As it is Christian evangelistsand other believers in the Bible who
have been bitterly reviling the Holy Prophet Muhammad on account of
his marriage with Aisha, we put to themthe practices of the great
patriarchs and prophets that are recorded in the Bible itself in this
connection. The main accusations regarding the marriage of Aisha are
that she was too young in age while the Holy Prophet was a much older
man, being fifty years of age, and that consent to marriage was either
not obtained from her or she was not capable of giving it.
Abraham
In the book of Genesis in the Bible it is recorded about Abraham:
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an
Egyptian maidservant named Hagar;so she said to Abram, 'The Lord has
kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I
can build a familythrough her.' Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So
after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took
her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his
wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. … So Hagar boreAbram a
son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram
was eighty-six yearsold when Hagar bore him Ishmael." (Genesis,
chapter 16, verses 1–4, and 15–16, New International Version. Bolding
is mine.)
Firstly, it is evident that as Abraham (who then had the name Abram)
was 86 years old, Hagar must havebeen some fifty years younger than
him, and probably even younger, to bear a child. Secondly, the Bible
speaks of Sarai givingher maidservant Hagar to Abraham. So Hagar's
consent was not obtained but rather she was commanded by Sarai to go
and become Abraham's wife.
David
The first book of Kings in the Bible begins as follows:
"When King David was old and well advanced in years,he could not keep
warm even when they put coversover him. So his servants said to him,
'Let us look for a young virgin to attend the king and take care of
him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.'
Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found
Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The girl was very
beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king
had no intimate relations with her." (1 Kings, chapter 1, verses 1–4,
New International Version. Bolding is mine.)
So there seems nothing wrong, according to the Bible, in procuring a
young virgin, again apparently without her consent, whose duties
include lying with the elderly king in bed. The intention was
certainly for sexual enjoyment, otherwise there was no necessity of
looking for a young, beautiful virgin. A much older woman, perhaps a
widow, could have performed all these duties, including lying with the
king to keep him warm.
Mary and Joseph
The most famous marriage in Christianity is no doubt that of Mary,
Jesus' mother,with Joseph. While the following details are not in the
canonical Gospels in the Bible, it appears from other early Christian
writings (known as apocryphal writings) that Mary was twelve years old
when the temple elders decided to find a husband for her. They
selected the husband by drawing lots, and Joseph whom they chose was
an elderly man, being according to some accounts ninety years old. The
husband was selected and Mary was handed over to him, and she played
no part in his selection.
These accounts are summed up in the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913
edition,which is available online, as follows:
"It will not be without interest to recall here, unreliable though
they are,the lengthy stories concerning St. Joseph's marriage
contained in the apocryphal writings. When forty years of age, Joseph
married a woman called Melcha or Escha by some, Salome by others; they
lived forty-nine years together and had six children …
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