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Aisha bint Abi Bakr claimed that she was Muhammad’s second wife,<ref>{{Muslim|8|3452}}.</ref> although she was stretching the truth to make a point.<ref>Her “point” was that she was his first wife after Khadijah and therefore more important than her co-wives. {{Tabari|9|pp. 128-130}} makes it clear that Muhammad did propose to Aisha first. “Khawlah replied, ‘The Messenger of God has sent me to ask for A’ishah’s hand in marriage on his behalf.’ … Abu Bakr married her to him when she was six years old. Then Khawlah left and went to Sawdah saying, ‘O Sawdah ... the Messenger of God has sent me with a marriage proposal.’” However, he finalised his marriage to Sawdah before the close of “Ramadan [the ninth month] in the tenth year,”({{Tabari|39|p. 170}}). It was already “Shawwal [the tenth month] in the tenth year” ({{Tabari|39|p. 171}}; Bewley/Saad 8:43, 55; {{Muslim|8|3312}}) when he finalised his contract with Aisha. Aisha knew these dates.</ref> She is known as Aisha ''al-Siddiqa'' (“the Truthful”)<ref>[http://www.islamawareness.net/Muhammed/ibn_kathir_wives.html/ Ibn Kathir, ''The Wives of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)''].</ref> to complement her father, who was also known as ''al-Siddiq''.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:46. “Masruq … would say, “The truthful daughter of the true, whose innocence was proclaimed, told me such-and-such.”</ref> This byname originally referred, not to Abu Bakr’s personal honesty, but to his “testimony to the truth” of Muhammad’s miraculous [[Night Journey]].<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 183.</ref> Muslims consider Aisha another major “witness to the truth” of Muhammad’s prophetic office. For example, the Syrian scholar Ismail ibn Umar ibn Kathir wrote: “A great deal of the knowledge that we still have today, about how our beloved Prophet lived and behaved, was first remembered and then taught to others by Aisha … This is what makes it so much easier for those who wish to follow in their footsteps to try and follow their example.”<ref>[http://www.islamawareness.net/Muhammed/ibn_kathir_wives.html/ Ibn Kathir, ''The Wives of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)''].</ref> However, her life was characterised by a fearless readiness to speak her mind, which has bequeathed to the world a wealth of truth about the nature of Islam.

Her father was the cloth-merchant Abu Bakr ibn Abi Quhafa from the Tamim clan of the Quraysh. “He was a man whose society was desired, well liked and of easy manners … of high character and kindliness. His people used to come to him to discuss many matters with him because of his wide knowledge, his experience in commerce, and his sociable nature.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 116.</ref> His generosity had made him popular in the city.<ref>{{Bukhari|3|37|494}}.</ref> Abu Bakr had two wives. By Qutayla bint Abduluzza, who was from the Amir ibn Luayy clan of the Quraysh, he had a daughter, Asma.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 193}}.</ref> He then married his business partner’s widow, Umm Ruman (Zaynab) bint Amir; she was an immigrant from the Kinana tribe whose only relative in Mecca was her young son, Tufayl ibn Abdullah.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 171}}.</ref> She bore Abu Bakr his first son, Abdulrahman.<ref>{{Tabari||9|pp. 129-130}}; {{Tabari|39|pp. 171-172}}; Bewley/Saad 8:193.</ref> Qutayla then bore him a second son, Abdullah.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 193}}.</ref>

The family lived near Khadijah’s house<ref>Muir (1861). ''The Life of Mohamet'', p. 100. London: Smith, Elder & Co.</ref> and must have known Muhammad for several years before the latter declared himself a prophet in 610. Abu Bakr “did not hold back or hesitate.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 116.</ref> He was the first male outside Muhammad’s family to convert to Islam.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 115. One woman, Lubaba bint Al-Harith, claimed that her conversion pre-dated Abu Bakr’s ({{Tabari|39|p. 201}}).</ref> “When he became a Muslim, he showed his faith openly and called others to God and his apostle… He began to call to God and to Islam all whom he trusted of those who came to him and sat with him… He brought them to the apostle when they had accepted his invitation and they accepted Islam and prayed.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 115, 116.</ref> The earliest Muslim historian, Muhammad ibn Ishaq, lists 50 people who became Muslims through Abu Bakr’s preaching,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 115-117.</ref> which was probably the majority of the earliest converts. But his wife Qutayla remained a pagan, and Abu Bakr divorced her.<ref>According to {{Muslim|5|2195}}, she was still a pagan in 628.</ref>

