Who were the prophets?

[DMB]

And what was their motivation? I always love the scenes from Life of Brian where there were a whole lot of prophets banging on like wierdos at Hyde Park corner.

I suppose the successful prophets must have been quite charismatic -- like David Koresh, for example? Once you were accepted by enough people as a pukka prophet, there must have been a huge temptation to add in bits to improve your own situation. Aisha, the child wife of Muhammad, is supposed to have suggested as much as old Mo kept producing new edicts from god.

Trying to imagine prophets as real people is quite a strain when it comes to some of them. I remember when I was a child getting very depressed by Jeremiah. I'm glad I don't have to read his stuff now.

I'm also glad I don't have to read St John the Divine either. I visited his hidey-hole at Patmos and found it pretty dismal.

Are there any prophets that you like?

[David B]

Isn't Jeremiah a bit like Fred Phelps?

[Ray Moscow]

They were mostly political reformers, calling for change: like MLK, Jr. That's one reason he was able to use the OT prophets so effectively: he was doing much the same thing.

[DMB]

They were mostly political reformers, calling for change: like MLK, Jr. That's one reason he was able to use the OT prophets so effectively: he was doing much the same thing.

That's a really helpful insight, Ray. Of course, it doesn't help with understanding what people see in them now, and why Muhammad was the last and best.

[chridstianw6]

<Deleted spam post -- DMB>

[Wizofoz]

Awww....

I woulda like to have seen what the nice Xian wanted to say...

[Aupmanyav]

They were mostly political reformers, calling for change: like MLK, Jr.Reformers or deformers. Power hungry, they wanted people to accept that what they they said, was the only correct thing. If anyone did not accept that, then fire and brim-stone. Perhaps substituting for what they lacked physically, materially or mentally.

[Notta]

I've always had the impression that Joseph Smith wanted people to give him money, and the multiple wives thing was just the whim of a horny man. Not so much power-hungry as sex and money-hungry.

[Rodney Dobson]

I've always had the impression that Joseph Smith wanted people to give him money, and the multiple wives thing was just the whim of a horny man. Not so much power-hungry as sex and money-hungry.

If he had all that many wives then he'd probably NEED the money.

++++++++++

One catch with the OT prophets - as with the "histories" - is that the written word probably originated some time after the event and was put down by those with a religious interest.

BUT - if you filter out the overblown images of weeping and gnashing of teeth and then mentally think in today's terms they make a little sense. "If you continue to mess your neighbours about then you're likely to start a riot", "If you continue to overspend then your currency is in danger", and then think of Israelites today surrounded by states with which they have enthusiastically cultivated bad relations....

Granted the language of the KJ version doesn't usually help - but, if you like poetry then there is the occasional flash of inspiration.

As for St John - DMB - when you visited that cave did you notice what type of mushroom grew nearby?

[Rie]

I've always thought that a zealous type of prophet as we read of in the bible and them as goes into the desert etc. were a bit touched. Cult leaders are a different kettle of fish although definitely touched ... they are more dangerous . I believe this to be because, oddly enough, it is because in the modern age, people who thrash around searching for a meaning are in a more deperate state of readiness to believe than in those long ago Messiah years.

The readiness to believe comes from a kind of isolation midst the majority of people that is so sad.

[Politesse]

A prophet is anyone who carries a message from God. Anyone could do this, so I wouldn't expect that all prophets have anything in common with each other.

[David B]

A prophet is anyone who carries a message from God. Anyone could do this, so I wouldn't expect that all prophets have anything in common with each other.

My bold

In the same sense that a clairvoyant is anyone who has conversations with dead people.

David

[kennyc]

A prophet is anyone who carries a message from God. Anyone could do this, so I wouldn't expect that all prophets have anything in common with each other.

My bold

In the same sense that a clairvoyant is anyone who has conversations with dead people.

David

Yeppers, exactly.

[SeeminglyImpossible]

And what was their motivation? I always love the scenes from Life of Brian where there were a whole lot of prophets banging on like wierdos at Hyde Park corner.

I suppose the successful prophets must have been quite charismatic -- like David Koresh, for example? Once you were accepted by enough people as a pukka prophet, there must have been a huge temptation to add in bits to improve your own situation. Aisha, the child wife of Muhammad, is supposed to have suggested as much as old Mo kept producing new edicts from god.


