We have to ask us: was Muhammad a paedophile?

Decide yourself…

If we just give a look to the age-differential between Muhammad and Aisha, when they had their first sexual intercourse (57-9=48, a huge difference considering that it was at a time when people hardly lived after 40-50 years and that Aisha was surely a child (still not had any menses)), then the answer is a convincing: Yes, Mohammed was undoubtedly a paedophile.

One of the most disturbing things about Islam is that it does not categorically condemn paedophilia. Indeed, it cannot, for to do so would draw attention to the paedophilia of Mohammed, the founder of Islam.

Mormonism has the same problem with its founder, Joseph Smith. Mormons cannot categorically condemn paedophilia either without denouncing Smith as a false prophet. Smith took 30 wives, one a 14-year-old. He planned unsuccessfully to marry a 12-year-old.

Were the two men “true” prophets? Are we sure that they didn’t create their own alleged revelations in order (as well) to justify their deeds?

Paedophilia is the sexual exploitation of children. The Encyclopaedia of Mental Disorders says that paedophilia is "an abnormal interest in children…a disorder that is characterized by recurrent intense sexual urges and sexually arousing fantasies generally involving…children, or other no-consenting persons. Paedophilia is also a psychosexual disorder in which the fantasy or actual act of engaging in sexual activity with prepubertal children is the preferred or exclusive means of achieving sexual excitement and gratification…Paedophilia is defined by mental health professionals as a mental disorder, but the American legal system defines acting on a paedophilic urge as a criminal act."

Please note the words: "the preferred…means of achieving sexual excitement and gratification."

From the age of 54 until 64, Muhammad preferred the very young Aisha to the rest of his large harem and sex slaves. He had fantasies about Aisha before asking for her hand. He passed these fantasies off as "revelations" from the Supreme Being.

As we have seen, Muslims argue that Muhammad reflected the practices of his time. If this is true (and we have some doubt on that), we must conclude that he did not raise the bar of morality to adult monogamy, but behaved the same as pagans.

Moreover, by making marriage alliances, he revealed his true motive was his personal political power, rather than the religious or moral betterment of society. Far from showing Muhammad as a moral leader, this argument shows the reverse: that Muhammad was morally similar to the pagans, and a scheming politician.

True revelation would have categorically denounced paedophilia as evil.

Muslims further, often use the "Fallacy of the Circular Argument" or "Begging the Question" to answer this question. They begin by stating "Muhammad was a moral example given by God, so he could not be paedophile." They want us to believe that Muhammad's character was excellent in spite of evidence to the contrary. Since no moral person could be a paedophile, they conclude Mohammed was not a paedophile. But this reasoning is circular and fallacious.

There were many people in Muhammad's day who considered him immoral. The Hadiths record that he had most of them exterminated. The use of violence to persuade others to "submit" is not a moral argument, but another logical fallacy. The Fallacy of the “Appeal to Force” in place of a reasoned argument is the most prevalent argument in the Hadiths and Qur’an.

Conclusions: not everyone at the time approved of his marriage to Aisha. Muhammad's paedophilia and multiple marriages caused huge scandals in his small community that required special revelations to restore confidence in him. These are recorded at length in the Qur’an.

A true prophet would have been inspired by God to denounce the evil of paedophilia, rather than commit it

IHS