He [Al-Bukhari] said regarding the word of Allah Most High { And those who have not yet menstruated } : He made their ‘iddah [waiting period] three months, if before puberty [qabl al-bulugh]. In other words, this makes it clear that marital relations [nikah] with them before puberty is permissible, and this is a fair deduction, although in the verse there are no specific stipulations for parents or virgins. It could be said that the principle for the marriage contract is prohibition [i.e. of what is unlawful], except what the evidence makes clear; this has been shown in a hadith of ‘Aishah regarding how Abu Bakr married her off before she reached puberty. What remains are the things by which the principle is taken wrongly, and for this reason the essence that the hadith of ‘Aishah indicates. Al-Muhallab said: Universal agreement was reached that it is permissible for a father to marry off his young virgin daughter, if no intercourse is had with someone in a state similar to hers, except that Al-Tahawi narrated from Ibn Shubruma regarding his prohibition for someone with whom intercourse was not had. Ibn Hazm narrated definitively from Ibn Shubruma that a father is not to marry off his little virgin daughter until she reaches puberty and gives consent. But he maintains that the Prophet’s (SAW) marriage to ‘Aishah when she was six years old was a distinguishing attribute of his and an honor given to him.