Zakir Naik said: “There is no mention of paedophilia in the Quran or any Islamic scripture.”
Yes. Islamic tradition records that Muhammad consummated his marriage with (i.e., raped) Aisha when she was nine, and the resultant fact that child marriage and the sexualization of children are taken for granted in wide swaths of the Islamic world.
“The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)” (Bukhari 7.62.88).
Another tradition has Aisha herself recount the scene:
The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became all right, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, “Best wishes and Allah’s Blessing and a good luck.” Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah’s Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age. (Bukhari 5.58.234).
Muhammad was at this time fifty-four years old. Nowadays in the West there are elaborate efforts to deny all this. An Islamic scholar/apologist named Joshua Little has constructed an elaborate argument from close study of the chains of transmitters (isnads) of various traditions about Aisha, claiming that those traditions, despite appearing in Sahih Bukhari, the hadith collection Muslims consider most reliable, are actually inauthentic. Little’s argument, however, is absurd and self-contradictory. He acknowledges that the hadiths are late and unreliable from a historical standpoint, and even admits that the chains of transmitters, like the stories themselves, were freely forged. Then he bases his whole argument for the traditions being inauthentic even on Islamic grounds on the basis of the isnads that he just admitted could be forged. He claims to be able to determine the age of various traditions by how they were forged, but here is argument is so conjectural and subjective as to be essentially worthless.
Little is also a standard-issue lemming academic. He denounces people he calls “Islamophobes” for making much of Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha. He ignores the primary reason why anyone cares about this: not because, as he claims, “Islamophobes” contend that Muhammad’s example forces Muslims to condone child marriage, but because all too many Islamic authorities do condone child marriage. In April 2011, the Bangladesh Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini declared that those trying to pass a law banning child marriage in that country were putting Muhammad in a bad light: “Banning child marriage will cause challenging the marriage of the holy prophet of Islam, [putting] the moral character of the prophet into controversy and challenge.” He added a threat: “Islam permits child marriage and it will not be tolerated if any ruler will ever try to touch this issue in the name of giving more rights to women.” The Mufti said that 200,000 jihadists were ready to sacrifice their lives for any law restricting child marriage.
Turkey’s directorate of religious affairs (Diyanet) said in January 2018 that under Islamic law, girls as young as nine can marry.
“Islam has no age barrier in marriage and Muslims have no apology for those who refuse to accept this” — Ishaq Akintola, professor of Islamic Eschatology and Director of Muslim Rights Concern, Nigeria
“There is no minimum marriage age for either men or women in Islamic law. The law in many countries permits girls to marry only from the age of 18. This is arbitrary legislation, not Islamic law.” — Dr. Abd Al-Hamid Al-‘Ubeidi, Iraqi expert on Islamic law
There is no minimum age for marriage and that girls can be married “even if they are in the cradle.” — Dr. Salih bin Fawzan, prominent cleric and member of Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council
“Islam does not forbid marriage of young children.” — Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology
Zakir Naik, the most famous Muslim scholar in South Asia, gaslights a Pashtun girl when she questions the collapse of society caused by religious extremism.
— Habib Khan (@HabibKhanT) October 6, 2024
“Viral video of Zakir Naik’s heated exchange with Pakistani girl on ‘paedophilia in Islam,’” Hindustan Times, October 7, 2024 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
A video of fugitive Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has surfaced on social media, showing a heated exchange with a Pakistani girl who raised concerns about the widespread societal issues, including paedophilia, in Islamic societies.
The incident reportedly took place during a public gathering organised for Zakir Naik in Karachi, on his visit to Pakistan, where the girl, identifying herself as a Pashtun, asked the preacher why issues such as paedophilia, adultery, and drug addiction persist in her region, despite its strictly religious nature. She also inquired why Muslim scholars (ulemas) do not address these problems.
Zakir Naik initially responded dismissively, joking that men should follow women’s example by not stepping out without a reason. When the girl attempted to elaborate, expressing concerns about the growing normalisation of paedophilia in her area, Zakir Naik interrupted her and repeatedly asked her to remain silent so he could answer.
