Aisha's age at marriage
A'isha bint Abu Bakr, one of the wives of
Muhammed, is traditionally believed to have been married young. The age of Aisha at marriage is an unsettled issue, and the subject of increasing attention in recent years. There are several
hadiths (said to have been narrated by Aisha herself) which state she was six or seven years old when betrothed and nine years old when married or when the marriage was
consummated, but other traditional material (hadith,
sira, etc.) suggests that Aisha may have been anywhere from twelve to nineteen years old when she married.
A significant majority of Muslims respect the authority of the hadith, the source of much Islamic law (
sharia) and therefore accept the hadith collected by Bukhari which quote Aisha as saying that she was nine years old when her marriage was consummated. However, they believe Aisha had already undergone puberty before the marriage was consumated, arguing that early marriages were not abnormal until relatively recent times,
[In medieval times in Britain, "Girlhood was brief. Women were marriageable at twelve and usually married by fourteen. Heiresses might be married in form as young as five and betrothed even younger..."; Joseph and Frances Gies, Life in a Medieval Castle, p. 78, 1979, Harper Perennial, ISBN 006090674X] but the standard practice was to wait until the bride had become adolescent before consummating the marriage.
[Jamal A. Badawi, Marriages of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)]Critics of Islam typically accept the hadith stating that Aisha was nine, but reject the idea that she could have been pubescent, suggesting Muhammad's sexual relationship with Aisha necessarily renders him, as ex-Dutch politician
Ayaan Hirsi Ali puts it, a "pervert".
[Anthony Browne, Film-maker is murdered for his art, Times Online, November 3, 2004] Additionally,
Ibn Warraq argues in
Why I Am Not a Muslim that "child marriages continue to be practiced, and the fact that the Prophet himself married Aisha when she was only nine and he was fifty-three encourages Muslim society to continue with this iniquitous custom."
[Ibn Warraq, Why I Am Not a Muslim, p. 320, Prometheus Books, 1995, 0879759844]Some Muslims believe the hadith included in Bukhari are "weak", misquoted, or misinterpreted, pointing to traditions from Islamic historians such as
Ibn Ishaq and
Tabari which would put her age at marriage as between fourteen and nineteen.
Maulana Muhammad Ali makes a detailed historical argument that Aisha was betrothed at nine or ten, but was fifteen at marriage,
[Maulana Muhammad Ali, The Living Thoughts of the Prophet Muhammad, p. 30, 1992, Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat, ISBN 0913321192] while Zahid Aziz and Hakim Niaz Ahmad fix her age at consummation as late as nineteen.
[Zahid Aziz, Age of Aisha (ra) at time of marriage][Tehqeeq Umri Ayesha Siddiqah (Research on the age of Ayesha), Mashkoor Academy, Karachi.]Evidence that Aisha was nine
The
hadith collections of
Bukhari (d.
870) and
Muslim b. al-Hajjaj (d.
875) are in general regarded as the most authentic by
Sunni Muslims. They both quote Aisha herself claiming she was nine at the time of her marriage.
* "Narrated 'Aisha: The prophet
engaged me when I was a girl of six (years old). 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 God's blessing and a good luck.' Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage)."
[ Sahih Bukhari ]* "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)."
[Sahih Bukhari ]* Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 88 "Narrated 'Ursa: 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)."
* Sahih Bukhari Volume 5, Book 58, Number 236. "Narrated Hisham's father: Khadija died three years before the Prophet departed to Medina. He stayed there for two years or so and then he married 'Aisha when she was a girl of six years of age, and he consumed (sic â€" consummated) that marriage when she was nine years old."
* Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 62, Number 65 "Narrated 'Aisha: that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old. Hisham said: I have been informed that 'Aisha remained with the Prophet for nine years (i.e. till his death)." what you know of the Quran (by heart)'"
* Sahih Bukhari Volume 8, Book 73, Number 151 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 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)
* "'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: 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. She further said: 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."
[Sahih Muslim ]* "'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."
