The Controversy around Hazrat Ayesha's Marriage with Prophet Mohammad: A Deep Study of Hadith Literature and Historical Accounts Suggests She Was 14 When Engaged and Almost 18 When She Got Married
By
Nur Ul Islam Sadequey, New Age Islam
27 July
2022
Bukhari
Narrated Another Hadith From Hazrat Ayesha (R.A.) That She Said ‘By The Time
She Attained Age Of Awareness She Found Her Parents Already In Islam’. This
Indicates She Was Born At Least Four Years Before Islam (Be’tha) To Be
Able To Comprehend The Religion Of Her Parents
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The
condescending remarks on the Prophet Muhammad by the officials of India’s
ruling dispensation caused uproar last month and widespread condemnation
followed domestically and internationally leading to a sort of diplomatic
crisis for India with Muslim nations. The manner in which relationship of the
Prophet with his wife Hazrat Ayesha (r.a.) was described during a TV debate by
BJP’s now suspended spokesperson was offensive to Muslims around the world.
The
criticism of some of the Islamic traditions by Nupur Sharma and her ilk can be
ascribed to misinformation or propaganda that can be answered without
regressing to false apologetics. However, since the criticism concerning the
age of Hazrat Ayesha is based on unambiguous Islamic sources, it needs to be
engaged seriously.
It is
widely believed by critics and a section of Islamic scholars that Prophet
Muhammad’s wife Ayesha bint Abi Bakr (died 678 CE) was 9 years old when she
moved to Prophet’s household and the marriage was contracted when she was six.
This belief is based on a single hadith (tradition), mentioned in various books
of prophetic traditions including the most authentic among them the Saheeh
(books) of Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim (Hadith No. 3894 in Saheeh Bukhari)
wherein Hazrat Ayesha herself narrates as first person that when Prophet of
Islam Muhammad (s.a) married her she was six years old and the marriage was
consummated when she was nine. This hadith has been reported by different
transmitters (persons) all sourcing it to Hazrat Aisha. The hadith purportedly
meets the criteria of authenticity and credibility if seen in seclusion.
However, if seen together with various other traditions and historical
evidences one is compelled to conclude that Hazrat Ayesha’s age was 14 when she
was betrothed to the Prophet and married to him at the age of almost 18. A few
evidences also suggest that she was older than 18.
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Although
the traditions of varying age of Hazrat Ayesha (r.a.) existed there in the
books of hadith and prophetic biography, with overwhelming evidence in favour
of 18 or 19. However, the above hadith got more traction as Hazrat Ayesha
(r.a.) being underage at the time of her marriage was used by Muslim Qazis to
justify the paedophilia of Muslim ruling classes through history until now.
This also suits the unscrupulous agenda of the growing tribes of Islamophobes
and anti-Islam polemicists among ex-Muslims who use it to portray Islam as
uncouth and backward and vilify the Prophets. However, one cannot blame
Islamophobes and ex-Muslims too much as until today the Muslim clergy uses this
Hadith to justify paedophilia in Muslim society. Only a few years ago a Saudi
court ordered the father of a 10-year-old girl who had run away from her so-called
husband's house to forcibly hand her over to her in-laws.
While it’s
true that the minimum age limit for marriage is relatively a modern phenomenon
and the Quran did not specify age limit for marriage but rather made mental and
physical maturity an arbiter (verses 4:6 and 6:152). The arguments of
apologetic Muslims evolve around four points:
a) That girls attain puberty
early in harsh Bedouin environment,
b) Rulers as late as early 20th century married girls younger than 10,
c) Had it been objectionable in the then Arabia the opponents of the
Prophet would have made it a point, and
d) Hazrat Ayesha’s early marriage was in line with God’s will that
helped her learn a large numbers of sayings of the Prophet and interpret Quran
and preach Islam for a much longer time after the death of the Prophet (s.a.).
For UAE
based spiritual Islamic scholar Habib Ali Al-Jifri and famous Egyptian scholar
Usama Al-Sayyid Al-Azhari who is also a religious advisor to President el Sisi,
the above hadith of Bukhari is sound in all terms. Al Jifri thinks the age of
Hazrat Ayesha (r.a.) should not be seen through the lens of modern day
definition of underage, and judging the culture of a certain time with that of
another culture and time is academic injustice.
