Replying to Atheists

It is fair and just for sister to get half the inheritance that a brother gets

Posted on July 16, 2020February 27, 2023 by The Khalafzaee

Many ignorant people masquerading as experts criticise Islam saying that Islam gives only half a share to male than it gives to female, hence Islam is an inherently unjust, flawed and discriminatory religion. Of course, this is all non-sense and those who are speaking it are completely ignorant of Islam and culture that Islam develops among its followers and the reason for the shares of inheritance as they are. They are bringing a gender debate in where none exists. First of all inheritance in Islam is not based on gender but roles and responsibility each relationship plays. Inheritance is a family matter hence it is divided as per everyone’s role and responsibility in the family.

But before I start let me tell those who started giving females share of inheritance not even 100 years ago and that too came with restrictions. Such people should not debate with those who have been giving female share of inheritance for over 1400 years. Just by sheer experience we know 14 times more than you know about how to distribute inheritance.

The first rule of inheritance is that the debts need to be settled before anything is distributed. The second rule is when a person is on his deathbed he ceases to be owner of his wealth, as soon as signs of death starts showing, the estate ceases to be his and passes to his heirs. Third rule is anything given to anyone before signs of death become visible, that is considered gift, inheritance rules apply only after sign of death are visible. The fourth rule is that only a living will inherit and dead will not inherit, ie, if I die while my father is alive, my children will not be my father’s heir. Fifth rule is only upto 1/3 of inheritance can be made into will and given to whomsoever the owner wants to give, the rest 2/3 HAS to go to those with fixed shares as prescribed in Islam. Sixth rule is that the 1/3 of inheritance that can be given to anyone, CAN NOT be given to anyone who is already receiving a fixed share in the 2/3 of inheritance. This 1/3 of the inheritance is for those who are not inheriting, it is this allocation that can be used for cases like grandchildren whose parents have died.

These two Ayahs from Quran are the foundations of how inheritance is to be distributed among various relation

So let us see how I get inheritance through a table, I am the youngest child in my family, hence when I was born, my parents had already had my sister. Let us suppose that my father leaves £100 in inheritance

	My Father With a Son & Daughter	After My Grandmother died, ie today	If my Mother died before my Father
Inheritance	£100.00	£100.00	£100.00

My Granny	£16.67
My Mother	£12.50	£12.50
Sister	£23.61	£29.17	£33.33
I	£47.22	£58.33	£66.67

So let us start with the role my father has in the family, he is supposed to take care of all financial needs of my Granny who was alive when I was born, although my Grandpa was no more. My father has responsibility of my mother for 4 months and 10 days after his death (if the wife is pregnant, till the baby is born), and he had life long financial responsibility for my sister and my responsibility till I was an adult.

With my father’s death, everyone suffers a loss, but my Granny is among the hardest hit. She is old, frail and on medication, a son would have funded her through her old age, but he is now gone, hence a generous share is allocated to parents (if both of my father’s parents were alive they would have inherited (1/3 of my father’s estate, 1/6 each, but since only my grandma is alive, she gets 1/6). Now, my Grandma would have to wait till her grandson, ie I became old enough to take care of her, till that time it is hoped that her other children and surely this amount that she inherits from my father, helps her with her expenses. As stated previously, I not only inherit my father’s estate with most generous share, I also inherit his responsibilities, hence caring for my Granny is not just a duty but also an obligation and if I were to refuse to take care of my grandmother, she can take me to an Islamic court where I would be forced to fix a reasonable amount for her.

Next my mother, she has obviously lost her husband so it is a big deal, she has to stay back in her husband’s home for another 4 months and 10 days, thereafter she is free to marry anyone she wants to. I and my sister are not my mother’s responsibility but my father’s brother, who would take charge of his brother’s estate, till children grow up. Again for those who are saying why should mother be not in charge, because if she wants to marry someone else who does not want someone else’s children, she can leave her children with their paternal uncle, they are not her responsibility but my father’s brother’s. But no one can take children away from mother if she does not want to give, but if the mother wants the father’s family to take care of children, it is duty and responsibility father’s family to to raise children of their son or brother.