Aisha was born in the year when Islam was first publicly preached in Mecca<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 117.</ref> and she never knew any lifestyle other than Islam.<ref>{{Bukhari|3|37|494}}; {{Bukhari|5|58|245}}.</ref> She grew up on a house where her mother was the only wife and she had three much-older half-siblings. The records also mention several servants. Aisha’s full brother, Abdulrahman, had refused to convert to Islam, and Abu Bakr had thrown him out of the house.<ref></ref> Her elderly grandparents lived nearby.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 225.</ref> Her grandmother, Umm al-Khayr, had become a Muslim,<ref>Ibn Hajar, ''Al-Isaba'' vol. 8.</ref> but her grandfather, Abu Quhafa, remained a pagan. When he spoke disrespectfully of Muhammad, Abu Bakr slapped his father’s face but he did not cut ties with him.<ref></ref>

Aisha was less than three years old when the Quraysh declared a blockade against the Hashimite clan.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 159-160.</ref> Abu Bakr considered leaving Mecca to join the exiles in Abyssinia. But he found a protector who agreed to keep the neighbours from harassing him on condition he confined his religion to the privacy of his home and did not try to convert anyone else. Abu Bakr kept to the letter of the agreement – he no longer preached in public. But he later found a way to break its spirit. He built a mosque in the courtyard of his house, where he once again read the Qur’an out loud. When women and youths flocked to hear his preaching, the men challenged his duplicity, and Abu Bakr renounced his protection.<ref>{{Bukhari|3|37|494}}.</ref> But there is no record that the Meccans ever attacked their family. Aisha recalled that the ''ayat'' {{Quran|54|46}}, concerning the occasion when the moon was miraculously split in the sky, was first recited in Mecca when she was “a little girl at play,” three or four years old. She did not, however, claim to remember the miracle itself.<ref>{{Bukhari|6|60|387}}; {{Bukhari|6|60|388}}; {{Bukhari|6|60|399}}; {{Bukhari|6|61|515}}. The Lebanese scholar Dr [http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=7&ID=4604&CATE=1/ Gibril Haddad] says: “The ''hadith'' masters, ''sira'' historians and Qur’anic commentators agree that the splitting of the moon took place about five years before the Holy Prophet’s Hijra to Madina,” i.e., in 617-618.</ref>

When Aisha was six, the blockade against the Hashimites was revoked, and the clan emerged from hiding in the mountain ravine. After that, Muhammad came to visit her father every morning and evening.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:55; {{Bukhari|5|58|245}}.</ref> Aisha never met his wife Khadijah,<ref>{{Bukhari|5|58|166}}.</ref> who returned to Mecca too sick to pay social calls and died shortly afterwards.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 191; {{Tabari|39|pp. 4, 161}}; Bewley/Saad 8:12, 152.</ref>

In April 620, “when Khadijah died, the Prophet was terribly grieved over her,”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:54.</ref> and “people feared for him.”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:44.</ref> After only a few days, Khawla bint Hakim, the sister-in-law of his friend Umar,<ref>She was married to Uthman ibn Mazoon (Guillaume/Ishaq 590), the brother of Umar’s wife Zaynab (Bewley/Saad 8:56).</ref> decided that he needed a new wife. She called on Muhammad to tell him that she knew of both a maid and a matron whom he might marry and asked which one he would prefer. He immediately responded that he would take them both.<ref>{{Tabari|9|p. 129}}.</ref>

