Of Aisha’s age at marriage
Posted on May 16th, 2012
By I. Ahmad
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is said that Hazrat Aisha was six years old when her nikah (marriage solemnization) was performed with Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in Makkah, and nine years old when she moved in to live with her husband in Madina after Hijra.
This piece of misinformation has led to the wrong view that child marriage has the sanction of Islam. It must be noted that establishing the authenticity of hadiths (sayings of Prophet), the narratorsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ circumstances and the conditions at that time have to be correlated with historical facts. There is only one hadith by Hisham which suggests the age of Hazrat Aisha as being nine when she came to live with her husband.
Many authentic hadiths also show that HishamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s narration is incongruous with several historical facts about the ProphetƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s life, on which there is consensus. With reference to scholars such as Umar Ahmed Usmani, Hakim Niaz Ahmed and Habibur Rehman Kandhulvi, I would like to present some arguments in favor of the fact that Hazrat Aisha was at least 18 years old when her nikah was performed and at least 21 when she moved into the ProphetƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s house to live with him.
According to Umar Ahmed Usmani, in Surah Al-Nisa, it is said that the guardian of the orphans should keep testing them, until they reach the age of marriage, before returning their property (4:6). From this, scholars have concluded that the Quran sets a minimum age of marriage which is at least puberty. Since the approval of the girl has a legal standing, she cannot be a minor.
Hisham bin Urwah is the main narrator of this hadith. His life is divided into two periods: in 131A.H. the Madani period ended, and the Iraqi period started, when Hisham was 71 years old. Hafiz Zehbi has spoken about HishamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s loss of memory in his later period. His students in Madina, Imam Malik and Imam Abu Hanifah, do not mention this hadith. Imam Malik and the people of Madina criticised him for his Iraqi hadiths.
All the narrators of this hadith are Iraqis who had heard it from Hisham. Allama Kandhulvi says that the words spoken in connection with Hazrat AishaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s age were tissa ashara, meaning 19, when Hisham only heard (or remembered), tissa, meaning nine.
Maulana Usmani thinks this change was purposely and maliciously made later.
Historian Ibn Ishaq in his Sirat Rasul Allah has given a list of the people who accepted Islam in the first year of the proclamation of Islam, in which Hazrat AishaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s name is mentioned as Abu BakrƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-little daughter AishaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. If we accept HishamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s calculations, she was not even born at that time.
Some time after the death of the ProphetƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s first wife, Hazrat Khadija, Khawla suggested to the Prophet that he get married again, to a bikrun, referring to Hazrat Aisha (Musnad Ahmed).
In Arabic bikrun is used for an unmarried girl who has crossed the age of puberty and is of marriageable age. The word cannot be used for a six-year-old girl.
Some scholars think that Hazrat Aisha was married off so early because in Arabia girls mature at an early age. But this was not a common custom of the Arabs at that time.
According to Allama Kandhulvi, there is no such case on record either before or after Islam. Neither has this ever been promoted as a Sunnah (practice) of the Prophet. The Prophet married off his daughters Fatima at 21 and Ruquiyya at 23. Besides, Hazrat Abu Bakr, AishaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s father, married off his eldest daughter Asma at the age of 26.
Hazrat Aisha narrates that she was present on the battlefield at the Battle of Badar (Muslim). This leads one to conclude that Hazrat Aisha moved into the ProphetƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s house in 1 A.H. But a nine-year-old could not have been taken on a rough and risky military mission.
In 2 A.H, the Prophet refused to take boys of less than 15 years of age to the battle of Uhud. Would he have allowed a 10-year-old girl to accompany him? But Anas reported that he saw Aisha and Umme Sulaim carrying goatskins full of water and serving it to the soldiers (Bukhari).
Umme Sulaim and Umme Ammara, the other women present at Uhud, were both strong ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ mature women whose duties were the lifting of the dead and injured, treating their wounds, carrying water in heavy goatskins, supplying ammunition and even taking up the sword.
Hazrat Aisha used the kunniat, the title derived from the name of a child, of Umme Abdullah after her nephew and adopted son.
