again look into the battle of the trench and aisha. And dont believe everything the liberals tell you
Oh goody, I'm anything but a liberal.
Battle of the Trench - 627 - an army of 10,000 Pagans and Jews from many tribes beseiged the town of Medina (modern name), with a fighting number of 3,000.
The battle takes it's name from the fact that the Prophet ordered the men to dig a trench around the town (suggested by a Persian) to protect them from the enemy cavalry ... something unheard of in wartime then.
The seige lasted two weeks.
During the seige a Jewish tribe, Banu Qurayzah, inside Medina received a request from the enemy to either overthrow the Muslims from within or at least let the army into the town. The leader of the Banu Qurayzah was at first reluctant but eventually agreed.
The Prophet had learnt his lesson after he had exiled the Banu Nadir tribe of Jews from Medina for forming an alliance with the Meccan's and plotting to assaninate him. After their exile they had joined forces with the Meccans and proved to be a constant threat to the Muslims ... he was not going to make the same mistake again.
The Banu Aus tribe pleaded with the Prophet for leniency and the Prophet proposed that a chief from the Banu Aus tribe, Sa'd ibn Mua'dh, should decide the fate of the Banu Qurayzah.
The Banu Quarayzah obviously thought Sa'd would be lenient with them but as he had been wounded in the earlier battle he probably felt a little bitter at the betrayal ... in fact he died a few days later of his wounds.
Sa'd ordered that all the men (between 400 and 900) men be killed and the women and children sold into slavery.
If you judge it by todays standards it seems brutal but what would they have done to the Muslims had the enemy got into the town, handed out smarties perhaps?
Also in WWI we used to regularly drag one in five of our own soldiers out of trenches and shoot them in the head, just to keep the fighting spirit up ... sounds a bit brutal to me.
but that's war for you.
As for Aisha, the Mother of Believers, she was the daughter of Abu Bakr, probably the best friend of the Prophet (I say probably because as old as I am I wasn't around then so can't say with certainty but they were very close friends from the same tribe).
She was engaged to be married to Jubair ibn al Mut'am but his parents broke the engagement because they feared he would convert to Islam.
As the Prophets only wife of 25 years had died 3 years before (she herself being 15 years his senior) he then became engaged to her.
Different accounts put her age between 6 years and 16 years when they married but I tend to go with the 6 years based on evidence I have read.
She remained with her family after the wedding until she reached puberty, probably around 9 years according to some sources.
So why would a 53 year old man marry a 6 year old child?
Here's my take on it.
You have to look at other marriages around him.
Aisha was Abu Bakr's daughter, he became the first caliph.
He also married Hafsah, the daughter of Umar ibn al Khattab, he became the second caliph.
The Prophet married two of his daughters to Uthman ibn Affan (the third caliph) and Ali ibn Abi Talib (the fourth caliph).
Starting to paint a picture?
Islam was in it's infancy, Muslims were being persecuted and strong bonds had to be forged in order to keep the Muslims united, so this was not a marriage of passion but of unity.
Things to consider:
1. The marriage of Aisha to the Prophet was proposed by a woman called Kawla ... why would she suggest it if it was not normal at that time for a girl to marry so young.
2. Aisha had already been engaged, suggesting again it was normal for such marriages of bondsmanship and that her family were in favour of it.
3. The Quraysh tribe, who hated the Muslims, would have been waiting for just such an occasion to say "look see what he is doing" and yet they said nothing, even congratulating them on the marriage.
4. Despite people saying this wasn't normal in those days you don't have to look far to see that it was ... Omar bin al-Khattab married the daughter of Ali Bin Abi Taleb and he was the age of her grandfather. Abu Bakr married Omar's daughter Hafsa and their age difference was similar to the Prophet and Aisha.
So the inference now that these marriages were for the pleasure of dirty old men is just ludicrous and shows a lack of historical knowledge.
Aisha grew into a politically active, well educated young woman. Scholars would visit her from far and wide because of her knowledge of Islam and approximately a quarter of the sharia is attributed to her.
Arwa Bin Zubair said, “I did not find anyone more proficient than Aisha in the knowledge of the Qur’an, the Commandments of Halal (lawful) and Haram (prohibited). That is why even senior companions of the Prophet used to consult Aisha in resolving intricate issues.”
Now would you like to discuss his other marriages, the ones where he married widows or divorcees, who in Arabian society would have usually remained the property (read that as slaves) of the husbands family.
If he was the sex crazed man some people paint him as why would he marry these women and have no children with them?
So I would agree, don't listen to what the liberals tell you but also don't listen to what the Christians tell you about Islam either.
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