Post by Brother Andrew on Jun 15, 2005 21:52:11 GMT -5
This article was kindly sent to me by Hischam Khan from www.understanding-Islam.com may Allah reward him for his effort
The age of Aisha (r) at time of her marriage to the Prophet (pbuh)
Based on a number of Ahadith, Muslims have long concluded that the Prophet (pbuh) married Aisha (r); the daughter of his companion Abu Bakr (r), when she was only about 9 years of age.
However, not too long ago, scholars having turned a critical eye on all this have found substantial evidence to suggest otherwise. In the following, I will try to summarise their argument and show that it is much more likely that she was 19 rather than 9 years of age at the consummation of her marriage to the Prophet (pbuh).
My source of information is the booklet of Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood whose study is based on the research of Maulana Muhammad Farooq Khan.
Regarding the age of Aisha (r), the hadith that states she was six years old at the time seems to have emanated from Iraq and appears to have been unknown in Madina in the early days of Islam which is odd because the Prophet (P) lived in Madina.
The early historian, Ibn Sa’ad does indeed indicate that she was six when she got fully married to him in 624CE (in Bukhari the same thing is said). However, there is overwhelming evidence by early biographers that seem to suggest otherwise.
Asma, the sister of Aisha died at the age of 100 in the year 73 AH, and she was 10 years older than Aisha (*). Her time of death was easy to remember because it was just after her son Abdullah ibn Zubair was killed in battle.
If she was 10 years older than Aisha and died 73 years AH then Aisha would have been 90, had she lived to that time. If we calculate backwards from the year 73 AH then we find that she would have been 16 at her Nikah and 19 when her marriage was consummated and not 9 (**). Thus, she must have been born in the year 605CE.
According to the early historian Ibn Jarir at-Tabari (***), Aisha was born in the days of ignorance which supports the view that she was 19 when she got married to the Prophet (****).
According to Ibn Hisham’s Seerah of the Prophet, Ali (r) and Aisha (r) were amongst the first children to accept Islam. If she was born in 614CE (As the Hadith states) then it is very unlikely that she was amongst the first children to accept Islam.
After Khadijah died, the Prophet (pbuh) was very sad, plus he had two children to look after. His aunt suggested that he marries Aisha (r).
There was one problem and that was that she was engaged to Jubayr ibn Mut’im ibn Adi since before the advent of Islam. This was easily solved because he and his parents did not want to go ahead with the marriage because she was Muslim while he was not.
If Aisha (r) was born in 614CE (4 years after the advent of Islam) then she could not possible have been engaged to Jubayr before the advent of Islam. As such it makes much better sense once again to suggest that she was 19 and not 9.
Most historians agree that Aisha was 67 when she died. Furthermore, Hisham Ibn Urwah the grandson of Aisha’s sister Asma; stated that she died in the year 50AH/672CE.
Khalifa ibn al-Khayyat al-Usfuri who was knowledgeable in lineage, and biography and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal also give the same date for her death. If this is the case then she must have been born in 605CE and 19 in 624CE when she got married.
Those Hadith that state that Aisha was 6 at her Nikka and 9 when fully married seem to have based their report on the tradition from Hisham the son of Urwa. However many scholars including Imam Malik said that Hisham’s reports that come from Iraq are unreliable (because they were unknown in Madina).
Saayid Sulaiman Nadvi is another one of those who opine that Aisha was 6 at her marriage and he too contradicts himself. He says that the last phase of Mu’awaiah’s caliphate was also the end of her life (at the age of 67).
He also says that she was a widow for 40 years. This means that the Prophet (P) died 40 years earlier. Since we know that the Prophet died in 632CE then she must have been 27 when he died. Calculating backwards to the date when she moved in with (in 624CE) him would mean that she was 19.
According to another narrative in Bukhari, Aisha was reported to have said that a certain verse from Surah Al-Qamar was revealed to the Prophet (P) in Makkah, while she was playing with dolls.
Surah Al-Qamar was one of the Makkan Surahs (and early chapters of the Qur’an) and as such it must have been revealed at least 5 years before the Hijrah. This means that she could not have been born in 614CE. It is much more likely that she was born in 605CE and was 12 when she was playing with her dolls (this is the age in which girls often play with dolls, playing Mother and child) at the revelation of this Surah.
It is recorded that Aisha, in the year of her marriage, at the Battle of Uhud, along with other ladies took drinking water to serve the Muslims. Would she have done this at the age of 19 or 9?
We should also remember that she was a great Scholar of Islam and that many Hadith come from her. Even the Caliphs would come to her for advice. Could this have been so if she got married to him at the age of 6, which would mean that she was only 18 at his death?
It is much more likely that she was born in 605CE, that her Nikah to the Prophet (P) took place when she was 16-17 and that her marriage was solemnised when she was 19 in 624CE. She would have been about 28 when he died and 67 at her death in 672CE as the information that I have given suggests.
Notes:
(*) According to A. R. ibn Arabi al-Zinad, Ibn Kathir Dimashqui and Ibn Abd al-Barr
(**) According to ‘Tahdhib al-Asma wa-al Lighat’ by Al-Nawawi, ‘Al Bidayah wa-al-Nihayay’ by Ibn Kathir, ‘Al Mawahib al-Ladunniyah’ by Qastallani, and ‘Umdah al-Qari by Badruddin al-Ayni the date of the Prophet’s (pbuh) marriage to Aisha (r) was 2 AH.
(***) ‘Tarikh al-Ummam wa al-Muluk (Egypt Volume 1V. pp 9-15
(****) If she was born only just before the advent of revelation -- and Tabari does not say “just before” but only that she was born in the days of ignorance -- even then she would have been at least 14.
