Questions of fact arising from my chat with Ben Fordham on 2GB
Monday, 30 June 2014
Here is a link to the following article.
This article discusses the DMS (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) of mental disorders and cites sahih hadiths to show that Prophet Muhammad was a pedophile according to clinical definitions.
For all related sahih hadiths confirming Aisha's age at marriage and consummation, see: Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Aisha. For a comprehensive refutation of all the claims that Aisha was older than 9, see: Refutation of Modern Apologetics Against Aisha's Age. And for all other apologetic arguments, see: Responses to Apologetics: Muhammad and Aisha.
Pedophilia
Many critics of Islam claim Muhammad's relationship with Aisha was a pedophilic relationship, therefore Muhammad was a pedophile.
In psychiatry, the most commonly used diagnostic criteria for diagnosing psychiatric ailments are those from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders. The latest issue is DSM-IV-TR. The DSM classification is a system that classifies and defines all accepted psychiatric ailments and symptoms, with their inclusion and exclusion criteria. The following are the inclusion and exclusion criteria for pedophilia (302.2):
Pedophilia according to DSM-IV-TR
B. The person has acted on these sexual urges, or the sexual urges or fantasies caused marked distress or interpersonal difficulty.
C. The person is at least age 16 years and at least 5 years older than the child or children in Criterion A.Note: This does not include an individual in late adolescence involved in an ongoing sexual relationship with a 12- or 13-year-old.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Psychiatry Online
Pedophiliac activity may involve undressing and looking at the child or more direct physical sex acts. All these activities are psychologically harmful to the child, and some may be physically harmful. In addition, individuals with pedophilia often go to great lengths to obtain photos, films or pornographic publications that focus on sex with children.
These individuals commonly explain their activities with excuses or rationalizations that the activities have "educational value" for the child, that the child feels "sexual pleasure" from the activities or that the child was "sexually provocative." However, child psychiatrists and other child development experts maintain that children are incapable of offering informed consent to sex with an adult. Furthermore, since pedophiliac acts harm the child, psychiatrists condemn publications or organizations that seek to promote or normalize sex between adults and children."Medem Medical Library
In the following article, it will be shown that Muhammad's relationship with Aisha did indeed meet all the criteria to make the diagnosis of pedophilia, and therefore Muhammad was undoubtedly a pedophile.
Analysis
Apologists will often claim that Aisha had reached puberty by the time Muhammad married and had sexual intercourse with her. However, they never provide verifiable proof for this assertion. Instead, they rely on the pre-Islamic culture and traditional practices of 7th Century Arabia as evidence of their claim.
To prove that Aisha was still pre-pubescent when Muhammad married and had sex with her, one has to understand Ibn Hajar's explanation of the permissibility of doll-playing for pre-pubescent girls in Islam. Applying this doll-playing exegesis to the ahadith of Aisha getting married or when she first had sex with Muhammad, one can effectively demonstrate that she was pre-pubescent on these occasions This evidence will be examined in the following three sections.
Only pre-pubescent girls were allowed to play with dolls
This is what the great hadith scholar, Shaykh al-Islam Imam Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar Al-'Asqalani, Commander of the Faithful in Hadith, Qadi of Egypt, had to say in regards to doll-playing and little girls in his celebrated commentary on Sahih Bukhari, "Fateh al-Bari":
Sahih Bukhari
How do we know that it was Ibn Hajar who made the above (bolded) doll-playing exegesis? We know this by the reference to Fateh-al-Bari and also due to the fact that when we look at other translations of Bukhari 8:73:151, the same message is conveyed.
Alternative Translations
One
The Islamic Ruling Concerning Tasweer, Abu Muhammad Abdur-Ra'uf Shakir
The translator then provides some discussion on translations of various versions of this hadith before he follows up with Ibn Hajar and Fath-al-Bari:
The Islamic Ruling Concerning Tasweer, Abu Muhammad Abdur-Ra'uf Shakir
Two
Islam Q&A, Fatwa No. 49844
Three
BilalPhilips.com
Note the great similarity in the commentary of Ibn Hajar in Fateh al-Bari to all four versions of the hadith. The words are different due to the different translators but the essential message is unchanged – only little girls (i.e. before puberty) are permitted to play with dolls.
Does the phrase 'little girls' mean pre-pubescent?
How do we know that these "little girls" are pre-pubescent? This is due to Islamic customs and laws specifically stating so.
For example:
USC - Muslim Students Association, Compendium of Muslim Texts
Islam clearly teaches that adulthood starts when a person have attained puberty.
