13-Year-Old Muslim Girl Forced Into Marriage with Older Muslim Man

With tears in her eyes, young Wiam recounts the terrible day she was forced to marry 29 year old Muhammad when she was only 13 years old. “A girl can’t say no. It’s against our culture….if she says no, she is beaten. And if she is beaten, she has to remain quiet.”

Muhammad her husband likes the arrangement and smiles when asked why he likes to marry a girl so young, “I married her young because I want to raise her myself so that she obeys me.”

BTJ missionaries face this reality every day in Muslim countries. It is a subject that is hidden in western culture, because it doesn’t reflect well on the Prophet Muhammad. The Prophet Muhammad is the central figure of Islam and sets the standards for all Muslims to follow.

According to Islamic teachings, Muhammad’s was 54 years old when he married his favorite wife Aisha at only six years old and consummated when she was only nine years old (Bukhari 7.62.88).

What is terribly disturbing about Muhammad’s rape of young Aisha is that it was done with the help of her mother and several other pious women that are revered in Islamic teachings.

Here is the account of Aisha telling the story.

The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became all right, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, “Best wishes and Allah’s Blessing and a good luck.” Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah’s Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age. (Bukhari 5.58.234).

In the last decade, BTJ has written books about three Christian women (Mariam Ibraheem, Naghmeh Panahi, and Shagufta Kauser) and the suffering they faced for their faith. These three women were from three different nations (Sudan, Iran, and Pakistan), from three different continents (Africa, Asia, and Middle East), and yet all suffered similar hardships due to one unifying factor: Islam.

This is why today, BTJ is investing in businesses for women living in Muslim countries. In both Iran and Afghanistan, BTJ has made significant investments to help women who are suffering under the burden of Islam by helping them launch businesses that allow them to independently support themselves and their families. It is often frowned upon for women to run their own businesses, which is why BTJ has developed special techniques to work around the system from the inside.

If you would like to learn more about these businesses that BTJ is launching for women in Muslim nations you can attend our BTJ Business Forum October 3 and 4 of this year.  To learn more, simply send an email to: fieldoperator@backtojerusalem.com.