The Infidel Bloggers Alliance posts this essay which is well worth reading.

It begins with a quotation from the Ayatollah Khomeini whom we'll regard as an expert on Islam, or at least an authority of Shia.

Let me begin with a quote from a fatwa by the late and unlamented Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran.
"A man can marry a girl younger than nine years of age, even if the girl is still a baby being breastfed. A man, however is prohibited from having intercourse with a girl younger than nine, other sexual acts such as foreplay, rubbing, kissing and sodomy is allowed.


A man having intercourse with a girl younger than nine years of age has not committed a crime, but only an infraction, if the girl is not permanently damaged. If the girl, however, is permanently damaged, the man must provide for her all her life. But this girl will not count as one of the man's four permanent wives. He also is not permitted to marry the girl's sister."


The Ayatollah is not simply giving a personal, idiosycratic opinion. For Muslims of all branches, the life of Muhammad serves as a prescriptive example of how a man should live. His is the exemplary life. And, he married his last wife when she was still a child, having sex-play with her until he had intercourse when she was nine. Since The Messenger of God did these things, then no good Muslim can disavow the practice.

Multiculturalism, what a crock.