Aishah - Can She Be Trusted?
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One of the main sources of many "Controversial Hadiths" is Aishah, one of the prophet's wives. Can she be trusted? Does prophet Muhammad really married her while she was 6 or 9 years old?
From http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aishah
Evidence that Aisha was 9 when marriage was consummated
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Sahih Muslim Book 008, Number 3310 'Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) reported Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house when I was nine years old.
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Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 88 Narrated 'Urwa The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with 'Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death).
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Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 64 Narrated 'Aisha that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e., till his death).
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Sahih Bukhari 8151, Narrated 'Aisha "I used to play with the dolls in the presence of the Prophet , and my girl friends also used to play with me. When Allah's Apostle used to enter (my dwelling place) they used to hide themselves, but the Prophet would call them to join and play with me. (The playing with the dolls and similar images is forbidden, but it was allowed for 'Aisha at that time, as she was a little girl, not yet reached the age of puberty.) (Fateh-al-Bari page 143, Vol.13)
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Sahih Bukhari vol. 5, Book 58, Number 234 Narrated 'Aisha The prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six. We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Harith Kharzraj. 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 all right, 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).
(Other hadith in Bukhari repeat this information)
Indirect evidence that Aisha was older than 9
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According to Ibn Hisham's recension of Ibn Ishaq's (d. 76 biography of Prophet Muhammad, the Sirat Rashul Allah, the earliest surviving biography of Muhammad, Aisha accepted Islam before Umar ibn al-Khattab. If true, then Aisha accepted Islam during the first few years of Islam. She could not have been less than 14 years in 1 AH - the time she got marriedCitation needed. Sira, Ibn Hisham, Vol. 1, Pg. 227
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Tabari reports that when Abu Bakr planned on migrating to Ethiopia (8 years before Hijrah), he went to Mut
am - with whose son Aisha was engaged at that time - and asked him to take Aisha as his son's wife. Mutam refused because Abu Bakr had converted to Islam. If Aisha was only six years old at the time of her betrothal to Muhammad, she could not have been born at the time Abu Bakr decided on migrating to EthiopiaCitation needed. Tehqiq e umar e Siddiqah e Ka'inat, Habib ur Rahman Kandhalwi, Pg 38 -
Tabari in his treatise on Islamic history reports that Abu Bakr had four children and all four were born during the Jahiliyyah - the pre Islamic period. If Aisha was born in the period of jahiliyyah, she could not have been less than 14 years in 1 AH. Tarikh al-umam wa al-mamloo'k, Al-Tabari, Vol. 4, Pg. 50
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According to Ibn Hajar, Fatima was five years older than Aisha. Fatima is reported to have been born when Muhammad was 35 years old. Muhammad migrated to Medina when he was 52, making Aisha 14 years old in 1 AH. Tamyeez al-Sahaabah, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalaniy, Vol. 4, Pg. 377
Note The Muslim traditions generally say that Aisha was 6 years old when married to Muhammad, and that this marriage took place in 1 AH. All of the above arguments are based on the hypothesis that the age at which Aisha married, as reported by the original sources, is wrong, but the time at which she married, as reported by the same sources, is correct.
Aishah from Shia's view
http//www.answering-ansar.org/answers/ayesha/the_ayesha.pdf
Aishah from Sunni's view
http//www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/history/biographies/sahaabah/bio.AISHAH_BINT_ABI_BAKR.htmlAny thoughts or comments are much welcomed...
Only Allah knows best
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Salaam Br mquran,
Yes, exactly!
Aren't we going to live now and move forward instead that always looking back on the past.
Who knows who Aisha was and if she really existing, perhaps she was just an actor in a book.
Poetry was very common in the past.
Peace
Sis Majidah