RUTHFULLY YOURS

It was not solely 1400 years ago that a little girl named Aisha married a 55-year-old man, although Muslims, their scholars, Sheiks and Imams argue to the contrary. Tens of thousands of “Aishas” are being forced to marry elder man on a daily basis under the name of Islam in Muslim nations in the 21^st century. No one is even raising an eyebrow. For example, according to the latest reports from Persian news outlets, the number of the child marriages has been dramatically increasing in the Islamic Republic. According to the Students’ News Agency and Radio Farda, these marriages include girls under 10 years old.

On the other hand, the hypocritical politicians in the Islamist regime of Iran point out that there is gender equality in Iran and that Islam respects both women and men. For example, recently, Shahindokht Molaverdi, the Islamic Republic’s vice president for women and family affairs who led a delegation to the United Nations in New York, lied to the international community in stating that “the Islamic Republic of Iran has always had the empowerment of women and improving their status…on its agenda.”

What is also hidden by the ruling clerics, and from most of the reports, is the fact that the notion of forcing a child girls into marriage is encouraged in Iran. In addition, the groom is normally a much older man. These children are forced to sleep with their older male husbands on the first night of the marriage so that the family of the groom can be certain that the child is a virgin.

Many of these girls are forced into marriage due to the fact that their parents want to get rid of their daughters since a girl is considered much more inferior to a man. There exists a plenitude of verses from the Quran and hadiths from Muhammad declaring that women are legally, physically, socially and intellectually inferior to men.

I discuss these issues in detail in “A God Who Hates Women.”

In order to remove such atrocities against girls and children, the question to ask is: What are the elements in Islamic societies that permit and give legitimacy to crimes against children such as child marriage? The answer is clear: Islam.

Although many apologetic Western Muslim scholars suggest that it is not the religion of Islam that is to blame, I would argue that it is in fact the religion of Islam and its legal codes that allow such inhumane crimes.

The fact is that the parents of these children use the example of Muhammad’s marriage and Aisha when they want to marry off their kids. Muhammad is the model for Muslims.  He is infallible. So whatever he did was correct and directed by Allah.

The fact is that that raping little girls is legalized in the penal code of the Islamic Republic, based on Islam, which provides the platform and legal code to do so.

When you ask Western Muslim scholars why Muhammad married Aisha when he over 50 years old and she was nine years old, they will respond that that was 1400 years ago and it was okay then. But none of them criticize the child marriages that now occur under Islam — because they either approve of what is happening or they know that legal codes in the Quran and the example of Muhammad’s life allow it. (Muslims are told by Muhammad to follow Quran, his sayings, and the way he lived.)

Thus, the rape of little girls is happening “legally” due to the Islamic codes. In addition, it was after the Iranian Islamic revolution of 1979 that the clerics lowered the legal marriage age for girls and boys.

The truth of the matter is that Muhammad left the religion of Islam with such an unyielding and inflexible character that it is impossible for it to evolve, change, or adapt to modern civilization and human rights standards. He also left Islam with specific penal codes in the Quran that promote crimes such as suppressing, dehumanizing, and subjugating women, as well as providing the legal platform for pedophiles or those who want to “legally” marry a girl under 10 years old.