Lastly, it is my sister and I, as child our estate would remain in custody of my Paternal Uncle, who is supposed to take of me and my sister. He is allowed to take something reasonable as expenses he has made on us, even wages (if poor) but nothing else.

When I and my sister grow up, my uncle has to give us our inheritance. Thus he divides the inheritance, gives my sister her share of inheritance, and I get double of whatever my sister got, but I also get all the financial responsibility of my sister. I have to fund everything for her, while her money is her money that she can spend on anything. I have known brothers who kept their young widow sister, all through their lives in their homes, spending 100-1000 more than what they more in share of inheritance. And it does not just end with the sister, if she has children with no husband or source of income, the responsibility of the her children also comes on the brother. My mother’s uncle kept her young widowed sister in his house all throughout her life, while knowing fully well not to expect any compensation. When another of his young sister died and her widowed sister wanted to keep her orhpaned niece with her, he accepted the niece as well. My mother’s uncle paid for both of them all through his life, because both of them were his responsibilities, he loved and cherished them. Yes he did get twice the share than the sisters, but he must have spent 100 times more than the additional share he inherited.

Same thing applies to me, God Forbid if something goes wrong in my sister’s life, all her financial responsibilities are transferred to first my father and then to me and then to my son. And if I were to shy away from my responsibilities either towards my sister or my mother, they can take my court which will force to fulfill my obligations. Such laws are quite common in eastern societies, not just in Islam but modern India and China have laws that force children to take care of their parents in their old age, and they could even go to prison for not doing that. But, unlike modern China and India, where such caring laws are only for parents, Islam has extended to all close female relatives. Even if an aunt of mine has no one to take her, she becomes my responsibility because my father inherited more than she did, and this additional inheritance of my father might have trickled down to me. And of course, if I do not take care of such an aunt, she can take me to court and have it enforced on me.

Economically speaking, these ignorant people who masquerade as experts on Islam criticising its inheritance laws do not see the responsibility that it comes with. Having this additional inheritance is not a good news for males because it comes with an unacceptable economic risk attached, ie life long responsilibity. Any person who has ever worked in Risks would tell you to drop the additional inheritance because it comes with too many strings attached, it is not a beneficial deal.

Coming back to a very real scenario, my elder sister gets half of what I get, but think of this, most women outlive their husbands. So it is far more likely that she will become my responsibility or my son’s. The additional inheritance I get is never going to compensate for the money I will have to spend on my sister when she is my responsibility. If I was asked whether I would trade away this responsibility for giving up the double share I got? Economically it makes sense, the risk of having to take care of not just your sisters but nieces as well, this risk is just not worth the additional inheritance one gets. But as far as answer to the question is concerned, NO WE WILL NEVER trade our responsibilities toward our female relatives. We are raised to be loving and generous to our female relatives, we have been given their financial responsibility and it is not a burden for us. We are happy to take care of our sisters, mothers, aunts, grannies and our nieces. Allah has given us a bit of extra share to help but truly, should need arise it is never going to be substantial enough to compensate for the money we will have to spend on them.

The others I will inherit from would be my mother (whose distribution of will be exactly like my father’s), my wife and my sister (because she only has one daughter).

Next let us take the case of my inheritance from my wife, to keep the confusion to minimum we are only analysing the current scenario and not what would have happened if there was another scenario. My wife’s inheritance will be divided like this if she dies in the current scenario with £100

My Father in Law	My Mother in Law	I i.e. Her Husband	Her 1st Daughter	Her 2nd Daughter	Her Son
£16.67	£16.67	£25.00	£10.42	£10.42	£20.83

According to Surah Nisa

Another interesting feat of my family inheritance is that I not only inherit from my parents (as above) and my wife (1/4), I will also inherit from my sister as she has only one daughter, so it allows us to explore another scenario. One third of my sister’s wealth would be inherited by my parents (ie 1/6 each) as they are among those with primary responsibility for my niece. Her husband ie my brother in law will inherit 1/4 of what she leaves, like I inherited from my wife. And the rest will go to my only niece. But if my parents were not alive I too will get inheritance because I too am responsible for my niece.

