User:1234567/Sandbox 1: Difference between revisions

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In working life, she was much sought as a teacher.<ref>{{Bukhari|6|61|515}}.</ref> She hung a curtain in her house so that she could sit behind it while men came to hear her teaching without seeing her.<ref>E.g., see {{Bukhari|1|5|251}}; {{Bukhari|7|68|473}}.</ref> She narrated 2210 ''ahadith'' to her students.<ref>[http://www.islamawareness.net/Muhammed/ibn_kathir_wives.html/ Ibn Kathir, ''The Wives of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)''].</ref> “Whenever we encountered any difficulty in the matter of any ''hadith'', we referred it to Aisha and found that she had definite knowledge about it.”<ref>Tirmidhi 6:46:3883. See also Al-Dhahabi, “Aisha, Mother of the Faithful” in ''Tadhkirat al-Huffaz'' p. 1/13.</ref> Many of her ''hadiths'' were the endless prescriptions for the correct rituals of prayer and hygiene (Muhammad liked to put on his right sandal first;<ref>[http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/6/ Tirmidhi 1:6:608]</ref> he always urinated in a squatting position;<ref>[http://ahadith.co.uk/hadithbynarrator.php?n=Aisha&bid=15&let=A/ Ibn Majah 2:307].</ref> and he considered vinegar an “excellent condiment”.<ref>[http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/25/ Tirmidhi 4:25:1839]</ref>). But many of her other teachings were stories about her friends and family, giving insight into events and relationships while leaving the morals unspoken and implicit. Of Muhammad she said, “His character was the Qur’an,”<ref>{{Muslim|4|1623}}.</ref> an assessment that few would dispute.
In working life, she was much sought as a teacher.<ref>{{Bukhari|6|61|515}}.</ref> She hung a curtain in her house so that she could sit behind it while men came to hear her teaching without seeing her.<ref>E.g., see {{Bukhari|1|5|251}}; {{Bukhari|7|68|473}}.</ref> She narrated 2210 ''ahadith'' to her students.<ref>[http://www.islamawareness.net/Muhammed/ibn_kathir_wives.html/ Ibn Kathir, ''The Wives of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)''].</ref> “Whenever we encountered any difficulty in the matter of any ''hadith'', we referred it to Aisha and found that she had definite knowledge about it.”<ref>Tirmidhi 6:46:3883. See also Al-Dhahabi, “Aisha, Mother of the Faithful” in ''Tadhkirat al-Huffaz'' p. 1/13.</ref> Many of her ''hadiths'' were the endless prescriptions for the correct rituals of prayer and hygiene (Muhammad liked to put on his right sandal first;<ref>[http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/6/ Tirmidhi 1:6:608]</ref> he always urinated in a squatting position;<ref>[http://ahadith.co.uk/hadithbynarrator.php?n=Aisha&bid=15&let=A/ Ibn Majah 2:307].</ref> and he considered vinegar an “excellent condiment”.<ref>[http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/25/ Tirmidhi 4:25:1839]</ref>). But many of her other teachings were stories about her friends and family, giving insight into events and relationships while leaving the morals unspoken and implicit. Of Muhammad she said, “His character was the Qur’an,”<ref>{{Muslim|4|1623}}.</ref> an assessment that few would dispute.


There is some evidence that, while Aisha could not contradict any teaching of Muhammad that had become public knowledge, she emphasised the aspects of Islam that she liked. After the Qur’an was collated in writing, she commissioned a copy for herself. When her scribe reached “Guard the prayers and the middle prayer,” she told him to correct it to, “Guard the prayers and the middle prayer ''and the afternoon prayer'',” because this, she said, was how Muhammad had recited it.<ref>{{Muslim|4|1316.}}</ref> While it is difficult to see what motive Aisha could have had for inventing this kind of detail, other people were not convinced, and her addition does not appear in the standard Qur’an.<ref>{{Quran|2|238}}</ref> At other times, Aisha was content not to bother correcting the text. She said that the injunction to stone adulterers to death had been written “on a paper and kept under my pillow. When Allah’s Messenger expired and we were occupied by his death, a goat entered and ate away the paper.”<ref>Ibn Majah 3:1944.</ref> Although several Muslims had memorised this verse, and Aisha never denied that it had once existed, she also made no attempt to re-insert it into the Qur’an. To this day, it is not included.<ref>{{Muslim|17|4194}}; {{Bukhari|8|817|}}.</ref>
There is some evidence that, while Aisha could not contradict any teaching of Muhammad that had become public knowledge, she emphasised the aspects of Islam that she liked. After the Qur’an was collated in writing, she commissioned a copy for herself. When her scribe reached “Guard the prayers and the middle prayer,” she told him to correct it to, “Guard the prayers and the middle prayer ''and the afternoon prayer'',” because this, she said, was how Muhammad had recited it.<ref>{{Muslim|4|1316.}}</ref> While it is difficult to see what motive Aisha could have had for inventing this kind of detail, other people were not convinced, and her addition does not appear in the standard Qur’an.<ref>{{Quran|2|238}}</ref> At other times, Aisha was content not to bother correcting the text. She said that the injunction to stone adulterers to death had been written “on a paper and kept under my pillow. When Allah’s Messenger expired and we were occupied by his death, a goat entered and ate away the paper.”<ref>Ibn Majah 3:1944.</ref> Although several Muslims had memorised this verse, and Aisha never denied that it had once existed, she also made no attempt to re-insert it into the Qur’an. To this day, it is not included.<ref>{{Muslim|17|4194}}; {{Bukhari|1|8|817}}.</ref>


