Putting an End to the Conflict about Hazrat Aisha’s Age at Marriage, It Was 19 and Not 9
By
Dr. Mike Ghouse for New Age Islam
25 June
2022
The
Origins Of Islamophobia Are Traceable To The Fear-Mongering Hadiths, Seerah,
And The Wrong Translations Of A Few Verses In The Quran
Main
Points:
1. God did not
deliver the Quran to a group called Muslims; it was for the Aalameen.
2. Quran is the
only and only authentic book for Muslims, all others are opinions.
3. Sahih Hadith
has many errors.
4. The marriage
of Ma-Sita’s marriage to Shri Ram was also mentioned to be 6, but that is not
true either and the arguments made are similar.
-------
Putting
rest to the conflict about Hazrat Aisha’s age at her marriage to Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh). A similar controversy is brewing about Ma Sita, Lord Ram’s
wife. In both cases, the rumours are wrong; both Ma-Sita and Ma-Aisha married
as adults. Links at the bottom
Putting an
end to the conflict about Hazrat Aisha’s age, it was 16 and not 6.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Muslims
must take the responsibility to end the age-old controversy about Hazrat
Aisha’s age at the time of her marriage to the Prophet (pbuh) – it was 16, not
6. (Minimum was 16, Max 23 per different calculations) The hadiths published
were in good faith, but no one ever checked their authenticity, and they kept
passing on from scholar to scholar and book to book. Thanks to 9/11, Muslims
have started questioning and correcting the Hadiths, Seerah, and
mistranslations of the Quran. Now, the Ulema have to issue an opinion, also
known as Fatwa, to end it and remove those hadith entries.
Mustafa
Akyol, a scholar of Islam, implores Muslims to stop deifying “the received
traditions” and critically study their religious past, shedding rigid legalism
and close-mindedness.
Someone
else used the phrase “copycat Muslims” to identify scholars who copied what was
given to them and passed it on without researching or questioning it.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Also
Read: Was Hazrat Aisha Married to the Prophet in Her
Childhood?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Muslims
have witnessed grave mistakes in Hadiths and Seerah, and the Triumphalist
Muslims did not even spare the Quran in mistranslating a few verses.
Thanks to
several sane scholars post 9/11, who have pointed out these mistakes and made
the corrections, including the false translations in the copy of the Quran by
Hilali Khan from Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Corrections are coming!
Can we
blame the average Muslim for believing that the Quran translations and Hadiths
are words of God and the Prophet, respectively? No, we cannot. The ordinary
Muslim believes that Maududi, Ibn Tamiya, and Ibn Kathir’s words are equal to
the word of God. They are simple folks who want to live their lives in peace
and don’t have the time to get rattled up determining what is right or wrong.
Aisha's
Age-Time Line.jpg
-----
And because
no one had the strength to correct the errors, they have become a source of
Islamophobia, and harassment of Muslims every now and then, somewhere or the
other.
The
controversy comes from the following Hadith, “That the Prophet (ﷺ) married her when she was six
years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old.” Sahih
al-Bukhari 5134, Book 67, Hadith 70, and several other hadiths.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Also Read: Hazrat Aisha’s
Controversial Age at Marriage: Nine or Nineteen?
-----------------------------------------------------------
The Prophet
did not marry a six-year-old Hazrat Aisha; it goes against everything he has
taught. A woman must be an adult to make her own decisions regarding faith,
marriage, and divorce.
Thanks to
the Muslim scholars of post 9/11 for seriously questioning her age and digging
into the history, cross-checking, and determining Hazrat Aisha’s age to be 16
(16-17) at the time of marriage to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
There is a
line in the Urdu language, “Islam Zinda Hota Hai Her Karbala Ke Baad”
meaning Islam comes alive after every Karbala. 9/11 was our Karbala and has led
to many corrections of mistranslations of the Quran, but no one has dared touch
the Hadiths and Seerah, they are our sacred cows.
A quote
from the article written by Faizur Rahman, “One Islamic preacher Abu Ammar
Yasir Qadhi, has the temerity to write in his book, An Introduction to the
Sciences of the Quran, that the Sunnah of the prophet can abrogate the Quran.”
Zakir Naik has the guts to say that Hazrat Aisha was 6, and so did a Saudi
Preacher.
Do you
blame the Islamophobes for pointing out the Hadith about Hazrat Aisha’s age?
They are merely telling what is in our secondary books, like hadiths, even
though they are called Sahih Hadiths, some of them are flawed. Once, Robert
Spencer, said in an argument with me on Fox News with Sean Hannity, “As long as
your books cite the Hadith, I will keep quoting it. Can any Muslim claim to
know more than Ibn-Kathir?”
-----------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------
The
meanness in humans comes alive when someone creates an enemy out of someone or
the other. The meanness among several of our fellow humans’ lit up when someone
denigrates the prophet. Instead of condemning the individuals who have rattled
up their peace of mind, they join the chorus. Shame on them, it is not good for
their mental health.
Until the
Hadiths, Seerah, and Quran mistranslations are corrected, the right-wingers
will keep throwing it at us. Our responsibility is to read, understand, and
update the errors made in compiling the Hadiths; the Quran is the only perfect
book for Muslims, not the secondary books.
Your (the
average Muslim) permission to talk about Islah comes from the Prophet
himself when he said I am leaving this book to “you” to read, understand and
follow. Did he say, you need to go Al-Azhar, Abu Bakr, Omar, Uthman, or Hazrat
Ali? The Shia among us believe that he assigned that role to Hazrat Ali at
Ghadeer Khum, and the Sunnis believe he did not assign it to anyone. Ultimately, the responsibility is placed on
the individuals, each one of us is accountable for what we believe and how we
act towards fellow humans.
