A common criticism of Islam is that Muhammad married his wife Aisha when she was 6/7 and had sexual relations with him at around 9/10. How could a holy prophet of God treat a child in such a way? Did Muhammad actually do this? This criticism has also been used to create stereotypes about Muslim men as sexual predators just "following by example." But is it accurate?
I see the age of Aisha to primarily be a later hadithic apologetic. What we seem to see is that the age of Aisha grows younger as hadiths and commentaries expand later on. This is especially in response to the Shia-Sunni split which saw the Shiite view condemning Aisha as a seductress and adulterous woman who was unfaithful to Muhammad before and after the wedding. Her status above his other wives as a virgin was also important.
So, in response, the age of Aisha was made progressively younger in order to make the possibility of her previous loss of virginity progressively more and more unlikely. The most commonly cited hadith collection attesting to her age at 9 or 10, Sahih al-Bukhari, comes a little less than 200 years after her death. Our earliest sources attesting to her at all come 100 years after. This is plenty of time for such a tradition of extreme youth to develop. Some other sources seem to attest to her age of 16-19, which may be less apologetic and therefore more authentic.
We see something similar occur within the Catholic tradition. To preserve the virginity of Mary even while married to Joseph, the age of Joseph became progressively older! Joseph's age is not mentioned in the Gospels, but the Protoevangelium of James from around 150 CE presents him as an old man, unable to participate in sexual activity. Tradition later names him as 90 years old!
I think a similar thing happened with the tradition of Aisha and Muhammad, and it has now in the modern era ended up creating a very problematic criticism. Note that I am a Baptist minister, not a Muslim, so I don’t have much of a dog in this fight personally.
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“Never argue with an id'iot They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” ― Mark Twain
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Muhammad even allowed Aisha play with her dolls and take them to his house , you may dress it up any way you want but Muhammad was 56 Aisha 9 when the brute had sex with her.
The Sahih Bukhari collection of Hadiths is considered to be the most authenticcollection of the teachings and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad SAW. These Prophetic traditions, or hadith, were collected by the Uzbek Muslim scholar Muhammad al-Bukhari, after being transmitted orally for generations.
Years ago muslims accepted this as fact it's only recent times it's become an embarrassment and incidentally child marriage is quiet common in muslim countries, religious texts and writings have always being used by the religious to justify the unspeakable Christian's did it with slavery and used the bible to justify such
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: Sahih al Bukhari    words of the Sahih al Bukhari   Sahih Bukhari   highest esteem  
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Whether Muhammad married someone underage pales in comparison to other brutalities he did, as well as brutalities suggested in Quran. Quran, unlike the Bible, was written with the exact goal, it seems, to justify Muhammad's conquests, so it contains some mean passages that you do not find in other religious texts.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: lot of things    conquest.Whether Muhammad   exact goal   underage pales  
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We are talking about historical critical studies of Islam, not Islamic theological studies. It’s rather clear that ahadith are not historically accurate. The Hadith collection you mentioned comes 200 years after Muhammad, and that age is clearly contradicted by other Hadith which say Aisha was older.
So the real question for historians is: “why did the age of Aisha change in the Hadith?”
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: Hadith collection    real question   age of Aisha change   age  
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That is just plainly inaccurate. Much of the Quran was written before Muhammad was even alive, and it was redacted more organically. It was not written with any particular purpose, which is why it is so contradictory.
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: particular purpose    Quran   Muhammad    
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: earlier age    ages   Hadith   historians  
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While I respect the right of anyone to have and practice whatever religion they choose, I don't think that anything can be done to correct the misgivings of religious influence. When your doctrine is fundamentally based on the idea of spreading itself to as many people as possible, there will always be a strong motivation for abuse. It is not inconceivable that internal modification would result to better accomplish this task, as you have argued it has.
I can not see any positives here, either Aisha's age was modified, in which case the entire doctrine must be brought into question having been deliberately changed thus we can not verify the accuracy of any of it, or she was young in which case the moral compass of the prophet Muhammad must be brought into question, and with it the moral principals of all subsequent teachings. No matter what, something is wrong here.
Stars formed, planets coalesced, and on at least one of them life took root.
Through a long process of evolution this life developed into the human race.
Humans conquered fire, built complex societies and advanced technology .
All of that so we can argue about nothing.
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***** Not quite. The Hadith provide multiple ages for Aisha. Because these ages are contradictory, historians have to ask whether the later or earlier age was historically accurate.
You’re totally incorrect again and never addressed what I previous said , so read below the Sahih -Al Bukhari is the source Muslims respect and revere as the go to source for the timeline of Muhammad’s life do you wish to deny this?
The Sahih al Bukhari clearly states Aisha was 6 when Muhammad married her he waited till she was 9 before consumating the marriage ,you can only deny this by denying the words of the Sahih al Bukhari which is a timeline of Muhammads life and held in the highest esteem beside the Quran
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: Al Bukhari    source Muslims respect   timeline of Muhammad   earlier age  
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I already gave you the highest regarded and most sacred Hadiths The Sahih -Al Bukhari as accepted by Muslims but you will persist in your quest of denialism
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We’re discussing history here. Even if Muslims regard that ahadith collection as accurate, that doesn’t mean it is, historically. In fact, I’d argue almost all Hadith are plainly ahistorical.