The maid was Abu Bakr’s daughter. It is usually claimed that Muhammad married her “to reinforce the friendly relations already existing with Abu Bakr.”<ref>[http://www.iol.ie/~afifi/BICNews/Sabeel/sabeel6.htm/ ''Why Did Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) Married Young Aisha Siddiqa (r.a.)?''].</ref> In one sense this is true: Abu Bakr was one of the few men in Mecca who would still have been willing to give him a daughter.<ref>For Muhammad’s unpopularity with his pagan neighbours, see Guillaume/Ishaq 191-194.</ref> But did Muhammad’s request to his friend reflect Khawla’s original intention? The oral traditions about Muhammad’s life were first put in writing long after his death,<ref>Siddiqi, M. Z. (2006). ''Hadith Literature: Its Origin, Development, Special Features and Criticism'', pp. 8-9. “''Hadith'' which thus spread throughout the vast Muslim dominions had been preserved for a century partly in writing (in the form of laws and letters dictated by Muhammad himself, and in the form of various ''Sahifahs'' ascribed to many of his Companions), and partly in the memory of those who had associated with him and watched carefully his words and deeds. After the death of Muhammad, Umar I intended to collect the ''Ahadith''. He gave the matter his careful consideration for one whole month, invoking the help of God in his decision, and seeking the advice of his friends. But he had to give up the great project for fear of the Qur’an being neglected by the Muslims.” Kuala Lumpar: Islamic Book Trust.</ref> and it could be that they have been distorted by narrators who did not know about the interview with Khawla until they also had hind-knowledge of its result. It is not impossible that Khawla originally mentioned “Abu Bakr’s daughter” without giving the name, and that she had actually been referring to his elder daughter Asma. Regardless of whether or not Khawla was complicit in the eventual outcome, what happened was that Muhammad, the Apostle of Allah, completely overlooked the 16-year-old Asma<ref>[http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=7&ID=4604&CATE=1/ Haddad] cites Al-Dhahabi in ''Siyar Alam al-Nubala'' vol. 2 p. 289: “Asma was ten years older than Aisha.” Haddad also points out that Al-Dhahabi elsewhere suggests Asma might have been even older than this.</ref> and asked instead to marry the six-year-old Aisha.<ref>{{Tabari|9|p. 129}}; {{Bukhari|7|62|18}}.</ref>

Muhammad’s decision to marry Aisha was made less than three weeks after Khadijah’s death<ref>Khadijah died on 10 Ramadan, and Muhammad married Sawda before Ramadan had ended. Even if he married her on the ''same day'' as Khawla’s visit (the day he decided to marry Aisha), this was a maximum of 20 days after Khadijah’s demise. Common sense suggests that it would have more likely taken a day or two to organise the wedding, which did not necessarily take place as late as the final day of the month.</ref> while he was deep in grief. He was not necessarily making wise decisions. There is little doubt that Muhammad’s choice of Aisha over Asma was influenced by Aisha’s personal qualities. That she was very pretty was conceded by people who had no vested interest<ref>{{Bukhari|6|60|435}}; {{Bukhari|7|62|145}}.</ref> as well as by those who might have been biased.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 495; {{Bukhari|3|48|829}}; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref> She was slim and light-framed<ref>{{Bukhari|3|48|829}}</ref> with a fair, rosy complexion and perhaps also red hair,<ref>In Al-Nasa’i 5:307 and Bewley/Saad 8:55, Muhammad addresses Aisha as ''Humayra'', which means “little red one”. This was not a commonplace nickname, so Aisha’s degree of redness must have been very unusual for her ethnic group.</ref> which she wore plaited.<ref>{{Abudawud|1|241}}.</ref> Her nephew later said, “I did not see a greater scholar than Aisha in poetry, Arab history and genealogy,”<ref>Ahmad, ''Musnad'' 6:67; Al-Hakim, ''Mustadrak'' 4:11. See also Al-Dhahabi, “Aisha, Mother of the Faithful” in ''Tadhkirat al-Huffaz'' p. 1/13.</ref> and it was said that there was no one else “more intelligent in opinion if her opinion was sought.”<ref> Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' vol. 2, p. 481.</ref> She was later to show herself assertive – towards her parents, towards Muhammad, towards her co-wives and eventually towards Ali. While we might question whether Muhammad was aware of either her intelligence or her strong will when she was only six years old, she had indeed “some of the qualities of Khadijah”. However, there is no evidence that Khadijah ever displayed Aisha’s fiery temper.

In 622 Abu Bakr accompanied Muhammad on his flight (''Hijra'') to Medina. He took all his savings with him, leaving nothing to support his family, much to the consternation of his elderly father. Asma had to fool her grandfather, who was blind, by touching his hand to a cloth on a pile of stones and letting him believe they were a sack of coins.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 225.</ref> Fortunately it was only a few months before Abu Bakr sent a message that his family was to join him in Medina. Aisha had an adventure on the way: “My camel broke loose. I was sitting in the ''howdah'' with my mother, and she started exclaiming, ‘Alas, my daughter! Alas, you bride!’ But they caught up with our camel after it had safely descended the Lift Valley.”<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 172}); Bewley/Saad 8:44-45.</ref> After the scorching heat of Mecca, the emigrants found Medina an uncongenially damp, cool climate, and several of them were struck by fever. Aisha was bemused by the delirious ramblings of two of Abu Bakr’s servants and asked Muhammad what it meant. Some of the Muslims were so weak that they said their prayers sitting down until Muhammad advised them, “The prayer of the sitter is only half as valuable as the prayer of the stander.” Thereupon they “painfully struggled to their feet.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 413-414.</ref> Then Aisha herself became feverish for a whole month, and her hair fell out.<ref>{{Muslim|8|3309}}; Ibn Majah 3:1876.</ref>