[Sahih Muslim]* "Then the men and women got up and left. The Messenger of God
consummated his marriage with me in my house when I was nine years old. Neither a camel nor a sheep was slaughtered on behalf of me"...
* From Abu Dawud, Vol. 2, #2116: "Aisha said, "The Apostle of Allah married me when I was seven years old." (The narrator Sulaiman said: "Or six years."). "He had intercourse with me when I was 9 years old."
* Sunan Abu-Dawud Book 41, Number 4915 Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin: "The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) married me when I was seven or six. When we came to Medina, some women came. according to Bishr's version: Umm Ruman 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."
*(The Prophet) married her three years before
the Emigration, when she was seven years old and consummated the marriage when she was nine years old, after he had emigrated to Medina in
Shawwal. She was eighteen years old when he died.
[Tabari, Volume 9, p. 131, in the SUNY edition]* Tabari IX:131 "My mother came to me while I was being swung on a swing between two branches and got me down. My nurse took over and wiped my face with some water and started leading me. When I was at the door she stopped so I could catch my breath. I was brought in while Muhammad was sitting on a bed in our house. My mother made me sit on his lap. The other men and women got up and left. The Prophet consummated his marriage with me in my house when I was nine years old. Neither a camel nor a sheep was slaughtered on behalf of me."
Evidence that Aisha was older than nine
Some Muslims claim the Bukari and Muslim hadith reporting Aisha are "weak", having been recorded during the
Abbasid caliphate when Aisha's youth was deliberately emphasized by scholars to reject
Shi'a claims for the descendants of
Ali ibn Abi Talib.
[D. A. Spellberg, Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: the Legacy of A'isha bint Abi Bakr, Columbia University Press, 1994] There is material from both these hadith writers and earlier Islamic histories suggesting Aisha must have been older than nine when married.
* According to hadith in
Bukhari and
Muslim, Aisha is said to have joined Muhammad on the raid that culminated in the
Battle of Badr, in 624 CE
[Sahih Muslim, ] and then in 625 CE in the
Battle of Uhud.
[Sahih Bukhari, ] As no one below the age of fifteen was allowed to accompany raiding parties,
[Sahih Bukhari ][Sahih Muslim ] Aisha should have been at least fifteen in 624 CE and thus at least thirteen when she was married following the
Hijra in 622 CE.
*
Ibn Hisham's recension of
Ibn Ishaq's
Sirat Rashul Allah, the earliest surviving biography of Muhammad, records Aisha as having converted to Islam before
Umar ibn al-Khattab, during the first few years of Islam around 610 CE. In order to accept Islam she must have been walking and talking, hence at least three years of age, which would make her at least fifteen in 622 CE.
[Ibn Hisham, Al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah, Vol. 1, p.227 - 234, Arabic, Maktabah al-Riyadh al-hadithah, Al-Riyadh]*
Tabari reports that Abu Bakr wished to spare Aisha the discomforts of a
journey to Ethiopia soon after 615 CE, and tried to bring forward her marriage to Mut`am's son. Mut`am refused because Abu Bakr had converted to Islam, but if Aisha was already of marriageable age in 615 CE, she must have been older than nine in 622 CE.
* Tabari also reports that Abu Bakr's four children were all born during the
Jahiliyyah,
[Al-Tabari, Tarikhu'l-umam wa'l-mamlu'k, Vol. 4, p. 50, Arabic, Dara'l-fikr, Beirut, 1979] the pre Islamic period, which could be said to have ended in 610 CE, making Aisha at least twelve in 622 CE when Aisha started living with Muhammad.
* Most of these narratives are reported only by
Hisham ibn Urwa reporting on the authority of his father. All the narratives of this event have been reported through narrators from Iraq, where
Hisham ibn Urwa is reported to have shifted after living in
Madinah for seventy-one years. It is reported in one of the most well known books on the life and reliability of the narrators of the traditions ascribed to the Muhammad reports that
Yaqub ibn Shaibah said, "narratives reported by
Hisham are reliable except those that are reported through the people of Iraq". It further states that
Malik ibn Anas objected on those narratives of
Hisham, which were reported through people of Iraq.