Historians don’t find texts “holy” or sacred. They just use the text as historians. And historians regard ahadith as largely ahistorical. As such, we can only use the data we have. And the data we have is incomplete. Some sources say 16-17. Other sources say 6-7. The historian has to decide which direction is more likely, as far as changes go. And becoming younger when married makes much more sense considerations accusations of infidelity.
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***** We’re discussing history here. Even if Muslims regard that ahadith collection as accurate, that doesn’t mean it is, historically. In fact, I’d argue almost all Hadith are plainly ahistorical.
If you argue such you need to back your claims up with solid evidence can you do that?
****Historians don’t find texts “holy” or sacred.
All merely your subjective opinion nothing else
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: Muslim Historians    solid evidence   Historians   sense considerations accusations of infidelity.All  
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  Entity Sentiment Detection: New Age Islam    Founder-Editor   Sultan Shahin Addresses   UNHRC  
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UNHRC Should Ensure That OIC Members Implement Provisions Of Human Rights Charter, Founder-Editor, New Age Islam, Sultan Shahin Addresses Its 43rd Session In Geneva
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You are conflating religious historians with academic historians.
The earliest hadith collections are still 200 years after Muhammad, and even supporters of ahadith historicity accept that it was almost exclusively preserved by word of mouth. That is quite literally a telephone game.
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>>We are talking about historical critical studies of Islam, not Islamic theological studies.
Are you confusing systematic theology with historical theology? Corrections made to the Quran is most definitely a study in historical theology. The twofold function of historical theology is to show the origin and development of beliefs held in the present day.
>>It’s rather clear that ahadith are not historically accurate.
It's is clear that not only are they historically, but also scientifically inaccurate as well, not to mention the numerous contradictions within its pages. From Adam being a 90 foot giant, alien space goats, to camel urine as medicine.
Above the seventh heaven there is a sea, the distance between whose surface and bottom is like that between one heaven and the next. Above that there are eight mountain goats the distance between whose hoofs and haunches is like the distance between one heaven and the next. -Sunan Abu Dawud 40:4705
>>So the real question for historians is: “why did the age of Aisha change in the Hadith?”
Embarrassment and shame
>>Note that I am a Baptist minister, not a Muslim, so I don’t have much of a dog in this fight personally.
As long as it's not a black dog.
Abu Dharr reported: The Messenger of 'Allah (may peace be upon him) said: When any one of you stands for prayer and there is a thing before him equal to the back of the saddle that covers him and in case there is not before him (a thing) equal to the back of the saddle, his prayer would be cut off by (passing of an) , woman, and black Dog. I said: O Abu Dharr, what feature is there in a black dog which distinguish it from the red dog and the yellow dog? He said: O, son of my brother, I asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) as you are asking me, and he said: The black dog is a devil. Sahih Muslim 4:1032
“Never argue with an id'iot They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” ― Mark Twain
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***** You are conflating religious historians with academic historians.
I don’t know if you know this, but for those who don't: an isnad is a list that comes before each and every hadith that is supposed to list the chain by which that hadith was transmitted. It essentially says, "I heard this from Khalid who heard it from 'Umar who heard it from Abbas who heard it from the prophet, peace be upon him." Early Muslims developed this system because they were already becoming quite concerned about authenticity in the oral tradition immediately after Muhammad and his companions died - they wanted to be able to trust their received wisdom, now that they couldn't just ask a direct witness. By citing how you received the information, you give your audience a means of judging how correct it's likely to be. It's still hearsay, but it's no longer urban legend.
So now that you have your standardized citation system, the next problem arises: when looking at a specific isnad, how do you decide if it's reliable or not?
First, you want to check if more than one chain of transmitters have reported the same thing - that's a good sign, both to hadith scholars and to modern scholars. Second, you want to check if the chain of transmission is even possible - this would also be exactly what modern scholars do. "This guy died before the guy he supposedly passed the tradition down to was born, so that makes no sense and the hadith is unreliable," is good scholarship both then and now. It's actually pretty unique as far as I know, too - I'm not aware of any other religions with this strong an interest in logically testing out the way that something claims to have been passed down.
In this way, early hadith scholars are far more similar to modern historians than ancient historians are to modern historians. Herodotus does not cite his sources. Muhammad al-Bukhari does.
Bukharis each and every source is listed back to the first
Yet one would think that religious historians would eradicate Aishas age from the Hadiths which they don’t as no shame or embarrassment was felt at such by Muslims , you are making a case for Muhammad based solely on your view from the year 2020
You accuse me of doing what Christians do when they talk about the life and times of Jesus , no credible academic Historian believes in a miracle working messiah only religious historians do so. What Academic sources are you appealing to to make your case?
So in the case of Islam you are claiming actual academic historians accounts are more reliant is the same true regards the life and times of Jesus?
What are the sources of your claims regards Aishas age?
My point was and remains that the most sacred source of the life and times of Muhammad was and is still the Sahih -Al Bukhara , Muslims in the past readily accepted the age of Aisha as a given , the defence of such is only a modern phenomenon.
I also note you claimed that Islam did not call for the slaughter of infidels do you use the same defence regards this as you’ve offered none so far?
*****The earliest hadith collections are still 200 years after Muhammad, and even supporters of ahadith historicity accept that it was almost exclusively preserved by word of mouth. That is quite literally a telephone game.
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