It seems that the allegation that he began a sexual relationship with Aisha when she was 9 years old is correct.

i just googled this, and i am stunned.  i had thought he had married Aisha as a formality because she was an orphan or something.  but the consensus does seem that she was indeed nine when the marriage was consummated.

even more disturbing to me is this practice of mufa'khathat --

"literally translated means "placing between the thighs" which means placing the male member between the thighs of a child)"

-- which was apparently explicitly condoned by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in his Tahrir-ol-vasyleh:

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, The Supreme Leader of Iran, the Shia Grand Ayatollah, 1979-89 said in his official statements:

"A man can quench his sexual lusts with a child as young as a baby. However, he should not penetrate. Sodomizing the baby is halal (allowed by sharia). If the man penetrates and damages the child, then he should be responsible for her subsistence all her life. This girl, however, does not count as one of his four permanent wives. The man will not be eligible to marry the girl's sister. It is better for a girl to marry when her menstruation starts, and at her husband's house rather than her father's home. Any father marrying his daughter so young will have a permanent place in heaven."

Khomeini, "Tahrirolvasyleh" fourth volume, Darol Elm, Gom, Iran, 1990

(Yahoo! Answers: Muslims, what is mufa'khathat? I heard it translated to "thighing"? I wanted to be sure?)

This seems too outrageous to be true.  And coming from Yahoo! Answers, I am withholding judgement.  Can anyone shed some light here?

Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.