In the name of Allāh,
the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Peace and Blessings of Allāh on Mohammad.
DEDICATED TO
Allāh–the Glorious and the High,
Lord of the worlds
AND TO
Mohammad–who brought the world
to our feet and eternity to our arms.
*
MOHAMMAD AND THIGHING
Whereas Islam does not give a specific age for marriage, the age of marriage is identified with the age of majority: “And test the orphans until they reach the marriage (nikah). Then if you find in them maturity of intellect, make over to them their property, and consume it not extravagantly and hastily, against their growing up”–(Qur’an 4:6). Thus the age of marriage is linked to the age of maturity of intellect.
It may be noted that throughout the centuries the age of sexual consent/engagement has been all over the globe. I note a few examples from https://discover-the-truth.com/ 013/09/09/age-of-consent-in-european-american-history/
-“In Medieval and early modern European societies, the age of marriage remained low, with documented cases of brides as young as seven years, although marriages were typically not consummated until the girl reached puberty (Bullough 2004).….The situation was similar on the other side of the Atlantic; Bullough reports the case in 1689 of a nine-year-old bride in Virginia. At the start of the nineteenth century in England, it was legal to have sex with a 10 year-old girl.” [2]
-“In 1962, the American Law Institute recommended that the legal age of consent to sex- that is, the age below which sex is defined as statutory rape- be dropped in every state to age 10 (Katchadourian and Lund 1972: 439). In fact, until the mid 1960s, the legal age of consent in Delaware was 7 (Kling, 1965: 216). So a 50 year old man could legally have sexual intercourse with a 7 year old boy or girl.” [6]
-“Until the late 20th century U.S. age of consent laws specifically names males as perpetrators and females as victims. Following English law, in which the age was set at 12 in 1275 and lowered to 10 in 1576, ages of consent in the American colonies were generally set at 10 or 12….. If two people were married and had sex, no matter what their age, no crime was committed because a woman was her husband’s property.” [3]
-“At what age is a person capable of making and informed decision about whether or not to engage in sex? Would it be 7,10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, or 21? Over the last 300 years, all the ages listed above were thought to be that magic age at which one could make such a decision, and all the ages listed above have, at various times, been inscribed into law as the age of consent to sex.” [13]
How wisely Islam has left this choice to sex to the individual’s intellect.
The Prophet Mohammad was born into a custom that engaged in child marriages. As he could not change a practice of society until he received Divine revelation, the Prophet by marrying ‘Aisha and delaying consummation of his marriage to her, he was hoping to change society of pre-teen marriages by his action.
Critics claim the Prophet engaged in “thighing” –simulated sex, with the penis between the thighs– with ‘Aishah. But there is no explicit saying of the Prophet or ‘Aishah to support this. The fatwas/rulings by Muslim scholars that critics use to support their claim, these fatwas/rulings have no basis in hadith.
That the Prophet fondled and covered his wife’s private part with cloth during her menses and his wife wash semen off his clothes do not mean he engaged in “thighing”; this is supposition. Even if there was explicit evidence, why do critics make it a problem with a man engaging in private practice with his WIFE? (Do you not fondle your wife/husband? you should; someone else might fondle her/him for you). Moreover, “thighing” would be a blessing to the girl in that it afforded her time to mature, and a blessing to the husband in that it helped him to develop patience and self-control.
Whereas critics try to denigrate Mohammad for intimate marital acts, the Bible, as shown below, allows taking virgin little girls as war “booty” –and you can bet your bottom mite or piaster the soldiers who possessed these “virgins” did not engage in “thighing” with the girls but went the w“hole” way with them. Where are the critics on this?
Incidentally. Perhaps these critics, some of whom may be women, engage in cunnilingus, fellatio, analingus –coming in contact with body fluid/matter– and have sex with dogs. And if the woman with whom the man performs cunnilingus was with another man prior to coming to him, the latter man might be ingesting the first man’s deposit. And they bellyache about “thighing”).
This practice of pre-teen marriage did end, as Muhammad Ali notes:
“there is no case on record showing that the marriage of a minor through his or her guardian was allowed by the Prophet after details of the law were revealed to him at Madinah. His own marriage with ‘Aishah which took place when she was nine years of age, is sometimes looked upon as sanctioning the marriage of a minor through his guardian, but there are two points worth consideration in this matter. In the first place, ‘Aishah’s nikah at nine was tantamount only to an engagement, because the consummation of marriage was postponed for full five years, to allow her, no doubt, to attain majority. In the second place, ‘Aishah’s nikah was performed in Makkah long before the details of the Islamic law were revealed to the Prophet, and therefore her marriage at nine can be no argument for the marriage of a minor.”(The Religion of Islam, p. 601).
Muslims who marry minors have no recourse to Islam for such a marriage. The Prophet’s marriage to ‘Aisha is no precedent for Muslims. The Prophet not only postponed consummation of his marriage to ‘Aisha, he also married women of advanced age, and had their free consent. He was not pandering to prurient desire(s).
Bible and sex-slaves:
“Then the Lord spake unto Moses, saying…And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they slew ALL THE MALES….And they brought the CAPTIVES and the prey and the spoil to Moses, and Eleazar…
And Moses said unto them…Now therefore kill every MALE among the LITTLE ONES (even babies, of the captives), and kill EVERY WOMAN who hath known man by lying with him (to know who were virgins the soldiers must have had to physically examine/finger them –one TV program on Africa showed teenage school-girls made to lie on the ground and a woman sticking her finger up them to ensure intact hymen), but ALL THE WOMEN CHILDREN, that have not known a man by lying with him (virgin girls) KEEP ALIVE FOR YOURSELVES …
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the sum of the PREY (BOOTY) that was taken, both of MAN and of beast, thou and Eleazar…And divide the PREY into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation And LEVY A TRIBUTE UNTO THE LORD….
And the BOOTY, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught was 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, and 61,000 asses, and of WOMEN that had not known man by lying with him (virgin girls), were 32,000. And the half, which was the portion of them that went out to war, was 337,500 sheep; 36,000 cattle, 30,500 asses, and 16,000 persons (virgin girls). And of the congregation’s half portion of these 16.000 virgin girls, 320 were given to the Levite priests, as “the Lord commanded Moses.”
And the LORD’S TRIBUTE (of the (booty) was 675 sheep; 72 cattle; 61 donkeys; and 32 persons….the men of war had taken SPOIL (BOOTY), EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF”–(Numbers chapter 31.
Surely, these 16,000 young “virgin” girls who were “booty’ were taken by the “warriors” not for cooking and farming and ploughing fields; the older women were suited for this. And the 320 given to the Levite priests could have hardly been for “altar” girl service. And as Christians say Jesus is God, then according to Christians it was Jesus who commanded that these little virgin girls be taken as sex slaves and seemingly even assigned some for himself –the LORD’S TRIBUTE (of the booty) 32 persons.
Sex with these little virgin girls do not violate “thou shalt not commit adultery”; Solomon and his son, Rehoboam, who came after Moses, had 360 concubines between them; in which event they should have been stoned. And so should have David for dallying with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba.
(Numbers chapter 31 was combined from two different translations to make it easy to understand).
(For more on this topic see ‘Aisha & Mohammad).