Hieronder een interessante post die ik op een ander forum ben tegengekomen over de pedo-beschuldiging van de profeet (bedenk ook dat de bron van deze beschuldiging niet de Koran is, daarin wordt er namelijk niet over een leeftijd gesproken).
Stellen dat profeet Mohamed een 'pedofiel' was is een zware beschuldiging aan het adres van een man die door ruim 1 miljard mensen (
bijna 2 miljard mensen anno 2014) beschouwd wordt als de belichaming van de hoogste kwaliteiten die een mens kan bereiken in zijn leven. Bovendien wordt daarmee de meer dan een miljard moslims die verondersteld worden zijn voorbeeld te volgen afgeschilderd als moreel gedegenereerden. Het versterkt het beeld dat de islam fundamenteel onverenigbaar zou zijn met het 'beschaafde' Westen. In deze Koran Notitie wordt nagegaan wat islamitische bronnen ons leren over de leeftijd waarop Aisha zich verloofde en in het huwelijk trad met Profeet Mohamed. Daarnaast wordt nagegaan wat voor die tijd een normale huwbare leeftijd was. Verder wordt onderzocht wat Koran en Sunnah beschouwen als een huwbare leeftijd.
http://www.cie.ugent.be/bogaert/bogaert39.htmColin Turner, professor in Perzische taal en islamitische geschiedenis, stelt dat, mocht Aisha 9 jaar geweest zijn toen ze trouwde, dit huwelijk met profeet Mohamed in historisch perspectief dan ook in geen enkel opzicht onfatsoenlijk zou geweest zijn. Ook het leeftijdsverschil tussen de partners werd in bedoeïenen- en andere samenlevingen als normaal beschouwd. Kortom, een huwelijk op jonge leeftijd was zowel bij ons in West-Europa als in de Arabische wereld in het verleden niet ongewoon. Zelfs als Aisha huwde op 9-jarige leeftijd, was daar voor de tijd waarin zij leefde niets onfatsoenlijk aan.
http://www.cie.ugent.be/bogaert/bogaert39.htmEr zijn maar een handvol hadiths die de huwelijksleeftijd van Aisha bevatten - wat op zich al aangeeft dat haar leeftijd niet ongewoon was voor die tijd. Deze hadiths stellen dat zij 9 was bij haar verloving en/of huwelijk. Daar waar veel geleerden deze hadiths beschouwen als accuraat, kunnen er volgens anderen vragen gesteld worden bij de betrouwbaarheid ervan. Een aantal van deze hadiths zouden gemeld zijn op gezag van 'Urwah door zijn zoon Hisham, nadat hij op 71 jarige leeftijd van Medina naar Irak verhuisd is, of zouden via een Irakees uit die periode verteld zijn. Malik ibn Anas, Hisham's pupil, alsook een aantal vroege historici,
stelden dat de hadiths van Hisham uit zijn Iraakse periode niet betrouwbaar zijn omdat hij toen aan ernstig geheugenverlies leed.
http://www.cie.ugent.be/bogaert/bogaert39.htmDaarnaast voeren sommigen aan dat indirect uit andere hadiths of werken van vroege historici of hadithwetenschappers blijkt dat Aisha best een paar jaar ouder kan geweest zijn bij haar huwelijk.
Een groot of acuut twistpunt is het in de moslimwereld in elk geval niet. Net zoals men ook in het christendom (of de islam - want ook in de islam zijn Jezus en Maria geëerd) geen acute discussies voert over hoe oud Maria nu juist was toen zij het leven schonk aan Jezus, is de leeftijd van Aisha bij haar huwelijk in de islam geen issue.
De discussie over de hadiths lijkt er eerder gekomen te zijn omdat een aantal geleerden in reactie op de Westerse beschuldigingen van pedofilie, de zaak zijn gaan uitspitten - hoewel de exacte leeftijd - 9 of ouder - vanuit historisch of religieus perspectief voor moslims eigenlijk niet ter zake doet. Ook als ze 9 jaar was, was dit in de tijd waarin de profeet leefde niet ongewoon of onbetamelijk. Vanuit religieus perspectief heeft de huwelijksleeftijd van Aisha bovendien geen implicaties, het betreft zuiver biografische informatie die in de shari'ah geen enkele wettelijke kracht heeft en dus niet geldt als minimum huwbare leeftijd, zoals hierna zal blijken.
