Islam’s eternal archetype and its temporal manifestations

I’ve always felt a little uncomfortable when critics of Islam, including Geert Wilders, denounce Muhammad as a “pedophile.” The word isn’t right. Child marriage was apparently a part of the Arabs’ “culture,” and, in any case, Muhammad wasn’t committing a criminal act on the girl Aisha, but marrying her. Furthermore, according to his biographies, she became his favorite wife and the one whose judgment he most trusted. It remains the case, however, that he married and consummated a marriage with a nine year old girl, and that everything the M man did is considered the model of perfect behavior for Muslims to emulate.

In this connection, I just learned this afternoon that when Ayatollah Khomeini became the supreme ruler of Iran in 1979, one of his first steps was to lower the marriage age from sixteen to nine.

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This is from the Homa Darabi Foundation:

Under the Islamic Rules, the family protection law has been abrogated. The Islamic Republic resolutely supports the practice of polygamy.

Under the Islamic Republic, provisional marriage was sanctioned. Consequently, a man may marry “four Permanent” and as many “Provisional” wives as he desires.

The marriage age for girls was reduced to 13 and with the father’s consent, a girl may marry at the age of nine. No restriction on the age of the man. In recent years the marriage age for women has been reduced to 9 years of age.

“The most suitable time for a girl to get married is the time when the girl can have her first menstrual period in her husband’s house rather than her father’s.” Ayatollah Khomeini.

- end of initial entry -

November 2

Hannon writes:

Surely this is the principal attractant for those who convert. The dream of many who have succumbed to their basest desires—or have had them rekindled by Islam.

LA replies:

You’re saying that the principal reason men convert to Islam is to have access to young girls?

Hannon writes:

For an outsider, what other reason could be compelling enough to entice one to join such a grimly incurious and oppressive group? What other religion enjoys its own system of laws that in practice supersedes those of any land they inhabit?

Even if we accept that such laws are designated primarily for the overall Islamic social order, a critical part of that order involves controlling women and young girls to a degree that would, in my opinion, be a persuasive enticement for many men. It is Game consummate.

Perhaps I should ease my language a bit and say that this is not the, but a principal reason for those who might see any reason/s at all to convert. The reasons in total would be more complex presumably.

Ferg writes:

I believe you are right in your analysis. Mohammed was breaking no laws or even customs, was in fact honoring them. Is it not also true that Gandhi had a young girl for company in his bed as an old man? I believe he stated however that there was no sexual contact, she just kept him warm and was company. Again, another non Western cultural norm.

Daniel R. writes:

My understanding is that with the exception of his first, all Muhammad’s marriages were political marriages intended to produce alliances with various tribes. I suspect that some chief had only one 6-year-old daughter, and so Muhammad married her. If the chief had another eligible daughter who was older, but Muhammad chose Aisha instead, that would make him a pedophile. But otherwise, it looks like he was doing whatever was necessary to succeed in his holy mission. He didn’t want to sleep with a little girl, he had to.

LA replies:

Muhammad became famously randy after the death of his first wife and his acquisition of power and chose several of his wives and mistresses for his personal pleasure. All this is plainly told in the official Islamic biographies of Muhammad, whom all Muslims are to emulate. And Aisha’s father wasn’t “some chief,” but Muhammad’s closest friend and follower (and future successor as First Caliph), Abu Bakr.

Natassia writes:

You wrote:

I’ve always felt a little uncomfortable when critics of Islam, including Geert Wilders, denounce Muhammad as a “pedophile.” The word isn’t right. Child marriage was apparently a part of the Arabs’ “culture,” and, in any case, Muhammad wasn’t committing a criminal act on the girl Aisha, but marrying her. Furthermore, according to his biographies, she became his favorite wife and the one whose judgment he most trusted. It remains the case, however, that he married and consummated a marriage with a nine year old girl, and that everything the M man did is considered the model of perfect behavior for Muslims to emulate.

Muhammad had sex with Aisha from the time that she was nine years old until his death nine years later. He was 44 years her senior. Just because 7th century Arabs may have considered Aisha a woman does not mean that if she were born today she would be seen in the same light. A 54-year-old man who has sex with a nine-year-old girl would easily be labeled a pedophile according to law enforcement standards considering the typical definition of a pedophile is “an adult who is sexually attracted to young children.” A man need not be exclusively attracted to children in order to be labeled as a pedophile.

According to the World Health Organization, pedophilia is defined as: “A sexual preference for children, boys or girls or both, usually of prepubertal or early pubertal age.” If Aisha had in fact experienced menarche, an American psychologist might not be able to give a formal diagnosis of pedophilia; however, in America Muhammad would be arrested for rape and other crimes against a minor, as would Abu Bakr for facilitating such an arrangement and, if Muhammad ever got out of prison, for the rest of his life he would have to register as a sex offender. American law enforcement as well as American society would view him as a pedophile.

So, just because Arab society didn’t have a concept of pedophilia, it doesn’t mean that it is totally inaccurate to call Muhammad a “pedophile.” It requires a “special” kind of man to become sexually aroused over an innocent child.

LA replies:

Interesting points. I wasn’t saying that Muhammad’s marriage to a nine year old girl wasn’t extremely objectionable; I was saying that “pedophilia” isn’t the right word to describe it. But you’re making a reasonable case that it is.

Lisa writes:

Just so you know, there are quite a few commenters at Roissy’s who have expressed an interest in converting to Islam. Their reasoning is that the divorce laws in the U.S. are very unfair to men. In fact, one commenter wrote that Hamas should rethink their marketing strategy to target divorced men for this reason. Another commenter wrote that he would like to be able to choose husbands for his daughters.

Now I know that I wrote you a while back (sort of) defending Roissy. But now, I’m in your camp.

LA replies:

That’s really interesting. But at least you don’t report anyone there saying he wants to convert to Islam in order to improve his chances of acquiring a wife and being in a dominant, alpha position over her. After all, that would be a logical direction for these people. Throughout the ages, Western malcontents have unfavorably compared the Christian restrictions on sexual behavior with the much more sex-friendly Islamic law.

Lisa replies:

I got the feeling from reading the comments there that the real reason these men wanted to convert to Islam was to be in a dominant alpha position over women. I mean, that’s why those men would be drawn to Roissy’s blog. They’re alpha wannabes. They constantly complain about slutty young women (even though it takes two to tango) and older women who have careers. And Islam would be the next logical direction for them.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 01, 2009 08:11 PM | Send