After Aisha had recovered, “and my hair had grown back past my earlobes,”<ref>{{Muslim|8|3309}}; Ibn Majah 3:1876</ref> Abu Bakr approached Muhammad and asked him if he would like to consummate the marriage. Muhammad did not express the smallest outrage or disgust at this invitation; instead of correcting his friend’s morality, he merely confessed that he had no cash to pay the dower. Abu Bakr replied that he would provide this.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 172-173}}.</ref> The earliest source states that it was a sum of 400 ''dirhams''<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918</ref> (about £2,000), but others say 12½ ounces,<ref>{{Tabari|39|pp. 173, 189}}; {{Muslim|38|3318}; {{Abudawud|11|2101}}; Bewley/Saad 8:118. The ounces were presumably of silver, since the same weight of gold would have had ten times this value.</ref> which would have been worth 500 ''dirhams'' (£2,500). It is also said that that dower was “some household goods worth 50 ''dirhams''”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:44</ref> (£250), so perhaps part of the value was paid in kind. Abu Bakr did not explain why he suddenly lost his scruples over child-marriage and urged that the union be finalised; but Aisha’s illness would have hinted at her mortality, while the flight to Medina must have altered the political landscape unrecognisably, so perhaps Abu Bakr felt the need to confirm his continuing importance in the Muslim hierarchy. The family landscape had also changed, for Abu Bakr had lately acquired a new wife, Habiba bint Kharija, a Medinese woman whom he visited in the suburbs at a discreet distance from the mosque.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:243. “Habiba bint Kharija ibn Zayd … married Abu Bakr ''as-Siddiq'' and bore him Umm Kulthum.” See also Guillaume/Ishaq 227, 234. Page 681 shows that Habiba never resided near the mosque even after Umm Ruman died.</ref> Perhaps he expected this marriage to produce new financial burdens, although in fact Habiba’s only child, Umm Kulthum, was not to be born until 634.<ref>{{Tabari|11|p. 141 & f769}}; Bewley/Saad 8:243; {{Muwatta|36|33|40}}.</ref>

Umm Ruman tried to fatten her up before sending her to Muhammad’s house. Several types of food failed to replace the flesh that she had lost during her illness “till she gave me cucumber with fresh dates to eat. Then I became fat as good.”<ref>{{Abudawud|28|3894}}.</ref> In April or May 623 Aisha, now aged nine, was playing on a swing with some friends when her mother called her over. Still breathless, Aisha was taken to the little house that had just been built into the wall of the mosque, a hut of unbaked bricks with a palm-branch roof, perhaps five metres by four in size.<ref>{{Tabari|39|pp. 172-173; Bewley/Saad 8:121; [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 65.3/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' vol. 1:65:3].</ref> When she was brought inside, where some ''ansar'' women wished her good luck, “it occurred to me that I was married. I did not ask her, and my mother was the one who told me.”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:43.</ref> For some reason, Umm Ruman then departed the scene of action, leaving the ''ansar'' women to wash and perfume Aisha, dress her up in a red-striped gown, apply make-up and comb her hair. When her father’s friend Muhammad arrived, she was surprised (suggesting that she had still not guessed the identity of her bridegroom) but not afraid. The women left the house, and Muhammad sat her on his lap.<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918; {{Bukhari|7|62|88}}; {{Bukhari|7|62|90}}; {{Muslim|8|3309}}; {{Muslim|8|3310}}; {{Muslim|8|3311}}; {{Abudawud|41|4915}}; {{Abudawud|41|4917}}; {{Tabari|9|pp. 130-131}}; Ibn Majah 3:1876; Ibn Majah 3:1877.</ref> The consummation was not marked by any kind of wedding party or public celebration: “neither a camel nor a sheep was slaughtered for me.”<ref>{{Tabari|9|p. 131}}.</ref> This possibly indicates that, while the Muslim converts did not question Muhammad’s judgment, he knew only too well what his Jewish neighbours would think of his bigamy.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:143. “They envied him because of the number of his wives and they criticised him for that, saying, ‘If he had been a prophet, he would not have desired women.’ The most intense of them in that criticism was Huyayy ibn Akhtab,” the chief of the Nadir tribe. It is not stated, however, that Huyayy had a specific objection to Aisha’s extreme youth.</ref>

