Consummate
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[edit] Introduction
Some Muslims cannot bring themselves to believe the Bukhari sahih ahadith by which Ayesha narrated that Muhammed had sexual intercourse with her when she was nine years old. These Muslims typically resort to questioning the English translations of Dr Mohsin Khan without themselves reading the ahadith in the original Arabic. An examination of the Arabic text shows that, according to the sahih ahadith, Muhammed did have sexual intercourse with Ayesha when she was nine years old.
[edit] Main
There are many ahadith relating the same fact in question. The one most in contention is the following hadith :
sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 64
Narrated 'Aisha : that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old.
An Ayeshath Radhiyallahu Anha : AnnaNnabiyya Sallallahu Alaihi Vasallama Thazawwajaha vahiya binthu sitha sineen, va udkhilath alaihi vahiya binthu this’in.
{In this hadith, the word “udkhilath’ was translated by Dr Mohsin Khan to mean “consummated his marriage’.}
Some Muslims claim that Muhammed “zawaj”ed Ayesha when she was six and “nikah”ed her when she was nine years old (for example, AbdurRahman Squires in http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Polemics/aishah.html). They thus posit zawaj to mean betrothal and nikah to mean marriage. In this way, some Muslims claim that Dr Mohsin Khan”s “poor” translation of nikah as “consummation of marriage” instead of just “marriage” had inadvertently raised a sexual connotation when none was intended.
The Arabic text shows this reasoning to be false : Bukhari used zawaj and nikah interchangeably as synonyms to mean marriage (as does the Quran in verses 33 : 37, 44 : 54 & 52 : 20). Secondly, according to the hadith the relevant word was not “nikah” (which does not appear in [Bukhari]] 7 : 62 : 64) but udkhilath.
The root of the verb “udkhilath” is “dakhala” which means to “enter”. This is the common Arabic meaning though there are other definitions, none of which can be made to fit with the context of the hadith above.
Some Muslims try to cast doubt on the meaning of dakhala as sexual intercourse by pointing to these other definitions. One Muslim even gives the definitions below, albeit conveniently without the sexual definition despite claiming a fullness of definition :
Here is the full definition of دخل (dakhala) :
- 1. insert, enter, thrust, admit, drive in, let in, show in, make or let enter
- 2. turmoil, turbulence, topsy-turvy, abnormality, fuddle, tangle, riot, ruction, restiveness, chaos, fuss, disorder, clutter, confusion, commotion, defectiveness, disturbance, tumult, imperfection
- 3. aberration, imperfection, defect, blemish, abnormality, flaw, fault, vice, shortcoming
- 4. yield, revenue, proceeds, income, earnings, taking
- 5. conscience, innermost feelings, inward thoughts, inner self, soul, design
- 6. doubtfulness, doubt, mistrust, uncertainty, overconcern, peradventure, incertitude, suspicion, extreme solicitude, abnormal anxiety, anxiety
- 7. tie-in, pertinence, concern, connection, connectedness, contact, conjunction, association, business, yoke, nexus, linkup, liaison, linkage, link, relevance, affair
- 8. imperfection, vice, flaw, shortcoming, blemish, aberration, defect, fault, abnormality
Typically the Muslim reasoning is that consummation could mean 'completion' of the marriage or wedding ceremony, as in completion of a business transaction. However, this is erroneous as dakhala does not mean the English word “consummate” but the English phrase “consummate the marriage”. There is an important difference. This misunderstanding is due to the Muslim”s attack on the English word “consummate” and not the Arabic word “dakhala”. While the English word “consummate” may mean completion (as of a business transaction), the Arabic word “dakhala” carries no such connotation.
Further, a fluent English speaker will never take “consummate the marriage” to mean complete the marriage or enter the marriage, but will always understand it to mean sexual intercourse. It is the only possible understanding of the euphemism. This is what the Muslim failed to understand : the meaning of the verb is dependent on the object in question. As the object is “marriage”, the verb “consummate” means sexual intercourse. This is because of the historical English (or more correctly Catholic) custom in which a marriage is considered to be consummated when the sexual act has taken place. It was a case for annulment if the sexual act was not performed, i.e. the marriage was not consummated. This has been the definition for centuries. In ancient times until quite recently, the wedding bed linen was displayed to the couple’s relatives on the morning after the wedding to signify consummation of the marriage. A bride was expected to be a virgin and a bloodstained sheet left no doubt as to both the bride’s honor and the finality of the marriage contract – i.e. it had been consummated and that there would be no question as to its legality.