Are there any prophets that you like?

Great topic here. I just want to point out a misconception amongst many non-Muslims world wide, which isn't really your fault, it's more the fault of people involved in spreading anti-Islamic propaganda on a daily basis, some of whom are sadly "Muslim".
Anyway, back to my point, Aisha (May God bless her) was not a child wife. She was, by most reports "betrothed" to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) at the age of 9, which was and is, in some cultures, still a very common practice. Being betrothed basically meant that it was decided she would be married to a particular person after she reached the appropriate age.
All traditional Islamic sources indicate that Aisha was aged in her late teens when she was finally married to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and this too was done with her utmost consent. To think other wise would be completely inaccurate of Aisha's character, since she would become one of the most important woman in Islamic history and thus world history. She was in the latter half of her life a very public and prominent political figure, who would be asked questions about faith, politics and society by MEN in her then still very patriarchal society. That is just scratching the surface.

And many historians, both Muslim and non-Muslim have spoken about Muhammad (PBUH's) unusual life story when it came to giving into the prospects of power and adding what he desired into the revelations which he received. He was once offered huge financial and political power in Arabia, through being made the chief of the Qu'raish tribe (then the most powerful in the Arabian peninsula. All he had to do in return was put the Gods of the pagan Arabs up as equals with the one true God (who we call Allah). He refused and this at a time when Muslims were extremely few and far between and years before the growing power of a whole new community.

Thomas Carlyle wrote in Heroes and Hero Worship:
"The lies, which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only."

Gibbon in 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' 1823

"The good sense of Muhammad despised the pomp of royalty. The Apostle of God submitted to the menial offices of the family; he kindled the fire; swept the floor; milked the ewes; and mended with his own hands his shoes and garments. Disdaining the penance and merit of a hermit, he observed without effort of vanity the abstemious diet of an Arab."

So, if you read up about the final Prophet (PBUH) you will be able to identify with him far more than any Prophet's of the old testament.

[DMB]

You may not accept it, but there is definitely a tradition that he married Aisha when she was 6 and consummated the marriage when she was 9.

As I understand it, this is used as justification for making 9 the age at which girls can be married in Iran. (Also the age at which they can be held criminally responsible. We also in this day and age see girls being married at very young ages in a number of other Muslim countries, although I am happy to see that there is a little less acceptance of it.

Do you have access to the hadith of Bukhari? I understand that some of the evidence for Aisha's age is to be found therein.

[Wizofoz]

All traditional Islamic sources indicate that Aisha was aged in her late teens when she was finally married to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and this too was done with her utmost consent. To think other wise would be completely inaccurate of Aisha's character, since she would become one of the most important woman in Islamic history and thus world history.

What research I've done suggests almost universal agreement, including from among Islamic sources, that she was six when betrothed and nine or ten when the marriage was consummated.

This was neither unusual nor immoral in Bedouin culture at the time, so why think it wouldn't be so?

Can you cite your source that has evidence otherwise?

[Politesse]

A prophet is anyone who carries a message from God. Anyone could do this, so I wouldn't expect that all prophets have anything in common with each other.

My bold

In the same sense that a clairvoyant is anyone who has conversations with dead people.

David

The question "who were the clairvoyants" would be almost as difficult to answer, though it would at least be a bit more specific since the belief in clairvoyancy is specific to a certain European tradition rather than a universal found in many faiths. Incidentally, you're thinking of a medium; clairvoyants are those who claim to be able to see objects or people in a different place or time from themselves; the word means clear-seeing.

[SeeminglyImpossible]

You may not accept it, but there is definitely a tradition that he married Aisha when she was 6 and consummated the marriage when she was 9.

As I understand it, this is used as justification for making 9 the age at which girls can be married in Iran. (Also the age at which they can be held criminally responsible. We also in this day and age see girls being married at very young ages in a number of other Muslim countries, although I am happy to see that there is a little less acceptance of it.

Do you have access to the hadith of Bukhari? I understand that some of the evidence for Aisha's age is to be found therein.

There are some who say the marriage was consummated at 9 (God forbid) but that is from vastly inferior sources and like I said earlier NOT the accepted norm of all traditional historians of the Prophet. Also you just have to read up on the character of that great man and you can see that it is clearly at odds with the man who gave orphans rights and freedoms, the same for women and so on. So for a man like that to do some thing so despicable is highly unbelievable.

