IslamOppresses WomenIF you are indoubtconcerning thoseofyour
wiveswhohaveceasedmenstruating,
knowth atth ei r wai ti ngpe ri od sha llbe
th re e mon th s.The sameshallapply to
those who have notyet
men str uat ed'(Qu r'a n65: 4) ,
emp has isadded]. In other words, Allahis
envisioninga scenarioin which a
pre-pubescentwoman is not only married,
butis beingdivorced by herhusband.
One reasonwhy sucha verse might have
been "revealed" toMuhammad is thathe
himself had a child bride: The Prophet
"married•Aisha whenshe was agirlof six
years of age , and he cons ummat ed that
marr iage she was nin eyea rs old. ‘Ch ild
marria ges' were common in seventh-
century Arabia -andhereagain the Qur'an
has taken a practicethat shouldhave been
abandoned long ago and given it the
sanctio nof divine revelat ion.Wife-beating
Muhammad was once toldthat"women
have be co me em bo ld en ed to wa rd s
th ei r hu sb ands,"whereuponhe"gave
permission to beat th em ." Wh en
so me wo me n co mp la in ed,
Muhammad noted: "Many women have
gone round Muhamma d's family
complai ning against their husbands.
Theyare not the bestamongyou."' Hewas
unhappyJust Like Today:
Child marriages
in the Islamic world
Thishastouched millions of womenan d
gi rl s in so ci et ie s wh er e th e Qur' anis
abso lute trut h and Muha mmad isthe
mode l for all huma n beha vior , Morethan
hal f of the tee nage girl s in Afgh anistan
and Bangl ades h aremarre d,' Ayato llah
Kho mei nitol d the Mus lim fai thf ultha t
marry ing agirlbefor e she began menst ru-
ating was "a divine blessing." I-le counse le d
fa th er s: "D o yo ur be st to en su re that
yourdaughters donot see their firstblood in
yourhouse.–
Iraniangirlscan getmarriedwhen they
areas young as ninewith parental permis-
sion,or thirteen without consent' With child
marriage comes domestic violence:in Egypt
29 percent of married adolescentshave
been beaten by their husbands:ofthose, 41
percentwere beaten duringpreg nanc y.A
stud y in Jord an indi cate dthat 26 percent
of reported cases ofdo me st ic vi ol en ce
we re co mm it te d against wives under 18"