An English definition commonly found on the internet is this from the Hans-Wehr Arabic-English Dictionary p273 : “to enter, to pierce, to penetrate, to consummate the marriage, cohabit, sleep with a woman”.
Some Muslims attack the Hans-Wehr definition, thinking that each definition is a separate alternate. Unfortunately for them all the Hans-Wehr definitions are exactly the same. Just as in the English language “consummate the marriage” is an euphemism for sexual intercourse, “cohabit” does not mean merely sharing the same roof but is a euphemism for living together in a sexual relationship, and “sleeping with a woman” does not mean merely sharing the same bed but engaging in a sexual relationship.
Here is the complete list of the Quranic verses containing the word “dakhala” :
- dakhala (3;37, 3;97, 4;23, 4;23, 5;23, 5;61, 7;38, 12;36, 12;58, 12;68, 12;69, 12;88, 12;99, 15;52, 17;7, 18;35, 18;39, 24;61, 27;34, 28;15, 38;22, 51;25, 71;28 );
- yadkhulu (2;111, 2;114, 2;214, 3;142, 4;124, 5;22, 5;24, 7;40, 7;46, 12;67, 13;23, 16;31, 17;7, 19;60, 24;27, 24;28, 24;29, 33;53, 35;33, 40;40, 40;60, 48;27, 49;14, 68;24, 110;2);
- udkhul (2;58, 2;208, 4;154, 5;21, 5;23, 7;38, 7;49, 7;161, 12;67, 12;99, 15;46, 16;29, 16;32, 27;18, 27;44, 33;53, 36;26, 39;72, 39;73, 40;76, 43;70, 50;34, 66;10, 89;29, 89;30);
- dukhila (33;14);
- dakhil (5;22, 66;10);
- dakhal (16;92, 16;94);
- muddakhal (9;57);
- mudkhal (4;31, 17;80, 22;59);
- adkhala (5;65, 21;75, 21;86);
- yudkhilu (3;192, 3;195, 4;13, 4;14, 4;31, 4;57, 4;122, 4;175, 5;12, 5;84, 9;99, 22;14, 22;23, 22;59, 29;9, 42;8, 45;30, 47;6, 47;12, 48;5, 48;17, 48;25, 58;22, 61;12, 64;9, 65;11, 66;8, 76;31);
- adkhil (7;151, 17;80, 27;12, 27;19, 40;8, 40;46);
- udkhila (3;185, 14;23, 71;25);
- yudkhalu (70;38 ).
In all ayats except 16 : 92 and 16 : 94 (dakhal = deception) the meaning is to enter or gain admittance or be granted admission to some location such as a house, gate, fire, paradise, hell, or someone’s presence etc. In the Quran dakhala is never used to denote “participation” as in the English phrases “enter a transaction” or “enter a marriage” or “completion” of any activity.
There is only ONE instance (twice in verse 4 : 23) where the Quran uses the verb 'dakhala' in relation to marriage or women, and it is clear that the meaning here is SEXUAL INTERCOURSE.
Daryabadi : Forbidden unto you are your mothers and your daughters and your sisters and your father's sisters and your mother's sisters, and your brother's daughters and your sister's daughters. and your foster mothers and your foster sisters, and the mothers of your wives and your step-daughters, that are your wards, born of your wives unto whom ye have gone in, but if ye have not gone in unto them, no sin shall be on you, and the wives of your sons that are from your own loins, and, also that ye should have two sisters together, except that which hath already passed; verily Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.
Transliterated Arabic : Hurrimat AAalaykum ommahatukum wabanatukum waakhawatukum waAAammatukum wakhalatukum wabanatu al-akhi wabanatu al-okhti waommahatukumu allatee ardaAAnakum waakhawatukum mina alrradaAAati waommahatu nisa-ikum waraba-ibukumu allatee fee hujoorikum min nisa-ikumu allatee dakhaltum bihinna fa-in lam takoonoo dakhaltum bihinna fala junaha AAalaykum wahala-ilu abna-ikumu allatheena min aslabikum waan tajmaAAoo bayna al-okhtayni illa ma qad salafa inna Allaha kana ghafooran raheeman
Other Muslim scholars also translate dakhaltum to mean sexual intercourse :
- Grand Sheikh Qaribullah & Sheikh Darwish (lain with);
- Sheikh Muhammed Sarwar (had carnal knowledge with);
- Ahmed Ali (slept with);
- Imam Al-Mawdudi (consummated the marriage);
- Mohammad Habib Shakir (gone in);
- Dr Muhammed Ayub Khan (gone into);
- Imam Ibn Kathir (sexual relations with).
