An article featured last week on CNN’s website by Samuel Burke highlighted the epidemic of child brides throughout the Islamic world. Burke’s article begins by discussing the marriage of Faiz, an 11-year-old girl, and Ghulam, a 40-year-old man, in Afghanistan. For most who read this article, the story was enough to turn their stomach. But then the story continues. At age 11, this little girl has already been married for seven years. That’s right, a 33 year old man married a 3 year old girl. In the article, the little girl expresses how sad she is to be married because she had once dreamed of becoming a school teacher. Now that she is married, however, she will never go to school. Her future will only consist of being a domestic and sexual slave to a 40-year-old man.
According to Burke, there are approximately 51 million such child brides in the world today.
The report continues to show that while Muslim men are supposed to wait until their child brides reach puberty before consummating the marriage, the private testimony of many women is that few Muslim men, once married, actually wait.
In the report, another little girl from Yemen, named Tehani, recalls being married when she was 6 to a 25-year-old man whom she didn’t even know. Tehani is quoted as lamenting, “Whenever I saw him, I hid. I hated to see him.” Tehani didn’t even know she was getting married until the actual night of her wedding.
Another little girl in Yemen named Nujoud Ali, at age 10, after having already been married for two years, was actually granted a divorce. Among those few married girls who have actually heard of Nujoud’s story, she has become a symbol of freedom from their present life of enslavement. But few girls will ever find the freedom Nujoud achieved.
Now, it is important to note that in even in today’s post-modern culture so imbedded with moral and cultural relativity, very few can support this barbaric and perverse practice. Rare are those who are so morally depraved or calloused as to defend what the modern world has long recognized as perverse. One would think, therefore, that this is an issue liberals and conservatives could agree on. It should be condemned in every way imaginable.
Beyond this, one would think that any effort to discuss child-rape-by-marriage practiced throughout portions of the Islamic world would include an acknowledgment that the widespread custom can be squarely traced back to Muhammad, the founder of Islam. It is Muhammad, after all, who is viewed by Muslims as the supreme example of moral behavior and as one who should be emulated in every way.
The simple fact of the matter is that Muhammad, the founder of Islam, married a little 9-year-old girl named Aisha when he was 55 years old. Don’t believe me? I am not the one making the claim. It is Islam’s own sacred sources that have long established this. Consider some of the following Islamic sacred traditions:
Aisha said: The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of 6 (years) … my mother, came to me while I was playing on 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 9 years of age. (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 234)
Hisham’s father said: Khadija died three years before Muhammad departed to Medina. He stayed there for two years or so and then he married ‘Aisha when she was a girl of 6 years of age, and he consumed that marriage when she was 9 years old. (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 236)
Aisha said that the Prophet married her when she was 6 years old and he consummated his marriage when she was 9 years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e., till his death). (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 64; see also Numbers 65 and 88)
Aisha reported that Allah’s Apostle married her when she was 7 years old, and he was taken to his house as a bride when she was 9, and her dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she was 18 years old. (Sahih Muslim, Book 008, Number 3311)
Aisha said: The Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) married me when I was 7 years old. The narrator Sulaiman said: Or 6 years. He had intercourse with me when I was 9 years old. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Number 2116)
Hundreds of other traditions and Muslims scholars could be cited.
But here is where the liberal worldview breaks down. Here is where the hypocrisy, cowardice and double standards of the left are made evident. When given the option of condemning a dirty old man such as Jerry Sandusky, they will do so with gusto. As they should. But when Muhammad, the founder of Islam, at age 55, is known to have had sexual intercourse with an innocent little 9-year-old girl, the left will go completely silent. And when someone does bring light to this matter, they will attack him like a band of jackals.
When we look back and ponder the many sins committed in the Jerry Sandusky scandal, it was not only Sandusky’s sins of abuse that were so condemnable, but also the ring of silence and cover-up that surrounded him. If the whole nation, both right and left, can rally behind the removal of a statue of Joe Paterno for his silence, why is the left so enraged when anyone mentions the truth with regard to Muhammad, who is so clearly the primary source of the child-rape-as-marriage practiced throughout many quarters of the world?
When given the option of offending Muhammad’s followers or standing with the most innocent little lambs this world knows, there is no option. People of moral courage simply cannot be silent any longer.
10 Responses
Bravo, Joel! What a champion you are for the human rights of the voiceless…our beautiful, innocent children! The twisted evil foisted upon them in the name of “religion” is utter hypocrisy to the highest degree. Exposing these evil deeds and crying out for justice for them is the only decent action to do. We must protect our children at any cost! Thank you!
Evil practices by evil people. Joel, you are to be commended for not remaining silent.
The Political Left is blind sighted by most issues in matters of religion opting for a tasteless utopia. Many who cry “live and let live” have been oppressed by the church in the last generation. The Political Left does not speak callow in matters of religion…no they speak without examination allowing past fears of fundamentalism to derail logic!