	Father	Mother	Husband	Daughter	Brother (I)
When my parents are alive	£15.38	£15.38	£23.08	£46.15	£0
If my parents were no more			£25.00	£50.00	£25.00

According to Surah Nisa

Every scenario one after the other, the criteria for allotment of share is the role and responsibility a relationship plays in the family/household. Now let me show you how my inheritance has worked out in last few years. If I would have died at the time-points how my estate would have been divided. And keep your focus on how the allocation is fair and linked to each relationship is their share in terms of my responsibility towards them, and if I leave them with my responsibilities.

	Unmarried	Married with no Children*	Married with 1 Daughter	Married with 2 Daughters	Married with 2 daughters and a son
Inheritance	£100.00	£100.00	£100.00	£100.00	£100.00

Mother	£33.33	£33.33	£16.67	£14.81	£16.67
Father	£66.67	£41.67	£20.83	£14.81	£16.67
Wife		£25.00	£12.50	£11.11	£12.50
1st Daughter			£50.00	£29.63	£13.54
2ndDaughter				£29.63	£13.54
1st Son					£27.08

So if I had died when I was not married and had no hiers my mothers gets 1/3, and father gets the rest.

Next scenario is when I get married. Here my my mother gets 1/3, the new entrant is my wife gets 1/4 and the rest goes to my father.

Now comes the more complicated scenario as I am leaving children behind. I am dead with my first daughter, someone has to take care of her, send her to school, buy her dresses, take her out and give a good childhood, whosoever does that must get some compensation as unlike a son for whom no one has lifelong financial responsibility, responsibility for my daughter comes with her entire life. Moving to what I leave in inheritance, my mother gets her usual 1/6, my wife’s share gets halved from 25% to 12.5%, so instead of getting 1/4 she is getting her 1/8th, my daughter gets half and whatever is left is to be given to my father.

Situation changes again when I had my second daughter. My parents and wive’s share remains the same, but the share of my children, my two girls increases to 2/3. But this time, the share allocated to two daughters is 2/3 and my sister is 1/3 and whatever is left goes to my father. Again as you can see, everyone is being give share according to the role they play in the family and the responsibilities that being pushed over to their shoulder.

And lastly, with the birth of my son, someone is born who will bear my financial responsibilities. So my son inherits her responsibility as I got a share double her size. My parents and wife’s share remains the same.

After reading all this I hope that you know that the reason it is okay for my son to inherit double the share than her sisters, is because my son is taking over my financial responsibilities towards my parents, sisters and daughters. My daughters do not inherit any of these responsibilities, hence their share is smaller than their brother’s. It is fair and just for the brother to inherit twice that of sisters, because it comes with additional responsibilities that can be enforced in any Islamic court and society. My son can not say that I am not going to take care of my paternal aunt or sisters, they are his responsibility and court will order him to pay them, the judge can go to the limits of seizing my son’s property and could even sell it to raise funding to fulfill my son’s obligations.

I do not know any other society that has such enforceable laws to take care of aunts, sisters and nieces. For this reason it would be great injustice to the son or brother to burden him with financial responsibilities of his father without giving him extra compensation. Hence it is just and fair for son to inherit more than daughters.

Replying to Atheists, Uncategorized

Reply To Genetically Modified Skeptic: 4 Weird Questions

Posted on May 13, 2020December 29, 2021 by The Khalafzaee

This is a reply to Genetically Modified Sceptics 4 Questions he has asked in his video, please watch the video and then go through the answers

Before I deal with the questions let me clarify who Allah/ God Almighty is, because the Genetically Modified Skeptic does not seem to have a good idea of Allah and who He is (for broader understanding of Allah and his rights, click here). It is my firm belief based on personal experience that those who claim that they gave Islam a shot, never actually went to a scholar to learn Islam or even to a local mosque. Their primary source of knowledge of Islam comes from Islamophobes or those who hate Islam or apostates or Muslims such as Baghdadi, and all these sources are the worst sources to learn Islam from. I would really like to know if these people have read scholars like Ibn Taimiyyah or Maududi or even jurists like Abu Hanifa. No, none of them have read anything by them, so their understanding of Islam and its concept are as flawed as the teachers they have chosen. Only one Ayah of Quran will shatter the idea of God that He seems to think Muslims believe in.

