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Does The Quran Allow Sex With Prepubescent Girls? No!
Does The Quran Allow Sex With Prepubescent Girls? No!
with pre-pubescent girls, this is a hateful and bigoted allegation that has no
other intention but to demonize Muslims. By Yahya Snow
Of course this claim contains no truth and is absurd. There are abundant claims of
this fallacious and hateful nature on the internet. The internet is an unregulated
media which means it can be a safe-haven for all sorts of hate-mongers and
aberrations; in this case their vile and unscholarly claims are directed at
Muslims.
They claim that the Quran, chapter 65 verse 4, allows pedophilia. The verse in
question is speaking of…As their fallacious claim is hinged on this reference
allow us to quote an English translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali:
65:4- Such of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the
prescribed period, if ye have any doubts, is three months, and for those who have
no courses (it is the same): for those who carry (life within their wombs), their
period is until they deliver their burdens: and for those who fear Allah, He will
make their path easy.
As you can see, the verse is actually pertaining to divorce and it is not
instructing Muslims in pedophilia. One may ask how did the Islamophobes come to
such a horrific allegation. Is it a totally baseless allegation or do they support
it with some sort of argumentation?
Well their allegations are based on two fallacious arguments, both of which are
addressed:
This example is not given to digress but to illustrate that this did happen it is
an example that Christians, Jews and Muslims can relate to. None of the
communities mentioned (Islamic, Christian or Jewish) allowed sex with the girl
before maturity so any accusation that disagrees with this fact is a false
accusation. As we are speaking of Muslims I feel compelled to show that Islam does
not allow sex with immature girls. This will be highlighted through two examples:
1. Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) took part in this type of union too where
the parents of a lady named Aisha betrothed their daughter (Aisha) to Muhammad
(pbuh) and Muhammad (pbuh) and the parents of the girl waited until she had
reached puberty before consummation of the marriage was allowed to take place.
This is a recorded fact in history and the waiting period was roughly three years.
The alternative argument follows a slightly different despite leading to the same
allegation. The argument follows the same unscholarly skeleton as their first
argument; both arguments are built on their own interpolations and interpretations
into the clear text of the Quran.
In this case they bring forth another verse from the Quran (33:49) and try to
impose their understanding of the verse into the previously mentioned Quranic
verse (65:4); I will quote an English translation of the Quran of the new verse,
33:49-
O ye who believe! When ye marry believing women, and then divorce them before ye
have touched them, no period of 'Iddat have ye to count in respect of them: so
give them a present. And set them free in a handsome manner.
Just to help the reader understand an Iddah/Iddat is merely a woman's post marital
waiting period (of time), this period of time must expire before she marries
again. There are four wisdoms behind the Iddat period (given by Abdul-Karim Zidan,
Nazarat fi ash-Shari`ah al-Islamiyyah):
2- Shari`ah has ordained the period of `Iddah to avoid any confusion of lineage
which may result from the woman's pressing need of marriage.
3- The period a woman spends in `Iddah whether short or otherwise sheds light on
the seriousness of marriage and how far it is a sacred bond.
4- It allows the man and the woman to think twice before breaking up the family
tie, especially in cases where divorce is revocable. (Source: The Kuwaiti
Encyclopaedia of Fiqh)
So, in short, the Quran (33:49) teaches us that that there is no Iddat if the man
did not touch the wife (i.e. he did not have sex with her). However, for the
immature girl we realise she has an Iddat. One may wonder what is the benefit for
an immature girl to have an Iddat. We must remember that the girl’s family would
have been responsible for setting up the marriage therefore any breaking of this
marriage contract would have been between the husband (and/or his family) and the
family of the girl. Family ties are very important in Islam therefore an Iddat
gives the two parties a period of time to reconcile. In short, emotions would be
more prominent in this type of divorce as opposed to a divorce between a mature
female and male.
Going back to their claim; the Islamophobe uses verse 33:49 and then suggests that
the previously mentioned verse (65:4) allows sex with pre-pubescent girls as 65:4
teaches Muslims that girls who have not had puberty have an Iddat if they are
divorced. This is their claim, it is not substantiated by the Quran, and nowhere
does the Quran allow sex with pre-pubescent girls. The Islamophobe uses textual
acrobatics and his own interpolations in order to argue for his allegation.
