Ayesha's True Age

Ayesha's True Age
  
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My dear brothers,

Assalaam Alaikum,

May Allah be with you.

I am extremely sorry for the delay in my response. Please accept my

apologies.

In your letter, you had asked regarding my opinion on Ayesha's age at the

time of her marriage, and at the time of consummation of her marriage.

My answer to the question follows (the answer is primarily based on the

research by Habib ur Rahman Kandhalwi (urdu) as presented in his booklet,

"Tehqiq e umar e Siddiqah e Ka'inat"):

To begin with, 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 dependable

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 that effect.

In my opinion, the age of Ayesha (ra) has been grossly misreported in the

ahadith. Not only that, I think that the narratives reporting this event

are not only highly unreliable but the event reported, is also quite an

unlikely happening. Let us look at the issue from an objective stand point.

My reservations in accepting the narratives, on the basis of which, Ayeshas

(ra) age at the time of her marriage with the Prophet (pbuh) 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 Iraq,

where Hisham is reported to have had shifted after living in Medinah for

seventy one years.

Tehzibu'l-tehzib, one of the most well known books on the life and

reliability of the narrators of the traditions of the Prophet (pbuh)

reports that according to Yaqub ibn Shaibah: "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. (vol 11, pg 48 - 51)

Mizanu'l-ai`tidal, another book on the narrators of the traditions of the

Prophet (pbuh) reports that when he was old, Hisham's memory suffered quite

badly. (vol 4, pg 301 - 302)

According to the generally accepted tradition, Ayesha (ra) was born about

eight years before Hijrah. But according to another narrative in Bukhari

(kitabu'l-tafseer) Ayesha (ra) 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 (ra) had not only been born

before the revelation of the referred surah, but was actually a young girl

(jariyah), not 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 (ra) 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 (ra) participation in the battle of Badr and Uhud

clearly indicate that she was not nine or ten years old at that time. After

all, women used to accompany men to the battle fields to help them, not to

be a burden on them.

According to almost all the historians Asma (ra), the elder sister of

Ayesha (ra) was ten years older than Ayesha (ra). It is reported in

Taqri'bu'l-tehzi'b as well as Al-bidayah wa'l-nihayah that Asma (ra) died

in 73 hijrah when she was 100 years old. Now, obviously if Asma (ra) was

100 years old in 73 hijrah she should have been 27 or 28 years old at the

time of hijrah. If Asma (ra) was 27 or 28 years old at the time of hijrah,

Ayesha (ra) should have been 17 or 18 years old at that time. Thus, Ayesha

(ra), 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 (ra)

reports that Abu Bakr had four children and all four were born during the

Jahiliyyah -- the pre Islamic period. Obviously, if Ayesha (ra) 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 (ra) accepted Islam quite

some time before Umar ibn Khattab (ra). This shows that Ayesha (ra)

accepted Islam during the first year of Islam. While, if the narrative of

Ayesha's (ra) marriage at seven years of age is held to be true, Ayesha

(ra) should not have been born during the first year of Islam.

Tabari has also reported that at the time Abu Bakr planned on migrating to

Habshah (8 years before Hijrah), he went to Mut`am -- with whose son Ayesha

(ra) was engaged -- and asked him to take Ayesha (ra) in his house as his

son's wife. Mut`am refused, because Abu Bakr had embraced Islam, and his

son divorced Ayesha (ra). Now, if Ayesha (ra) 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 (ra) 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 (ra), when Khaulah (ra) came to the Prophet (pbuh) advising him
to

marry again, the Prophet (pbuh) 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 (pbuh) asked about who

the virgin was, Khaulah proposed Ayesha's (ra) 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 (ra) was five years older than Ayesha (ra).

Fatimah (ra) is reported to have been born when the Prophet (pbuh) was 35

years old. Thus, even if this information is taken to be correct, Ayesha

(ra) 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 (ra) 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

(pbuh) marry Ayesha (ra) at such a young age. The people of Arabia did not

object to this marriage, because it never happened in the manner it has

been narrated.

I hope I have been of some help.

May Allah help us in helping His deen.

Best Regards

The Learner (moizamj@brain.net.pk)
  
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