৯.১. মাইনর ম্যারিজ
বাল্যবিবাহ* আর পেডোফিলিয়ার* "অপরাধে" ইসলামের সমালোচনা নতুন ফেনোমেনন। মাত্র দেড়শত বছর আগেও খ্রিস্টান, হিন্দু বা নাস্তিকসহ কোন সমালোচকই রাসুলুল্লাহ মুহাম্মদ সাল্লাল্লাহু আলাইহি ওয়া সাল্লামের বিরুদ্ধে পেডোফিলিয়ার অভিযোগ আনেননি, বাল্যবিবাহের জন্য দ্বীনে ইসলামকে ভুল ঘোষণা করেননি।
বৈশ্বিকভাবে পেডোফিলিয়ার কারনে ইসলামের সমালোচনা ও এবিউজ করে খ্রিস্টানরা। তাদের যুক্তিটা নিম্নরূপ:
প্রেমিস ১: মাইনর এট্রাকশন/ম্যারিজ অনৈতিক ও ইশ্বর কখনোই অনুমোদন করতে পারেন না।
প্রেমিস ২: ইসলামে মাইনর এট্রাকশন/ম্যারিজ অনুমোদিত আর স্বয়ং রাসুলুল্লাহ সাল্লাল্লাহু আলাইহি ওয়া সাল্লাম এর প্র্যাক্টিস করেছেন।
কনক্লুশন: অতএব, অনৈতিক বিষয় অনুমোদিত হওয়ায় ইসলাম ইশ্বরের প্রেরিত ধর্ম না। ও রাসুলুল্লাহ সাল্লাল্লাহু আলাইহি ওয়া সাল্লামের কাজ অনৈতিক। (নাউযুবিল্লাহ)
বলার অপেক্ষা রাখে না মুসলিমরা প্রথম প্রেমিসকে অস্বীকার করে। বাল্যবিবাহ অবশ্যই নৈতিক এবং মডার্নিযমের আগে সব ধর্ম ও সমাজে বাল্যবিবাহকে স্বাভাবিক হিসেবে দেখা হয়েছে। কিন্তু ইসলাম ও বাল্যবিবাহের সমালোচনাকারী খ্রিস্টানরা সমালোচনার নৈতিক ভিত্তি হিসাবে বাইবেলকে গ্রহণ করে না, বরং তাদের ভিত্তি হল লিবারেলিযম। আর এই কথা সত্য খ্রিস্টান বাদে অন্যান্য আস্তিকদের ক্ষেত্রেও। যেমন: হিন্দু, ইহুদী, মডারেট মুসলিম ইত্যাদি।
বইয়ের এই অংশে বাল্যবিবাহের নৈতিকতা প্রমান করা উদ্দেশ্য না। কিংবা বাল্যবিবাহ অনৈতিকতা হওয়ার কারন হিসাবে যেসব পয়েন্ট দর্শানো হয় সেগুলোর খণ্ডনও উদ্দেশ্য না। বাইবেল আর জুডিও-খ্রিস্টান ট্র্যাডিশন থেকে আলোচনা করা হবে শুধু। বাল্যবিবাহের=[]
এই অনুচ্ছেদে দেখব কিভাবে ইহুদি খ্রিস্টান ধর্মগ্রন্থ আর ট্রাডিশন বাল্যবিবাহকে সমর্থন করেছে। এবং প্রকৃত সত্য হল বাল্যবিবাহ মডার্নিটির আগে ইহুদী-খ্রিস্টানদের কাছে অনৈতিক ছিল না। ফলে বাল্যবিবাহকে অনৈতিক দাবী করা ইসলামের বিপক্ষে তর্ক করা হলে তা আসলে ইহুদী আর খ্রিস্টান ধর্মকেই ভুল প্রমান করবে। কিন্তু আশ্চর্যজনকভাবে খ্রিস্টানরা তাদের ডাবল স্ট্যান্ডার্ড দেখতে পায় না।
প্রেমিস ১: বাল্যবিবাহের মত অনৈতিক কাজকে অনুমোদন দেওয়ায় ইসলাম ভুল।
প্রেমিস ২: ইহদি-খ্রিস্টান ধর্মেও বাল্যবিবাহ ইশ্বর অনুমোদিত।
কনক্লুশন: অতএব ইসলামের মত ইহুদি-খ্রিস্টান ধর্মও ভুল।
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সবগুলো পয়েন্ট একেবারে স্বাধীন স্বাধীন পয়েন্ট না। বরং একাধিক পয়েন্ট ওভারল্যাপ করে যেহেতু আলাদা আলাদা করা সম্ভব না। বরং একই আইডিয়াকে ভিন্ন ভিন্ন আংগিক থেকে ভাবার জন্য হয়তো ভিন্ন ভিন্ন পয়েন্ট আকারে লেখা হয়েছে।
পয়েন্ট ০১: ইহুদি পযিশন।
পয়েন্ট ০২: বাইবেলে বাল্যবিবাহ ডিফল্ট পযিশন।
পয়েন্ট ০৩: বাইবেল পরোক্ষভাবেও বাল্যবিবাহ নিষিদ্ধ করা হয়নি।
পয়েন্ট ০৪: যিশু ও পলের মৌন সম্মতি।
পয়েন্ট ০৫: চার্চ ফাদারদের অবস্থান।
পয়েন্ট ০৬: মডার্নিটির আগে কেউ এর বিরোধিতা করেননি।
.