Just for a little bit of extra evidence (please do read all of it and hope that answers your question):

As to the authenticity of these reports, it may be noted that the compilers of the books of Hadith did not apply the same stringent tests when accepting reports relating to historical matters as they did before accepting reports relating to the practical teachings and laws of Islam. The reason is that the former type of report was regarded as merely of academic interest while the latter type of report had a direct bearing on the practical duties of a Muslim and on what was allowed to them and what was prohibited. Thus the occurrence of reports such as the above about the marriage of Aisha in books of Hadith, even in Bukhari, is not necessarily a proof of their credibility.

Determination of the true age of Aisha

It appears that Maulana Muhammad Ali was the first Islamic scholar directly to challenge the notion that Aisha was aged six and nine, respectively, at the time of her nikah and consummation of marriage. This he did in, at least, the following writings: his English booklet Prophet of Islam, his larger English book Muhammad, the Prophet, and in the footnotes in his voluminous Urdu translation and commentary of Sahih Bukhari entitled Fadl-ul-Bari, these three writings being published in the 1920s and 1930s. In the booklet Prophet of Islam, which was later incorporated in 1948 as the first chapter of his book Living Thoughts of the Prophet Muhammad, he writes in a lengthy footnote as follows:

“A great misconception prevails as to the age at which Aisha was taken in marriage by the Prophet. Ibn Sa‘d has stated in the Tabaqat that when Abu Bakr [father of Aisha] was approached on behalf of the Holy Prophet, he replied that the girl had already been betrothed to Jubair, and that he would have to settle the matter first with him. This shows that Aisha must have been approaching majority at the time. Again, the Isaba, speaking of the Prophet’s daughter Fatima, says that she was born five years before the Call and was about five years older than Aisha. This shows that Aisha must have been about ten years at the time of her betrothal to the Prophet, and not six years as she is generally supposed to be. This is further borne out by the fact that Aisha herself is reported to have stated that when the chapter [of the Holy Quran] entitled The Moon, the fifty-fourth chapter, was revealed, she was a girl playing about and remembered certain verses then revealed. Now the fifty-fourth chapter was undoubtedly revealed before the sixth year of the Call. All these considerations point to but one conclusion, viz., that Aisha could not have been less than ten years of age at the time of her nikah, which was virtually only a betrothal. And there is one report in the Tabaqat that Aisha was nine years of age at the time of nikah. Again it is a fact admitted on all hands that the nikah of Aisha took place in the tenth year of the Call in the month of Shawwal, while there is also preponderance of evidence as to the consummation of her marriage taking place in the second year of Hijra in the same month, which shows that full five years had elapsed between the nikah and the consummation. Hence there is not the least doubt that Aisha was at least nine or ten years of age at the time of betrothal, and fourteen or fifteen years at the time of marriage.” [4] (Bolding is mine.)

To facilitate understanding dates of these events, please note that it was in the tenth year of the Call, i.e. the tenth year after the Holy Prophet Muhammad received his calling from God to his mission of prophethood, that his wife Khadija passed away, and the approach was made to Abu Bakr for the hand of his daughter Aisha. The hijra or emigration of the Holy Prophet to Madina took place three years later, and Aisha came to the household of the Holy Prophet in the second year after hijra. So if Aisha was born in the year of the Call, she would be ten years old at the time of the nikah and fifteen years old at the time of the consummation of the marriage.

Later research

Research subsequent to the time of Maulana Muhammad Ali has shown that she was older than this. An excellent short work presenting such evidence is the Urdu pamphlet Rukhsati kai waqt Sayyida Aisha Siddiqa ki umar (‘The age of Lady Aisha at the time of the start of her married life’) by Abu Tahir Irfani.[4a] Points 1 to 3 below have been brought to light in this pamphlet.

1. The famous classical historian of Islam, Ibn Jarir Tabari, wrote in his ‘History’:

“In the time before Islam, Abu Bakr married two women. The first was Fatila daughter of Abdul Uzza, from whom Abdullah and Asma were born. Then he married Umm Ruman, from whom Abdur Rahman and Aisha were born. These four were born before Islam.” [5]

Being born before Islam means being born before the Call.