[Ibn Hajar Asqalani, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, Dar Ihya al-turath al-Islami, Vol.11, p. 50][Ibn Hajar Asqalani, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, Dar Ihya al-turath al-Islami, 15th century. Vol 11, p. 50] Another book on the narrators of the traditions of the Muhammad reports that when he was old,
Hisham's memory suffered quite badly.
[Al-Zahabi, Mizanu'l-ai`tidal, Al-Maktabatu'l-athriyyah, Sheikhupura, Pakistan, Vol. 4, p. 301]* Aisha 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".
[Sahih Bukhari ] The 54th Surah of the Qur'an was revealed nine years before Hijrah.
[M. M. Khatib, The Bounteous Koran, 1989 ISBN 0333347382] According to this tradition, Aisha had not only been born before the revelation of the referred Surah, but was actually a young girl, not even only an infant at that time. So if this age is assumed to be 7 to 14 years then her age at the time of marriage would be 14 to 21.
* According to almost all the historians, Asma the elder sister of Aisha, was ten years older than Aisha.
[Al-Zahabi, Siyar A`la'ma'l-nubala', Vol. 2, p. 289, Arabic, Mu'assasatu'l-risalah, Beirut, 1992][Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidayah wa'l-nihayah, Vol. 8, p. 371, Dar al-fikr al-`arabi, Al-jizah, 1933] Asma is reported to die in the 73rd year after migration of Muhammad when she was 100 years old.
[Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidayah wa'l-nihayah, Vol. 8, p. 372, Dar al-fikr al-`arabi, Al-jizah, 1933][Ibn Hajar Asqalani, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, p. 654, Arabic, Bab fi'l-nisa', al-harfu'l-alif, Lucknow] Now, obviously if Asma was 100 years old in the 73rd year after
Migration to Medina, she should have been 27 or 28 years old at the time of migration. If Asma was 27 or 28 years old at the time of hijrah, Aisha should have been 17 or 18 years old at that time. Thus, Aisha - if she got married in 1 AH (after
Migration to Medina) or 2 AH - was between 18 to 20 years old at the time of her marriage.
*
Tabaqat ibn Sa'd, 8:58;
Ansab al-Ashraf, 1:410. Opinions are in disagreement concerning her marriage with Muhammad. Their marriage seems to have taken place either two of five years after the Migration (Usd al-ghaba, 5:501).
[http://www.light-of-life.com/eng/reveal/r5405et7.htm#p133, http://www.light-of-life.com/eng/reveal/r5405f24.htm]*Hakim Niaz Ahmad, an Islamic scholar from
Deobandi school of thought, compares in his book
hadith of Aisha's age with hadith of
Laylat al-Qadr, in which 1 was used for 21, 3 for 23, 5 for 25 and so on. He argues that it is a way of talking in Arabic language when base is already known. He believes that hadith in
Bukhari and
Muslim are misunderstood and hence Aisha was engaged at the age of 16 and her marriage was consummated at the age of 19 according to Bukhari and Muslim. He then supports his view with other Islamic literature, some of which have already been mentioned above.
*
Criticism of Islam*
Muhammad's marriages*
Disputes over Islamic historical dates
*[
1]
Sites criticizing Muhammad for the alleged early marriage:
*
Aisha â€" nine year-old bride*
Aisha the child wife of Muhammad*
Muhammad, Islam, and child brides*
Aisha, the child bride of MohammadSites questioning the hadith used to prove an early marriage:
*
From muslim.org*
From understanding-islam.org*
From studying-islam.org*
Ahmadiyya viewsSites responding to criticism of Muhammad for the alleged early marriage:
*
The Young Marriage of Aishah â€" bismikaallahuma.org*
The Young Marriage of `Aishah â€" islamic-awareness.org*
In Defence of My Beloved â€" lamppostproductions.org*
About the Prophet's Marriage with Aishah Part 1 &
Part 2 â€" load-islam.com