Quran is an extraordinary book, it starts with an introduction (the second chapter of Quran, Al Baqarah, Ayahs 1-29) with God Almighty proclaiming who this book is from and who is it going to benefit, and who is it not going to benefit. Here in Surah Baqarh, in Ayahs 6-7, “Verily, those who disbelieve, it is the same to them whether you (O Muhammad Peace be upon him ) warn them or do not warn them, they will not believe. Allah has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearings, (i.e. they are closed from accepting Allah’s Guidance), and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be a great torment.” And further in Surah Ibrahim in Ayah 4 “And We sent not a Messenger except with the language of his people, in order that he might make (the Message) clear for them. Then Allah misleads whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.” and in Ayah 27 of same Surah Ibrahim, “Allah will keep firm those who believe, with the word that stands firm in this world (i.e. they will keep on worshiping Allah Alone and none else), and in the Hereafter. And Allah will cause to go astray those who are Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers, etc.), and Allah does what He wills.”

So God in Islam is not always Gracious and Benevolent, there is a limit. Also there is a difference between allowing things to happen and approving (in moral context) of those things to happen, understanding this difference is very important. When God Almighty allowed Satan to persuade humans to follow Satan and not God’s Messengers, He also allowed Satan all the tools that he wanted to use, except forcing someone. Hence He has allowed Satan to cause evil and distress, and then go to humans and whisper in their ears, “If God is Benevolent how come there is evil?” and “If God is Omniscience then did he not know that this is going to cause evil?” God Almighty does not want the evil to happen, but He has allowed it to happen, so that people can be tested. Lastly, it probably comes from your Christian heritage but in Islam we do not believe that there is only one Satan, namely Iblis or Azazil, but it is a large group which includes men and jinns.

Next, there is not a single place in Quran which says that Allah or God Almighty is Omnipotent, or has ability to do anything. What Quran says is that Allah has Power over all things, He does not have ability to do illogical things, like can He draw a square circle? By definition that is illogical like the question who created God?

Lastly, Omniscience, here we will agree with your definition that God is All Knowing aware of everything, indeed Quran says in Surah Sabah in Ayah 3, “Those who disbelieve say: “The Hour will not come to us.” Say: “Yes, by my Lord, it will come to you.” (Allah, He is) the All-Knower of the unseen, not even the weight of an atom (or a small ant) or less than that or greater, escapes from His Knowledge in the heavens or in the earth, but it is in a Clear Book (Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz).”, and in Surah Al Anam in Ayah 59,”And with Him are the keys of the Ghaib (all that is hidden), none knows them but He. And He knows whatever there is in (or on) the earth and in the sea; not a leaf falls, but he knows it. There is not a grain in the darkness of the earth nor anything fresh or dry, but is written in a Clear Record (Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz).” Everything, that has happened, that is happening and that will happen is written in Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz, and everything will happen exactly as it is written in the Clear Book (Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz).

Question 1: Why does God communicate through literature?

Answer: That is not what always happen, God chooses to which Prophet He gives literature and to who He does not give revelation in form of literature. There have been various examples when Prophets were replaced by another Prophet for generations and no new ‘literature’ came. An example is the Jewish period between Prophet Moses, David and Jesus (peace be upon them all). Throughout this period, there was always a prophet among the Jews to correctly interpret the scripture, and since there was only one prophet only one interpretation was available. But what happened, did Jews stick to the interpretation of the Prophets? No, they even killed Prophets, let alone sticking to their interpretations. This was the condition of God’s chosen people, let alone the rest of humanity. So, I don’t think the premise of your question is correct, ie having a scripture leads to various interpretations, because Jews always had a Prophet among them to correctly interpret the scripture, and still they did not stick to it. Fact is people do what they want to do, Free Will. And God Almighty allows them to do what they do, but He will take account of everything, Justice will be done.

