The Light of the Holy Qur'an — Page 75
T H e J O u r NA l—F AT e H M A S IH T H e J O u r NA l—F AT e H M A S IH 75 be pleased with her, you have written of her marriage ceremony at the age of nine. First of all, there is no evidence of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, himself saying that she was nine years old, nor is there any Divine revelation to that effect, nor is it established through narration that are muta- w a tir [i. e. possessing multiple chains of transmission] narrations that she was indeed nine years old. It is only quoted from one nar- rator. The Arabs, being illiterate, did not keep written calendars and a variance of two or three years is, therefore, insignificant in view of their circumstances. The same is the case in our country where most of the illiterate people cannot accurately account for a difference of two to four years. Nevertheless, even if we concede under the assumption that it was precisely nine years by counting every day, even then no intelligent person would object. There is, however, no cure for stupidity. I will demonstrate this to you within my journal by proving that there is a consensus of opinion among contemporary research physicians that girls can attain puberty even by the age of nine years. In fact, the bearing of children can take place even as early as seven years of age. Physicians have proven this through a great many observations. Moreover, hundreds of people have person- ally witnessed this fact with their own eyes in this very country that there are girls aged eight and nine years who have given birth to children. Nevertheless, upon you be no pity whatsoever—nor should there be!—for not only are you an absolute bigot, but also an imbecile of the highest degree. To this day you still fail to realize even this much that the laws of government are framed in accord- ance with the wishes of the people in keeping with their traditions