পয়েন্ট ০১: ইহুদি পযিশন।
অনুচ্ছেদঃ তালমুদ আর রাব্বাইদের লেখনীতে বাল্যবিবাহ আর বয়স ১৮ এর অনুপস্থিতি।
০১।
The rabbinic texts advise that a young girl—na'arah, a “prepubescent girl”—should be betrothed around age ১২ and married about one year later (Ketubbot 5:2).
০২।
Finally, Cornelia Horn and John Martens state that the Talmud allowed marriages even to pre-pubescent girls. Citing m. Yebamoth ৬:১০, they explain that it:
“…states that a High Priest was not to marry a bogeret (a girl who had reached the age of maturity), but only one younger than that. The bogeret, defined by commentators as a girl of twelve and half years of age, was set apart…from the katanah (less than twelve years and a day) and the na'arah (a girl twelve years and one day).” [Cornelia B. Horn and John W. Martens, “Let the Little Children Come to Me”: Childhood and Children in Early Christianity (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, ২০০৯), pp. ১০–১১.]
অনুচ্ছেদ: যিশুর সমসাময়িক রোমান আমলে ইহুদি মেয়েরা সাধারণত কম বয়সে বিয়ে করত।
In an article in the Biblical Archaeological Review, Fiensy states that:
“[a]lthough the Gospels never give ages for Mary or Joseph, these events probably happened when they were fairly young. Jewish girls were usually married off by their parents by the time they were teenagers. The rabbinic texts advise that a young girl—na'arah, a “prepubescent girl”—should be betrothed around age ১২ and married about one year later (Ketubbot ৫:২). The rabbis urged parents to marry their children close to the age of puberty.
There is also artifact and textual evidence of age-at-marriage for Jewish girls in the first century C.E. A woman's tombstone, for example, might indicate how old she was when she married. Investigation of these sources shows that most Jewish girls married between the ages of ১২ and ১৭, with the greatest number marrying at age ১৩. We should probably think of Mary in that age group.
What about the boys? Again, parents preferred to marry them young. One Mishnah text recommended age ১৮ (Avot ৫:২১). Other rabbinic texts suggested around the time of puberty. We should imagine Joseph in the same age group as Mary.
What about the suggestion by some in the ancient church that Joseph was older than Mary and had children by a previous marriage?(৩) That is possible. But it need not mean Joseph was in his fifties or even older. Men married so young that Joseph in his late twenties already could have been a widower with six children (Mark ৬:৩).
Jewish villages in Galilee were probably endogamous. Endogamy seems to have been the norm in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis ২৮:২), as it is today in the Middle East. There are strong indications that in the late Second Temple period Jewish families preferred their daughters to marry either a cousin or uncle. (৪) Therefore, it is probable that Joseph and Mary were relatives.” [David A. Fiensy, “Epistles: Wedding Bells in Galilee?” Biblical Archaeological Review ৪৮, no. ৪ (Winter ২০২২),
https:::www.baslibrary.org:biblical-archaeology-review:৪৮:৪:৩১.]
“[o]ne practice that does not seem to have changed with the rise and early spread of Christianity was the age at which girls were married. Throughout the ancient Mediterranean world, the common age of marriage for females was puberty. There simply is no evidence that this changed. What did change, however, was the availability of the option of leading a celibate life as an alternative to marriage.” [Cornelia B. Horn and John W. Martens, “Let the Little Children Come to Me”: Childhood and Children in Early Christianity (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, ২০০৯), pp. ৩৪৯–৩৫০.]
