How many virgins may a Muslim get in Paradise?

17,000 forced marriages in Switzerland

It doesn't say how many of these happen among Muslims, but my guess would be most:

According to Lathan Suntharalingam, a [Swiss] local politician campaigning against [forced] marriages, it is an integration problem which can't be solved through "multicultural do-gooding". […] There is evidence that such unions are taking place in Switzerland. The only study on the issue so far, by the Surgir foundation in Lausanne in 2006, estimates that there are around 17,000 forced marriages in the country. A third of those involved are under 18 years old, and the practice also affects men as well as women, Surgir found.

From HERE.

Father's consent required for marriage?

From a Fatwa of a well-known and well-respected Saudi cleric, Sheikh Aziz bin Baz:

...The father must seek her permission if she is nine years of age or above. Similarly, her other guardians may not marry her off except by her permission. This is obligatory upon all of them. If o­ne is married without permission, then the marriage is not valid. This is because o­ne of the conditions of the marriage is that both partners accept the marriage. If she is married without her permission, by threat or coercion, then the marriage is not valid. The o­nly exception is in the case of the father and his daughter who is less than nine years of age. There is no harm if he gets her married while she is less than nine years old, according to the correct opinion. This is based o­n the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) marrying Aisha without her consent when she was less than nine years old, as is stated in authentic Hadith. However, if she is nine years old or more, she cannot be married, even by her father, except with her consent....

Islamic Law: The Marriage of Enjoyment

A nice way around prostitution:

Marriage of enjoyment (or pleasure) differs from the conventional marriage in that its aim is not having a regular marital life and begetting children, but to enjoy sexual relations in a "legal" way. The man who practises such a marriage is often someone who spends a long time abroad for any reason, and thus marries a woman temporarily. The period of marriage is limited to the time when the husband leaves the country, and then the marriage is automatically dissolved.

This practice is not universal, so read the whole chapter for details on the debate about whether it is still lawful and why. From Here. Chapter 13.

Pentecost Exhortation

"Recalling Pentecost, which we just celebrated last Sunday, I exhort you, dear young people, to constantly invoke the Holy Spirit, so that you may be Christ's intrepid apostles among your contemporaries. May the Consoler Spirit help you, dear sick people, to accept suffering and sickness, offering it to God with faith for the salvation of all people, and may he grant you, dear newly-weds, the joy to build your family on the Gospel's solid foundation."

These are the closing sentences of the Papal address on May 30 when I was in Rome.

Read his whole reflection on Tertullian at the Vatican City site.

Muhammad and his Wives

Interesting article at Anwsering Islam, which I have said several times is the gold standard of apologetics to Islam. It is about the Islamic teaching on multiple wives and proposes that not even Muhammad himself (the perfect man in Islam--tell me if that isn't idolatrous) was able to have a happy plural-marriage (or whatever it is called).

There is ample evidence in this article that he was not successful. The complete picture of Muhammad and his interactions with women is in fact deeply disturbing. I just want to post a short portion of the entire article which you can read here:

Aisha herself admitting that Muslim women suffered worse than any other women?

Narrated ‘Ikrima:
Rifa’a divorced his wife whereupon ‘AbdurRahman bin Az-Zubair Al-Qurazi married her. 'Aisha said that the lady (came), wearing a green veil (and complained to her (‘Aisha) of her husband and showed her a green spot on her skin caused by beating). It was the habit of ladies to support each other, so when Allah’s Apostle came, ‘Aisha said, "I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes!" When ‘AbdurRahman heard that his wife had gone to the Prophet, he came with his two sons from another wife. She said, "By Allah! I have done no wrong to him but he is impotent and is as useless to me as this," holding and showing the fringe of her garment, ‘Abdur-Rahman said, "By Allah, O Allah’s Apostle! She has told a lie! I am very strong and can satisfy her but she is disobedient and wants to go back to Rifa’a." Allah’s Apostle said to her, "If that is your intention, then know that it is unlawful for you to remarry Rifa’a unless ‘Abdur-Rahman has had sexual intercourse with you." Then the Prophet saw two boys with ‘Abdur-Rahman and asked (him), "Are these your sons?" On that ‘AbdurRahman said, "Yes." The Prophet said, "You claim what you claim (i.e. that he is impotent)? But by Allah, these boys resemble him as a crow resembles a crow," (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 72, Number 715)

Christian apologist and writer John Gilchrist does an excellent job of summing up Muhammad’s failure as a husband and role model:

Ayishah's frustrations and jealousies are the best proof that Muhammad could not treat his wives equally - if for no other reason that he did not regard her with the same total, undivided affection that she regarded him. She may have been his favourite wife but her grievances clearly were motivated, perhaps only subconsciously, by the fact that she was not his only wife. Paradoxically, the fact that Muhammad singled her out as his favourite wife is further proof that he did not treat his wives equally. There is more than enough evidence in Muhammad's own marital affairs to prove that polygamy cannot ultimately be reconciled with God's perfect purpose for human marriage. It is no wonder that the perfect revelation of his will through the Gospel of his Son simultaneously outlawed polygamy. Muhammad had enjoyed a twenty-five year marriage with Khadija which was, in all respects, unimpeachable. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for his many marriages at Medina and one can only sympathize with the young Ayishah who obviously regretted that she could not enjoy the same undivided devotion from her husband that she willingly offered to him… Far from the marriages of Muhammad being proof that he was the ideal husband (as Zain puts it), they rather are evidence of an inherent weakness in Islamic morality… Although monogamy has become the norm in many Muslim societies today, this trend is not to Islam's credit but is rather a sign of the consciousness of God’s real will for men and women and the best way in which a marriage can develop into a truly happy union. By taking to himself more than double the number of wives he allowed to his followers, Muhammad seems to have been something of a champion of polygamy rather than an advocate of monogamy and his tolerance of plural marriages, together with his schemes to rid himself of his personal enemies, negate his claim to be a true prophet of God. A Christian assessment of his character leaves him far short of the ideal - an ideal worked out to perfection in Jesus Christ - and the only conclusion to be drawn is that, despite his many qualities, he cannot be considered as the man God chose to be his best and final messenger to all mankind. That honour belongs to Jesus Christ alone. (Gilchrist, Muhammad and the Religion of Islam, A Study of Muhammad's Personality, C. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS MARRIAGES.)

Muslim Dating in the UK

Great article here on Muslims dating in the UK. I find particularly attractive that here is an avenue for divorced Muslim women (including women with children) to find a mate.

Also positive is that many professional Muslimaat (that's the plural for female Muslims--Arabic is neat like that, like Spanish) are seeking Muslim men born and raised in the UK. It is a great gulf--for people of any religion--to marry someone who was raised in the developing world, while they were raised in the West.

A sign of hope. A fair amount of the strife in Islamic communities could be helped by breaking ethnic boundries. (The example given here is one person from a Pakistani background and the other from a Bengali background getting married.)

Here is the link: Washington Post.

The Prophet: Married Aisha at Age Six; Sex at Nine

Here is a good link. Let me tell you all how impressed I am by the work of answering-islam.org. It is, in my opinion, the single best website for Muslim apologetics on the entire web. There are other great sites (especially islamiyat in Arabic), but there is nothing quite like answering-islam.org.

Here are a number of references to the fact that Muhammad married Aisha when she was six, and had sex with her when she was nine year old. For example:

Narrated Aisha:
The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became all right, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, "Best wishes and Allah's Blessing and a good luck." Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah's Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 234)

Narrated 'Aisha:
that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e., till his death). (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 62, Number 64; see also Numbers 65 and 88)

From Answering-Islam.org

Marriage and the Terror War

Interesting post here, may have more to say on the topic in the future. I think that basically Islam Arabicizes culture. That is, where Islam goes Arabic vulture goes. Why else do you have white American Muslims wearing the dishdash, which is a 7th century robe that men wore back then? Because the religion of Islam and the idea of 7th C. Arab culture go hand in hand. Islam compels monoculturalism in a way that other religions like Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism never have.

In any case, he makes some good points about cultural stability and marriage.

Let
me also mention that I don't like the term, "war on terror," very much.
Not because I don't think that the conflict is important or
dangerous--it certainly is. But because "war" has traditionally been
understood to take place between two or more sovereign states. I much
prefer Huntington's term, a clash of civilizations.

Selection:

"In
this first in a series of essays on Muslim cousin-marriage, I want to
begin to make the case that Muslim kinship structure is an unexamined
key to the war on terror. While the character of Islam itself is
unquestionably one of the critical forces driving our global conflict,
the nature of Islamic kinship and social structure is at least as
important a factor — although this latter cluster of issues has
received relatively little attention in public debate. Understanding
the role of Middle Eastern kinship and social structure in driving the
war not only throws light on the weaknesses of arguments like D’Souza’s, it may also help us devise a new long-term strategy for victory in the war on terror."

NRO