Peace to all,
What I suggest to all the Christians on this forum is to understand the different cultures of other people. Yes, some girls do marry as soon as they hit puberty, and yes Scorpion; many girls hit it at age 9. Many cultures, even until this day, have their girls married at a young age. It is a cultural thing. Now if I had a daughter who was at the age of 9, I wouldn’t allow her to marry for the simple fact I would want her to get an education. There are many girls in my country who marry at the ages of 9, 10 and 11 to help their families financially. Moreover, 9 years olds in Africa are much more mature than 9 year old in Australia. Well 9-year-old Australian girl is playing with her Barbie doll; these 9-year-old girls from Africa are cooking, cleaning and looking after their younger siblings. This is just how the world is. These sort of situations are not so frequent for the girls are attending school, however, in Muhammad’s time this was the norm. It was normal to marry a nine year old as long as she and her parents were ok with the marriage. You are using 21st century western thinking to judge Muhammad who lived in the 7th century.
It should be noted that it was not only young girls who married. Ahmed Ibn Hambal married at the age of 12.
Also Islamically speaking, a girl who has hit puberty is considered a young woman, not a child. We do not have this concept of a teenager, where you reach adulthood at the age of 21. In Islam, since her books are opened for her as soon as she hits puberty, then she would be in the same category as a grown woman.
So my point is, if a girl who has hit the age of puberty, agrees to marry a man, no matter his age, and her family consent, then this is fine. It should be up to the mother also to make rational decisions to see if her daughter is ready mentally and physically to marry, and if she is, then God bless their marriage.
That’s my input on the matter. If you all disagree, then frankly, I don’t give a damn.
Peace and Blessings be to the Believers