those people competed in writing about such marriage and ignored the similar cases in the era where prophet muhammad was living.   why didn't the people - who criticized the prophet for marrying aisha- criticize the disbelievers who fought muhammad   and tried to kill him? they have married girls in early ages and even preceded the prophet – peace be upon him – in doing the same. so, if the intention of such criticizers is to criticize the relation between an old man and a young girl, they should have then spoken about the other similar cases which happened in the era of the prophet – peace be upon him.