Refuting the Claim that Prophet Muhammad was a Pedophile

[فداء الرسول]

Nothing Much Ado


Before she was betrothed to Prophet Muhammad, Aisha (peace be upon her) was first
engaged to another man, a Non-Muslim named Jubayr ibn Mut’im. Jubayr was a fervent
enemy of Islam, and when Aisha’s father became a Muslim, Mut’im cancelled the
marriage. From this, we can see that there was nothing much ado about Prophet
Muhammad’s proposal to Aisha, since she had other suitors as well. Aisha’s parents
certainly did not see this as pedophilia; otherwise, they would not have agreed to marry
her off to Jubayr or Prophet Muhammad. In fact, Aisha’s parents were very pleased with
the marriage, and Aisha herself would boast about it throughout her life.
Far from the victim of pedophilia, Aisha (peace be upon her) was a very possessive wife
who used to talk with great pride about her close relationship with the Prophet of Islam.
Aisha became one of the greatest scholars of Islam, and she is revered by Muslims as the
Mother of the Believers. The Christians revere Mary as a matriarch of Christianity, who
was only twelve years of age when she supposedly married Joseph. The Muslims
similarly revere Mary, as well as Aisha (peace be upon them both). What then is the
issue when both Christians and Muslims revere matriarchs who were young girls when
they married?


It is narrated in Musnad Ahmad that the name of Aisha was first proposed to Prophet
Muhammad by a woman named Khaulah. This proves two points: firstly, had the
marriage been considered pedophilia, then certainly a woman would not have proposed
the idea. Khaulah certainly saw nothing amiss about the marriage. The second point—of
great importance here—is that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) did not himself
bring up Aisha’s name, so there is no question about any pedophilic desires. Rather,
someone else brought up her name, and most likely due to the fact that she had just lost
her fiancé. What a loss Abu Bakr must have felt when his daughter’s betrothal was
broken off. And so, Prophet Muhammad offered to marry Aisha himself, and how elated
Abu Bakr must have been!


Not a single person at the time—neither Muslim, Jew, Christian, pagan, friend or

enemy—took issue with the Prophet’s marriage to Aisha. Had marrying Aisha at such a
young age been considered inappropriate at that time, then the Quraysh infidels would
have used this polemic against him. It is known that the Quraysh idolaters at the time left
no stone unturned in their insults against Prophet Muhammad: they used to criticize each
and every one of his actions, whenever and wherever they could. Yet, the Quraysh never
once mentioned his marriage to Aisha. And why should they when it was the cultural
norm? There are countless examples of young brides in those days, such as Umm
Kulthoom bint Ali, Fatima bint al-Mundhir, Bint `Izz al-Dawla Bakhtyar, and many
others! This was more than just a regional and cultural norm, but rather it was the
normative practice of humanity before the industrial era.
Interestingly, the Christian missionaries during the Middle Ages never used this polemic
against the Prophet. We find that they would oftentimes accuse Prophet Muhammad of
being a polygamist but never did they refer to him as a pedophile or anything of that sort.
It was only in the post-industrial era that the Christians began slandering the Prophet for
his marriage to Aisha, forgetting the reality that their own Christian history is full of their
prophets, kings, nobles, and saints who would marry young brides of the same age as
Aisha. Therefore, we find that the post-modern man attacking ancient civilizations for
something that is a result of necessity is nothing short of unsophisticated idiocy and
oafish buffoonery. Early marriage was a necessity in order to maximize the years of
childbearing so as to counter incredibly high infant mortality rates. As we have
established earlier in this book, the average human lifespan was in the twenties just a
thousand years ago.