Reply #35: Only if he had sex with her, that is NOT claimed in the Article

[happyslug]

Mohammad himself married a Six year old (Aisha, daughter of the man who would become the First Caliph, thus this was a clear political marriage), but had no sex with Aisha till Aisha was 10 (and some people question that since Aisha never bore him any children and stayed with him till he died and was his "favorite"). The actual consummation of the marriage between Mohammad and Aisha was done in private but once announced BEFORE it was to be done and afterward both FAMILIES said it took place (This Strengthen the Political connection between the two families, thus it was unimportant is sex actually took place, all that was important is both said it did).

Please remember a Marriage is most of the world is NOT two people agreeing to have sex, but two families agreeing to support those two people as members of both families. The sexual aspect is minor, through essential but only essential when both parties are viewed as of the age to have sex. In the Western World the age of consent (Unless changed by Statute and it has in most of the West) was age 12, in Arab Culture it was age 10. Thus Mohammad had to have "sex" with his wife when she was 10, what that sex act consisted of was between those two, but people have lied before about sex when such lies were expected.

My point is just being Married does NOT mean any sex act occurred, especially at age 8 given Mohammad waited till his wife was ten (and even at that age he is attacked for having sex with someone so young.

This came up about ten years ago in Pennsylvania, a Teacher was caught having sex with his 12 year old student. His defense was he had entered into a Common Law Marriage with his Student and therefore his sex with his student was legal. Went all the way up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, where they had to agree with him. The State General Assembly had NEVER outlawed Common law marriage (The General Assembly did do so effective 1/1/2005) AND had never addressed common law marriage in any statute (The General Assembly, right after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling, made it illegal to entered into any marriage, even a common law marriage before age 18 without permission of one's Parents). Thus at the time of the sex between the Teacher and the Student the only law that was applicable was traditional Common law. Under the Common Law age of Consent to have sex had been age 12 (Modified by statute starting in the late 1800s, but always with an exception for married people). Since married couple were exempt from the act, a valid common law marriage made the any sex LEGAL between the teacher and the 12 year old. The Court then ruled that under the Common Law the age to consent to Marriage had been 12 and since no law (The General Assembly subsequently changed the law but that change did NOT affect the case I am discussing) passed PRIOR to the Consent to this Common Law Marriage forbade such marriages. Once you had a Valid Common Law Marriage consensual sex between the married parties was legal. The court then found that BOTH sides admitted to entering into a Common Law Marriage BEFORE they had sex, neither was already married, so both could marry, and the law did NOT require parental permission to marry, thus the couple entered into a Valid Common Law Marriage and the sex was legal.

My point here is that even in the US having sex with a 12 year old had been legal in Pennsylvania prior to about the late 1990s if the 12 year entered into a valid marriage (and that included a Valid Common Law Marriage and the 12 year old did NOT need to have her parents permission to entered into such a Marriage). Colorado, another Common Law Marriage Jurisdiction, seems to have a similar set of rules, as do most other states that still permit Common Law Marriages. Furthermore, all other states would have to accept these Common Law Marriages as valid under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the US Constitution, thus once married, the couple could have sex in any state and it NOT be pedophilia.