What I gather from your discourse is that your specific problem is that different interpretations lead to suffering, but this again is not helped by the Jewish case who had one and correct interpretation coming from the Prophet and people still didn’t listen to him. But in general I would agree that different interpretations lead to suffering, when you interpret something new from traditional you interpret it based on your personal motivation (for eg a ruler wants to do something not allowed, so he goes to a religious scholar and extracts an interpretation). It could be based on ambition, (example is Majid Nawaz who does not represents Muslims or their scholarship and says whatever pleases the British Government). Interpretations are not always out of genuine belief and better evidence as I have just proven. Some are also motivated by miscreants like Baghdadi et al, while Anti Muslim interpret Quran as giving free licence to Muslims to go and kill all Non Muslims. Let us not forget that Satan is among both Jinn and Men (now please don’t start about misogyny in Muslims that I am excluding women from being contributory to evil… :-)). The suffering comes from Satan not God Almighty. Satan raises the differences and make people fight over them. You are blaming God for suffering, when the blame should lie on devils among men, who gave an interpretation that caused suffering. By the way this is classic Atheism, blame your deeds on God Almighty.

So after proving that even with one and correct interpretation people will do what they want to do. And that all interpretations do not come from good and scholarly intentions, my third point is that is text is also a test from God Almighty. Some people are guided by a text, and some will be misguided by the same text. An excellent example would be Atheists, often atheist claim that they gave a chance to Islam before they decided it was a bad idea like all others. But did he actually ever go to mosque or a scholar to learn Islam to learn verses of Quran and their meaning. God Forbid, No! He went to Islamophobic or Anti-Islamic websites and read the same verses that guides Muslims as those that will misguide him, for example one of the verses I quoted previously, proving that Allah is not bound to be Gracious and Benevolent all the time, ie there is a limit after which the guidance, graciousness and benevolence stops. Some will interpret it as a God who is practical and when fed up with someone, stops trying from His end. To others it would be an evil God who does not want to do good to everyone. While more ignorant will happily believe that Quran orders to murder all Non Muslims (and Quran does not say anything like it).

My fourth point is that there is no medium immune to misinterpretation, name me one medium which is immune to misinterpretation? Even person to person contact is not immune, I wrote to my sister earlier today while explaining myself, “You do not understand me” because she was interpreting my statement incorrectly. It happens all the time, in every medium, often everyday.

Your last lines on the question are there to insult God Almighty and score a few brownie points from your atheist supporters. Putting it in your word, “In whatever way you cut it” the premise of your question is flawed because even if one and correct interpretation was available people will still create their own and spread mischief, because people do what they want to do. Next in classic atheistic manner you have blamed ‘issues with humans’ on God Almighty. Thirdly, people are guided and misguided by the same texts, again primarily because the believe that what they want to believe. And fourthly there is no medium of communication which is not open to misinterpretation and misrepresentation.

One of the benefits of interpretation is that it allows us to understand it better, for example the dooms day will probably be due to a Gamma Ray Burst somewhere close by as the light and sound created by a Gamma Ray Burst is exactly the same as described in Quran (Surah Tariq), and we will not get any warning of it happening.

Finally, Quranic literature is a miracle, because Quran claims for itself, that it will be guarded against corruption, in Surah Hijr, Ayah 9, “Verily We: It is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Qur’an) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption).”

