“Muhammad, the greatest man ever to live was a warlord who married a six-year-old”: Late Charlie Kirk in Conversation with Ex-Muslim Ridvan Aydemir

Key Points:

Ridvan Aydemir, a former Muslim born in Germany to a Turkish family, runs a channel called Apostate Prophet. After leaving Islam, he was an atheist for several years before announcing himself as a Christian in 2025. He was invited by Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk for a conversation related to Islam and Muhammad. Charlie Kirk, American right-wing political activist, entrepreneur, and media personality has been criticized multiple times for his views on Islam. In this discussion between Aydemir and Kirk, they talked about Prophet Muhammad who was the founder of Islam.

In their conversation, Aydemir and Kirk discussed the figure of Muhammad in Islam. The discussion began with Aydemir explaining why he converted to Christianity and later shifted to a rapid-fire segment initiated by Kirk, who asked Aydemir to stop him if he said anything incorrect.

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Kirk first asked, “Is it true that Muhammad is the greatest man ever to live?” Aydemir responded, “Yes,” after which Kirk continued with more questions. He asked whether Muhammad was a warlord and how many people he had killed. Aydemir replied that he had killed many people.

The next question was whether it is true that Muhammad married a 9-year-old girl named Aisha. Aydemir said no, it was a six-year-old girl. Kirk replied, “Yes,” and emphasized, “Stop me if I’m wrong because this needs to be clear with no misinformation.” He then said, “So that would make him a pedophile.” 

Aydemir responded, “As disgusting as it is,” before adding that we need a second to understand this properly. He explained that it’s not only about marrying a six-year-old girl—“It is the Prophet Muhammad, the most perfect figure for all mankind,” who is marrying a six-year-old. He continued that Muhammad, while in his 50s, chose to marry six-year-old Aisha “without any necessity at all.” Then, when she turned nine, “he consummated the marriage in his mid-50s with her.” Aydemir noted that she was his third wife at that point—his second living wife—so “he had absolutely no need for this. He did it just because.”

Charlie Kirk then asked what an Islamic cleric would say to defend Muhammad if one were present. Aydemir replied that they would say a few things, such as “those times were different” and then countered that the response to this would be: “Isn’t Muhammad supposed to be the perfect moral example for all mankind for all times, including right now? So it doesn’t matter if it was a different time.”

The second defense, according to Aydemir, would be that “she (Aisha) transmitted a lot of accounts of things that he did and did not do. So it was actually a very good thing for him to marry her and be so intimate with her.” He added sarcastically, “Seriously? We are supposed to argue that this was the great divine plan.” Charlie Kirk chimed in: “So his legacy lived on. So that’s why he raped a nine-year-old.”

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Kirk asked what else they would say. The next counter, per Aydemir, would be that what Muhammad did was okay and there was nothing wrong with it because the girl was “grown”—that as soon as a girl shows signs of development, she is ready to breed.

Kirk then asked whether anyone disputes these claims as factually incorrect. Aydemir responded that “serious, traditional Muslim scholars generally do not deny these accounts,” but added that reformist or modernist scholars may hold different views.

When asked what reformers might say, Kirk suggested, “She was allegorically nine.” Aydemir responded that reformist explanations often include claims such as “her age may have been counted differently,” suggesting she could have been older—“perhaps ten, eight, or another age.”

Kirk responded sarcastically, “Yeah, that makes a huge difference,” to which Aydemir echoed, “A huge difference.”

Kirk then concluded with a pointed remark: “So Muhammad, the greatest man ever to live—the greatest example—was a warlord who married a six-year-old, consummated the marriage when she was nine, and had multiple wives.” Aydemir replied briefly, “Yeah.”

[VP]

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