There is no evidence that he had sex with a child,
Yes there is. I cited the evidence from the Hadith.
Here it is all over again... with additional quotes. How you can say that there is NO evidence is quite remarkable.
The evidence comes from MANY hadith...
Sahih Bukhari
Volume 5, Book 58, Number 234:
Narrated Aisha:
The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became Allright, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, "Best wishes and Allah's Blessing and a good luck." Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah's Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age.
Volume 5, Book 58, Number 236:
Narrated Hisham's father:
Khadija died three years before the Prophet departed to Medina. He stayed there for two years or so and then he married 'Aisha when she was a girl of six years of age, and he consumed that marriage when she was nine years old.
CRCC: Center For Muslim-Jewish Engagement: Resources: Religious Texts
Volume 7, Book 62, Number 64:
Narrated 'Aisha:
that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e., till his death).
Volume 7, Book 62, Number 65:
Narrated 'Aisha:
that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old. Hisham said: I have been informed that 'Aisha remained with the Prophet for nine years (i.e. till his death)." what you know of the Quran (by heart)'
Volume 7, Book 62, Number 88:
Narrated 'Ursa:
The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with 'Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death).
CRCC: Center For Muslim-Jewish Engagement: Resources: Religious Texts
Sahih Muslim
Book 008, Number 3310:
'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house when I was nine years old.
Book 008, Number 3311:
'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) married her when she was seven years old, and he was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she was eighteen years old.
CRCC: Center For Muslim-Jewish Engagement: Resources: Religious Texts
Some apologists have claimed that she matured earlier. However, not many people are aware that Aisha was still playing child games at the time she was called to be Muhammad's wife. This is important on the issue of whether or not Aisha was a woman
Volume 8, Book 73, Number 151:
Narrated 'Aisha:
I used to play with the dolls in the presence of the Prophet, and my girl friends also used to play with me. When Allah's Apostle used to enter (my dwelling place) they used to hide themselves, but the Prophet would call them to join and play with me. (The playing with the dolls and similar images is forbidden, but it was allowed for 'Aisha at that time, as she was a little girl, not yet reached the age of puberty.) (Fateh-al-Bari page 143, Vol.13)
CRCC: Center For Muslim-Jewish Engagement: Resources: Religious Texts
Book 008, Number 3311:
'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) married her when she was seven years old, and he was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she was eighteen years old.
CRCC: Center For Muslim-Jewish Engagement: Resources: Religious Texts
Book 031, Number 5981:
'A'isha reported that she used to play with dolls in the presence of Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and when her playmates came to her they left (the house) because they felt shy of Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him), whereas Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) sent them to her.
CRCC: Center For Muslim-Jewish Engagement: Resources: Religious Texts
and a touching domestic scene.
Book 41, Number 4914:
Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin:
When the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) arrived after the expedition to Tabuk or Khaybar (the narrator is doubtful), the draught raised an end of a curtain which was hung in front of her store-room, revealing some dolls which belonged to her.
He asked: What is this? She replied: My dolls. Among them he saw a horse with wings made of rags, and asked: What is this I see among them? She replied: A horse. He asked: What is this that it has on it? She replied: Two wings. He asked: A horse with two wings? She replied: Have you not heard that Solomon had horses with wings? She said: Thereupon the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) laughed so heartily that I could see his molar teeth.
CRCC: Center For Muslim-Jewish Engagement: Resources: Religious Texts
After Khadijah died, Muhammad dreamed that he was to marry A'isha, the daughter of Abu Bakr. She was six and he was fifty. But firstly he married the widow Sawdah who was very motherly towards his children and, a few months later, to his child bride A'isha. She continued to play with her dolls for several years until, at the age of nine, her marriage was consummated.
Islam.com - Messages
As to your
tu quoque I'll ignore that. However your other apology, that of other sources (which you don't cite) saying she was 16...
Some give the following counter arguments to which I so often see from Moslem apologists;
- a) other 'events' in the Hadith suggest she may have been older
- b) that Christians were guilt of the same - citing the age of Mary at the time of her marriage
- c) the events then were relative to the Arabic culture at that time.
- d) girls matured earlier then
The answer to these various objections are as follows...
a) other 'events' in the Hadith suggest she may have been older
This is true. There is a suggestion by some back-dating of events she may have been older, however the verses that attest to her age are absolutely consistant and precise.