Question 2: Shouldn’t you worship the cruelest God imaginable? (Pascal’s Wager)

Answer: Never argued in Quran. In fact Quran argues with everyone to see the signs that are provided by God to prove existence of God and not through any wager. These kind of questions designed by Atheists are meant to appeal to our logical side, but are basically designed to lead people astray from the real question, root of your ungratefulness to God. God Almighty who has provided for you a planet on which you can easily live, having gravity that is optimum to hold you and planets atmosphere (unlike Mars), having a weak crust not hard like Venus, nor gaseous one like Jupiter, giving earth strong magnetism to divert solar storms and radiation, an atmosphere with correct amount of oxygen and ozone, a star not too far away and not too close, water that was brought down to earth, a large moon’s gravitation keeps the planet’s spin axis and climate remained stable for long periods of time, or Jupiter that does not allow large comets and other objects to get inside the inner planets and take a hit for all of us. The whole list of the blessings that you have from God are countless and Quran asks this question over thirty times in Surah Rahman, “Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?” Do you have any answers?

Question 3: Why did God create animals with ability to feel pain?

Answer: This is really an illogical argument, because what you can say for animals can also be said for plants. Should we be really killing plants and eating them? Do plants not have a life. I would actually prefer to animals, because animals are better, they can run, show emotions, even attack, but plants are like murdering a disabled person. Who would you prefer to kill? Someone whose is disabled and can’t run or someone who has brain and can run away or show emotion, defend and even attack? The answer has to be killing animals, rather than plants. Because if we answer killing plants, that would automatically include killing animals, in the end we can’t eat plants or animals…

Next, what happens to animal kingdom? Surely animals that are being killed for human consumption feel the same pain when other animals kill them. So God should not have created carnivores because they feed on herbivores. Atheists should do an experiment and see the results, because wilder beasts feel the same pain as cows do when we eat them, let them kill all the lions in Savannah, and see the results. There can only be one result, that is wilder beasts will eat Savannah and nothing will remain. Same goes cows, if we do not eat cows, cows will eat us. Read here a live experiment of this is going on in India’s saffron belt where Muslims are being killed for even transporting cows, look at the damage that is being done by cows and what would happen if the damage continues? We need to keep killing animals and eating them to maintain the balance, just like lions do in Savannah. Food Chain…..

Coming to suffering of animals, do you think if the suffering was not there, there would be laws against cruelty to animals? In Islam we are forbidden to overload an animal. If they had no pain, why should they not be overloaded, what happens to the animal in a few years after excessive overloading? To come to treatment of animals, do you think there would be any laws if animals did not feel pain, why shouldn’t we mass produce animals, treat them in most inhumane manner only to kill them and make money of them. Animals don’t feel pain, so why should I not make a quid or two out of them. The whole question misses out on the intelligence of what would happen if the opposite were true. The fact that they feel pain, gives us compassion for them, as a kid I had a cricket bat and during idle time I would keep hitting the ground with it, because I knew neither the bat nor earth would feel the pain. If animals didn’t feel any pain, why should a kid not do that to an animal’s head, after all it is not like the animal is suffering? And the same inhumanity that we show to animals would transfer to us quickly. God Almighty is Most Wise in giving feelings and pain to animals, it helps humans remain within their limits, if animals did not have any pain like your proposal, there would be a small child in every street hitting a weak animal, like I used to hit earth with my cricket bat.

Finally coming to sacrifice, I do not know Christianity or Judaism, but in Islam, one has to give 2/3 of the sacrifice to poor, no one can keep more than 1/3 of the sacrifice for themselves. So tell me, do Atheists have a problem with charity? Should poor people who can’t afford meat, should not get any meat to eat? That was my answer, but Quran answers you as well, after describing charity that needs to be given, it says in Surah Hajj, Ayah 37, “It is neither their meat nor their blood that reaches Allah, but it is piety from you that reaches Him. Thus have We made them subject to you that you may magnify Allah for His Guidance to you. And give glad tidings (O Muhammad) to the Muhsinun (doers of good).” So nothing reaches God, whatever reaches, 1/3 of it reaches us and 2/3 reaches to poor.

Question 4: Why doesn’t God just create people in heaven and skip the trial period of earth?

