Prophet Muhammad saw is often derogatorily called paedophile by many non-Muslims. They often portray the much revered and loved Muslim prophet as a wayward, depraved, sex maniac. This often enraged many Muslims and culminated in a name calling fest.
After coming across many such incidences in public forums, I decided to do a bit of research on child marriages in the western countries.
Folks fail to realise that people of the that era were a lot bigger than us physically and mature much earlier. Add that to the fact that life expectancy was also lower - I mean quite a number died in battles, torture, during their travels etc. If we were to believe the statistics, of the Romans who lived to the age of 15, half of them dropped dead by 45! Even in so called modern civilisations, people died "young" before the 1900s. In the 1800s life expectancy for the average person was 40.
http://www.pbs.org/fmc/timeline/dmortality.htm For white women, life expectancy at birth rose from 51 years in 1900 to 80 years in 1996. For white men, life expectancy at birth rose from 48 years in 1900 to 74 years in 1996. Given this scenario, why are we so surprised that people marry at an age when we would be in primary school today?
One can't compare today's girl of 9 with one of the same age more than a thousand years ago. Lifestyles were vastly different from ours and, hence, what was deemed permissible and normal then would be severely frowned upon today. At 13, I couldn't even tie my own hair properly! But I met girls in the rural areas who effectively handled cooking the family meals, minding their younger siblings and doing myriad household chores at the tender age of 9 - and we live in the same era!
It seems that many westerners who were quick to condemn the Muslims are not aware of the shenanigans in their own backyard. They often give the impression that the westerners were more civilised and do not marry underage girls.
When they spoke of what Nabi Muhammad [pbuh] did more than 1400 years ago did they know that;
o
the Bible doesn't expressly prohibit child marriages? Neither does it expressly state the age of consent. A girl who has reached puberty is considered "of marriageable age" - and many girls reach puberty at 9.
o 1100-1300 CE: In medieval Europe, Gratian [a monk who was the influential founder of Canon law], accepted the traditional age of puberty for marriage [circa 12-14] but he also said that
consent was "meaningful" if the children were older than 7? Some authorities said consent could take place even earlier. This policy was carried over into English Common and became part of European Civil Law. An interesting thing about this is that
although consent is necessary, force and influence or persuasion seemed to have been permissible elements.
o 1200s CE: Magnus Hirschfeld's, a historian, findings on a survey of age of consent of about 50 countries [mostly in Europe and the Americas] - 12 years in 15 countries, 13years in 7, 14 years in 5, 15 years in 4, and 16 years in 5? In the rest of the countries, it remained unclear.
o 1500-1600s CE: The age of consent in both English and continental laws seemed to be particularly elastic when property were involved or family alliances were at stake eg in 1564, a 3-year old named John was married to a 2-year old named Jane in the Bishop's Court, Chester, England? Judges honoured marriages of mutual consent at younger than 7 in spite of what Gratian had said.
A contemporary, Philip Stubbes, wrote that in 16th century East Anglia [a region of the UK], infants still in diapers were married!
The most influential legal text of the 17th century in England, that of Sir Edward Coke, made it clear that the marriage of girls under 12 was normal. Eligibility age for receiving a dower from her husband's estate was 9.
The American colonies followed the English traditions. In 1689 in Virginia, America, Mary Hathaway was married off to William Williams when she was 9.
o 1700-1800 CE: In the parish of Middlesex County, Virginia, there is a record of 14-year old Sarah Halfhide marrying 21-year old Richard Perrot? It was indicated in the document that she was a widow!
Of the 98 girls on the 10-year register, 3 probably married at 8, 1 at 12, 1 at 13, and 2 at 14.
o 1900-2000 CE: In France, the bride, Bertrande, was 9 when she was married to Martin Guerre? This marriage was famous for its case of identity theft.
o TODAY in USA: In Massachussetts, age of consent for females [with parental permission] is 12, males 14, New Hampshire - females 13, males 14, California, Delaware, Mississippi - no age limits?
Be very careful of calling the kettle black...when you're a pot!