Thus, eminent Muslim scholars translate the verb dakhaltum (root = dakhala) to mean sexual intercourse because the literal meaning is to “enter”, “insert into”, “penetrate” or “pierce” a woman. It does not mean “enter a marriage” : it means “enter” the woman.
Applying the meaning of dakhala to Bukhari 7 : 62 : 64, it is clear that the object “marriage” is absent in relation to the verb “dakhala” – the object in this hadith is “Ayesha” meaning that Muhammed “dakhala”ed her (grammatically, he “udkhilath alaihi”). Thus it is clear the meaning is that he “entered” or “had sexual intercourse with” her.
Here is another translation of the root “dakhala” : he, or it, entered; or went, came, passed, or got in; to enter, go in, join one’s self in company, visit, intrude, meddle, have intercourse with, go into (one’s wife), intrigue, penetrate, deceit, corrupt. The primary signification is a thing that enters into another thing and is not of it.
Other definitions: He had an unsoundness in his intellect, or in his body, or in his grounds of pretension to respect; his affair, or case, or state, was, or became, intrinsically bad or corrupt or unsound. Income, or revenue, or profit that comes in, or accrues, to a man from his immovable property, such as land and houses and palm trees, and from merchandise. A disease; a fault, defect, or blemish, and particularly in one’s grounds of pretension to respect. Tangled, or luxuriant, or abundant and dense, trees.
{taken from An Arabic-English Lexicon, E.W. Lane, volume three, pp. 858 – 861; and The Dictionary of the Holy Quran, 1st edition, Abdul Mannan Omar, pp. 174 – 175}
It is clear that the only meaning of dakhala applicable to the context of the hadith is sexual intercourse.
To further confound the Muslim apologist the Bukhari sahih ahadith use another phrase to convey the fact that Muhammed had sexual intercourse with Ayesha.
sahih Bukhari Volume 5, Book 58, Number 236
Narrated Hisham's father : Khadija died three years before the Prophet departed to Medina. He stayed there for two years or so and then he married 'Aisha when she was a girl of six years of age, and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old.
An Hisham An Abeehi Qala thuwaffiyath Khadijathu qabla makhrajannabiyyi sallallahu Alaihi Vasallama ilal Madeenathi bi thalatha sineenaa falabitha sanathaini ou qareeban min dhalika va nakaha Ayesha vahiya binthu sithi sineena thumma bana biha vahiya binthu this”I sineen.
and
sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 65 Narrated 'Aisha that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old. Hisham said: I have been informed that 'Aisha remained with the Prophet for nine years (i.e. till his death)."
An Ayeshath AnnaNabiyya Sallallahu alaihi vasallama thazawwajaha vahiya binthu Sitha sineena, va bana biha vahiya binthu This”I sineen. Qala Hisham : Va unbiethu Annaha kanath Indahu This”I Sineen.
The Arabic word, “bana” means to build or construct. But if we add biha which means with her (biha is a feminine verb in Arabic), the meaning is entirely different. Literally “bana biha” means build with her. But this is a phrase that is commonly used to denote intimate sexual relations. If we say in Arabic: Muhammed bana bi Ayesha the meaning is: Muhammed had intercourse with Ayesha. This is the only possible Arabic understanding of the phrase. So, again it is apparent that Dr Mohsin Khan had used the euphemism “consummated the marriage” to denote the sexual act.
Other Bukhari ahadith that use the phrase “bana biha” to mean sexual intercourse (though not between Muhammed and Ayesha) include 4 : 53 : 353 and 7 : 62 : 87.
[edit] Conclusion
A reading of the relevant Bukhari ahadith makes it clear that Muhammed had sexual intercourse with Ayesha when she was nine years old. The terms used are “udkhilath” and “bana biha” which can only mean sexual intercourse in the context of the ahadith. The Muslim confusion comes from their lack of understanding of the English phrase “consummation of marriage”, and their unwillingness to admit that their prophet had sexual intercourse with a nine year old child. Thus, instead of attacking the English phrase, “consummation of marriage”, it might be better served for Muslim apologists to read the relevant ahadith in the original Arabic.
[edit] Discuss this Article
This article was based on a post by Abdul Walid from the Faithfreedom Forum, it can be discussed in the following thread, from which it originated http://www.faithfreedom.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13401&highlight=