Pas de voorbije 150 jaar werd parallel met de ingrijpende veranderingen in de samenleving en demografie
ten gevolge van de industrialisatie de leeftijd van meerderjarigheid geleidelijk opgetrokken. Historische informatie dient bekeken te worden in de context van de periode waarin ze zich voordeed, niet vanuit een waarde-oordeel dat men enkele honderden jaren later zou uitspreken mochten dezelfde feiten zich vandaag voordoen.
http://www.cie.ugent.be/bogaert/bogaert39.htmProfeet Mohamed op grond van zijn huwelijk met Aisha een pedofiel noemen, getuigt op zijn minst van onwetendheid, op zijn slechtst van kwaadwilligheid en is hoe dan ook een ernstige vorm van laster. Laster houdt in dat men iemand - in dit geval profeet Mohamed - in het openbaar ten onrechte beschuldigt van feiten die niet waar zijn met als doel zijn reputatie te ruïneren. En zoals altijd het geval is met laster, zegt dit iets over denkwereld van diegene die de laster uitspreekt, maar niets over diegene die belasterd wordt. http://www.cie.ugent.be/bogaert/bogaert39.htmDe islam bevat geen leeftijdsgrens voor huwbare leeftijd, maar definieert de huwbare leeftijd in termen van algehele maturiteit, hoewel er vanuit de shari'ah ook geen enkel bezwaar is om vandaag de dag een wettelijke minimale leeftijdsgrens van bijvoorbeeld 17 of 18 jaar in te stellen om kinderhuwelijken, die ook volgens de islam een misdrijf zijn, tegen te gaan.
http://www.cie.ugent.be/bogaert/bogaert39.htmThe age of consent in Delaware was 7 until 1973"During the 19th century, states gradually raised the age of consent, in some cases to 21. However, in Delaware
the age of consent was seven until it was raised to 16 in 1973".
http://www.sexarchive.inf(...)NATIVE.HTM#_ftnref50Throughout most of the 19th century..
The minimum age of consent for sexual intercourse in most American states was 10 years.
http://www.buddybuddy.com/peters-1.htmlThe Church put it also at 7 (
wetenschappelijk artikel)
“The Roman tradition served as the base for Christian Europe as well as the Christian Church itself which generally, essentially based upon biological development, set it at 12 or 14 but continued to set the absolute minimum at seven.”
http://www.informaworld.c(...)0.1300/J056v16n02_03British Common Law put it also at 7 “Children below the age of seven were incapable of marrying.
After the age of seven they might marry, but the marriage was voidable until they were able to consummate the marriage, which the law presumed to be at age fourteen for boys and twelve for girls”
http://www.brandeslaw.com/common_law_marriage/clmart.htmMarriage under the age of consent not regarded as void!“At common law, a marriage contracted
under the age of consent was not regarded as void, but only as an imperfect marriage, valid until voided by the parties after their arrival at the age of consent...
http://query.nytimes.com/(...)57C1A9619C94669FD7CF“Ages from 10 to 13
were typically acceptable in western countries during the mid-19th century". {Waites, Matthew (2005) The Age of Consent: Young People, Sexuality and Citizenship, (New York States and Houndmills,: Palgrave Macmillan) ISBN 1-4039-2173-3}
"Traditionally in pre-modern societies, AAFM
[age at first marriage] for girls corresponded with the visible onset of puberty. In these early societies, high mortality rates demanded an offsetting high-birth rate. As a result, younger marriages were required to facilitate population growth". ("The Age of Marriage in Ancient Rome")
http://osdir.com/ml/educa(...)006-05/msg00028.html"DeMause (1990) pointed to “child marriage [being] widespread in Russia well into the nineteenth century". (G.U.S.: World Atlas).
http://www2.hu-berlin.de/(...)SIA.HTM#_Toc82813007What is puberty? "The time when a child’s body becomes sexually mature".
(Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary).
"Puberty: 'the time of life in which the two sexes begin first to be acquainted' [Johnson], 1382, from O.Fr. puberté, from L. pubertatem (nom. pubertas) 'age of maturity, manhood,' from pubes 'adult, full-grown, manly."
http://www.etymonline.com(...)erty&searchmode=none“Puberty is defined as the age or period at which a person is first capable of sexual reproduction, in other eras of history, a rite or celebration of this landmark event was a part of the culture”. (“Rites of Passage: Puberty”, by Sue Curewitz Arthen).
http://www.earthspirit.com/fireheart/fhpub.htmlWhen does puberty start?"Usually, this starts to happen no earlier than about 7 to 8 years of age for girls and 9 years of age for boys".
http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/sexual/precocious.html"Precocious puberty is puberty that begins before age 8 years for girls and before age 9 years for boys".