The test of
the Hadith is – does it present the Prophet as Mercy to humanity? Is Allah the
Rahman and Raheem? Do we see Allah as Rabb ul Aalameen and its full
implications? Is Prophet “Ours” or belongs to all? Do Muslims limit him to a
Muslim Prophet? Yes, they do? But he is the prophet of humanity.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Efforts
continue worldwide to end the denigration of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the man
of peace and non-violence.
The way
Nupur Sharma narrated the Hadith in a derogatory manner is unacceptable. The
poor woman was merely doing her job. So was her colleague Navin Kumar Jindal,
though he went much further.
The Quran
calls Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) the Rahmat ul Aalameen (21:107) “We
have sent you ˹O
Prophet˺
only as a mercy for the whole world.” We can comfortably say the whole universe, the entire domain of the
creator.
To put this
controversy to an end, Muslims have a few choices to consider:
Forgive
Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal and do what the Prophet did when the urchins
pelted rocks at him on his way to Taif – he prayed that God helps the urchins
with common sense. They need to know that Prophet was a mercy to humanity, and
as his followers, Muslims will forgive the miscreants.
A combination photo of suspended BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and
Naveen Jindal./ ToI
----
Reject the
Hadith as weak and full of contradictions. Remove it and highlight all such
hadiths.
Imam
Bukhari’s collection of the sayings must be questioned and subjected to what
Prophet stood for, mercy to humanity, and God, who is Rahman and Rahim.
Remember, Quran is the only and only authentic book for Muslims, all others are
opinions. Yes, Sahih Hadith has many errors.
It is time
for Muslims to follow the Quran, which the Prophet said was the book to follow
after him, and review the Hadiths. We need not be copycats, deifying traditions
and hanging on to the dished-out Hadiths. Hadiths, also called Hadees, are the
sayings and practices attributed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
The Quran
is a book of guidance to create cohesive societies where God’s creation, all
humanity, lives securely regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, culture, or
other uniqueness. God did not deliver the Quran to a group called Muslims; it
was for the Aalameen, the entire universe*, and its elements to live in
harmony.
Those who follow the Quran are responsible for
mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill to restore harmony. God created
everything in peace and harmony and expected us to maintain it.
The Nupur Sharma incident should wake Muslims
up. The present-day Muslims are responsible for cleaning the secondary books –
any book other than the Quran.
The origins
of Islamophobia are traceable to the fear-mongering Hadiths, Seerah, and the
wrong translations of a few verses in the Quran. When you hear the Islamophobes
misquote Islam, we get outraged, but our ire should be directed at those
Hadiths and not the so-called Islamophobes. They are merely quoting what is in
the books, and Muslims have a responsibility to correct the books.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Also Read: Aisha bint Abu Bakr: A Fascinating Woman
-----------------------------------------------------------
Interestingly,
there is another controversy brewing – It is the marriage of Ma-Sita’s marriage
to Shri Ram was also mentioned to be 6, but that is not true either and the
arguments made are similar.
References:
https://centerforpluralism.com/age-of-sri-ram-and-devi-sita-marriage/
If it is not common sense, then it is not
Islam.
1. Hazarat Aisha | Ma Sita’s age 6 when Shri
Ram was 15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wX67gglhvE
2. Here is info about Ma-Sita
https://centerforpluralism.com/age-of-sri-ram-and-devi-sita-marriage/
Faizur
Rahman
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/hazrat-aisha-was-19-not-9/story-G4kaBHqM0VXoBhLR0eI2oO.html
Maulana
Sabeel – Hazarat Aisha’ age 17 Min, 23 Max | Ma Sita’s age 6 when Shri Ram was
15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wX67gglhvE
Evolution
of the controversy
https://www.deccanherald.com/national/explained-evolution-of-the-nupur-sharma-controversy-1115742.html
Pratap
Bhanu Mehta – Beware of half victories
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/nupur-sharma-hate-speech-row-7955639/
84% of
12 million children married are under 10
https://www.indiaspend.com/84-of-12-million-married-children-under-10-are-hindus-82446/
The
Truth about Muhammad (pbuh) and Aisha (2012 Article)
https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/sep/17/muhammad-aisha-truth?fbclid=IwAR1dkHphy3TVL17F5lYnhxR9HEUmQ-xHBUc7SJ2harwN9GdPoD4PnlRW6_w&fs=e&s=cl
Omar
Suleiman on Hazara Aisha’s age
VIDEO –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gDTh-6X9vo
Aakar
Patel – Nupur Sharma Fiasco – Society is numb to hate
https://www.theindiacable.com/p/nupur-sharma-fiasco-reveals-party?s=r
Ma Sita
and Shri Ram’s marriage is similar to Hazrat Aisha’s controversy
https://centerforpluralism.com/age-of-sri-ram-and-devi-sita-marriage/
How Old
was Aishah (RA) at the time of her marriage?
https://muslimmirror.com/eng/how-old-was-aishah-ra-at-the-time-of-her-marriage/
International
pressure works finally with BJP
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/bjp-suspends-nupur-sharma-naveen-jindal-7953884
If the
links don’t open, please go to
https://centerforpluralism.com/age-of-hazrat-aisha-at-her-wedding/ at the
original posting for live links.
-----
Mike
Ghouse is a social scientist, author (American Muslim Agenda), director at
World Muslim Congress, wedding officiant at Interfaith Marriages, and founder
of the Centre for Pluralism. All about him is at www.TheGhouseDiary.com
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/conflict-hazrat-aisha-marriage-/d/127319
New Age Islam, Islam
Online, Islamic
Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism