A Saudi Arabia-based Islamic cleric, Assim al-Hakeem, has reiterated what former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma said during the course of a debate in 2022.
In an undated video that was shared on social media, the cleric was heard saying, “The biggest problem we have with the Westerners from America, Canada and Europe is that they don’t have their Islam on cemented area. They are so easy to flip to the other side and that is why you find many of them…have doubts. Why? The Prophet married Aisha when she was 9.”
Assim al-Hakeem appeared furious at ‘Westernised Muslims’ for doubting the fact and questioning the marriage of Prophet Muhammad.
Saudi cleric Sheikh Assim Al-Hakeem is saying what Nupur Sharma said about Prophet Mohammad & Ayesha. Nupur Sharma was hounded out & her life was threatened.
— Incognito (@Incognito_qfs) March 23, 2025
Sheikh further says "If you doubt the Prophet Mohammad for a second, you're a full fledged Kaffir…..You don't have to… pic.twitter.com/YVmrNHX3fF
“You are a kafir. If you doubt the Prophet and he thought of her for a second, you are a full-fledged kafir. Get the heck out of my house,” he mocked Muslims for casting aspersions on the marriage of Prophet Muhammad.
Later in the viral clip, Assim al-Hakeem pointed out, “You say, I don’t know why the Prophet married Aisha when she was nine and he was 50 years of age. It doesn’t sound good, but I accept it.“
“Do you think bad of the Prophet of Islam? Is he a paedophile? Astaghfirullah. I would be a kafir thinking this,” the Saudi cleric emphasised.
In an earlier tweet made in 2016, Assim reiterated that Aisha was nine years of age when she came with the Prophet. He denied all other investigations and references quoting that Aisha was around 17 when she came with the Prophet.
It is worth noting that Assim’s citation to Sahih al-Bukhari also states that Aisha was nine years old when Prophet Muhammad consummated the marriage.
As per sunnah.com, the Sahih al-Bukhari says, “Narrated Aisha: that the Prophet (ﷺ) married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old. Hisham said: I have been informed that Aisha remained with the Prophet (ﷺ) for nine years (i.e. till his death).”
Sahih al-Bukhari, according to sunnah.com, is a compilation of hadith compiled by Imam Muhammad al-Bukhari. It is a compilation of Prophet Muhammad’s sayings and acts, commonly known as the Sunnah.
It has around 7563 hadith (with repetitions) in 98 books. The collection is considered by the vast majority of Muslims to be one of the most genuine collections of the Prophet’s Sunnah.
The controversy surrounding Nupur Sharma
In May 2022, Nupur Sharma was one of the panellists on the Time Now show along with Taslim Ahmed Rehmani on the Shivlinga found at the Gyanvapi disputed structure site. During the debate, Rehmani used derogatory language against Bhagwan Shiv that irked then-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
Sharma countered her and questioned how would he react if she used the same language for Islam and the Prophet. Though it was a counter statement, Alt News’ co-founder Mohammed Zubair found it to be the perfect opportunity to ruin Sharma’s life.
He cunningly trimmed Rehmani’s remarks that came before Sharma’s counter remarks and presented as if Sharma was insulting Prophet Mohammed. The propaganda against Sharma worked and it sparked an international outrage.
Regardless of the fact that what Sharma said about the Prophet’s marriage to the 9-year-old Ayesha, which is mentioned in multiple Islamic hadiths, Nupur Sharma was branded as a ‘blasphemer’, with Islamic organisations openly declaring that she should be murdered.
Following the witch-hunt against Sharma, there were protests and riots across the country. People who supported Sharma were threatened by Islamists online and offline.
FIRs were filed not only against Sharma but also against those who supported her. Notably, Kanhaiya Lal, a Hindu tailor from Udaipur, Rajasthan, and Umesh Kolhe, a businessman from Maharashtra’s Amravati, were brutally murdered by Islamists for supporting Sharma.
When Nupur Sharma approached the Supreme Court seeking clubbing of FIRs against her, the two-judge bench that heard the matter seemed to have already formed an opinion against her based on the disinformation and misleading propaganda running in media and on social media. Justice Surya Kant, in his oral observations, blamed Nupur Sharma for what was happening in the country.