The Quran gives a general instruction in 33:49 but simply gives an exception in
65:4. So it is clear that girls (immature) who have been married and are divorced
are afforded an Iddat despite not having had sex with her husband. These girls are
immature girls who have never even lived with the husband never mind having had
sex with the husband. These immature girls live with their parents/guardians until
they reach maturity and only after that they can consummate the marriage if the
girl agrees to the union. Contrary to the Islamophobes’ claims these girls are not
allowed to have sex with the husband until they reach maturity. This is proven by
the following five pieces of evidence:
1. The Prophet Muhammed married an immature girl and waited three years (i.e.
waited for her to reach maturity before consummating the marriage, this is
documented in the reference section).(1) This action of the Prophet Mohammed shows
Muslims that sex with pre-pubescent girls is not allowed, this is evidenced by the
fact that the Prophet Mohammed did not consummate the marriage immediately (i.e.
when the girl was pre-pubescent).(4) This action scuppers the Islamophobe’s
argument because the actions of the Prophet oppose their unscholarly claims.
2. Islamic Law is based on the Quran and the actions of the Prophet Muhammed.
Islamic Law does not allow sex with pre-pubescent girls, in fact Islamic Law does
not allow sex with minors (both girls and boys), and this is shown in al-Fath by
Al-Hafiz ibn Hajar. According to Islamic Law males can only have sexual contact
with a female, if both parties are physically and mentally mature. This is a key
point as the Law is based on the Quran as well as teachings of the Prophet so if
the Islamophobe was correct then Islamic Law would allow sex with pre-pubescent
girls. This is not the case and pours a comprehensive refutation upon the
perverted claims of the Islamophobe. (3)
3. No mufassireen (commentators of the Quran) or companion of the Prophet
viewed the verse 65:4 as allowing sex with immature girls. The mufassireen and
companions of the Prophet are authoritative sources on the Quran and if they did
not deem it to allow pre-pubescent sex then it is safe to say that the Quran does
not allow such a thing.
4. The Quran (4:6) illustrates to us quite clearly that there is an ‘age of
marriage’. This is another key point as it directly opposes the claim of the
Islamophobe. (2)
5. No non-Muslim scholar such as Karen Armstrong or W.M. Watt made such a
claim, surely if they believed the Islamophobe then they would have voiced the
claim.
Based on the evidence outlined above; it is clear that the Quran does not allow
sex with pre-pubescent girls.
Just to put all this into perspective, the Quran, the Prophet, the companions of
the Prophet, the Mufassireen, Muslims scholars, non-Muslims scholars and Islamic
Law all disagree with the Islamophobe’s claim. The Islamophobe has no evidence to
back up his claim; he merely has conjecture and his own perverted interpretation
of the Quran. An interpretation that is in opposition to the Quran, the Prophet,
the companions of the Prophet, the Mufassireen, Muslims scholars, non-Muslims
scholars and Islamic Law.
‘Barack Obama is from the planet Mars and his parents are Superman and Lara Croft.
Because Mars is in the same solar-system as the Earth and Superman came to the
planet Earth and met Lara Croft’
The questioner may ask me to prove this claim, using the Islamophobe’s argument I
would merely restate my claim and interpolate a load of speculation and conjecture
into the fold. Silly! The Islamophobe’s claim is also described as ‘silly’!
To summarize:
The Islamophobe interpolates his own sad views into the Quran by claiming that the
Quran allows sex with the pre-pubescent girl. This is dismissed as errant nonsense
by all those who know about the concept of betrothal, Islamic history, Islamic
scholarship, Islamic Law, the Quran, the Seerah and non-Muslim scholarship of
Islam. It just goes to show that a ‘little knowledge is dangerous’, I would like
to add that severely stunted knowledge coupled with a hateful agenda is even more
dangerous as illustrated by the nature of the ignorant claims of the Islamophobes.
W.Montgomery Watt (a Western scholar of Islam) speaks about the sexually charged
critique that critics of Islam level at Islam and he suggests that men often
project their own faults onto others and criticize others for what is really a
more serious flaw in themselves. (5) This is food for thought for the Islamophobe
as it points the finger at them. The issue of Christian clergy and abuse of
children in their care and extreme evangelical Chrsitian’s ‘sexual claims’ against
Islam springs to mind. This is quite apposite as a lot of anti-Islamic material
originates from ‘not so loving’ evangelical Christians.
If that is not enough for the Islamophobes then nothing will suffice.
May Allah guide us all and keep us away from the trickery of the Islamophobes, may
Allah also help the Islamophobes see the inequity and deception in their claims.
Ameen.
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