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পরিচ্ছেদঃ কম বয়সের মানুষকে বয়স্ক মনে করা হত।
“In the first century A.D., a ten-to-twelve-year-old person was on the cusp of becoming an adult.” [Cornelia B. Horn and John W. Martens, “Let the Little Children Come to Me”: Childhood and Children in Early Christianity (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, ২০০৯), p. ২].
Cornelia Horn and John Martens note that in the Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures, the marker for transition into adulthood for girls was puberty, which: “…was generally defined as occurring between twelve and fourteen, although sometimes girls were married at an earlier age.”[Cornelia B. Horn and John W. Martens, “Let the Little Children Come to Me”: Childhood and Children in Early Christianity (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, ২০০৯), p. ১৮.]
"Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible" comments on Matthew ৯:১৮:
“Mark calls her his 'little daughter': though both he and Luke say, she was about 'twelve' years of age, and that with strict propriety, according to the Jewish canons, which…say; that 'a daughter, from the day of her birth until she is twelve years complete, is called 'a little one' and when she is twelve years of age, and one day and upwards, she is called 'a young woman'.”
"The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges" provides the answer:
“Up to this age a Jewish boy was called 'little,' afterwards he was called 'grown up,' and became a 'Son of the Law,' or 'Son of the Precepts.' At this age he was presented on the Sabbath called the 'Sabbath of Phylacteries' in the Synagogue, and began to wear the phylacteries with which his father presented him.”
পয়েন্ট ০২: বাইবেলে বাল্যবিবাহ ডিফল্ট পযিশন।
পয়েন্ট ০৩: বাইবেল পরোক্ষভাবেও বাল্যবিবাহ নিষিদ্ধ করা হয়নি।
পয়েন্ট ০৪: যিশু ও পলের মৌন সম্মতি।
পয়েন্ট ০৫: চার্চ ফাদারদের অবস্থান।
Tertullian cited the practice of the “heathens” and determined that this was the “natural law”:
“Time even the heathens observe, that, in obedience to the law of nature, they may render their own fights to the (different) ages. For their females they despatch [sic] to their businesses from (the age of) twelve years, but the male from two years later; decreeing puberty (to consist) in years, not in espousals or nuptials. “Housewife” one is called, albeit a virgin, and “house-father,” albeit a stripling. By us not even natural laws are observed; as if the God of nature were some other than ours!” [Tertullian, On the Veiling of Virgins, Chapter XI,
http:::www.earlychristianwritings.com:text:tertullian২৮.html.]x
As Adrian Thatcher explains: “Tertullian clearly thought that the contracting of marriage at the age of puberty was a law of nature and so a law of God” (Adrian Thatcher, Living Together and Christian Ethics [Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ২০০২] p. ১৪৮)
Indeed, Tertullian also stated that “veiling” should be done as soon as puberty starts:
“…doubtless the age from which the law of the veil will come into operation will be that from which “the daughters of men” were able to invite concupiscence of their persons, and to experience marriage. For a virgin ceases to be a virgin from the time that it becomes possible for her not to be one. And accordingly, among Israel, it is unlawful to deliver one to a husband except after the attestation by blood of her maturity; thus, before this indication, the nature is unripe. Therefore if she is a virgin so long as she is unripe, she ceases to be a virgin when she is perceived to be ripe; and, as not-virgin, is now subject to the law, just as she is to marriage.” [Tertullian, On the Veiling of Virgins, Chapter XI]
John Calvin, who insisted that: “[a] child needed to be both physically and morally mature enough to enter marriage…At minimum, the child needed to reach puberty…” [John Witte Jr. and Robert M. Kingdon, "Sex, Marriage, and Family in John Calvin's Geneva, Volume ১: Courtship, Engagement, and Marriage" (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, ২০০৫), p. ২০৪.]
