The Marriage of Muhammad and Aisha, and the Institution of Slavery: A Critical Examination Through Modern Ethical and Legal Frameworks
Abstract Islamic canonical sources record that the Prophet Muhammad married Aisha bint Abi Bakr when she was six years old and consummated the marriage when she was nine. Those same sources document Muhammad's personal ownership of enslaved persons, his participation in the slave trade, and his role in establishing the legal frameworks that governed slavery in Islamic law for centuries.
What this resource contributes
Abstract Islamic canonical sources record that the Prophet Muhammad married Aisha bint Abi Bakr when she was six years old and consummated the marriage when she was nine. Those same sources document Muhammad's personal ownership of enslaved persons, his participation in the slave trade, and his role in establishing the legal frameworks that governed slavery in Islamic law for centuries. This article examines the primary sources on both subjects, assesses the scholarly debate over their reliability, and applies contemporary frameworks — developmental psychology, international child rights law, clinical definitions of pedophilic disorder, comparative religious ethics, and international human rights law — to evaluate the moral status of those acts.
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Primary sources detected
Quran