Aisha was always very proud of her position as the beloved of the Prophet<ref>E.g., Bewley/Saad 8:44. “Which of his wives is more fortunate than I?” Bewley/Saad 8:46. “I was preferred over the wives of the Prophet.”</ref> and never recognised that she had been raped. She spoke calmly of the way Muhammad sucked her tongue<ref>{{Abudawud|13|2380}}.</ref> and took baths with her in the same tub,<ref>{{Bukhari|1|5|263}}; {{Bukhari|1|6|298}}.</ref> and of how she would then wash the semen off his clothes<ref>{{Bukhari|1|4|229}}; {{Bukhari|1|4|230}}; {{Bukhari|1|4|231}}; {{Bukhari|1|4|232}}; {{Bukhari|1|4|233}}.</ref> and anoint him with perfume<ref>{{Bukhari|1|5|267}}.</ref> (his favourite was ''dhikarat al-tayyib'', a blend of musk and ambergris<ref>Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:2:90:11.</ref>).

Aisha’s acceptance of the situation does not alter the fact that a 52-year-old man should have known better than to engage sexually with a nine-year-old. Most cultures throughout history have understood that a girl should not be touched before puberty. The Jews in Medina most certainly understood it.<ref>Ezekiel 16:7-8; [http://www.jewfaq.org/marriage.htm/ “Prohibited Marriages and Illegitimate Children”] in ''Judaism 101''.</ref> Muslim apologists have tried to plead that Aisha was an early developer for whom “it is most likely her puberty started at 8, and continued till she was 9, and once she was going through puberty and her menses, this made her a lady and not a girl anymore since she was fit for a baby therefore she is no child anymore.”<ref>[http://muslim-responses.com/Marriage_with_Aisha/Marriage_with_Aisha_/ Zaatari, S. “A Detailed analysis of the Prophet's Marriage to Aisha”] in ''Muslim Responses''.</ref> But this is not correct. Aisha had still not reached menarche by the age of 14½, more than five years after the consummation of her marriage. She several times described her 14-year-old self as a ''jariya'' (“prepubescent girl”)<ref>{{Bukhari|3|48|829}} also refers to her light weight at the time of the raid on the Mustaliq tribe. {{Muslim|4|1940}} emphasises her “tender age” at the time of the Abyssinian sword-display, which must have happened after the Order of the Veil in March 627, since Muhammad had to screen her. But they were not in Medina for that year’s festival, so the incident must have occurred at earliest in 628.</ref> and in July 628 was still playing with dolls, which were forbidden to adults but permitted to prepubescents.<ref>{{Bukhari|8|73|151}}.</ref> Although this could not have been predicted on her wedding day, she actually belonged to the 10% of girls who are latest in reaching puberty.<ref>The [http://www.mum.org/menarage.htm/ mean age of menarche] was 12½ years. This is quite similar to today, when the [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2733039/ standard deviation] is about 18 months. So probably only 5% of Aisha’s contemporaries would have been menstruating before age 10, 16% by age 11, 32% by age 12, 68% by age 13, 84% by age 14, 95% by age 15 and over 99% by age 16. These statistics suggest that Aisha did menstruate within 12 months of the doll-playing incident, but the exact date is not recorded.</ref> At nine, she would have been flat-chested and only three-quarters of her future height; nobody could have mistaken her for an adult. Unlike the informed consent issue, which simply reveals that Muhammad was a product of his culture, this act of paederasty betrays that Muhammad was morally inferior to his own culture. He rejected the moral norms of his wisest contemporaries and abused a little girl for no better reason than that Abu Bakr had made it easy for him to do so. He demonstrated for once and for all that he had no timeless, universal moral insight to offer the world – in short, that he was not a prophet.

