The Islamophobic Depiction of Muhammad's Marriage to Aisha Dates Back To the Crusades
Since The Early Christians Heralded Christ as a Model of Celibate Virtue, Muhammad Was Deemed To Be Driven By Sinful Lust
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Representative image. The Quran at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.
Photo: Riyaad Minty/Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
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By Myriam François
11 June 2022
Writing
about Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, the Orientalist scholar W. Montgomery
Watt wrote: “Of all the world’s great men, none has been so much maligned as
Muhammad.” His quote seems all the more poignant in light of the Islamophobic
film Innocence of Muslims, which has sparked riots from Yemen to Libya and
which, among other slanders, depicts Muhammad as a paedophile.
This
claim is a recurring one among critics of Islam, so its foundation deserves
close scrutiny.
Critics
allege that Aisha was just six years old when she was betrothed to Muhammad,
himself in his 50s, and only nine when the marriage was consummated. They base
this on a saying attributed to Aisha herself (Sahih Bukhari volume 5, book 58,
number 234), and the debate on this issue is further complicated by the fact
that some Muslims believe this to be a historically accurate account. Although
most Muslims would not consider marrying off their nine-year-old daughters,
those who accept this saying argue that since the Qur’an states that marriage
is void unless entered into by consenting adults, Aisha must have entered
puberty early.
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Also Read: Was Hazrat Aisha Married to the Prophet in Her
Childhood?
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They point
out that, in seventh-century Arabia, adulthood was defined as the onset of
puberty. (This much is true, and was also the case in Europe: five centuries
after Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha, 33-year-old King John of England married
12-year-old Isabella of Angoulême.) Interestingly, of the many criticisms of
Muhammad made at the time by his opponents, none focused on Aisha’s age at
marriage.
According
to this perspective, Aisha may have been young, but she was not younger than
was the norm at the time. Other Muslims doubt the very idea that Aisha was six
at the time of marriage, referring to historians who have questioned the
reliability of Aisha’s age as given in the saying. In a society without a birth
registry and where people did not celebrate birthdays, most people estimated
their own age and that of others. Aisha would have been no different. What’s
more, Aisha had already been engaged to someone else before she married
Muhammad, suggesting she had already been mature enough by the standards of her
society to consider marriage for a while. It seems difficult to reconcile this
with her being six.
In
addition, some modern Muslim scholars have more recently cast doubt on the
veracity of the saying, or hadith, used to assert Aisha’s young age. In Islam,
the hadith literature (sayings of the prophet) is considered secondary to the
Qur’an. While the Qur’an is considered to be the verbatim word of God, the
hadiths were transmitted over time through a rigorous but not infallible methodology.
Taking all known accounts and records of Aisha’s age at marriage, estimates of
her age range from nine to 19.
Because of
this, it is impossible to know with any certainty how old Aisha was. What we do
know is what the Qur’an says about marriage: that it is valid only between
consenting adults, and that a woman has the right to choose her own spouse. As
the living embodiment of Islam, Muhammad’s actions reflect the Qur’an’s
teachings on marriage, even if the actions of some Muslim regimes and individuals
do not.
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Also Read: Hazrat Aisha’s
Controversial Age at Marriage: Nine or Nineteen?
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Sadly, in
many countries, the imperatives motivating the marriage of young girls are
typically economic. In others, they are political. The fact that Iran and Saudi
Arabia have both sought to use the saying concerning Aisha’s age as a
justification for lowering the legal age of marriage tells us a great deal
about the patriarchal and oppressive nature of those regimes, and nothing about
Muhammad, or the essential nature of Islam. The stridency of those who lend
credence to these literalist interpretations by concurring with their warped
view of Islam does not help those Muslims who seek to challenge these
aberrations.
The
Islamophobic depiction of Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha as motivated by
misplaced desire fits within a broader Orientalist depiction of Muhammad as a
philanderer. This idea dates back to the crusades. According to the academic
Kecia Ali: “Accusations of lust and sensuality were a regular feature of
medieval attacks on the prophet’s character and, by extension, on the
authenticity of Islam.”
Since the
early Christians heralded Christ as a model of celibate virtue, Muhammad – who
had married several times – was deemed to be driven by sinful lust. This
portrayal ignored the fact that before his marriage to Aisha, Muhammad had been
married to Khadija, a powerful businesswoman 15 years his senior, for 25 years.
When she died, he was devastated and friends encouraged him to remarry. A
female acquaintance suggested Aisha, a bright and vivacious character.
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Also Read: Aisha bint Abu
Bakr: the Fascinating Woman
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Aisha’s
union would also have cemented Muhammad’s longstanding friendship with her
father, Abu Bakr. As was the tradition in Arabia (and still is in some parts of
the world today), marriage typically served a social and political function – a
way of uniting tribes, resolving feuds, caring for widows and orphans, and
generally strengthening bonds in a highly unstable and changing political
environment. Of the women Muhammad married, the majority were widows. To
consider the marriages of the prophet outside of these calculations is
profoundly ahistorical.
What the
records are clear on is that Muhammad and Aisha had a loving and egalitarian
relationship, which set the standard for reciprocity, tenderness and respect
enjoined by the Qur’an. Insights into their relationship, such as the fact they
liked to drink out of the same cup or race one another, are indicative of a
deep connection which belies any misrepresentation of their relationship.
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Also Read: Hazrat Aisha's Contribution In The Spread,
Propagation And Legacy Of Islam
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To paint Aisha as a victim is completely at odds with her
persona. She was certainly no wallflower. During a controversial battle in
Muslim history, she emerged riding a camel to lead the troops. She was known
for her assertive temperament and mischievous sense of humour – with Muhammad
sometimes bearing the brunt of the jokes. During his lifetime, he established
her authority by telling Muslims to consult her in his absence; after his
death, she went to be become one of the most prolific and distinguished
scholars of her time.
A stateswoman,
scholar, mufti, and judge, Aisha combined spirituality, activism and knowledge
and remains a role model for many Muslim women today. The gulf between her true
legacy and her depiction in Islamophobic materials is not merely historically
inaccurate, it is an insult to the memory of a pioneering woman.
Those who
manipulate her story to justify the abuse of young girls, and those who
manipulate it in order to depict Islam as a religion that legitimises such
abuse have more in common than they think. Both demonstrate a disregard for
what we know about the times in which Muhammad lived, and for the affirmation
of female autonomy which her story illustrates.
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Note: This
article was originally published in The Guardian on September 17, 2012 and has
been republished by The Wire with the permission of the author and The
Guardian.
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