Madrassah In'aamiyya
These Islamic websites provide us with the evidence, that in Islam when a girl reaches puberty, she ceases to be considered a girl and becomes a woman. Therefore, little girls must be pre-pubescent according to Islamic customs and laws.
We also have commentaries by hadith scholars that reinforce this point:
The Islamic Ruling Concerning Tasweer, Abu Muhammad Abdur-Ra'uf Shakir
The Islamic Ruling Concerning Tasweer, Abu Muhammad Abdur-Ra'uf Shakir
Aisha was pre-pubescent when Muhammad consummated the marriage
This hadith suggests that Muhammad had sex with Aisha in her house on her wedding day. However, was this event really on her wedding day? This is proven by the Sahih Bukhari hadith below. Note the similarity in accounts, although the Bukhari 5:58:234 hadith is more expansive on the fact that the events took place on Aisha’s wedding day:
Also note that Sahih Muslim says Aisha still had her dolls with her when she was taken to Muhammad’s house as a bride. Applying Ibn Hajar’s doll-playing exegesis from Part 1, it becomes clear that Aisha was pre-pubescent when she became a bride.
Therefore, it is abundantly clear from the hadiths, that Aisha was pre-pubescent when Muhammad first had sex with her on her wedding day.
Consummating the marriage means sexual intercourse
Sunan Abu Dawud is the third most respected collection of ahadith, and the relevant narration used here is considered Sahih by some of the most authoritative ahadith scholars, including Shaykh Abdul Azeez al-Qaari' (Imam of Masjid Qubaa and professor of tafseer Quranic recitation at the Islamic University of Medina).
Here we see that Muhammad had sex with Aisha when she was 9 lunar years old. Is this age confirmed by any other (Sahih) ahadith? Yes it is:
Apologists will insist that the term "consummate the marriage" means the completion of the 'nikah' ceremony, not sex. This is in spite of the Abu-Dawud hadith Vol. 2, No. 2116 translation that explicitly states 'intercourse' . Be that as it may, does 'consummate the marriage' mean sex? Here is proof that it does. In Sahih Bukhari, vol. 7, No. 64, the root word used is "dakhala". From the Hans-Wehr Arabic-English Dictionary:
But how do we know that at the age of nine Aisha was still pre-pubescent? Here is the evidence from Sunan Abu-Dawud, Vol. 3, No. 4914 (This hadith is also repeated in Sunan Nasa’i):
Shaykh Muhammad Shams al-Haqq al-'Adheem Aabaadee, in his Sharh (explanation) of Sunan Abu-Dawud, says:
According to the generally accepted tradition, Aisha was born about eight years before Hijrah. The battle of Khaibar took place in Muharram-Safar 7 AH. The siege of Tabuk took place in Rajab 9 AH. Therefore, to be generous, I will accept the Khaibar explanation and not the later, Tabuk explanation.
It is generally accepted that Aisha was betrothed to Muhammad at the age of 6 in the year 3 BH. This is confirmed by reports that the marriage was consummated in Shawwal, which came seven months after the Prophet's hijra from Makkah to al-Medinah.So the Abu-Dawud hadith says that Aisha was still playing with dolls as late as 7 AH. That is 6 or 7 years after her marriage. Using the doll-playing exegesis of Ibn Hajar, Abu Ubaid, al-Qaadee 'Iyaad, and Shaykh Muhammad Shams al-Haqq, Aisha did not reach puberty until at least 6 to 7 years after her marriage when she would have been about 15 or 16 years old, but lets say 14 years old to be generous.
Abu-Dawud Book 41, Number 4914
Note that some apologists will try to say that this hadith is not sahih. They will use the following translation of the same hadith and highlight the phrase "the narrator is doubtful":
When the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) arrived after the expedition to Tabuk or Khaybar (the narrator is doubtful), the draught raised an end of a curtain which was hung in front of her store-room, revealing some dolls which belonged to her.
He asked: What is this? She replied: My dolls. Among them he saw a horse with wings made of rags, and asked: What is this I see among them? She replied: A horse. He asked: What is this that it has on it? She replied: Two wings. He asked: A horse with two wings? She replied: Have you not heard that Solomon had horses with wings? She said: Thereupon the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) laughed so heartily that I could see his molar teeth.