Muhammad allowed Aisha her playtime. At first Aisha’s playmates were shy of the Prophet and fled at his approach, but he called them back and played with them.<ref>{{Bukhari|8|73|151}}; {{Muslim|31|5981}}.</ref> Her collection of dolls included at least three shaped like female humans<ref>{{Bukhari|8|73|151}}; {{Muslim|8|3311}}; {{Muslim|31|5981}}.</ref> and a stuffed horse with wings. Muhammad questioned her about this anomaly but he laughed when she reminded him that Solomon was supposed to have owned winged horses.<ref>{{Abudawud|41|4914}}.</ref> Strangely, neither of them mentioned that Muhammad himself claimed to have ridden a winged horse a few years earlier.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 182; {{Bukhari|4|54|429}}; {{Bukhari|5|58|227}}.</ref> Aisha said that (presumably after she grew older) she used to hide her dolls under a garment when Muhammad entered, “but she did not stop.”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:47.</ref> When she mounted a wild camel and began to drive it “round and round”, Muhammad told her to be kind to the animal<ref>{{Muslim|32|6275}}.</ref> because, “Kindness adds to the beauty of anything in which it is found, and whenever it is withdrawn from anything, it makes it defective.”<ref>{{Muslim|32|6274}}. See also {{Abudawud|41|4790}}.</ref> She once beat him in a running race. Later, after she had put on weight, they raced again, and he won, remarking, “This pays you back for that other time!”<ref>{{Abudawud|14|2572}}.</ref> At festival time her friends sang badly and beat tambourines in her house, although Muhammad came to lie down there, inciting a rebuke from Abu Bakr: “Musical instruments of Satan near the Prophet!” But Muhammad told the girls not to stop their play for him.<ref>{{Bukhari|2|15|70}}; {{Bukhari|2|15|72}}.</ref> Later that day, some Abyssinian guests put on a display in the mosque courtyard to demonstrate their prowess with shields and spears. Women were not really allowed, but Muhammad circumvented the regulation by standing in front of Aisha at her front door, screening her with his cloak, so that she could watch the performance.<ref>{{Bukhari|2|15|70}}.</ref>

 

Charity was a way of life for the Arabs, and of course the Prophet’s young wife had to set the example. In the early years, beggars sat on the Bench in the mosque courtyard waiting for food distribution.<ref></ref> Aisha used to count them, presumably to work out quantities, until Muhammad told her, “Give and do not calculate, [or else] calculation will be made against you.”<ref>{{Abudawud|9|1696}}.</ref> On one occasion a beggar came to her door on a fast-day, and Aisha told her maid to give him their only loaf. The servant protested that there would be nothing to break their fast, but Aisha insisted.<ref>{{Muwatta|58|1|5}}.</ref> On another occasion, a widow with two daughters came begging, and Aisha’s larder was reduced to one date. She handed it over, and the widow divided it between the children without taking anything for herself.<ref>{{Muslim|32|6362}}; {{Bukhari|8|73|24}}.</ref> Ibn Kathir, writing 700 years after the event, cited an old tradition when: “The Prophet had sacrificed an animal, and Ayesha was so generous in sharing the meat out amongst the poor that she found that she had left nothing for the Messenger’s large household except the shoulder of the animal. Feeling a little distressed, she went to the Prophet, and said, ‘I’ve only been able to save this.’ ‘That is the only part that you have not saved,’ smiled the Prophet, ‘for whatever you give away in the name of Allah, you save, and whatever you keep for yourself, you lose.’”<ref>[http://www.islamawareness.net/Muhammed/ibn_kathir_wives.html/ Ibn Kathir, ''The Wives of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)''].</ref> The shoulder was Muhammad’s favourite part of the sheep.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 516</ref>

The fact that Aisha had a servant does not indicate very much about the comfort-level of her home. Barira was a slave whom Aisha charitably bought for nine ounces of silver (about £1800) with the specific goal of immediate manumission. As it happened, Barira had nowhere else to go, so although she was free to leave, she chose to stay with Aisha as a domestic maid.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:181; {{Bukhari|3|47|752}}.</ref> Muhammad put up the silver, which only proves that (largely through the successes of his wars and robberies)<ref>For the booty from his battles, see Guillaume/Ishaq 324, 326-327, 438, 466; {{Tabari|7|p. 87}}.</ref> he by now had some money in his coffer. But he spent his money on arming his warriors,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 466.</ref> bribing the double-minded<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 594-597</ref> or assisting the poor<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 521.</ref> (which included such acts as manumitting slaves). According to Aisha, it did not translate to food for his household. “The Prophet of Allah liked three worldly objects – perfume, women and food … He obtained women and perfumes but he did not get food.”<ref>Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:2:90:4</ref> The servant Barira was an extra mouth for Muhammad to feed, and she must have been as hungry as her young mistress.

