What was the age of Aisha(Aysha
or Ayesha) at the time her
marriage to Prophet Mohammad was consummated?
Prophet Mohammad's youngest and only virgin wife is
Aisha (Aysha or
Ayesha), the daughter of his closest companion. Her age at the time of marriage
is uncertain. According to some narrations, she was 9 years old. Because she could have been as young as 9 years old,
these days, some haters of Islam today say that Prophet Mohammad (pbuh)
was a pedophile.
However, according to alternative methods of calculating her age, she could have
been 12 – 18 years old. What is certain is that he did reach her puberty and she
was very happy in her marriage.
Most of the Hadith narrations mentioning her age was nine are reported
through Hisham ibn Urwa while living in Iraq, where Hisham ibn Urwa is reported
to have relocated 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. Another
book on the narrators of the traditions of the Muhammad reports that when he was
old, Hisham’s memory suffered quite badly.
We find evidence in both Hadith books and history books that indicates Aisha
must have been older than nine when she got married:
According to a 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.
However, because no one below the age of fifteen was allowed to accompany
raiding parties, 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 version 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.
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 (Pre-Islam Period), which has ended in 610 CE, making Aisha at
least twelve in 622 CE.
According to Ibn Hajar, Fatima was
five years older than Aisha. Fatima is reported to have been born when
Muhammad was thirty-five years old, meaning Aisha was born when he was forty
years old, and thus twelve when Muhammad married at fifty-two.
According to the generally accepted
tradition, Aisha was born about eight years before Hijrah (Migration to
Medina). However, according to another narrative in Bukhari (Kitaab al-Tafseer)
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”. The 54th Surah of
the Qur’an was revealed nine years before Hijrah. 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. It is reported in Taqreeb al-Tehzeeb as well
as in Ibn Kathir's Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah that Asma died in the 73rd year
after migration of Muhammad when she was 100 years old. 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, if Aisha got married in year 1 AH or 2 AH (after Migration to
Medina), she must have been between 18 to 20 years old at the time of her
marriage.
According to many Ahadith in Bukhari, it is believed Aisha participated in
the both of Badr and Uhud battles. Furthermore, in Bukhari's Kitabu’l-Maghazi,
Ibn `Umar states: "The Prophet did not permit me to participate in Uhud
battle, as at that time, I was 14 years old. But on the day of Khandaq battle,
when I was 15 years old, the Prophet permitted my participation". So, since it
was not allowed for Muslims younger than 15 years old to participate in Uhud
battle, Aisha, who participated in Uhud, must have been at least 15 years old
in those battles; thus her age was at least 13 to 14 at the time of her
marriage.
According to ibn Sa’d's Tabaqat and Ansab al-Ashraf books, opinions are in
disagreement concerning her marriage with Muhammad. The marriage seems to have
taken place either two of five years after the Migration (Usd al-Ghaba,
5:501).
Even if she was in fact 9 years old,
this marriage is still justified for the following reasons:
(a) She reached the age of puberty.
(b) The marriage happened 1400 ago, not today. At that time, their marriage was
not considered unusual and the proof is that the enemies of Muslims at that time
did not criticize this marriage. They attacked prophet Mohammad on many issues,
yet they didn't criticize his marriage to Aisha.
(c) It is possible that God wanted prophet Mohammad to marry a young girl so
that she can outlive him by many years so that she can serve an important
reference and resource for Muslims long after prophet Mohammad dies. As his
wife, she knew more about prophet Mohammad than anyone else. A significant
portion of the stories and sayings narrated about prophet Mohammad were
transmitted to us through Aisha. Please note that all of Prophet Mohammad's
children died during his life, except for his daughter Fatima who lived only one
year after his death. This was part of the wisdom of God who did not want the
leadership of Muslims to remain within the family of prophet Mohammad.
(d) Aisha indicated that it was a great honor and privilege to be married to
prophet Mohammad. If she did not marry him, she would have lived and died as an
ordinary woman. She became famous and gained a special status of respect because
of her marriage to prophet Mohammad.
(e) The fact that prophet Mohammad married a 9-year old girl does not mean that
we as Muslims can marry a 9-year girls today.