2. The compiler of the famous Hadith collection Mishkat al-Masabih, Imam Wali-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Khatib, who died 700 years ago, has also written brief biographical notes on the narrators of Hadith reports. He writes under Asma, the older daughter of Abu Bakr:

“She was the sister of Aisha Siddiqa, wife of the Holy Prophet, and was ten years older than her. … In 73 A.H. … Asma died at the age of one hundred years.” [6]

(Go here to see an image of the full entry in Urdu.)

This would make Asma 28 years of age in 1 A.H., the year of the Hijra, thus making Aisha 18 years old in 1 A.H. So Aisha would be 19 years old at the time of the consummation of her marriage, and 14 or 15 years old at the time of her nikah. It would place her year of birth at four or five years before the Call.

3. The same statement is made by the famous classical commentator of the Holy Quran, Ibn Kathir, in his book Al-bidayya wal-nihaya:

“Asma died in 73 A.H. at the age of one hundred years. She was ten years older than her sister Aisha.” [7]

Apart from these three evidences, which are presented in the Urdu pamphlet referred to above, we also note that the birth of Aisha being a little before the Call is consistent with the opening words of a statement by her which is recorded four times in Bukhari. Those words are as follows:

“Ever since I can remember (or understand things) my parents were following the religion of Islam.” [8]

This is tantamount to saying that she was born sometime before her parents accepted Islam but she can only remember them practising Islam. No doubt she and her parents knew well whether she was born before or after they accepted Islam, as their acceptance of Islam was such a landmark event in their life which took place just after the Holy Prophet received his mission from God. If she had been born after they accepted Islam it would make no sense for her to say that she always remembered them as following Islam. Only if she was born before they accepted Islam, would it make sense for her to say that she can only remember them being Muslims, as she was too young to remember things before their conversion. This is consistent with her being born before the Call, and being perhaps four or five years old at the time of the Call, which was also almost the time when her parents accepted Islam.

Two further evidences cited by Maulana Muhammad Ali

In the footnotes of his Urdu translation and commentary of Sahih Bukhari, entitled Fadl-ul-Bari, Maulana Muhammad Ali had pointed out reports of two events which show that Aisha could not have been born later than the year of the Call. These are as follows.

1. The above mentioned statement by Aisha in Bukhari, about her earliest memory of her parents being that they were followers of Islam, begins with the following words in its version in Bukhari’s Kitab-ul-Kafalat. We quote this from the English translation of Bukhari by M. Muhsin Khan:

“Since I reached the age when I could remember things, I have seen my parents worshipping according to the right faith of Islam. Not a single day passed but Allah’s Apostle visited us both in the morning and in the evening. When the Muslims were persecuted, Abu Bakr set out for Ethiopia as an emigrant.” [9]

Commenting on this report, Maulana Muhammad Ali writes:

“This report sheds some light on the question of the age of Aisha. … The mention of the persecution of Muslims along with the emigration to Ethiopia clearly shows that this refers to the fifth or the sixth year of the Call. … At that time Aisha was of an age to discern things, and so her birth could not have been later than the first year of the Call.” [10]

Again, this would make her more than fourteen at the time of the consummation of her marriage.

2. There is a report in Sahih Bukhari as follows:

“On the day (of the battle) of Uhud when (some) people retreated and left the Prophet, I saw Aisha daughter of Abu Bakr and Umm Sulaim, with their robes tucked up so that the bangles around their ankles were visible hurrying with their water skins (in another narration it is said, ‘carrying the water skins on their backs’). Then they would pour the water in the mouths of the people, and return to fill the water skins again and came back again to pour water in the mouths of the people.” [11]

Maulana Muhammad Ali writes in a footnote under this report:

“It should also be noted that Aisha joined the Holy Prophet’s household only one year before the battle of Uhud. According to the common view she would be only ten years of age at this time, which is certainly not a suitable age for the work she did on this occasion. This also shows that she was not so young at this time.” [12]

If, as shown in the previous section above, Aisha was nineteen at the time of the consummation of her marriage, then she would be twenty years old at the time of the battle of Uhud. It may be added that on the earlier occasion of the battle of Badr when some Muslim youths tried, out of eagerness, to go along with the Muslim army to the field of battle, the Holy Prophet Muhammad sent them back on account of their young age (allowing only one such youngster, Umair ibn Abi Waqqas, to accompany his older brother the famous Companion Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas). It seems, therefore, highly unlikely that if Aisha was ten years old the Holy Prophet would have allowed her to accompany the army to the field of battle.