The evidence that this hadith is indeed sahih, and that the phrase "the narrator is doubtful" does not mean to imply that the hadith itself is doubtful, but the fact that the narrator was doubtful in regards to whether or not he was told it was Khaybar or Tabuk, is as follows:
Proof One
Various versions of the hadith include confirmation that it is sahih/authenticated/authentic, including one that refers to Sahih Abu-Dawud (a collection of Abu-Dawud hadiths that are deemed sahih):
This hadith is very clear that the meaning of playthings (lu‘ab) mentioned in the earlier narration does not refer to humans.[2]
Not only is the chain of narrators authentic according to Albani - but two other Islamic sources say 'authentic' or 'authenticated.'
Proof Two
The version taken from the pro-Islamic website, themuslimwoman.com, states that, “the narrator of the hadith was in doubt about whether he was told "Tabook or Khaibar”.[1] That is, not in doubt about the hadith.
Proof Three
Alternative translations do not carry the word ‘doubt’:
Proof Four
Authoritative Islamic scholars still use this hadith in their judgment of Islamic laws and customs. Shaykh Abdul Azeez al-Qaari' (Imaam of Masjid Qubaa and professor of tafsir and Quranic recitation at the Islamic University of Madeenah) had this to say about image-making in al-Usrah:
How can apologists claim that the Imam of Masjid Qubaa and professor of tafsir and Quranic recitation at the Islamic University of Medina uses a hadith that is not sahih in deciding the permissibility of doll-playing among Saudi Arabian children? For by doing so, even Shaykh Abdul Azeez al-Qaari' of Saudi Arabia seems to accept that this hadith is sahih.
If using a weak hadith, a scholar must warn the reader of its weakness:
Islam Online, Muzammil H. Siddiqi, President of Fiqh Council — North America, March 22, 2006
It is clear from this article that Shaykh Abdul Azeez al-Qaari' (Imaam of Masjid Qubaa and professor of tafseer and Quranic recitation at the Islamic University of Medina) did not say anything about Abu-Dawud 4914 being weak - thus it cannot be considered as such.
Also note what the reference says at the end of the article:
Summary
- In the first section, it was shown that in Islam, doll-playing girls are pre-pubescent according to the doll-playing exegesis of Ibn Hajar and Islamic laws and customs.
- In the second section it was shown, using Ibn Hajar's doll-playing exegesis that Aisha remained a pre-pubescent child when she was married and had sexual intercourse with Muhammad.
- In the third section it was shown that Aisha remained pre-pubescent as late as 6 or 7 years after her marriage to Muhammad.
Conclusion
Does Muhammad meet all the criteria needed to be classed a Pedophile?
- Criteria A: Over a period of at least six months, recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children (generally age 13 years or younger).
Yes, Muhammad had sexual relations with a pre-pubescent child over a prolonged period - likely to have been at least 6 to 7 years.
- Criteria B: The person has acted on these sexual urges, or the sexual urges or fantasies caused marked distress or interpersonal difficulty.
Yes, Muhammad had acted on his sexual urges - as demonstrated by Tabari IX:131 and various other Bukhari ahadith that state that consummation had taken place at the age of nine when it had been established that Aisha had not reached puberty until she was at least 14 years of age.
- Criteria C: The person is at least age 16 years and at least 5 years older than the child or children in Criterion A.
Yes, Muhammad was 54 years old while Aisha was only 9 years old at the time of sexual intercourse.
Therefore, even according to the most stringent clinical definition of pedophilia, the DSM-IV-TR, Muhammad would be found guilty as charged.
See Also
- Aisha's Age of Consummation (Short Version)
- Responses to Apologetics: Muhammad and Aisha
- Refutation of Modern Apologetics Against Aisha's Age
- Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Aisha - Islamic sources relating to Aisha
External Links
- 302.2 Pedophilia, from DSM-IV-TR
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
- Was Muhammad a Pedophile? An Examination of Muhammad’s Relationship with a Nine-Year-Old Girl - Answering Islam
- Let's clear up all this pedophilia garbage... - FFI forum discussion on another defence of Muhammad's marriage to a child
References
- Possession of Dolls By Little Girls - The Islamic Ruling Concerning Tasweer by Abu Muhammad Abdur-Ra'uf Shakir
- Fatwa on the use of Images for children (p.1) - BilalPhilips.com, Internet Archive Wayback Machine capture dated June 17, 2006
- “And Allah has made for you from your homes a place of rest” - Abridged from Advice on Establishing an Islamic Home by Aboo Ubaidah Amr bin Basheer
- The obligation of Man to live with his Woman in kindness - Islamic Dawah, Internet Archive Wayback Machine capture dated November 5, 2007
- Fatwa on the use of Images for children (p.2) - BilalPhilips.com, Internet Archive Wayback Machine capture dated June 21, 2006
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