Welcome to Kitabi.net - Kitabi is Arabic for Book

Whether there is such a thing as a conscience and what it is is would keep philosophers busy for hours in a discussion – as the saying goes about experts, put two of them together and you will get three opinions. What we can be sure of is that we all have a conscience. A sense of right and wrong. Now it is true that people will draw the line at different points. We may have no problem taking a pen from our place of work but would never dream of taking money out of the till, though technically both are theft.

 

When people lose their sense that something is wrong, the Bible refers to this as having your conscience seared as with a hot iron. The fuller version is “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. (1 Timothy 4:1-2)” We are given a conscience for good reasons. Not just to cause us to do the right thing which certainly makes the world a better place for all of us, but also to help keep us from offending the living God by breaking his commands and having to face his wrath. To be more precise on that second point, it is our conscience that tells us when we break God’s command and makes us aware of our condition before God, so that we can come to him to seek forgiveness. With no sense of what is wrong we would never see the need for a saviour and would continue on in our rebellion and eventually have to face God on the day of judgement. So we see just how important it is to us to have a sensitive conscience. As in the example above about the pen and money in the till we all can and do have blind spots to sins which can come about by various means. For example it could have been the culture that we were raised in so that as a consequence we never knew anything else. The second reason is more dangerous and that is where our desire overcomes our conscience. We see thin in particular with sexual sins where the desire can be extremely strong. The first time the sin is committed, our conscience can be very much grieved about ourselves but repeating the sin can cause this to ease until eventually the sin becomes easy. People in this place tend to gravitate towards others with the same desires, as that sense of community can lead to a feeling that we all in this group think it is okay so it must be okay. This is a sure way to have your conscience seared in regard to that particular sin.

 

So does the fact that most of the general population finds it an offence that a 53 year old Muhammad married a child of 6 (Aisha) and then consummated the marriage when he was around 56 and Aisha was 9 - this according to many sources in Islam – find it abhorrent tell us anything?

Muslims generally take three approaches to this. One is that it never happened. Second is that it did happen but it was different then because girls reached puberty earlier in ancient times. Thirdly, it did happen but so what – they can not see anything wrong with it.

 

The first group have a problem because whether it did happen or not, it is certainly in the teachings of Islam. The fact that they want it not to be true is very revealing as they are showing that find the possibility that their prophet did such a thing as abhorrent.

 

The second response is has no basis in science or common sense. There is no scientific grounds to make this claim but even if there was, it would not settle the rights and wrongs of the situation because intercourse with a nine year old is not just about whether they have reached puberty but also whether they can deal with it medically in their young bodies and also whether they cope with the emotional challenges of being a mother at that age and safely bring up a baby. This also a way of trying to justify what they know to be morally wrong.

 

The third response can be subdivided into two motives. One being that that person is a sexual pervert and the second being that that person is fighting against their own heart. This is certainly the most honest approach to what the teaching of Islam is but it does not remove the problem that our conscience – our God given conscience - says it is wrong. Muslims (mostly men) would say that it is for God or Allah to decide what is morally wrong and not humans and I would agree with that but it is a strange thing that our natural conscience – that is in its not corrupted state - shouts very loud that it is wrong. As a father of three girls I can tell you that the thought of anyone approaching a nine year old in a sexual manner is any loving father’s worst nightmare. This applies to a male of any age but especially to one who is old enough to be their grandfather. I do wonder if any in the third camp change their opinion after they have had girls of their own. If not then something is seriously wrong with them. They can not ignore it. Their conscience shouts that it is wrong. Anyone who says otherwise is in deep denial.

Our conscience comes from God and it is totally unlogical that he would grant to his creation a conscience that says something is wrong if it wasn’t. God will judge anyone who indulges such an activity or encourages others to do so.

 

Please check out the videos where Daniel Haqiqatjou says unbelievable sick things about child marriage.