Here is Saint Thomas Aquinas, the greatest Catholic theologian, defending child marriage, under age 12. He says that such a marriage is "indissoluble," i.e., no divorce. After reading this quote, I asked Sam, a supposed Catholic, to denounce his Saint as a pedophile, but Sam refused! Everyone should write "Saint Pedo" and this quote wherever Sam and his low IQ followers insult the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. "I answer that, Since marriage is effected by way of a contract, it comes under the ordinance of positive law like other contracts. Consequently according to law (cap. Tua, De sponsal. impub.) it is determined that marriage may not be contracted before the age of discretion when each party is capable of sufficient deliberation about marriage, and of mutual fulfilment of the marriage debt, and that marriages otherwise contracted are void. Now for the most part this age is the fourteenth year in males and the twelfth year in women: but since the ordinances of positive law are consequent upon what happens in the majority of cases, if anyone reach the required perfection before the aforesaid age, so that nature and reason are sufficiently developed to supply the lack of age, the marriage is not annulled. Wherefore if the parties who marry before the age of puberty have marital intercourse before the aforesaid age, their marriage is none the less perpetually indissoluble."
From Aquinas: [https:::www. ccel .org:ccel:aquinas:summa.XP_Q43_A2.html]
Whether seven years is fittingly assigned as the age for betrothal?
Objection 1: It would seem that seven years is not fittingly assigned as the age for betrothal. For a contract that can be formed by others does not require discretion in those whom it concerns. Now a betrothal can be arranged by the parents without the knowledge of either of the persons betrothed. Therefore a betrothal can be arranged before the age of seven years as well as after.
Objection 2: Further, just as some use of reason is necessary for the contract of betrothal, so is there for the consent to mortal sin. Now, as Gregory says (Dial. iv), a boy of five years of age was carried off by the devil on account of the sin of blasphemy. Therefore a betrothal can take place before the age of seven years.
Objection 3: Further, a betrothal is directed to marriage. But for marriage the same age is not assigned to boy and girl.
Objection 4: Further, one can become betrothed as soon as future marriage can be agreeable to one. Now signs of this agreeableness are often apparent in boys before the age of seven. Therefore they can become betrothed before that age.
Objection 5: Further, if persons become betrothed before they are seven years old, and subsequently after the age of seven and before the age of maturity renew their promise in words expressive of the present, they are reckoned to be betrothed. Now this is not by virtue of the second contract, since they intend to contract not betrothal but marriage. Therefore it is by the virtue of the first; and thus espousals can be contracted before the age of seven.
Objection 6: Further, when a thing is done by many persons in common, if one fails he is supplied by another, as in the case of those who row a boat. Now the contract of betrothal is an action common to the contracting parties. Therefore if one be of mature age, he can contract a betrothal with a girl who is not seven years old, since the lack of age in one is more than counterbalanced in the other.
Objection 7: Further, those who at about the age of puberty, but before it, enter into the marriage contract by words expressive of the present are reputed to be married. Therefore in like manner if they contract marriage by words expressive of the future, before yet close on the age of puberty, they are to be reputed as betrothed.
I answer that, The age of seven years is fixed reasonably enough by law for the contracting of betrothals, for since a betrothal is a promise of the future, as already stated (A[1]), it follows that they are within the competency of those who can make a promise in some way, and this is only for those who can have some foresight of the future, and this requires the use of reason, of which three degrees are to be observed, according to the Philosopher (Ethic. i, 4). The first is when a person neither understands by himself nor is able to learn from another; the second stage is when a man can learn from another but is incapable by himself of consideration and understanding; the third degree is when a man is both able to learn from another and to consider by himself. And since reason develops in man by little and little, in proportion as the movement and fluctuation of the humors is calmed, man reaches the first stage of reason before his seventh year; and consequently during that period he is unfit for any contract, and therefore for betrothal. But he begins to reach the second stage at the end of his first seven years, wherefore children at that age are sent to school. But man begins to reach the third stage at the end of his second seven years, as regards things concerning his person, when his natural reason develops; but as regards things outside his person, at the end of his third seven years. Hence before his first seven years a man is not fit to make any contract, but at the end of that period he begins to be fit to make certain promises for the future, especially about those things to which natural reason inclines us more, though he is not fit to bind himself by a perpetual obligation, because as yet he has not a firm will. Hence at that age betrothals can be contracted. But at the end of the second seven years he can already bind himself in matters concerning his person, either to religion or to wedlock. And after the third seven years he can bind himself in other matters also; and according to the laws he is given the power of disposing of his property after his twenty-second year.
Reply to Objection 1: If the parties are betrothed by another person before they reach the age of puberty, either of them or both can demur; wherefore in that case the betrothal does not take effect, so that neither does any affinity result therefrom. Hence a betrothal made between certain persons by some other takes effect, in so far as those between whom the betrothal is arranged do not demur when they reach the proper age, whence they are understood to consent to what others have done.
