Note
that the spelling variations of Aisha are typical when translating Arabic names
(or words) into English. The following question and answer was located at http://www.understanding-islam.com/q-and-a/sources-of-islam/what-was-ayesha-s-ra-age-at-the-time-of-her-marriage-to-the-prophet-pbuh-5107
Q: What
was Ayesha's (r.a) age at the
time of her marriage? It is normally believed that she was nine years old at
the time that her marriage with Mohammad (p.b.u.h)
was consummated. I think it was according to the traditions of the Arab
culture, otherwise people would have objected to this marriage. But
unfortunately, the modern day man is not satisfied with an answer as simple as
that.
A: To
begin with[1], I think it is the responsibility of all those who
believe that marrying a girl as young as nine years old was an accepted norm of
the Arab culture, to provide at least a few examples to substantiate their
point of view. I have not yet been able to find a single reliable instance in
the books of Arab history where a girl as young as nine years old was given
away in marriage. Unless such examples are given, we do not have any reasonable
grounds to believe that it really was an accepted norm.
In my opinion, the age of Ayesha
(r.a)
has been grossly misreported in the narratives of this incident. Not only that,
I think that the narratives reporting this event are not only highly unreliable
but also on the basis of other historical data, the reported event is quite
unlikely. Let us look at the issue from an objective standpoint. My
reservations in accepting the narratives, on the basis of which Ayesha's
(r.a)
age at the time of her marriage with the Prophet (p.b.u.h)
is held to be nine years, are:
• Most of these narratives are reported only by Hisham
ibn
‘urwah
reporting on the authority of his father. An event as well known as the one
being reported should logically have been reported by more people than just
one, two, or three.
• It is quite strange that no one from Medinah,
where Hisham
ibn
‘urwah
lived the first seventy-one years of his life, has narrated the event, even
though in Medinah his pupils included
people as well-known as Malik ibn Anas.
All the narratives of this event have been reported by narrators from
• Tehzeeb al-Tehzeeb, one of the most well-known books on the life and
reliability of the narrators of the traditions ascribed to the Prophet (p.b.u.h)
reports that according to Yaqub ibn
Shaibah:
"narratives reported by Hisham are
reliable except those that are reported through the people of
• Meezaan al-Ai`tidaal, another book on the narrators of the traditions of the
Prophet (p.b.u.h)
reports that when he was old, Hisham's
memory suffered quite badly (Vol. 4, pg. 301 - 302).
• According to the generally accepted tradition, Ayesha (r.a)
was born about eight years before Hijrah[2].
However, according to another narrative in Bukhari
(Kitaab
al-Tafseer)
Ayesha (r.a) is reported to have said that at
the time Surah Al-Qamar, the 54th
chapter of the Qur'an, was revealed, "I was a young girl". The 54th
Surah of the Qur'an was revealed nine years before Hijrah.
According to this tradition, Ayesha (r.a)
had not only been born before the revelation of the referred Surah, but
was actually a young girl (jariyah), not
even only an infant (sibyah) at
that time. Obviously, if this narrative is held to be true, it is in clear
contradiction with the narratives reported by Hisham
ibn
‘urwah.
I see absolutely no reason that after the comments of the experts on the
narratives of Hisham ibn
‘urwah,
why we should not accept this narrative to be more accurate.
• According to a number of narratives, Ayesha (r.a)
accompanied the Muslims in the battle of Badr and Uhud.
Furthermore, it is also reported in books of hadith and history that no
one under the age of 15 years was allowed to take part
in the battle of Uhud. All the
boys below 15 years of age were sent back. Ayesha's (r.a)
participation in the battle of Badr and Uhud
clearly indicates that she was not nine or ten years old at that time. After
all, women used to accompany men to the battlefields to help them, not to be a
burden upon them.
• According to almost all the historians Asma
(r.a),
the elder sister of Ayesha (r.a) was ten
years older than Ayesha (r.a). It is
reported in Taqreeb al-Tehzeeb
as well as Al-Bidayah wa
al-Nihayah
that Asma
(r.a)
died in the 73rd year after Hijrah when
she was 100 years old. Now, obviously if Asma (r.a)
was 100 years old in the 73rd year after Hijrah, she should have been 27 or
28 years old at the time of Hijrah. If Asma
(r.a)
was 27 or 28 years old at the time of Hijrah, Ayesha
(r.a)
should have been 17 or 18 years old at that time. Thus, Ayesha
(r.a)
– if she got married in 1 AH (after Hijrah) or 2
AH – was between 18 to 20 years old at the time of her marriage.
