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Muhammad's Marriage to Aisha / Age of Marriage For Men & Women

The following questions are on Muhammad’s marriage with Aisha, and what should be the age of marriage for boys and girls

I seek refuge in God from Satan the rejected.
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Salamun Alaykum

<< For the sake of information only, I would like to ask you to kindly provide me with information on the prophet Muhammad's marriage with Aisha. I have heard that the holy prophet married her when she was six, and consummated the marriage when she was nine (nine!). How true, and sensible is this?>>

These stories are fabrications made up by the Prophet Muhammad's enemies and completely untrue. While in ancient times there was a practice of naming a future spouse when children were born or young, the actual wedding would not take place till both children were mature adults. It is likely the source of the "6 / 9 year old" marriage is some Hadiths books which are nothing but lies attributed to prophet Muhammad. It has no support in Quran, nor does it make practical sense. Any person at the age of six is still a child. And a child is incapable of taking crucial decisions which are essential for marriage under Quranic guidance, like taking solemn pledge (4:21), ascertaining mutual attraction (4:24), agreeing to the dowry (including adjustment thereto 4:4, 4:24, 33:50), ascertaining whether the opposite person is an idol worshipper (2:221) or not and many other issues. Further, marriage involves taking serious responsibilities on the part of both the spouses concerning the upbringing of the family, which a child is incapable of taking. The following are some more verses from Quran about marriage (and divorce), which indicates a level of maturity and responsibility for spouses involved.

[Quran 30:21] Among His proofs is that He created for you spouses from among yourselves, in order to have tranquility and contentment with each other, and He placed in your hearts love and care towards your spouses. In this, there are sufficient proofs for people who think.

[Quran 4:34] The men are made responsible for the women, and GOD has endowed them with certain qualities, and made them the bread earners. ...

[Quran 24:33] Those who cannot afford to get married shall maintain morality until GOD provides for them from His grace. ...

Alimony For Widows and Divorcees

[2:240] Those who die and leave wives, a will shall provide their wives with support for a year, provided they stay within the same household. If they leave, you commit no sin by letting them do whatever they wish, so long as righteousness is maintained. GOD is Almighty, Most Wise.

Marriage Arbitration

[Quran 4:35] If a couple fears separation, you shall appoint an arbitrator from his family and an arbitrator from her family; if they decide to reconcile, GOD will help them get together. GOD is Omniscient, Cognizant.

God commanded us in the Quran not to accept any Hadith but the Quran. The prophet Muhammad himself ordered his followers not to write any Hadiths and to write only the Quran. You will find a rich source of information regarding the corruption of Hadith books and how they insult the prophet Muhammad, insult God Almighty and insult this great religion on our web site at;
http://www.masjidtucson.org/perspectives/hadith/

All the stories circulating on the Internet and in the hadiths books about Aisha's marriage at age of 6 or 9, are no more than lies found in the corrupted books of Hadiths and completely contradict the teachings of the prophet Muhammad that came from his mouth, the Glorious Quran. We only need to read the Quran to know how false these stories are.

<<Secondly, where in Quran is the age for marriage for girls (and/or boys) mentioned? Quran is complete. Thus it must contain everything.>>

Yes, God says His scripture - Quran the final testament is perfect (18:2), fully detailed, complete in truth and justice (6:114-115), containing the explanations for everything (16:89), and in which every matter of wisdom is clarified (44:4). Please see our article on Quran: All You Need For Salvation.

All information relevant to our salvation and our eternal life in the Hereafter is contained in the Quran. The true believers accept, without hesitation, God's assertion: “We did not leave anything out of this book.'' Therefore if something cannot be found in the Quran, it is only because God knows it is not directly related to our salvation per se It is left out because God out of His mercy left it to us to decide for ourselves how to do it in a manner most pleasing to God and to our community, since we will be living in different communities with different customs and traditions. We should not by any means or at any price violate God's laws to please our community or our families. God always has to be above anything or anyone.

Some people challenge God's assertion that the Quran is complete, perfect and fully detailed, and they ask questions such as: "But the Quran doesn't say how to cut my nails, or how to sleep, or how to do this and that? I need to know how to do this." The reason why these matters are not mentioned in the Quran, is because they have no importance whatsoever for our salvation, and has absolutely nothing to do with our religion.

God clearly says in 5:6 that He made the religion easy for us. Unfortunately there are so many out there, who are doing their very best to make it difficult.

Coming to the question "where in Quran is the age for marriage for girls (and/or boys) mentioned?", it is not mentioned by numbers in the Quran, but God establishes big and clear standards that indicate that marriage can happen when maturity is achieved. We all know maturity varies from one continent to another, from the hot countries to the cold ones, from one sex to another, and from one civilization to another. God knows that and he deliberately and out of His mercy, did not put an age rule for us. He left it for every community to decide while following the general rules of maturity supplied in the Quran.

As we said before marriage means taking crucial decisions which are essential for a long marital life as per Quran, like taking solemn pledge, ascertaining mutual attraction, agreeing to the dowry (including adjustment thereto), ascertaining whether the opposite person is an idol worshipper or not and many other issues. Further, marriage involves taking serious responsibilities on the part of both the spouses concerning the upbringing of the family, which needs a degree of maturity that can best be judged by the people closer to the individual getting married (2:221, 4:25). However, what is clear from the Quranic verses is that a child or girl cannot be married, and the individuals getting married must be mature and responsible men and women.

As stated above, with regard to things not specified in the Quran, it does not make any difference to do what one wishes to do as long as the laws decreed for us in the Quran are not violated.
http://www.masjidtucson.org/perspectives/more/family/marriage/index.html for details regarding marriage per Quran. What would be blasphemous and incorrect would be to falsely attribute ones own wishes or choices to God. In other words, if one prefers XYZ and then claims that God's law is XYZ when that XYZ cannot be clearly found in Quran, then that would amount to attributing lies to God which is strongly condemned in Quran.

[6:21]
Who is more evil than one who lies about GOD, or rejects His revelations? The transgressors never succeed.

[29:68]
Who is more evil than one who fabricates lies and attributes them to GOD, or rejects the truth when it comes to him? Is Hell not a just retribution for the disbelievers?

Peace

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