Following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Ahmad Al-Mu'bi, a Saudi marriage officiant, which aired on LBC TV on June 19, 2008: http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1798.htm
I guess the moral of the story is, the prophet Mohammad was clearly a hopeless romantic. He waited for her.
Nine????? Didn't know that! All the stories of the Virgin Mary have her being at least past puberty which in those days was likely between 12-15. Nine?????