Reply to Objection 2: Some say that the boy of whom Gregory tells this story was not lost, and that he did not sin mortally; and that this vision was for the purpose of making the father sorrowful, for he had sinned in the boy through failing to correct him. But this is contrary to the express intention of Gregory, who says (Dial. iv) that "the boy's father having neglected the soul of his little son, fostered no little sinner for the flames of hell." Consequently it must be said that for a mortal sin it is sufficient to give consent to something present, whereas in a betrothal the consent is to something future; and greater discretion of reason is required for looking to the future than for consenting to one present act. Wherefore a man can sin mortally before he can bind himself to a future obligation.
Reply to Objection 3: Regarding the age for the marriage contract a disposition is required not only on the part of the use of reason, but also on the part of the body, in that it is necessary to be of an age adapted to procreation. And since a girl becomes apt for the act of procreation in her twelfth year, and a boy at the end of his second seven years, as the Philosopher says (De Hist. Anim. vii), whereas the age is the same in both for attaining the use of reason which is the sole condition for betrothal, hence it is that the one age is assigned for both as regards betrothal, but not as regards marriage.
Reply to Objection 4: This agreeableness in regard to boys under the age of seven does not result from the perfect use of reason, since they are not as yet possessed of complete self-control; it results rather from the movement of nature than from any process of reason. Consequently, this agreeableness does not suffice for contracting a betrothal.
Reply to Objection 5: In this case, although the second contract does not amount to marriage, nevertheless the parties show that they ratify their former promise; wherefore the first contract is confirmed by the second.
Reply to Objection 6: Those who row a boat act by way of one cause, and consequently what is lacking in one can be supplied by another. But those who make a contract of betrothal act as distinct persons, since a betrothal can only be between two parties; wherefore it is necessary for each to be qualified to contract, and thus the defect of one is an obstacle to their betrothal, nor can it be supplied by the other.
Reply to Objection 7: It is true that in the matter of betrothal if the contracting parties are close upon the age of seven, the contract of betrothal is valid, since, according to the Philosopher (Phys. ii, 56), "when little is lacking it seems as though nothing were lacking." Some fix the margin at six months. but it is better to determine it according to the condition of the contracting parties, since the use of reason comes sooner to some than to others.
Aquinas wasn’t an exception.
This was an unchallenged belief amongst christendom for 1700 years.
Tertulian (160-240AD) mentions on the topic of veiling that a girl becomes an adult and should veil at 12 years of age or puberty.
One the Veiling of Virgins Chapter 11
“For their females they dispatch to their businesses from (the age of) twelve years, but the male from two years later; decreeing puberty (to consist) in years,”
Origen of Alexandria (185-254AD) in his commentary of Ezekiel 16:8 says this is talking about when Jerusalem was ready for marriage at the onset of puberty
“What is the meaning of "your time"? It signifies puberty at which time one becomes old enough to commit fornication.”
In the Proto evangelion of James despite being a gospel that isn’t canon, is a gospel that has many traditions EO and Catholic Christian’s use and the early church traditionally used. In this gospel it says mary was married off to Joseph at 12.
“And when she was twelve years old there was held a council of the priests, saying:
Behold, Mary has reached the age of twelve years in the temple of the Lord.”
Notes on 1. Origen and 2. Tertulian.
1. I’m well aware Origen was considered to be a heretic however that doesn’t disqualify him from being a valuable reference for us to understand how Christian’s at his time viewed maturity into adulthood. (Also he was only deemed a heretic at the II Council of Constantinople 553AD and his heresy had nothing to do with endorsing pdfilia)
2. Tertulian is also deemed to be heretical but yet again that doesn’t disqualify him as being a valuable source of the norms in the Early church. He was also only deemed heretical mainly on him joining sect that believed there to be a prophet after jesus pbuh. Christians still use his writings for evidence today to prove that there was a “trinity” before nicea. As he was the first person to coin the term in describing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
পয়েন্ট ০৬: মডার্নিটির আগে কেউ এর বিরোধিতা করেননি।
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এপোলজেটিক:
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এই অংশে আমরা দেখব যে খ্রিস্টানরা একাধিক প্যাসেজ ব্যবহার করে বাল্যবিবাহকে অবাইবেলীয় প্রমানের জন্য। যেমন:
ক) আদম আর হবার বিয়ে।
খ) বিয়ে শুধু প্রাপ্তবয়স্ক নারী-পুরুষের মধ্যে।