Underage Marriage

Let's apply the same standard to the Bible. Genesis 25:20 states that Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah. Now, Rashi — the most authoritative Jewish commentator on the Torah, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040-1105 CE) — provides a detailed chronological calculation in his commentary on Genesis 25:20. Using the timeline established in Genesis 22 and Genesis 23, Rashi calculates that Rebekah was born when Isaac was 37 years old — the same event timeline as the Binding of Isaac (Aqedah) and Sarah's death at age 127 (Genesis 23:1). Since Isaac married at 40 (Genesis 25:20), and Rebekah was born when Isaac was 37, Rashi concludes that Rebekah was THREE YEARS OLD when Isaac married her.

In Jewish law derived from the Talmud and rabbinic tradition, the age of three is explicitly discussed as the age at which a girl is considered fit for marriage (kiddushin). This is not a fringe opinion — it is discussed in mainstream Jewish legal works. Rashi's calculation that Rebekah was three when she married Isaac is consistent with this legal framework. The point is that if you want to criticise the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ for Aisha's age — which, as I showed, is not even from the Prophet ﷺ directly and varies between 6 and 7 — then you need to address why your own most authoritative commentator says a three-year-old was married in the Torah.

Genesis 24:16 says Rebekah was a 'virgin; neither had any man known her.' It describes her at a well, carrying a pitcher. You argue a three-year-old can't do this. But the text doesn't state her age — so what age do YOU say she was? Give me a biblical verse that states Rebekah's age at marriage. You can't — because there isn't one. Rashi calculated it from the biblical timeline. You reject his calculation but have no alternative age from scripture. Meanwhile, Genesis 25:20 clearly states Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah, and the chronological events of Genesis 22-23 (Binding of Isaac, Abraham's notification of Rebekah's birth, Sarah's death at 127) are right there in the text. Rashi didn't invent the timeline — he calculated from it.

The Protoevangelium of James — one of the earliest Christian texts, attributed to James the brother of Jesus — records that Mary was placed in the Temple at the age of 3 and remained there until she was 12, at which point the priests arranged for her marriage to Joseph. This text was widely circulated in the early Church and is accepted as historically significant by Catholic, Orthodox, and Coptic Christian traditions. The Catholic Encyclopedia also cites Mary's age as 12 at the time of her marriage.

The Historia Josephi Fabri Lignarii — the History of Joseph the Carpenter — is a manuscript held in the National Library of France, composed in Byzantine Egypt around the 6th century. It records that Joseph was married to his first wife for 40 years, was a widower for 49 years, and then married Mary — making him approximately 90 years old when he married 12-year-old Mary. So according to the earliest Christian biographical tradition, Mary was 12 and Joseph was 90. This is the tradition of the very people who wrote about Jesus and his family. If someone attacks the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ over Aisha's age, they must reckon with their own tradition: a 90-year-old man marrying a 12-year-old girl.

Numbers 31:17-18 records Moses commanding: 'Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.' The virgin girls — 'women children' in the KJV — were kept alive for the Israelite soldiers. The text does not specify their age, but describes them as children who had not known a man. Additionally, Judges 21:10-12 records the Israelites taking 400 young virgins from Jabesh-Gilead for the Benjamites who needed wives. These passages demonstrate that taking young virgins — including through warfare — was an accepted practice in the Old Testament, commanded or sanctioned by biblical figures.

The standard must be applied consistently. If you say 'only the Bible matters, not commentators' — then the age of Aisha should not be used against Islam either, because it's not in the Quran (our scripture) and not even from the Prophet ﷺ directly. If you say 'secondary sources and historical tradition also count' — then you have to deal with Rashi saying Rebekah was 3, the Protoevangelium of James saying Mary was 12, the History of Joseph saying Joseph was 90, and Numbers 31:17-18 commanding the keeping of virgin children. Either way, the attack fails. You cannot accept secondary sources when they support your position and reject them when they undermine it. That is a textbook double standard.

You just said you only accept the Bible — not commentators, not extra-biblical sources. You rejected Rashi and the Protoevangelium. But the hadith about Aisha's age is the Islamic equivalent of what you just rejected — it's not in our scripture (the Quran), and it's not even a direct statement of the Prophet ﷺ. By your own standard — 'only scripture counts' — you have no basis to attack Islam on Aisha's age, because it is not in our scripture. You've refuted your own argument. Furthermore, the Bible itself does not give Rebekah's age, so you have no idea how old she was — you just know Isaac was 40 (Genesis 25:20). And Numbers 31:17-18 IS in your Bible — that's not a commentary or an extra-biblical source. Moses commanding soldiers to keep virgin children for themselves is right there in your scripture.

Ezekiel 16:4-8 is a passage where God uses a metaphor describing Jerusalem as a girl whom He found as a newborn, raised her, and when she 'came to the age of love' — described as the time her 'breasts were formed and hair had grown' — He spread His garment over her (a marriage metaphor). The description of physical development is that of a very young girl reaching early puberty. This is God Himself using the imagery of marrying a girl who has just reached physical maturity — which in that era meant 11 to 13 years old. The passage reinforces that early marriage at the onset of puberty was the accepted norm in the biblical worldview.