Answer: Most of this question relies on Omni-Benevelance nature that Allah does not have. There is a limit to benevolence as stated right in the beginning. Arguing that only faithful should have been created, should mean that creation of all Atheists is meaningless, I can not disagree more, people such as Atheists should not have created. But that is my petty puny brain speaking. But, Allah knows better. If He were to make a creation of only faithfuls, let us not forget that Prophet Adam (peace be upon him) was not among the Atheists, he is a Prophet and among the faithfuls, however he and his wife did commit a mistake. Are you suggesting this should be disallowed as well? I mean where does it stop? When we have no free will? Then we would be like angels, no free will, and no extraordinary powers.

Next, those who are going to heaven will not have a problem, but those going to hell, they would say, “Hey we didn’t do it, why punish us for something we didn’t do. Give us a chance and we will prove to be better than those going to heaven.” This is where your questions falls apart.

I have dealt with this question from a Muslim’s perspective here, it is in English, but I have used a lot of Urdu in quotations, however these quotations do no make much of difference to your part of the question.

Replying to Atheists

Reply to Skeptical Atheist’s Video on: Prophet Muhammad’s Marriage to Aisha.

Posted on April 24, 2020December 29, 2021 by The Khalafzaee

This is a reply to this video: See the video and read my reply. The reply is in active style because it was posted as an answer on his YouTube channel.

Before I begin, let me clarify my position. I have read all the arguments regarding age of Aisha, and I can have seen merits and shortcomings in all of them, and it has left me very confused to decide what the truth is. I find arguments of those who say that her age was 19 years old more convincing because her young age doesn’t fit with the rest of Prophet’s life, like her presence during Battle of Badr/Uhud at 11 years of age is impossible as boys of 15 years of age were not allowed to go to battlefield. At the same time those who say she was much younger have strong arguments as well, like the hadith of Aisha playing with toys with horses with wings. The arguments on both sides are convincing, however I tilt towards her 19 years of age argument because it fits with overall Prophet’s life perfectly but I cannot discount the arguments of much younger age. Next, age of Aisha is not a theological question for Muslims like me, so it does not matter to my faith what I believe her age of marriage was. Since it is not a matter of faith a lot of weak Hadith can be used and are used, this has led to difficulties in deciding what to believe and what not to believe. To conclude, I believe that age of Aisha could have been anything from 9 to 19, but I tend towards her much older age. Lastly she was married only after reaching puberty, and puberty is when I know I should stop considering someone as child.

Coming to your video, What is exactly your problem? Because, you have discussed the age gap between Prophet and Aisha as well. But it is not uncommon to hear 20 year old girls marrying 67 year old men. Hence I don’t think you should mix this issue as this is not be a problem in most of societies, there are thousands of people with that age gap. Tomorrow if my mother dies, how should I feel about my father (a septuagenarian) marrying a 20 years old? Can’t say about you, but I will feel jealous that his wife is younger than mine, nothing else. And why should I have a problem , the 20 year old married him out of her own free will, why should anyone have any objections? So let it be reinstated that you do not have problem with the age gap between them as you wouldn’t have if my father married a 20 year old. Next comes the question of age itself.

Before I begin my argument, I want to reinstate position and intelligence of Aisha, she is considered the wisest of women of her time, she was an intellectual, a scholar, a teacher, a jurist, many caliphs sought her advice on many things, she was far more accomplished in her society than I or you can ever be. Caliphs who were technically more powerful than any other King or Emperor sought her advice on extremely serious matters, let us be frank, I and you will never reach a position like that, because there is no one man who has so much control over so much humanity or territory. And you can’t say that she had that position because she was wife of Prophet, because there were other wives as well, so her position as an intellectual and a scholar was gained by her own study and intellect. If she is filled with all these qualities, it would be important to ask what did she think of her being married at 6 and her marriage being consummated at 9 feel? Or is it that you think that she has no say in the matter that primarily concerns her? You have thrown Aisha out of the question that is about her? Why have you never discussed how did Aisha feel, while she was herself so accomplished. If she can take an Army to gates of Caliph with her demands, it would stupefying not to include her opinion on the matter.