However, according
to the Syrian scholar of hadith Salah al-Din al-Idlibi, Bukhari’s Hadith No.
3894 is discrepant and defective (Shaazz Wa Ma’lool) in its content (Matn)
as it contradicts other hadiths of Saheeh Bukhari itself and the established
history. He draws upon a number of prophetic traditional and biographical
sources, and childhood events narrated by Hazrat Ayesha (r.a.) that suggest she
was born at least four years prior to the advent of Islam (Be’tha) and
not four years after the Be’tha as claimed by those favouring she was 9
years old at the time of her marriage with the Prophet (s.a) based on above
single hadith. The Be’tha or the prophetic mission started in 610 CE.
Marriage was contracted on the 10th year of Be’tha in Mecca.
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Also
Read: Was Hazrat
Aisha Married to the Prophet in Her Childhood?
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Idlibi’s
arguments to determine the age of Hazrat Ayesha (r.a.) and to prove that she
was born prior to Be’tha are based on authentic hadiths, historical and
biographical sources that cannot be ignored. He uses methods like comparison of
Hazrat Ayesha’s age with her elder sister, occasion of revelation of certain
verse of Quran, recollection of certain events by her, time of her conversion
to Islam, description by other persons of her and her siblings’ birth, the
background in which she was proposed as possible spouse for the Prophet, the
way she addressed a companion, the way she spoke about other companions, she
being proposed before Prophet and her role in certain war, etc. Idlibi’s
evidences suggest Hazrat Ayesha was born in pre-Islamic period and hence older.
Here I briefly discuss some of the authentic evidences often cited by the
scholars of hadiths.
Most of the
historians, biographers and theologians, like Ibn 'Abd-al-Barr, Ibn Asaker, Abu
Nuaim al-Isfahani and Ibn al-Atheer al-Jazari agree that Hazrat Ayesha’s sister
Asma Bint Abi Bakr was 10 years elder to her and that Asma was 27 at the time
of Prophet’s migration (Hijra) from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE to escape
persecution. Hazrat Ayesha (r.a.) joined Prophet’s household a year later. This
makes her 18 at the time of her marriage with the Prophet (s.a.).
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Bukhari
narrated a hadith from Hazrat Ayesha (r.a.) that she said ‘when the verse 46 of
the Surah Al Qamar was revealed she was a young girl (Jaaria) playing’.
The verse was revealed to the Prophet five years prior to the migration. This
necessitates she must have been 12 years or so, as the Arabic word Jaaria applies
to girls nearing adolescence. This makes her age almost 18 at the time of
marriage with the Prophet (s.a.).
Bukhari
narrated another hadith from Hazrat Ayesha (r.a.) that she said ‘by the time
she attained age of awareness she found her parents already in Islam’. This
indicates she was born at least four years before Islam (Be’tha) to be
able to comprehend the religion of her parents. In the same hadith she
recollects that when Muslims were persecuted, her father Abu Bakr began
migration from Mecca towards Habasha (Ethiopia) and on the way met a person
called Ibn al Daghinah near a place known as Birk al Ghimad. Scholars agree
that this migration happened in the mid-5th year of Be’tha which implies
she was born before Be’tha, and not after, to be able to recollect the
event so vividly.
Biographer
Mohammed bin Ishaq lists Hazrat Ayesha among the early converts to Islam along
with her sister Asma and Saeed bin Zaid and his wife Fatima bint al Khattab.
Hazrat Ayesha was minor when she embraced Islam during its initial period when
the Prophet used to preach secretly. The period of secret preaching lasted
three years and after that Prophet started calling people to Islam openly. This
logically necessitates that Hazrat Ayesha must have been born four years before
Islam (Be’tha) and she must have been 6 / 7 years old at the time of
attending the secret religious gatherings. The opinion that Hazrat Ayesha was
born four years after the Be’tha does not hold ground in this case at
all.
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Also Read: Hazrat Aisha’s Controversial Age at Marriage: Nine or
Nineteen?
