L'age d'Aicha: Difference between revisions

[[File:Muhammad and Aisha freeing chief's daughter.jpg|thumb|332x332px|Mohammed and his wife Aisha freeing the daughter of a tribal chief. From the Siyer-i Nebi]]

'''Aisha''' (''‘Ā’ishah'', c. 613/614 –c. 678)<ref name="Siddiqui">Al-Nasa'i 1997, p. 108</ref> or عائشة, (also transliterated as '''A'ishah''', '''Aisyah''', '''Ayesha''', '''A'isha''', '''Aishat''', or '''Aishah''') was married to [[Muhammad]] at the age of 6 or 7, and the marriage was consummated by Muhammad, then 53, at the age of 9 or 10 according to numerous [[sahih]] [[Hadith|hadiths]].<ref>Narrated Hisham's father:

Khadija died three years before the Prophet (ﷺ) 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 that marriage when she was nine years old.<br>{{Bukhari|5|58|236}}</ref><ref>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).<br>{{Bukhari|7|62|64}}</ref><ref>'A'isha (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.<br>{{Muslim|8|3310}}</ref><ref>Aisha said, "The Apostle of Allah married me when I was seven years old." (The narrator Sulaiman said: "Or six years.")<br>{{Abudawud||2116|hasan}}</ref><ref>Most sources suggest age at consummation as nine, and one that it may have been age 10; See: Denise Spellberg (1996), ''Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of 'A'isha Bint Abi Bakr'', Columbia University Press, <nowiki>ISBN 978-0231079990</nowiki>, pp. 39–40;</ref> Due to concerns about [[:Category:Child Marriage|child marriage]] this topic is of heavy interest in the [[Apologists|apologetic]] literature and public discourse.       

Marriage at a young age was not unheard of in Arabia at the time, and Aisha's marriage to Muhammad may have had a political connotation, as her father Abu Baker was an influential man in the community.<ref>Afsaruddin, Asma (2014). "ʿĀʾisha bt. Abī Bakr". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett. ''[http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2 Encyclopaedia of Islam]'' (3 ed.). Brill Online. Retrieved 2015-01-11</ref> Abu Bakr, on his part, may have sought to further the bond of kinship between Muhammad and himself by joining their families together in marriage via Aisha. Egyptian-American Islamic scholar, Leila Ahmed, notes that Aisha's betrothal and marriage to Muhammad are presented as ordinary in Islamic literature, and may indicate that it was not unusual for children to be married to their elders in that era.<ref>Ahmed, Leila (1992). ''Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate''. Yale University Press. p. 51-54. <nowiki>ISBN 978-0300055832</nowiki>.</ref>

==Authenticity==

In the Quran, a rule concerning marriage to those who have not yet reached menstruation appears in Chapter 65 "Al Talaq" verse 4.<ref>And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women - if you doubt, then their period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated. And for those who are pregnant, their term is until they give birth. And whoever fears Allah - He will make for him of his matter ease.<br>{{Quran|65|4}}</ref> The [[tafsir]] (exegesis) of al-Jalalayn is one of the most respected commentaries on the Quran.<ref>Tafsir al-Jalalayn is one of the most significant tafsirs for the study of the Qur’an. Composed by the two “Jalals” -- Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli (d. 864 ah / 1459 ce) and his pupil Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911 ah / 1505 ce), Tafsir al-Jalalayn is generally regarded as one of the most easily accessible works of Qur’anic exegesis because of its simple style and one volume length. For the first time ever Tafsir al-Jalalayn is competently translated into an unabridged highly accurate and readable annotated English translation by Doctor. Feras Hamza.

[https://www.altafsir.com/Al-Jalalayn.asp altafsir.com]</ref> In the Jalalayn exegesis for this verse it describes "those you have yet to menstruate" as "those who have not yet menstruated, because of their young age, their [waiting] period shall [also] be three months."<ref>And as for those of your women who read allā’ī or allā’i in both instances no longer expect to menstruate if you have any doubts about their waiting period their prescribed waiting period shall be three months and also for those who have not yet menstruated because of their young age their period shall also be three months — both cases apply to other than those whose spouses have died; for these latter their period is prescribed in the verse they shall wait by themselves for four months and ten days Q. 2234. And those who are pregnant their term the conclusion of their prescribed waiting period if divorced or if their spouses be dead shall be when they deliver. And whoever fears God He will make matters ease for him in this world and in the Hereafter.

In the modern era, Aisha's age at marriage has been a source of controversy and debate. Some Muslims have attempted to revise the previously-accepted timeline of her life.<ref name=":3">Ali, Kecia. ''Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith and Jurisprudence''. OneWorld. p. 173-186. <nowiki>ISBN 978-1780743813</nowiki>.</ref> All biographical information on Muhammad and his companions was first recorded over a century after his death,<ref>Kadri, Sadakat (2012). ''Heaven on Earth''. Farrar, Straus, Giroux. p. 30.</ref> but the hadith and [[scripture]] provide records of early Islam through allegedly "unbroken chain of witnesses". Various hadiths stating that Aisha was either nine or ten at the time of her consummation come from collections with sahih status, meaning they are regarded as reputable by the majority of Muslims. Some other traditional sources also mention Aisha's age. The ''sira'' of [[Ibn Ishaq]] edited by Ibn Hisham states that she was nine or ten years old at the consummation. The historian al-Tabari also states that she was nine.<ref>When the Prophet married Aisha she very young and not yet ready for consummation.

 

[https://wikiislam.net/wiki/The_History_of_al-Tabari Al-Tabari, Vol. 9, p. 128]</ref><ref name=":2">According to Abd al-Hamid b. Bayan al-Sukkari - Muhammad b. Yazid - Ismai'il (that is Ibn Abi Khalid) - Abd al-Rahman b. Abi al- Dahhak - a man from Quraysh - Abd al-Rahman b. Muhammad: "Abd Allah b. Safwan together with another person came to Aishah and Aishah said (to the latter), "O so and so, have you heard what Hafsah has been saying?" He said, "Yes, o Mother of the Faithful." Abd Allah b. Safwan asked her, "What is that?" She replied, "There are nine special features in me that have not been in any woman, except for what God bestowed on Maryam bt. Imran. By God, I do not say this to exalt myself over any of my companions." "What are these?" he asked. She replied, "The angel brought down my likeness; '''the Messenger of God married me when I was seven; my marriage was consummated when I was nine; he married me when I was a virgin,'''no other man having shared me with him; inspiration came to him when he and I were in a single blanket; I was one of the dearest people to him, a verse of the Qur’an was revealed concerning me when the community was almost destroyed; I saw Gabriel when none of his other wives saw him; and he was taken (that is, died) in his house when there was nobody with him but the angel and myself."

According to Abu Ja‘far (Al-Tabari): The Messenger of God married her, so it is said, in Shawwal, and consummated his marriage to her in a later year, also in Shawwal.