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/precocious_puberty.cfm"Although puberty usually starts between ages 8 to 13 in girls, it may start earlier or later".
http://www.healthtouch.co(...)IN+GIRLS+&cid=HTHLTH“It’s estimated that one out of six girls aged eight may be entering puberty. A groundbreaking US study on 17,000 girls found that 27% of African-American and almost 7% of Caucasian girls had the onset of secondary sexual characteristics, i.e., either breast development or pubic hair development, by the age of seven. By the time the girls turned 8 years-old, 15% of Caucasian girls and 50% of Afro-American girls were starting puberty.”
http://www.hgof.ns.ca/ind(...)nutrition&item=18004"Although most children begin puberty between the ages of 10 and 12, it can start at any age from 8 to 16. The most obvious determining factor is gender; on average, puberty arrives earlier for girls than boys.
http://findarticles.com/p(...)/ai_2699000593/pg_2/“In fact, two University of Chicago researchers, Dr. Martha K. McClintock, a biopsychologist, and Dr. Gilbert Herdt, an anthropologist, say that puberty may actually begin around the age of 6.”
http://query.nytimes.com/(...)spon=&pagewanted=all"Studies undertaken since 1990s indicate that the normal onset of puberty may be occurring at a younger age in girls in developed countries and that therefore the age of precocious puberty for girls may be as low as 6 or 7.”
http://www.britannica.com(...)ctive-system-diseaseWhat is menstruation? "In this way a girl starts her next phase of woman hood. It is this period when menstruation starts and marks the beginning of the reproduction cycle in her life".
http://ayushveda.com/homeremedies/menstruation.htm"On reaching menstruation cycle a woman’s body becomes mature and capable of bearing a child."
http://www.evemedic.com/menstruation.html"Getting your period" marks a rite of passage for young girls entering womanhood”.
http://www.missionislam.com/knowledge/aishamarriage.pdf"Don’t be surprised if your nine-year-old daughter will have her menarche that early".
http://www.herword.com/healthdesk/others/changes10.28.03.htmlMenstruation starts earlier in warmer climates"There was a study conducted showing that girls who live in countries close to the equator started their menstruation earlier".
http://www.herword.com/healthdesk/others/changes10.28.03.html"Albrecht von Haller, for example, claimed that girls in the southerly regions of Asia, where the climate was warm, were marriageable in their eighth year and gave birth in their ninth or tenth year; conversely, women in Arctic regions did not menstruate until age 23 or 24".
http://books.google.com/b(...)YNRKTuVxE#PPA1454,M1"The average temperature of the country or province is considered the chief factor here, not only with regard to menstruation but as regards the whole of sexual development at puberty".
http://www.biblioz.com/lp25762280577_207.htmlSexual Maturity "Remarkably, the mean age of phenotypic expression of sexual orientation, assessed in terms of the age of the first romantic/sexual attraction to another person, was constant at approximately 10 years"
http://findarticles.com/p(...)04/ai_n8795272/pg_8/"Using data from three separate studies, they said that sexual attraction first manifested itself in the fourth grade, from the ages of 9 to 10".
http://query.nytimes.com/(...)spon=&pagewanted=all“There are new guidelines for pediatricians that are guaranteed to shock: girls who start to develop breasts and pubic hair at age six or seven are not necessarily "abnormal" (Kaplowitz, et al., 1999). In fact, by their ninth birthday, 48% of African American girls and 15% of white girls are showing clear signs of puberty.”
http://www.center4research.org/children11.html"You grow taller. Your shoulders and hips may broaden. Your breasts grow. You grow hair under your arms and pubic hair. You may already have started having periods. Blood comes out of your vagina for a few days, usually about once a month. It means you are now able to conceive, so male spermatozoa can make you pregnant".
http://health.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=2983A 9 year old girl in Thailand gives birth to a child "The New Straits Times", Malaysia, 10 Maart 2001.