• Tabari, in his treatise on Islamic history,
while mentioning Abu Bakr (r.a),
reports that Abu Bakr had four
children and all four were born during the Jahiliyyah
– the pre-Islamic
period. Obviously, if Ayesha (r.a) was born in
the period of jahiliyyah, she could not have
been less than 14 years in 1 AH – the time she most likely got married.
• According to Ibn Hisham,
the historian, Ayesha (r.a) accepted
Islam quite some time before Umar ibn Khattab
(r.a).
This shows that Ayesha (r.a) accepted
Islam during the first year of Islam. If the narrative of Ayesha's (r.a)
marriage at seven years of age is held to be true, Ayesha (r.a)
should not even have been born during the first year of Islam.
• Tabari has also reported that at the time Abu
Bakr
(r.a)
planned on migrating to Habshah (8
years before Hijrah), he went to Mut’am
– with whose son Ayesha (r.a) was engaged
at that time – and asked him to take Ayesha (r.a)
in his house as his son's wife. Mut’am
refused, because Abu Bakr had
embraced Islam. Subsequently, his son divorced Ayesha (r.a).
Now, if Ayesha (r.a) was only
seven years old at the time of her marriage, she could not have been born at
the time Abu Bakr decided on migrating to Habshah.
On the basis of this report, it seems only reasonable to assume that Ayesha
(r.a)
had not only been born 8 years before Hijrah, but was
also a young lady, quite prepared for marriage.
• According to a narrative reported by Ahmad ibn
Hanbal,
after the death of Khadijah (r.a),
when Khaulah
(r.a)
came to the Prophet (p.b.u.h) advising
him to marry again, the Prophet (p.b.u.h) asked
her regarding the choices she had in her mind. Khaulah
said: "You can marry a virgin (bikr) or a
woman who has already been married (thayyib)".
When the Prophet (p.b.u.h) asked about who the virgin
was, Khaulah
proposed Ayesha's (r.a) name. All
those who know the Arabic language are aware that the word "bikr"
in the Arabic language is not used for an immature nine-year old girl. The
correct word for a young playful girl, as stated earlier, is "Jariyah".
"Bikr"
on the other hand is used for an unmarried lady, and obviously a nine-year old
is not a
"lady".
• According to Ibn Hajar,
Fatimah (r.a) was five years older than Ayesha
(r.a).
Fatimah (r.a) is reported to have been born
when the Prophet (p.b.u.h) was 35 years old. Thus,
even if this information is taken to be correct, Ayesha (r.a)
could by no means be less than 14 years old at the time of Hijrah,
and 15 or 16 years old at the time of her marriage.
These are some of the major points that go against accepting the
commonly known narrative regarding Ayesha's (r.a)
age at the time of her marriage.
In my opinion, neither was it an
Arab tradition to give away girls in marriage at an age as young as nine or ten
years, nor did the Prophet (p.b.u.h) marry Ayesha
(r.a)
at such a young age. The people of
End Notes:
[1]
The answer to this question is primarily based on the research by Habib
[2]
That is, the migration of the Prophet (p.b.u.h)
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Aisha's age
The
popular misconception as to Aisha's age may be removed here. That she had not
attained majority is clear enough, but that she was not as young as six years
of age is also true. In the first place, it is clear that she had reached an
age when betrothal could have taken place in the ordinary course and must
therefore have been approaching the age of majority. Again, Isabah,
speaking of the Holy Prophet's daughter Fatimah, says that she was about five
years older than Aisha. It is a well-established fact that Fatimah was born
when the Kabah
was being rebuilt, i.e., five years before the Call. Aisha was therefore born
in the year of the Call or a little before it, and she could not have been less
than ten years at the time of her marriage with the Holy Prophet in the tenth
year of the Call. This conclusion is borne out by the testimony of Aisha
herself who is reported to have related that when the chapter entitled,
"The Moon" (the 54th chapter) was revealed, she was a girl
playing about and that she remembered certain verses then revealed.
Now
the fifty-fourth chapter could not have been revealed later than the fifth year
of the Call, and therefore the report which states her to have been six years
old in the tenth year of the Call when her marriage ceremony was gone through
cannot be correct, because this would show her to have been born about the time
of the revelation of the 54th chapter. All these considerations show
her to have been not less than ten years old at the time of her marriage. And
as the period between her marriage and its consummation was not less than five
years, because the consummation took place in the second year of the Flight, it
follows that she could not have been less than fifteen at that time. The
popular account that she was six years at marriage and nine years at the time
of consummation is decidedly not correct because it supposes the period between
marriage and its consummation to be only three years, and this is historically
wrong.
Posted April 1, 2010