Ages of Muhammads Wives at Marriage: Difference between revisions

Mariyah’s age is not stated anywhere. The only certain fact is that, since she bore Muhammad a son in 630, she must have been of childbearing age.<ref>{{Tabari|9|pp. 39, 137}}.</ref> Various guesses that she was 20<ref>[http://www.a2youth.com/ebooks/the_wives_of_the_prophet/Maymunah_bint_al-harith/ Thomson, H. A. (1993). “Maymunah bint Al-Harith”] in ''The Wives of the Prophet Muhammad''. London: Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd.</ref> or 17<ref>[http://www.themodernreligion.com/prophet/prophet_aisha.htm/ Ahmed, S. “Prophet Muhammad and Aisha Siddiqa.”]</ref> betray the assumptions of the secondary historians that if she attracted Muhammad, she must have been young. The truth is, they are probably right. But because we don’t ''know'' Mariyah’s age, we have omitted her from the calculation.

The only objective clue to Fatima’s age is that she lived another 50 years after Muhammad divorced her.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:100</ref> Subjectively, her behaviour seems teenager-ish: we can imagine a giggly 15- or 16-year-old watching the action from behind her curtain without giving a thought to the rule of the veil, then screaming hysterically when she realised she was in trouble.<ref>{{Tabari|39|pp. 187-188}}; Bewley/Saad 8:101.</ref> But because we do not know Fatima’s age, we have omitted her from the calculation.