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4531/negenjaar.jpg
(copy/paste deze link)Marrying young was common “Marriage in Medieval Europe...On average, males married in their mid-twenties, and females in their early teens shortly after puberty.”
http://www2.hu-berlin.de/(...)iage_in_western.html“For most girls in Byzantium, childhood came to an abrupt end with the onset of puberty, which was usually soon followed by betrothal and marriage. Early marriage and procreation of children was the norm in Byzantium...”
http://www.geocities.com/(...)fo/social/women.html“Age of Consent throughout history has usually coincided with the age of puberty although at sometimes it has been as early as 7”.
http://www.informaworld.c(...)0.1300/J056v16n02_03A few examples from history... King Richard II
"In 1396 the king married Isabella of France, then only seven years of age".
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/royalty/kingr.htmlKing Edward I of England
"In 1254, Edward travelled to Spain for an arranged marriage at the age of 15 to 9-year-old Eleanor of Castile".
http://www.royal.gov.uk/H(...)wardILongshanks.aspxSaint Augustine
"At the age of thirty-one, Augustine betrothed himself to a ten-year-old girl".
http://www.internationalorder.org/scandal_response.htmlGirolamo Riario
"Caterina Sforza was betrothed aged 9yo, married aged 14yo, and gave birth aged 15yo".
http://womenofhistory.blo(...)iage-childbirth.htmlKing Denis of Portugal
"(Saint Elizabeth of Portugal) was married when she was a mere 12 years old to King Denis of Portugal".
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Elizabeth_of_AragonPrince Edward of Wales
"This would make Isabella (Prince Edward's wife) seven years old at the time of her betrothal".
http://www.randomhouse.co(...)qisbndata=0712641947Henry VIII
"Mary Stewart married Henry VIII when she was only six".
http://infad.usim.edu.my/(...)ile=article&sid=8840King Adronikos I Komnenos
"Andronikos, now (1183 - 64 years old) sole emperor, married Agnes of France, a child twelve years of age".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andronikos_I_KomnenosStephen Milutin
"Serbia’s Stephen Milutin (r. 1282-1321) (at that time 50 years old) had conquered Byzantine lands, and Andronicus made peace with him by giving him his five-year-old daughter Simonis in marriage in 1299".
http://www.san.beck.org/7-1-CrusadersByzantineDecline.htmlRichard of Shrewsbury
"On the 15th January 1478 at St. Stephen's Chapel in Westminster, the five year old Anne (Mowbray of Norfolk) was married to the four year old Richard (King Edward IV's son)".
http://everything2.com/title/Anne+MowbrayRoyals married young... "It is clear, in any event, that daughters of the nobility married young...a relatively high age of marriage among women was non-existent among the medieval nobility". (A History of Women in the Middle Ages, p.136).
http://books.google.com/b(...)xErRMc4e0h4s0zDOC-x0"For many noble-born or royal women of Europe, marriage could and often did take place at a young age. There are many instances or very young girls being betrothed and married under the age of 10 years old".
http://womenofhistory.blo(...)iage-childbirth.htmlLife-expectancy was low “In Rome and medieval Europe the average life span is estimated to have been between 20 and 30 years.”
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/426737/old-age"Life expectency during the Bronze Age was 18 years".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy#_ref-4“In 1796, life expectancy hovered around 24 years.”
http://www.longevitymeme.(...)le.cfm?article_id=11“Throughout most of human history, death came at an early age - 25 to 30 years was a typical lifespan.”
http://books.google.com/b(...)v=onepage&q=&f=false"For most of human history mortality was high and life expectancy low (between 20 and 30 years at birth)...”
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/34/3/526"Human life expectancy was in the 20s a thousand years ago". ("Guardian")
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2214930,00.htmlStatistics “Half of all new HIV infections occur among adolescents.”
http://www.troubledteens.com/troubled-teens-statistics.html“Over half of all new HIV infections in the United States occur in adolescents.”
http://www.aclu.org/repro(...)6389res20030718.html“According to some sources, for example, seven per cent of American children now have sex even before they have become teenagers.”
http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/repcard3e.pdf“In up to 50 percent of reported cases, offenders are adolescents.”
http://www.advocatesforyo(...)ew&id=410&Itemid=336In old civilisations.... "Durry (1955a/b/c, 1956) had argued that Roman girls were married before puberty, that puberty was not important in fixing the age of marriage, and that such early marriages were consummated before puberty".