We conclude from all the evidence cited above that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was nineteen years old when she joined the Holy Prophet as his wife in the year 2 A.H., the nikah or betrothal having taken place five years previously.

[SeeminglyImpossible]

All traditional Islamic sources indicate that Aisha was aged in her late teens when she was finally married to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and this too was done with her utmost consent. To think other wise would be completely inaccurate of Aisha's character, since she would become one of the most important woman in Islamic history and thus world history.

What research I've done suggests almost universal agreement, including from among Islamic sources, that she was six when betrothed and nine or ten when the marriage was consummated.

This was neither unusual nor immoral in Bedouin culture at the time, so why think it wouldn't be so?

Can you cite your source that has evidence otherwise?

Your research is flawed is all I can. All learned scholars never claim such a thing. Please read my above post.

[SeeminglyImpossible]

And DNB I don't know about that law in Iran but they are Shiite Muslims and many of their practices are not Islamic.
God clearly states and so did the Prophet (PBUH) that all children, aged up to 12 are innocent of sin and considered children. An example would be, if they stole then they can not be punished for that etc. And marriage is out of the question.

[Notta]

And DNB I don't know about that law in Iran but they are Shiite Muslims and many of their practices are not Islamic.
I'll bet anything they'd argue with you about not being Islamic.

Do you know the "No True Scotsman" fallacy?

[DMB]

Simp, Bukhari is generally considered to have been pretty discriminating in the authentication of hadiths. I know that some modern Muslims don't like the idea of child marriage, particularly when it concerns the Prophet, but that tradition is there and you can't make it go away. (If you want my personal view, I'm not sure that Muhammad and Aisha ever really existed and I'm pretty sure that many stories told about the Prophet are fictional.) The trouble is that the supposed life of the Prophet is often used to justify Muslim practice.

True, the Islamic Republic of Iran is run by Shi'a Muslims. Don't forget that they are accepted by the Islamic world as members of the OIC. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_of_Islamic_Cooperation)

I take it that you are Sunni, or could you be from one of the minority sects?

Certainly I cited child marriage in Iran because it is codified in law. But it is also practised in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Afghanistan and among some Muslims in northern India and is supported by mullahs. So Sunnis as well as Shi'as can do it.

[Aupmanyav]

Anyway, back to my point, Aisha (May God bless her) was not a child wife.

He was once offered huge financial and political power in Arabia, through being made the chief of the Qu'raish tribe (then the most powerful in the Arabian peninsula. All he had to do in return was put the Gods of the pagan Arabs up as equals with the one true God (who we call Allah).

"The good sense of Muhammad despised the pomp of royalty. The Apostle of God submitted to the menial offices of the family; he kindled the fire; swept the floor; milked the ewes; and mended with his own hands his shoes and garments. Disdaining the penance and merit of a hermit, he observed without effort of vanity the abstemious diet of an Arab."http://answering-islam.org/Silas/childbrides.htm#s3, http://answering-islam.org/Silas/childbrides.htm#s4.

Any proof of the Qu'raish offer?

And pray tell me, what the male and female slaves of Mohammad did?

"Muhammad's (prophet) Male Slaves

Yakan Abu Sharh, Aflah, Ubayd, Dhakwan, Tahman, Mirwan, Hunayn, Sanad, Fadala Yamamin, Anjasha al-Hadi, Mad' am, Karkara, Abu Rafi, Thawban, Ab Kabsha, Salih, Rabah, Yara Nubyan, Fadila, Waqid, Mabur, Abu Waqid, Kasam, Abu 'Ayb, Abu Muwayhiba, Zayd Ibn Haritha, and also a black slave called Mahran who was renamed by Muhammad as Safina ('Ship').

This makes 26 male slaves

Muhammad's (prophet) Maid Slaves:

Salma Um Rafi', Maymuna daughter of Abu Asib, Maymuna daughter of Sa'd, Khadra, Radwam, Razina, Um Damira, Rayhana, Mary the Coptic, in addition to two other maid slaves, one of them given to him as a present by his cousin, Zaynab, and the other one captured in a war.

