I admire Alikoya's sincerity in defending Ayesha's marriage to Muhammad

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Jul 26, 2011 at 00:15

Dear Dr Pipes:

Reader Alikoya wrote a long letter defending Prophet Muhammad's marriage to 9-year old Ayesha. Whether I agree with his argumentation (a lot of which is circular), I admire his sincerity. He truly believes in his arguments and considers it his duty to defend every action of Muhammad. However, I will like to still make a comment on his third point.

Alikoya says, "One must first understand that 1400 years ago was very different than now, times have changed and so have humans." It will surprise Alikoya that that is exactly our point. Those of us who oppose Islamic fundamentalism exactly realize that "1400 years ago was very different than now, times have changed and so have humans". We also realize that due to these changes any code written 1400 years ago --even if it is written by God-- cannot be applicable today. And, even if it is applicable today, no one should be so stubborn about it that they call others "infidels" based on this code. Or, destroy life and property for it. Or declare marriages legitimate or illegitimate based on it. Or, render irreversible punishments for reversible climes based on it.

If Alikoya reads his third point over and over again, he will understand that it is absolutely needless to defend every single action of Prophet Muhammad because he lived at a different time and place than us. And, due to the exact same reason, it is not necessary to follow the prophet's actions mindlessly.

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