(Janssen, D.F.; Oct 2002. G.U.S.. Volume I: World Reference Atlas. Interim Report. Amsterdam, The Netherlands).
http://www2.hu-berlin.de/(...)HHS.HTM#_Toc26337172"Flacelière (59) also mentioned that girls could marry as soon as puberty hit".
(Daily Life in Greece at the Time of Pericles).
http://www.richeast.org/htwm/Greeks/marriage/marriage.html"Women were marriageable right after puberty, marriage arrangements were made while they were in infancy; they were wed at the age of twelve or fourteen to men in their twenties or thirties".
http://www.molloy.edu/sophia/med_ren/med_text.htm "The father of a girl was obliged by Hindu law and by custom of the country to marry her before she attained puberty, though cohabitation was often delayed, an average of three years". ("The Oriental, the Ancient, and the Primitive", Page 208).
http://books.google.com/b(...)Rks251bg-_k4#PPP1,M1"Among the Ordos Mongols, children are sometimes betrothed even before birth. This custom, called eŭndege in swie (“Match-making before birth”), is thought by the Mongols to be of very nacient origin ... The actual age of marriage today [1938] varies a great deal, from four or five years to sixteen or seventeen, the average or ordinary age being fifteen". (G.U.S.: A World Atlas).
http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/GUS/MONGOLIA.HTM“Most [Aztec] girls were married (cohabiting) well before the age of puberty ... Children became adults upon marriage, and most children above the age of 10 years were married”. Females married very young". (G.U.S.: A World Atlas).
http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/GUS/AZTEC.HTM"The average age for girls to enter puberty was 12 to 13, and around 14 for boys… We find documentation of brides being as young as 8".
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/marriage.htmWhat is pedophilia? "Pe.do.phil.ia n [NL] (1906): sexual perversion in which children are the preferred sexual object -- pe.do.phil.i.ac or pe.do.phil.ic adj." (Merriam Webster?s Collegiate Dictionary).
"Pedophilia is defined as the fantasy or act of sexual activity with PREPUBESCENT children."
http://psychologytoday.com/conditions/pedophilia.html"Sexual urges or behaviors involving sexual activity with a PREPUBESCENT child".
http://www.ipce.info/library_3/files/cloud_ped_time.htm"Pedophile: Also spelled PEDOPHILIA, psychosexual disorder in which an adult's arousal and sexual gratification occur primarily through sexual contact with prepubescent children.
The typical pedophile is unable to find satisfaction in an adult sexual relationship". (Encyclopedia Britannica).
What is a child? "A person between birth and puberty".
"The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition". 2000.
http://www.bartleby.comPedophilia in the Jewish Talmud "A girl of the age of three years and one day may be betrothed by intercourse". {Niddah 44B}.
http://www.come-and-hear.com/niddah/niddah_44.html#PARTb"Come and hear! A maiden aged three years and a day may be acquired in marriage by coition, and if her deceased husband's brother cohabits with her, she becomes his". {Sanhedrin 55B}.
http://www.come-and-hear.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_55.html#PARTb"A proselyte who is under the age of three years and one day is permitted to marry a priest, for it is said: "But all the women children that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves" ... A proselyte whose age is three years and one day should also be permitted ... Consequently it must be said that Scripture speaks of one who is fit for cohabitation." {Yebamoth 60B}.
http://www.come-and-hear.com/yebamoth/yebamoth_60.html#PARTb"From the age of eleven years and one day to the age of twelve years and one day. One who is under or over this age must carry on her marital intercourse in a normal manner". {Niddah 45A}.
http://www.come-and-hear.com/niddah/niddah_45.html#PARTa"If a girl, whose period to see [blood] had not arrived yet, got married, Beth Shammai say: One gives her four nights, and the disciples of Hillel say: Until the wound is healed up". {Kethuboth 6}.
http://www.come-and-hear.com/kethuboth/kethuboth_6.htmlA Jewish Fatwa (AskMoses.com) "In ancient (and not so ancient) times however, marriage was often-times celebrated at a rather young age. Although we do not follow this dictum, technically speaking, a girl may be betrothed the moment she is born, and married at the age of three. A boy may betroth and marry at the age of thirteen".
http://www.askmoses.com/e(...)g-to-Jewish-law.htmlIn Hindu ScripturesGo to: “Manu-Smriti 9/94” - also: "Nand 17", "Basham 167", "Yadav 70", "Altekar 16" en "Banerjee 70".