If she was six when her nikah was performed, she would have been only eight years his senior, hardly making him eligible for adoption. Also, a little girl could not have given up on ever having her own child and used an adopted childƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s name for her kunniat.
Hazrat AishaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s nephew Urwah once remarked that he was not surprised about her amazing knowledge of Islamic law, poetry and history because she was the wife of the Prophet and the daughter of Abu Bakr. If she was eight when her father migrated, when did she learn poetry and history from him?
There is consensus that Hazrat Aisha was 10 years younger than her elder sister Asma, whose age at the time of the hijrah, or migration to Madina, was about 28. It can be concluded that Hazrat Aisha was about 18 years old at migration. On her moving to the ProphetƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s house, she was a young woman at 21.
Hisham is the single narrator of the hadith whose authenticity is challenged, for it does not correlate with the many historical facts of the time.
May 16th, 2012 at 6:19 pm
Thank God. Thank LW – Very informative. Good.
May 16th, 2012 at 6:52 pm
This is worse than I thought.
We rather believe Islamic texts than opinions. Challenging the accuracy of Hadith is unacceptable. Hazrat Aisha was six years old when her marriage was performed with Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and nine years old when she moved in to live with him. This is the truth.
Ahmad says: Quran sets a minimum age of marriage which is at least puberty. Since the approval of the girl has a legal standing, she cannot be a minor.
A minor cannot give apporval. What happened was Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) gave his daughter to Hazrat Aisha’s father and got him to give his daughter to him. And polygamy too. This is barbaric.
Then it gets worse. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) takes his new 9 year old wife to war at Battle of Badar (Muslim). No religious leader than Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) went to war.
Ahmad says: In 2 A.H, the Prophet refused to take boys of less than 15 years of age to the battle of Uhud.
So he was like George W Bush or Osama bin Laden going from one war to another, deciding who should got to war.
This is very bad.
May 17th, 2012 at 12:36 am
Mr. Ahmad,
You say; it’s a misinformation that Muhammad slept with a nine year old. I am listing here not just one Ahadith but three to prove you are wrong. With Hisham’s that you mentioned it is four now. And there are more.
What nonsense you are saying that Aisha was 18 or 21 when she moved in with Muhammad? If we go by Ahadith in Sahih Muslim’s Book 8, Number 3311 as Aisha says, Muhammad is dead when Aisha was 18. See, this is what it says; “Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) married her when she was seven years old, and he was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she was eighteen years old.” What do say eh?
There is more proof that Muhammad had sex with Aisha when she was only nine and she enjoyed it. Dawud’s Book 41, Number 4915 says as Aisha narrates; “The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) married me when I was seven or six. When we came to Medina, Umm Ruman and some other women came to me when I was swinging. They took me, made me prepared and decorated me. I was then brought to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him), and he took up cohabitation with me when I was nine. She halted me at the door, and I burst into laughter.”
Bukhari also wrote as Aisha narrated in his Book 58, Volume 5, and Number 234: “The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became Allright, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, “Best wishes and Allah’s Blessing and a good luck.” Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah’s Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age.”
And, Sahih Muslim wrote in his Book 8, Number 3309 as Aisha says: “Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house at the age of nine. We went to Medina and I had an attack of fever for a month, and my hair had come down to the earlobes. Umm Ruman (my mother) came to me and I was at that time on a swing along with my playmates. She called me loudly and I went to her and I did not know what she had wanted of me. She took hold of my hand and took me to the door, and I was saying: Ha, ha (as if I was gasping), until the agitation of my heart was over. She took me to a house, where had gathered the women of the Ansar. They all blessed me and wished me good luck and said: May you have share in good. She (my mother) entrusted me to them. They washed my head and embellished me and nothing frightened me. Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) came there in the morning, and I was entrusted to him.”
You may have found some material to cover up depravity of you prophet from fairy-tales but not from Ahadith. Neither are we interested in baffling codes of Allah but morality of Sunnah particularly Muhammad sleeping with a nine year old period
Leela
May 18th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
Only Gandhi can beat the Prophet. In 1883, the 13-year-old Mohandas Gandhi married a 14-year-old girl named Kasturba Makhanji. The young couple’s first child died in 1885. Mahatma? Not really!