The church “must” accept its ungodly part played against sinners in the 20th century to sterilize grace. No true pastor can ever say: hate the sin but love the sinner! This statement is poison like mixing oil and water and its pollution is evident in the extreme left today. The bumper stick theology of the church in the past is bearing its fruits today. Ministering to the left calls for truth in asking for forgiveness standing firm in “doubt” how God’s grace is applied in social-cultural and justice norms in each generation! St. Paul instructs us, the church in all generations, is to grow in grace and knowledge. The church may not and cannot stand still using tradition as an excuse for either grace or knowledge!
Satan greatest work against the church is to beguile peoples mind creating divisions; which interjects evidential fear over fact and reason! We, the church, must accept our designs in flawing God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit to model us without man-made culture overruling God’s choices. We the salt have in many cases ruin the goodness and favor of our Lords mercy opting for cleanness! The church has destroyed families, communities, and even nations over silly matters of hair-styling, dress codes, baptism, drinking of alcohol, drugs, sexuality all of these things God changes, but we are NEVER to kick people out of fellowship. As St. Paul admitted in 2 Cor. His harshness required his asking for forgiveness. Some people are slow learners that’s why St. Matthew gives us the mathematical governance for sinning each day the same sin…..7×70 each day!
The true witness of God’s grace can restore the Left if only Christian practice and believe God’s greatness! It is never the matter of sin where we lose people it’s the matter of are hearts to forgive and wait upon the Holy Spirit to change them. A personal note I do not think the Holy Spirit loses or wastes time on the impossible!
If we ever want the left to come to the table and reason we first must clean our own house. The church cannot, any longer, allow Satan or fallen humanity to use us like a political football on moral issues. We are to become a family where backbiting is never acceptable for public viewing let alone its conduct within the family. Let us take our Lords example of silence in matters of condemnation.
Completely agreed. Well done.
Praise God for your truth and boldness, as always, Joel! Stand firm in the Power of our Lord’s might, with our prayers behind you for protection and perseverence.
Great article Joel. I was unaware of the horrific act commited by Muhammad, this kind of thing needs to be made general knowledge.
God bless you brother!!
Normally I’m very sympathetic to Joel and his arguments. However, I think in this case he is perhaps not being careful enough and is inadvertently creating a very misleading impression with his article above. I hope Joel will have a look at the article link below (from the website “Bartholomew’s notes on religion”), which responds to what Joel has written above. If Joel knows why Richard Bartholomew is wrong, it would be helpful to us admirers’ of Joel to know why:
http://barthsnotes.com/2012/08/25/wnd-and-joel-richardson-mislead-on-child-bride-data/
Bartholomew tries to infer that my article was purposefully misleading statistically by virtue of not correcting the CNN article (which he admits was misleading), as well as not making mention that the article also references Christian child brides. His article had no substance.
First, on the issue of the Ethiopian child-bride reference, of course any CNN article would have to infer that this is a widespread issue that crosses religious lines. But this is merely a smokescreen so as to not sound like they are bashing Islam. This is no different than any similar discussion of religious violence. Do some Christians become violent in the name of Christianity? Of course, but religious violence is now glaringly, overwhelmingly, committed by Muslims globally. To mention the fraction of Christians who also do violence in the name of their religion, as I said is nothing more than the smoke screen of a politically correct, and determined religious pluralist. The same is true, although perhaps far more so with the practice of marrying child-brides. Of course, the only way to prove my point would be to travel the world and document it. But the abundant anecdotal evidence that we already have for now should be enough to cause Bartholomew not to ignore it. His concern however, is not with victimized children, but with me and others like me. To Richard, I am the real danger in the earth.
The elephant in the room, and the main point of my article, was simply that the widespread practice of marrying child brides throughout the Islamic world, can be directly tied to Muhammad. Yet no one will acknowledge this. Muhammad married a six year old girl when he was in his fifties. He is the supreme example for all Muslims. Simply because there are laws on the books in some countries, in no way means that they are followed. And they are not. As one mere anecdote, I have a close friend who just last week met a young girl aged 14, who is “married” to an older Muslim man here in the Midwest of the US. Of course, they are not legally married. Again, none in the western media would have the courage to make any reference to Muhammad in an article such as CNN’s. Yet this would have been an obvious point to make in any such discussion. My point is entirely valid, and Bartholomew’s article is a perfect example of the white-washing and deliberate blind eye that only allows this disgusting practice to continue in many quarters of the world.
If Barth was so upset by “misleading” statistics, then he should have complained about the source, CNN. But again, this wouldn’t serve his true underlying agenda.
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to respond. What you say makes sense.
If my mistake was not correcting the CNN article’s data, then guilty as charged. Perhaps. But in light of the seriousness of this issue, it seems to me that nitpicking data, whether it be 51 million or 20 million, really matters little. We are dealing with religiously sanctioned pedophila, and globally speaking, with regard to the overwhelming majority of cases, Muhammad is the primary responsible party. As I said on Barth’s site, the title of his article as well as his eagerness to nitpick such details, while giving CNN a pass, only serves to reveal his primary agenda.
Blessings