This makes 11 maid slaves, it is well known that he had slept with Mariam the Copt and she even bore him a son named Ibrahim prior to Muhammad marrying her." http://debate.org.uk/topics/coolcalm/slaves_in_islam.html

[Aupmanyav]

God clearly states and so did the Prophet (PBUH) that all children, aged up to 12 are innocent of sin and considered children. An example would be, if they stole then they can not be punished for that etc. And marriage is out of the question.Dear SeeminglyImpossible, kindly do not claim things which later you would not be able to prove. Internet and Answering-Islam has made it so easy to check on things (there are other sites as well. One does not have to find faults in Bible because former christians/now atheists have done a nice job on it). Marriage before puberty is not out of question in islam. See this for details: http://answering-islam.org/Silas/childbrides.htm#s2.

We were not talking about 'sin among children' but 'marriage before puberty' as in case of Aisha.

[farhat]

Also you just have to read up on the character of that great man and you can see that it is clearly at odds with the man who gave orphans rights and freedoms, the same for women and so on. So for a man like that to do some thing so despicable is highly unbelievable.


What rights did he give the orphans? Adoption is actually forbidden in Islam. He did give some additional rights for women for the time, but claiming Muslim women have equal rights in countries following Sharia would be laughable. Muslims like to claim the example of Mohammed's wives on the rights question, but after that there is pretty much no record of women in Islam having any shot at equality.

[Politesse]

What rights did he give the orphans? Adoption is actually forbidden in Islam.The community is, however, encouraged and indeed required to take care of orphans. The reason adoption is outlawed is because it is considered a right of the orphan to retain the name and lineage of their birth. They are certainly expected to be cared for; what Muhammad objected to was the notion that they become the property of their foster families. From Bukhari: "The Prophet (pbuh) said: 'I, and the one who looks after an orphan, will be like this in Paradise,' showing his middle and index fingers and separating them."

[farhat]

What rights did he give the orphans? Adoption is actually forbidden in Islam.The community is, however, encouraged and indeed required to take care of orphans. The reason adoption is outlawed is because it is considered a right of the orphan to retain the name and lineage of their birth. They are certainly expected to be cared for; what Muhammad objected to was the notion that they become the property of their foster families. From Bukhari: "The Prophet (pbuh) said: 'I, and the one who looks after an orphan, will be like this in Paradise,' showing his middle and index fingers and separating them."

Uh No. Muhammad Rushed Ridha states, "Allah prohibited adoption in Islam and annulled all the judgements pertaining to adoption. The most important one of which was the prohibition of the wife of the adopted son to the fostering father as though he is the natural father. So Allah commanded his prophet to marry Zainab Bint Jahsh in order to abolish pagan custom (Fatawa al-Imam)." Al-sabuni states, "As to Zainab Bint Jahsh, the Messenger of Allah married for no higher wisdom than to abolish the heresy of adoption (A-sabuni)." from http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/SKM/zeinab.htm

Mohammed basically wanted to marry the wife of his own adopted son. Since she would be his own daughter-in-law that would not be allowed. So he declared adoption illegal.

[Politesse]

Again... Fostering orphans is entirely legal and quite common everywhere in the Muslim world. But you cannot take their name from them, and you cannot take their father's property from them. Those are the rules. And as Al-Nisa was composed very early and in Madinah, I find somewhat unconvincing the argument that these rules were invented just so that the prophet, many years later, could marry the widowed wife of a man who was only a boy and unmarried at the time.

[Aupmanyav]

Fostering orphans is commended. If the person happens to marry a beautiful girl, it is good that he should not be carrying your name.

If your own son, then rape a daughter-in-law at such a time when there is no witness. She becomes your wife and mother to your son. That is what happened in India.

[farhat]

Again... Fostering orphans is entirely legal and quite common everywhere in the Muslim world. But you cannot take their name from them, and you cannot take their father's property from them. Those are the rules. And as Al-Nisa was composed very early and in Madinah, I find somewhat unconvincing the argument that these rules were invented just so that the prophet, many years later, could marry the widowed wife of a man who was only a boy and unmarried at the time.

You really find it more convincing that he received a message from God? :dunno:

[Politesse]

??? Where did I say anything about that?

[farhat]

??? Where did I say anything about that?

You said you found the alternative unconvincing.

[Politesse]

The alternative to the normal explanation of that rule (which is that it was considered unethical to change the child's name) not the alternative to "Goddidit".