He then denied her claims, asserting, “There is no mention of paedophilia in the Quran or any Islamic scripture,” and accused her of defaming Islam.
Zakir Naik, known for his staunch defence of Islamic teachings, went on to say, “A Muslim can never commit sexual abuse against children,” advising her to “think 10 times before making such accusations”.
When the girl tried to further explain her point, Zakir Naik sharply told her she was wrong and demanded an apology….
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I don’t think muslims have any idea what pedophilia means. They probably think it is only when an infidel molests a muslimah minor
somehistory says
mozlums don’t consider raping a child as a crime. And even when they know that infidels do consider it a crime, they are not going to admit that they do what others consider wrong.
If asked about some old creepy slime taking a child as a ‘wife,’ many mozlum clerics would say that is just fine and dandy. But they don’t like labels which make known the disgusting Truth about their beliefs and practices.
They proudly say that their fake prophet had a child whom he molested and then raped. But they won’t label it as the pedophilia it was.
There should be another term for the rape of a child because the one used implies that the rapist *loves* children. It is not love, but lust and a demonic perversion.
abu taleb says
There is no rape in Islam, it is only halal or not. A husband can never rape his wife(s) or sex slave(s) because they are halal to him, even though he uses violence to force the women.
Zakir Naik should also say that there is no mention of rape in Quran, and this is the truth.
gravenimage says
Yes, abu taleb–this is how Muslims think.
Nancy Albert says
It’s also relevant to add consanguineous marriages meant to keep money in the family. It is as high in the Sudan as 50%. The British make their Pakis take DNA tests before marriage, because they are likely to abandon deformed babies.
SKA says
But, remember that Zakir reminds us “I am a medical doctor!”
Tony Rice says
Well IF it is not mentioned in the Quran, why in Muslim countries are girls allowed to be married at age 9, everything Muhamad did is regarded as THE way to be followed. Even now as urinals in Tehran have been removed because Muhammad pee’d sitting down, so Iranians males are expected to follow suit.
Plus we are told he had to dress as a woman while receiving words from Gabrielle, so Hamas leader is now dressing as a woman.
gravenimage says
Tony, “Prophet” Muhammed’s marriage to little 6-year-old Aisha is in the Hadith. And the Qur’an mentons the procedure for divorcing a pre-pubescet child.
gravenimage says
Pakistan: Girl asks renowned Islamic preacher about pedophilia in Islam, he gives her a deceptive, dishonest answer
………………………………..
Zakir Naik didn’t just lie to her–bad enough–he threatened her for asking the question in the first place and demanded an apology.
Raping little girls is just fine in Islam.
Here he makes it clear that raping childrn is prefectly Islamic:
“Why prophet muhammad married with 6 year old Aisha | Zakir naik”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e9jumJqI5U&ab_channel=Noor
Joe says
In the Hadith, Muhammad gives BJs to his infant grandson.
Reziac says
“The Mufti said that 200,000 jihadists were ready to sacrifice their lives for any law restricting child marriage.”
Hmmm… sacrifice of the willing…
I’m okay with this. 200,000 fewer pedos in the world.
gravenimage says
+1
abu taleb says
There is no term “paedophilia” in Quran, but Quran allows marrying prepubescent girl in 65:4.
65:4 As for your women past the age of menstruation, in case you do not know, their waiting period is three months, and those who have not menstruated as well.
The waiting period is implemented to make sure that if the divorced woman is marrying with somebody else and giving birth soon, then they know who the biological father of the baby is. Therefore, the waiting period only applies after the woman (or the girl) is copulated.
Tony Rice says
The waiting period for necrophilia is 8 hours after death, assuming of course that is known. if not, well the mind boggles, in truth, the mind boggles anyway. Talk about perversion, desperation or unbelievable. Some religion is Islam.
Troybeam says
No matter how demented the crime against women and children Islam allows it and claims its in the book therefore it is allowed. God would never allow crimes that are in Islam but hey Satan would.
Rufolino says
Of course he lied.
In Islam you can lie as much as you like as long as you say it’s in the service of Islam.
In Islam the truth is unimportant.
OLD GUY says
Islam is a sick religious cult.