when she was 6, but he had sex with her only when she was 9" (“Sex OK at 9…”). Hadith scriptures mention that Aisha brought her dolls with her when she went to live with Muhammad (Silas). Saudi Arabia's top religious authority, the Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Shaikh, confirmed that it is not against Islamic law for girls to marry at age 15 or younger (Ori, 2010).
Aisha, named after Muhammad’s 6-year-old bride, was 10 when she was married and forced to “leave school, move to a village far from her parents' home, cook and clean all day, and have sex with her older husband:
"He took out a special sheet and laid me down on it," Aisha told IRIN, wringing her small plump hands. "After it, I started bleeding. It was so painful that I was crying and shouting, and since then I have seen him as death" (“Law Stipulates Girls Can Marry At Just 9…”).
Aisha escaped and sued for divorces. Her family didn’t support her right to avoid rape. She said, "My Dad told me to sleep with my husband, or he would kill me."
Elham Assi, a 13-year old Yemeni child bride, died from bleeding as a result of being raped by her husband. To prevent this from happening again feminists tried to ban child marriage but mosque leader Sheik Mohammed Hamzi, though aware of the rape-killing of Elham Assi, nevertheless said “I am against the child marriage law because it restrains the freedom of others…For example, imagine a young man of 13 or 14 years of age who wants to have sex…This is a violation of his rights,” (Sandels, 2010), so apparently he thinks it’s okay for girls to be raped and killed so that boys can enjoy sex. Although he is exhibiting psychopathic behavior Sheik Hamzi is a respected community leader because the Quran allows child marriage, therefore, many people believe promoting child marriage is the same as promoting Islam. Yemen’s Ministry of Social Affairs reports that “a quarter of all females in Yemen marry before the age of 15” (Sandels, 2010).
A Saudi Arabian father sold his 12-year-old daughter for $22,600 to an 80-year old man who had married three other underage girls. The girl pleaded to a journalist, "I don't want him, save me!" Feminist Eman Al Nafjan, said, “We should set a legal minimum age at which girls can be married…Without a law we get people like this 80 year old guy who takes advantage of the system to fulfill his sick obsession with little girls…Where else in the world can a man openly say that he is in a polygamous marriage with four underage girls and not get arrested? At this rate we might as well start a tourism industry to attract rich Muslim pedophiles" (“Saudi Girl, 12…”). Though Saudi religious leaders frequently approve child marriage journalist Wajiha Al-Huwaidar explained that "Whatever their religious justification, this is just a way of legally justifying the rape of little girls."
In Afghanistan pedophiles with money are finding it easier to buy girls. In 2008 MP Fauzia Kofi says she’s seeing more child brides and she explains, "I don't call it marriage, I call it selling children…A nine or 10-year-old - you give her away for wheat and two cows." Midwife Hanufa Mah tries to teach parents not to marry their girls young. She recalled the birth of a 10-year old mother: "The girl was so small. I held her in my lap until the child was born." A girl who was sold at age 13 said, "I didn't want to marry, it was my parents' decision…I dreamed I would be able to finish my education. I had no choice" (“Child Brides…”).
Yet Muslims have a choice about whether to change the Quran and hadith scriptures or not. Sura #99 says on Judgment Day "anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it!" and "anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it" (“The Holy Quran”). Thus, the Quran implies that the god Allah is good because Allah rewards good and punishes evil. However this creates a contradiction because allegedly Allah told Muhammad that it is acceptable for men to marry children which is evil but a good god would not do that.
Since logically Allah has to either be good or the Quran falsely states that Allah said child marriage is acceptable, then Muslims must choose one or the other. If they choose to believe Allah is good then naturally they will remove the false statement in the Quran allowing child marriage. And that seems to be the way out of the nightmare of child marriage and rape that has plagued the Muslim world.
References:
“Child Brides 'Sold' In Afghanistan.” (2008). BBC News. Retrieved on September 10, 2010 from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/7342902.stm
“The Holy Quran.” IntraText.com. Retrieved on September 11, 2010 from
http://www.intratext.com/x/eng0027.htm
“Law Stipulates Girls Can Marry At Just 9 In Yemen.” (2010). Alarabiya.net. Retrieved on September 10, 2010 from
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/02/21/101004.html
Ori, K. O. (2010). “Nigeria: Senator Marries 13-Year Old, Rights Activists Appalled.” En.Afrik.com. Retrieved on September 10, 2010 from
http://en.afrik.com/article17521.html
Sandels, A. (2010). “YEMEN: Islamic Lawmaker Decries Child Marriage Ban As Part Of 'Western Agenda'.” LATimes.com. Retrieved on September 10, 2010 from
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/04/yemen-fierce-opposition-to-child-marriage-ban-persists-among-conservatives.html
“Sex OK at 9, Says Saudi Cleric.” (2008). wnd.com. Retrieved on September 11, 2010 from
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68074
Silas. “Muhammad, Aisha, Islam, And Child Brides.” Answering-Islam.org. Retrieved on September 11, 2010 from
http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/childbrides.htm
“Saudi Girl, 12, Married Off To 80-Year-Old Man.” (2010). AllHeadlinesNews.com. Retrieved on September 10, 2010 from
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7017588076?Saudi%20Gir,%2012,%20Married%20Off%20To%2080-Year-Old%20Man
