In Iraq, Lots of Little Aishas

Muhammad, the Model of Conduct (uswa hasana) and the Perfect Man (al-insan al-kamil) had a favorite wife. This was little Aisha, the daughter of Abu Bakr, one of Muhammad’s Companions. At the age of six, she was betrothed to Muhammad, and then the marriage was consummated — that is, she and Muhammad had sexual intercourse — when Aisha was nine and Muhammad 54. Ever since Muslims have followed Muhammad’s example, which is used in some, though not all, of the Islamic lands to justify reducing the marriageable age of girls to nine or to the onset of puberty. And now, in Iraq, with the secular Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein long gone, the old ways are back, and child marriage has now been legalized.