The age of Aisha (r) at time of her marriage to the Prophet (pbuh)
Based on a number of Ahadith, Muslims have long concluded that the Prophet (pbuh) married Aisha (r); the daughter of his companion Abu Bakr (r), when she was only about 9 years of age.
However, not too long ago, scholars having turned a critical eye on all this have found substantial evidence to suggest otherwise. In the following, I will try to summarise their argument and show that it is much more likely that she was 19 rather than 9 years of age at the consummation of her marriage to the Prophet (pbuh).
My source of information is the booklet of Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood whose study is based on the research of Maulana Muhammad Farooq Khan.
Regarding the age of Aisha (r), the hadith that states she was six years old at the time seems to have emanated from Iraq and appears to have been unknown in Madina in the early days of Islam which is odd because the Prophet (P) lived in Madina.
The early historian, Ibn Sa’ad does indeed indicate that she was six when she got fully married to him in 624CE (in Bukhari the same thing is said). However, there is overwhelming evidence by early biographers that seem to suggest otherwise.
Asma, the sister of Aisha died at the age of 100 in the year 73 AH, and she was 10 years older than Aisha (*). Her time of death was easy to remember because it was just after her son Abdullah ibn Zubair was killed in battle.
If she was 10 years older than Aisha and died 73 years AH then Aisha would have been 90, had she lived to that time. If we calculate backwards from the year 73 AH then we find that she would have been 16 at her Nikah and 19 when her marriage was consummated and not 9 (**). Thus, she must have been born in the year 605CE.
According to the early historian Ibn Jarir at-Tabari (***), Aisha was born in the days of ignorance which supports the view that she was 19 when she got married to the Prophet (****).
According to Ibn Hisham’s Seerah of the Prophet, Ali (r) and Aisha (r) were amongst the first children to accept Islam. If she was born in 614CE (As the Hadith states) then it is very unlikely that she was amongst the first children to accept Islam.
After Khadijah died, the Prophet (pbuh) was very sad, plus he had two children to look after. His aunt suggested that he marries Aisha (r).
There was one problem and that was that she was engaged to Jubayr ibn Mut’im ibn Adi since before the advent of Islam. This was easily solved because he and his parents did not want to go ahead with the marriage because she was Muslim while he was not.
If Aisha (r) was born in 614CE (4 years after the advent of Islam) then she could not possible have been engaged to Jubayr before the advent of Islam. As such it makes much better sense once again to suggest that she was 19 and not 9.
Most historians agree that Aisha was 67 when she died. Furthermore, Hisham Ibn Urwah the grandson of Aisha’s sister Asma; stated that she died in the year 50AH/672CE.
Khalifa ibn al-Khayyat al-Usfuri who was knowledgeable in lineage, and biography and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal also give the same date for her death. If this is the case then she must have been born in 605CE and 19 in 624CE when she got married.
Those Hadith that state that Aisha was 6 at her Nikka and 9 when fully married seem to have based their report on the tradition from Hisham the son of Urwa. However many scholars including Imam Malik said that Hisham’s reports that come from Iraq are unreliable (because they were unknown in Madina).
Saayid Sulaiman Nadvi is another one of those who opine that Aisha was 6 at her marriage and he too contradicts himself. He says that the last phase of Mu’awaiah’s caliphate was also the end of her life (at the age of 67).
He also says that she was a widow for 40 years. This means that the Prophet (P) died 40 years earlier. Since we know that the Prophet died in 632CE then she must have been 27 when he died. Calculating backwards to the date when she moved in with (in 624CE) him would mean that she was 19.
According to another narrative in Bukhari, Aisha was reported to have said that a certain verse from Surah Al-Qamar was revealed to the Prophet (P) in Makkah, while she was playing with dolls.
Surah Al-Qamar was one of the Makkan Surahs (and early chapters of the Qur’an) and as such it must have been revealed at least 5 years before the Hijrah. This means that she could not have been born in 614CE. It is much more likely that she was born in 605CE and was 12 when she was playing with her dolls (this is the age in which girls often play with dolls, playing Mother and child) at the revelation of this Surah.
It is recorded that Aisha, in the year of her marriage, at the Battle of Uhud, along with other ladies took drinking water to serve the Muslims. Would she have done this at the age of 19 or 9?
We should also remember that she was a great Scholar of Islam and that many Hadith come from her. Even the Caliphs would come to her for advice. Could this have been so if she got married to him at the age of 6, which would mean that she was only 18 at his death?
It is much more likely that she was born in 605CE, that her Nikah to the Prophet (P) took place when she was 16-17 and that her marriage was solemnised when she was 19 in 624CE. She would have been about 28 when he died and 67 at her death in 672CE as the information that I have given suggests.
Notes:
(*) According to A. R. ibn Arabi al-Zinad, Ibn Kathir Dimashqui and Ibn Abd al-Barr
(**) According to ‘Tahdhib al-Asma wa-al Lighat’ by Al-Nawawi, ‘Al Bidayah wa-al-Nihayay’ by Ibn Kathir, ‘Al Mawahib al-Ladunniyah’ by Qastallani, and ‘Umdah al-Qari by Badruddin al-Ayni the date of the Prophet’s (pbuh) marriage to Aisha (r) was 2 AH.
(***) ‘Tarikh al-Ummam wa al-Muluk (Egypt Volume 1V. pp 9-15
(****) If she was born only just before the advent of revelation -- and Tabari does not say “just before” but only that she was born in the days of ignorance -- even then she would have been at least 14.