She remembered several ''ahadith'' that had not seemed important to the male narrators. When a sack of bread was brought to Muhammad, he had specifically distributed among the peasant and slave women rather than the men.<ref>{{Abudawud|19|2946}}.</ref> She recalled his promise that, “Whoever is tried with something from daughters, and he is patient with them, they will be a barrier from the Fire for him.”<ref>[http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/27/ Tirmidhi 4:27:2037].</ref> When a student mentioned that prayer was annulled by the passing of a dog, a donkey or a woman, Aisha protested, “Is the woman an ugly animal? It is not good that you people have equated us with dogs and donkeys. When I lay in my bed, the Prophet would come and pray facing the middle of the bed.”<ref>{{Bukhari|1|9|490}}; {{Bukhari|1|9|498}}.</ref> In fact there was dispute about what Muhammad did teach. Three male teachers agreed that the Prophet had told them that a woman who came closer than “the back of the saddle” annulled a man’s prayer.<ref>{{Muslim|4|1032}}; {{Muslim|4|1034}}; {{Muslim|4|1037}}.</ref> Abdullah ibn Abbas conceded that Muhammad had specified only “a menstruating woman,”<ref>{{Abudawud|2|703}}.</ref> while Aisha had no witnesses to her assertion that Muhammad had prayed so close to her that he had nearly touched her feet on prostration. Of course, it is quite possible that Muhammad was inconsistent or that a revelation was abrogated.<ref>See [http://www.answering-islam.org/Responses/Menj/women_prayer.htm/ Shamoun, S., & Katz, J. ''The Muslim Art of Vilification: Of Women, Dogs & Islamic Prayer''] for a detailed discussion of this problem.</ref> The point here is that Aisha was shaping Islam to her own liking.  
She remembered several ''ahadith'' that had not seemed important to the male narrators. When a sack of bread was brought to Muhammad, he had specifically distributed among the peasant and slave women rather than the men.<ref>{{Abudawud|19|2946}}.</ref> She recalled his promise that, “Whoever is tried with something from daughters, and he is patient with them, they will be a barrier from the Fire for him.”<ref>[http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/27/ Tirmidhi 4:27:2037].</ref> When a student mentioned that prayer was annulled by the passing of a dog, a donkey or a woman, Aisha protested, “Is the woman an ugly animal? It is not good that you people have equated us with dogs and donkeys. When I lay in my bed, the Prophet would come and pray facing the middle of the bed.”<ref>{{Bukhari|1|9|490}}; {{Bukhari|1|9|498}}.</ref> In fact there was dispute about what Muhammad did teach. Three male teachers agreed that the Prophet had told them that a woman who came closer than “the back of the saddle” annulled a man’s prayer.<ref>{{Muslim|4|1032}}; {{Muslim|4|1034}}; {{Muslim|4|1037}}.</ref> Abdullah ibn Abbas conceded that Muhammad had specified only “a menstruating woman,”<ref>{{Abudawud|2|703}}.</ref> while Aisha had no witnesses to her assertion that Muhammad had prayed so close to her that he had nearly touched her feet on prostration. Of course, it is quite possible that Muhammad was inconsistent or that a revelation was abrogated.<ref>See [http://www.answering-islam.org/Responses/Menj/women_prayer.htm/ Shamoun, S., & Katz, J. ''The Muslim Art of Vilification: Of Women, Dogs & Islamic Prayer''] for a detailed discussion of this problem.</ref> The point here is that Aisha was shaping Islam to her own liking.