Was the prophet Mohammed a paedophile?

Don't yell at me, that's a question The Telegraph asks and here's why.

...I raise the question, though, because it seems to me that people are perfectly entitled - rude and mistaken though they may be - to say that Mohammed was a paedophile, but if David Blunkett gets his way, they may not be able to.

The right to criticize religious organizations, political organizations and so on is one of our most important rights.

Is it right that Muslim extremists can use the Koran as an excuse to wage jihad and we are not allowed to criticize that? That is sheer lunacy.

Maybe it is time for Mr. Blunkett to go.

Of all the questions to raise however, why did the Telegraph, ask "Was the prophet Mohammed a paedophile?"

Was the prophet Mohammed a paedophile? The question is sometimes asked because one of his wives, Aisha, was a child when he married her. As Barnaby Rogerson gingerly puts it in his highly sympathetic recent biography (The Prophet Muhammad, Little, Brown): "…the age disparity was considerable: she was only nine while Muhammad was 53". Aisha was taken from her seesaw on the morning of her marriage to be dressed in her wedding garment. After sharing a bowl of milk with the prophet, she went to bed with him.

UPDATE: The Times has more thoughts on the subject.

And how will this affect reporting by the press on stories like these?

Madrassas hit by sex abuse claims and Islam versus Europe
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