Now we come to the next question, a very important one that you just brushed aside. Who is a child? Your main point in this affair has been that this marriage is morally wrong because Prophet Muhammad married a child, but you are not willing to acknowledge who is a child. I firmly believe that a childhood is over when one reaches puberty. Aisha was married when she had reached puberty, hence I refuse to acknowledge her as a child. So your question is irrelevant to me, because I know Prophet did not consummated his marriage with a child but it was consummated with an adult. Even today, age of sexual consensus remains debated and every country has their own opinion. New York State says it is okay for an 11 year old to have sex, but that is limited by the age of partner, but essentially they do not see a problem with an 11 year old having sex, but that is not your argument, your argument is that no one should have any sex with a 11 year old. But New York State says it is okay for a 14 year old boy to have sex with an 11 year old girl, then leave her pregnant and abandoned. Why do you have no problem with it, and I am saying so because you made a video about Aisha and not about 11 year old girls in New York State whose boyfriends have abandoned them. If it is physically and medically wrong for an 11 year old to have sex, then it should be same for men of all ages, or your argument is based on penis size of 14 year old boy and an 18 year old adult man? Fact is that the matter of age of consent is very complicated. Italy allows 13 year old girls to have sex with upto 18 year old boys, how are such physical, mental and other such problems associated in this case. In Germany, 14 years old are allowed to have sex with upto age of 21. Japan has 13 with adults, Lesotho as 14 with adults. So my friend, you can not shy away from defining who a child is and what should be the age of consent, and you must give reasons why you think that age is the correct age.

As stated previously I believe that age of childhood ends at puberty. When that age is crossed whether male or female their body is ready to have sexual relationship. That is a natural age when a person leaves childhood. There are millions of articles written about how young adolescents (10-13 years old) have their bodies ready to have sex, their bodies have gone through all the changes biologically required to have sex. Next comes the social and mental well being, my kids and all their friends in UK and indeed when you were 10 year old, you were half as smart as the 10 year old kid in India who works in a Dhaba (local lower class restaurant) serving tea, clearing tables, etc. He is often abandoned child, lives on street, knows how the money works, is smarter and has been looking after himself since the time he can remember. There is no competition that children in UK will be at least 15-16 years old when they can survive alone in the world. These children in India become adults quickly, they mature quickly, they know how the world around them works, something which is alien to the kids going to school here. My argument is training. Life trains street kids in things from early on they can handle much more than we can think of, kids are very resilient, Slumdog Millionaire would serve as a good refresher of how smart street kids could be. Similarly, when they are growing in an environment when they know that they would be married when they reach puberty they are not psychologically scarred as some might want to argue, they take it as another stage of life, like children in UK take qualifying from Primary to Secondary School. Thus Aisha never showed any signs of scarring because of her marriage or consummation of her marriage, and she should remain the focus of argument, after all the argument is about her marriage.

To conclude, you need to define who a child is, and why do you think that your selected age is correct age and how does this marriage scar a child when one is trained for it, if one does get scarred why did Aisha not show any sign on it throughout her life. If marrying a child and consummating marriage with her is so detrimental for the child, why does Aisha show no effect of it? Fact is that you do not care about Aisha, your enemy is Prophet Muhammad and your objective is demonising him. If that was not the case, your video should have been how Prophet Muhammad destroyed the life of Aisha by consummating their marriage when she was 9 years old AS TOLD BY AISHA. Why is Aisha so absent from your argument, when the argument is about her?

Fact is marriage of Aisha and Prophet Muhammad was no exploitation of any kind, Aisha was not a child at the time of her marriage. She did not suffer any physiological or psychological damage of any kind or are you among those men who want to control opinions and choices women make, like the choice Aisha made of marrying Prophet Muhammad? Let alone Aisha, ask believing religious Muslim women of today if they would want to swap places with Aisha, and you would know the result. I know because I asked several of my cousins, doctors, engineers, lawyers and teachers overwhelming majority said that they would swap places with Aisha.