Jewish Traditions"According to Jewish religious law (halacha), which in Israel confers validity on the marriage of Jews conducted within its borders, it is possible to marry a young girl of any age, but the girl herself may decide to marry only when she has reached the age of 12 and a half".
(U.N. Representative, Special Rapporteur to the United Nations).
http://www.right-to-education.org/content/age/israel.html"The early-marriage tradition of Israel found acceptance in Christendom, whose precocious children bedded and wedded at or even before puberty ... At the time of St. Paul, girls were married at puberty or a little before". (G.U.S.: A World Reference Atlas)
http://www2.rz.hu-berlin.(...)US/MIDDLEEASTOLD.HTM"One passage that would echo long and loud for Ashkenazic Jews throughout the Middle Ages held that a man who marries off his sons and daughters near the period of puberty (samukh le-firkan) will receive the scriptural blessing: “you shall know that your tent is in peace” (Job 5:24), evidently understood to mean that if one’s children were married, they would not succumb to sexual temptation”. (Biale, 199749-50)[95] (G.U.S.: A World Reference Atlas).
http://www2.rz.hu-berlin.(...)US/MIDDLEEASTOLD.HTMAge for Marriage The first positive commandment of the Bible, according to rabbinic interpretation (Maimonides, "Minyan ha-Mi ẓ wot," 212), is that concerning the propagation of the human species (Gen. i. 28). It is thus considered the duty of every Israelite to marry as early in life as possible … Some urge that children should marry as soon as they reach the age of puberty". ("Jewish Encyclopedia")
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=M&artid=216"In earlier days, girls got married at the age of nine…[following the] custom of marrying daughters at age eight to ten…if the maiden does not get married until the age of fifteen she has no hope of marriage, because she would be considered an old maid…At the end of the nineteenth century, despite these regulations, families still married their daughters at the age of twelve and thirteen…On the eve of World War I, the situation changed somewhat for the better when the legal age for marriage was raised to fifteen".
("Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal")
http://www.utoronto.ca/wjudaism/journal/vol3n2/sehayek.htmlChristian Traditions "Using natural law logic, Catholic authorities argued that the decisive factor which determined a child's readiness for marriage and sexual relations was the onset of puberty, and not necessarily age as such".
http://www.internationalorder.org/scandal_response.html"Sexual intercourse which took place before marital age limits or puberty was not necessarily illicit or sinful. On the contrary, some popes ruled that intercourse below the age of twelve/fourteen had the effect of sealing a marriage contract, as long as such intercourse took place after the age of discretion, which was seven. Once intercourse had taken place, the marriage could not be annulled".
http://www.internationalorder.org/scandal_response.html"In canon law, puberty normally determines marriageable age, although the minimum age for marriage is seven years, "the age of reason", when a child is deemed capable of consent".
http://books.google.com/b(...)9GZHbuWc53ho#PPP1,M1"St. Chrysostom warned parents to see to it that their children married soon after they reached the age of puberty".
http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/book-sum/medevl1.html "In ancient Rome, among both pagans and Christians, marriage at an early age was frequent. Betrothals often occurred even before puberty, although the consummation of marriage through intercourse usually did not take place until after the girl’s first menstruation. Very often, the age of discrepancy of marriage partners was great. According to one historian, “the matching of a man with a woman young enough to be his daughter or even granddaughter was generally accepted.”
http://www.internationalorder.org/scandal_response.html"The wife was to be taken from within the larger family circle (usually at the outset of puberty or around the age of 13) in order to maintain the purity of the family line".
http://www.theology.edu/marriage "It is safe to assume the bride was considerably younger than the groom, and childbearing would
have begun shortly after puberty". ("Life in Biblical Israel", Page 58).
http://books.google.com.p(...)th-thumbnail#PPR2,M1Hindu Traditions In the ancient Hindu scriptures of 400 to 100 BC, there are strict moral laws that enjoin the father to marry off his daughter at a very young age. These religious texts indicate that the best age for a girl to get married is between is 8 and 10.
http://www.cwin.org.np/resources/issues/child_marriage.htm "We find the rule, almost universally valid in the Smritis, according to which the
nagnika i.e. a girl going naked and yet immature, is the best (wife)". (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, pp.522-523).
http://books.google.com/b(...)vEUjGPQG_Y#PPA522,M1"Nagnika or naked. A girl seven years old or younger. This was regarded as best age for marriage".