11-year old Jemeniti girl Nada Al-Ahdal would rather die than get forced to marry

Former Muslim here and it has PLENTY to do with religion. When the perfect human who has done no wrong(Muhammad) marries and fornicates with a prepubescent girl and the goal of Islam is to EMULATE the prophet's life as close as possible, it becomes a problem. Education and lack of poverty strive people to become LESS religious. But if a Muslim is fornicating with a 10 year old then all they are doing is emulating the prophet which is a good thing for their heaven points.

 

So you are saying the majority of Muslims in the world favor child marriage?

 

Current Muslim here. Yep, it's a problem. I hope bringing this issue into the light invites criticism on those who support it. On the Muhammad and Aisha controversy, I had a healthy discussion some years back. This Guardian article echoes a lot of what I said:

I align with the last group. Between the Quran and the Hadiths (written centuries after Muhammad by hearsay), I stick with the Quran and largely ignore the Hadiths. I doubt Aisha was that young, and whether the Desert Oasis county hall of records was up to snuff. Everything I've read about Muhammad doesn't appear like he was a child molester or pedophile. He's got a good track record. I give him the benefit of the doubt. I know firsthand how easy people forget or reconstruct history for their agendas, let alone a figure of a religion many years afterwards.

However, it's entirely possible what most mainstream Islam critics suggest. In that case, I find it very troubling, but not faith-shattering. Muhammad is NOT infallible or perfect. He is NOT to be emulated literally, but in principle. However, like most things in life, people disagree on it. Seems you two were taught he was; I was told the opposite, and my research backs my hunch.

@ATW
Here lies the problem with Islam. I find the absence of central authority and middle men liberating. There is only me and God. It synthesizes with all that I've learned about other world religions, ethics and philosophy, and life experiences. I am at one with those around me. Unfortunately, some reject the above. They cling to the pyramid model of middle men and let others influence their thinking. These priests and clerics will say backward stuff like this, and their audiences will heed them and give them legitimacy. No one say the clerics are wrong as a final word because there are no middle men. It's a Catch-22. The clerics step into the vacuum and seize power.

The religious free market will decide whether Islam as a whole can survive. People like ATW and fchowd are necessary to test the faith, and keep its followers thinking rather than accept blindly. There will be a power struggle and civil war within Muslims with those who need middle men and those who don't, between those who can reform and those who can't. I predict a 100 to 200 year period of getting that area of the world to modernize. Decades from now, maybe this thread will survive to be analyzed as examples of responses to Islam's reform.

 

I don't like getting into these long debates but I know that forcing anyone to marry is forbidden in the religion. Both parties have to agree to the marriage. Also, threatening children to "agree" is also not allowed. These people mix culture and religion and think the religion allows them to do so without having the proper knowledge.

On a side note, you can't possibly say that this specific case was 100% legitimately religiously motivated. The girl gave an example of her aunt setting herself on fire at age 14 because her husband used to beat her with a metal pipe while he was drunk. Drinking is forbidden in Islam. If these people are so religious, they wouldn't drink. I'm not saying drinking is a more significant crime than abuse and forced marriage but since the latter is being debated about, drinking is not up for debate and according to her, some people in Yemen drink, which clearly means they are not following the religion.

She's a brave girl, good thing she had a place to go to. Many girls don't unfortunately.

 

Aisha was more like 12-15 but that's besides the point. It was a different era.


Hell, 14 year olds used to run the house this past century. You can make a point that they were forced to grow up quickly but girls were seen to mature a lot more quickly than boys.

 

I am just curious, if this is not a practice widely condoned by Muslims, why are you using it to defame them?

Child marriage is a problem throughout the world, not just Muslim countries.

 

Seriously that culture is truly barbaric, keeping women down for thousands of years.

Time to grow up and join the 21st century.

Ridiculous.

Good for her !!

DD

 

Even Muslim apologists agree that at most she was 10.

 

I love it when I catch you in a logical trap, you just resort to insults. It's too easy to fluster you.

Debate is definitely not your forte.


Let everyone see again how this guy, completely stereotypes 1 billion people for the misdeeds of a few. As usually, ignoring other cultures and the history - with the prime purpose of fomenting hate. Look at Dadakota's reaction in this thread - labeling the culture to be messed up.

Fact is, what guys like ATW is trivialize issues like child marriage by saying it is solely an issue of religion and not that of larger based problems around poverty, education, and isolation. This region of the world doesn't need to be "cleansed" of Islam as ATW is implying, but rather modernizing it's society into the 21st century. There's a big difference.

 

...but dmc89 just posted an article saying she could've been 19. Forcing someone to marry is wrong, no matter what religion or culture you're from. Like in dmc89's post, the idea that someone was of age to marry when they reached puberty is relevant to this discussion. Why is 18 the age in America? Is that when people are considered "grown"? That's not even the age when adults are fully developed. Why can a 78 year old marry a girl as soon as she turns 18? The real discussion should be about why that area has problems like this in the first place, and how these problems can be solved.

 

Modernizing a society will more than likely naturally "cleanse" Islamic influence.

 

Yes, Islam is barbaric and never evolving, but the video itself seems like a publicity stunt for the next VS model. One to keep an eye on.

 

Somewhat but not entirely. We're pretty modern here in the US and practicing Muslims love it here. But yes, by modernizing an ancient society, some people will abandon cultural/religious practices due to the lure of a modern society but the true Muslims will continue practicing.

 

Right, tell that to Malaysians.

 

Can ATW rise up to a rhetorical challenge, or is he just the Basso of Anti-Islamic spewing garbage, just another D&D robotic google alerts spammer? Can he overcome resorting to petty insults and tired irrelevant lines of ad hominem attacks? I challenge you ATW to defend your position here on D&D or forever be written off as a coward who is afraid to debate when actually challenged.

The board is watching, but certainly not holding its breath.