As one Moslem site says...
"Of the four ahâdîth in Sahîh al-Bukhari, two were narrated from cAishah (7:64 and 7:65), one from Abû Hishâm (5:236) and one via 'Ursa (7:88). All three of the ahâdîth in Sahîh Muslim have cAishah as a narrator. Additionally, all of the ahâdîth in both books agree that the marriage betrothal contract took place when cAishah was "six years old", but was not consummated until she was "nine years old". Additionally, a hadîth with the same text (matn) is reported in Sunan Abû Dâwûd. Needless to say, this evidence is - Islamically speaking - overwhelmingly strong and Muslims who deny it do so only by sacrificing their intellectual honesty, pure faith or both.
This evidence having been established, there doesn't seem much room for debate about cAishah's age amongst believing Muslims.
Until someone proves that in the Arabic language "nine years old" means something other than "nine years old", then we should all be firm in our belief that she was "nine years old" (as if there's a reason or need to believe otherwise!?!). In spite of these facts, there are still some Muslim authors that have somehow (?) managed to push cAishah's age out to as far as "fourteen or fifteen years old" at the time of her marriage to the Prophet(P). It should come as no surprise, however, that none of them ever offer any proof, evidence or references for their opinions. This can be said with the utmost confidence, since certainly none of them can produce sources more authentic than the hadîth collections of Imâms al-Bukhârî and Muslim! Based on the research that I've done, I feel that there is a common source for those who claim that cAishah's age was "fourteen or fifteen years old" at the time of the marriage. This source is The Biographies of Prominent Muslims which is published in book form, on CD-ROM and is posted in several places on the Internet. Just another example of why going to the sources is important . . ."
The Young Marriage of Aishah
Further to this, the idea of re-calculating her age is very recent, in terms of the history of Islam. Only just over a hundred years ago did one Pakistani come up with the idea she might have been fourteen. His opinion is thus countered by hundreds of Moslem scholars over 1,400 years of Islam.
b) that Christians were guilty of the same - citing the age of Mary at the time of her marriage
There is one unreliable source that says Mary married early. This source is not accepted by any Christian group as reliable. Further, even it says she was married at eleven, and the marriage was 'consummated' years later.
c) the events then were relative to the Arabic culture at that time.
Most Moslems believe that their faith transcends time and place, which is why they continue to follow their faith, regardless of the local culture. Further, they still base the marriageable age on the examples of Muhammad.
Muhammed's marriages are seen as 'guides' for how Moslems themselves may marry. He is their 'ideal' type of man. This carries a bit of logic to it; why would their god choose an unworthy man to convey his message?
Iran
Marriage Age: Civil Code provides that marriage contracted before puberty is invalid unless authorized by natural guardian with ward�s best interests in mind.� When authorized before puberty, minimum age is nine.
Iran, Islamic Republic of
Palestine
Marriage Age:
West Bank - 15 female, 16 male under the JLPS; Gaza Strip- LFR 1954 required puberty and made 9 (female) and 12 (male) minimum ages; Palestinian Qadi al-Quda issued administrative decision in 1995 raising these to 15 female and 16 male. All ages by lunar years.
Palestine
So Palestine's now modernines, i.e. moved away from the Koran.
Sudan
Marriage Age: puberty, with requirement for willing consent of both parties.* Marriage Guardianship: Guardian is to marry the adult woman with her consent, although the qadi is empowered to act in this capacity if her guardian refuses his consent without justification. Guardian retains entitlement to seek dissolution on grounds of lack of kifa'a of husband (defined as kifa'a in religion and morals. Polygamy: classical rules apply
Kuwait
Marriage Age: no substantive minimum marriage age identified; capacity to marry requires parties to be of age (puberty) and of sound mind, however, no notarisation or registration of marriage permitted where female has not reached 15 years or male 17 years
Kuwait, State of
d) girls matured earlier then
This argument is similar to the one above, and likewise is refuted by similar evidence. If girls did indeed mature earlier then, one would see laws such as those in Iran, et al reflect a change in girls maturity.
Further, it should be noted that these nations confer the right of 'adulthood' upon such girls only to the point of allowing her to be married-off. That is, they deem a child to be a woman, so a man can marry her, but at the same time they don't confer other 'adult' rights upon her, such as the right to drive a car, or to vote.