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Historian
Muhammad Ibn Jarir al-Tabari says that children of Abu Bakr, namely, Abdullah,
Asma, Abdurrahman and Ayesha were all born before the advent of Islam (Be’tha).
This is clear and explicit historical record that Hazrat Ayesha (r.a.) was born
before Islam and hence she was older.
Famous
scholars of hadiths like Ibn Abi Aasim, Abul Qasim Al Tabaraani and Al Haakim
Al Nisapuri have mentioned a hadith from Hazrat Ayesha (r.a.) in their
respective books that Sahaabia Khawla bint Hakeem, one of the early converts,
sought from the Prophet to propose on his behalf to Hazrat Ayesha and widow
Sauda bint Zam’aa. This was a few months after the death of his only wife
Khadija (r.a). This shows Khawla wanted him to marry someone who would provide
him emotional support that he lost after the death of his wife Khadija which
would be possible only if Hazrat Ayesha was older (at least 14 / 15 at the time
of proposal) and not six years.
Islamic
jurist and scholar of hadith Abu Ja'far Ahmad al-Tahaawi, theologian Ibn
'Abd-al-Barr and Al Tabaraani have mentioned a hadith from different narrators
all connecting to Hazrat Ayesha that she said “what do Abu Saeed Al Khudri and
Anas bin Maalik know about the hadith of the Prophet, they were young boys”.
Although scholars differ on the age of Al Khudri and Bin Maalik, however, many
say Hazrat Ayesha (r.a.) was seven years older to them. This makes sense. She,
therefore, called them young boys as she was more aware of the events. Both of
them were 11 years old when Hazrat Ayesha joined the household of the Prophet a
year after his migration to Medina.
Several
scholars of hadith like Ibn Abi Aasim, Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Dulaabi, Al
Tahaawi and Al Tabaraani have mentioned this hadith from Aisha (r.a.) that she
said to Fatima (r.a.) ‘O daughter, tell me what did your father whisper to you
twice’ (when Prophet was on his deathbed). Here Hazrat Ayesha addressed Fatima
as ‘daughter’ meaning she must have been younger to Hazrat Ayesha. It is known
that Prophet’s daughter Fatima (r.a) was born five years before Islam (Be’tha).
In this case Hazrat Ayesha's age will be more than 18 at the time of marriage.
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In the same
hadith where Sahaabia Khawla bint Hakeem brought proposal of Prophet to Aisha’s
parents, her mother Umm Rumaan told Khawla that Hazrat Ayesha’s father Hazrat
Abu Bakr has already given a promise to Mut’am bin ‘Adi about his son Jubair
and Hazrat Ayesha's marriage. This proves Hazrat Ayesha was certainly born a
few years before Islam otherwise Hazrat Abu Bakr being a devout Muslim and
earliest convert would never have promised his daughter to a pagan post-Islam.
Imam
Bukhari and Imam Muslim have reported from Anas bin Malik (r.a) in their books
that he said ‘I saw Ayesha and Umm Sulaim on the day of the battle of
Uhud. They pulled their clothes up (to
walk fast for nursing). I could see their anklets. They were running with water
skins on their back, pouring into the mouths of people, refilling and coming
back again and again’. The battle of Uhud
took place in 625 CE in Medina (third year after the migration). Hazrat Ayesha
would be 11 at the time of this battle if we consider she was born four years
after Be’tha (Islam). It seems far-fetched for an 11 year old girl to do
such strenuous physical work. However, it is plausible for a 19 year old, which
favours the opinion that she was born four years before Islam.
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Also Read: Aisha bint
Abu Bakr: A Fascinating Woman
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Though some
of the above evidences could be critiqued individually but collectively they
make a strong point that Hazrat Ayesha was 18 or 19 and not 9 years old at the
time of her marriage. The critics should, therefore, not ignore the fact that a
large section of Muslim scholars have always had a parallel view in favour of
the older age of Hazrat Ayesha (r.a.).
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Nur
Ul Islam Sadequey is an Arabic scholar based in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/controversy-ayesha-prophet-hadith-historical-/d/127580
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