Aisha was jealous of the deceased Khadijah (whom she had never met). She complained: “Khadijah is always on your mind, and you speak as if she were the only woman in the world! Why do you still think of that toothless old woman who is long dead, when Allah has given you someone better to replace her?” Muhammad retorted, “No, I have never had a better wife than Khadijah!”<ref>{{Bukhari|5|58|164}}; {{Bukhari|5|58|165}}; {{Bukhari|5|58|166}}; {{Bukhari|5|58|168}}; {{Bukhari|7|62|156}}; {{Bukhari|8|73|33}}; {{Bukhari|9|93|576}}; {{Muslim|31|5971}}; {{Muslim|31|5972}}; {{Muslim|31|5974}}; {{Muslim|31|5976}}.</ref> Perhaps Aisha would not have minded about Khadijah if she had not also had to compete with living rivals. Muhammad kept acquiring new women, and by March 630 (when Aisha was 16) he had eleven legal wives plus two official concubines. At one stage he announced a revelation from Allah that he must not marry any more women “no matter how beautiful they are.”<ref>{{Quran|33|52}}.</ref> Historians have found it difficult to date this verse because there was no significant period (in Medina) when Muhammad stopped marrying. But the revelation is of no great importance, for “Allah lifted the restriction stated in this ''ayah'' and permitted him to marry more women … Aisha said, ‘Allah’s Messenger did not die until all women were permitted to him.’”<ref>[http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1837&Itemid=89/ Ibn Kathir, ''Tafsir'' on Q33:52].</ref>

Aisha was quick to emphasise her position as the preferred wife. She enumerated among her distinguishing characteristics that she was Muhammad’s most beloved wife; that she was the only one in whose bed he received revelations; that she was the only one who used to lie down in front of him while he was praying; that her father was his most beloved companion; that she was the one whose innocence was revealed from Heaven; that Muhammad suffered his final illness in her house, where she had nursed him; that he died in her lap and on her rostered day; and that in her house he lay buried.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:46, 47.</ref> She also claimed that she was the first woman whom Muhammad married after Khadijah;<ref>{{Muslim|8|3452}}.</ref> that Allah had sent an angel to command the marriage; that she was his only virgin bride; that only she had parents who were both emigrants; that only she bathed in the same tub as the Prophet; and that only she saw Jibreel. But these latter claims to uniqueness could all be challenged by some of Muhammad’s other wives.<ref>Sawda was almost certainly married before Aisha ({{Tabari|39|p. 170}}; Bewley/Saad 8:39); Zaynab claimed divine command for her marriage ({{Tabari|8|pp. 3-4}}; {{Tabari|9|p. 134}}; {{Tabari|39|pp. 181, 182}}; Bewley/Saad 8:73-74); Mariya (Guillaume/Ishaq 653; {{Tabari|9|p. 137}}; {{Tabari|39|p. 193}}; Bewley/Saad 8:148-149), Mulayka ({{Tabari8|p. 187}}; {{Tabari|39|p. 165}}; Bewley/Saad 8:106) and Fatima ({{Tabari|9|p. 138}}; {{Tabari|39|pp. 186-188}}; Bewley/Saad 8:100-101) were presumably all virgins, although the first was only a concubine and the two latter were later divorced; Hafsa’s parents were both emigrants (Guillaume/Ishaq 216-217; cf {{Bukhari3|43|648|}} and similar ''ahadith'' for evidence that Hafsa’s mother was also in Medina); Maymuna bathed in the same tub (Bewley/Saad 8:97); Hind claimed to have seen Jibreel ({{Bukhari|4|56|827}}; {{Muslim|31|6006}}).</ref>

Muhammad set up an orderly roster so that each wife would have an equal share of his attention. Every afternoon he paid a social call on all his wives before settling in the house where he intended to sleep.<ref>{{Bukhari|3|47|766}}. See also {{Bukhari|3|48|853}}; {{Muslim|8|3450}}; {{Muslim|8|3451}}; {{Muslim|8|3452}}.</ref> When he went on a journey, he cast lots among his wives to determine who would accompany him.<ref>{{Muslim|37|6673}}.</ref> But rosters and lotteries did little to secure fair turns, for all the wives knew about his preference. As Aisha said, “When a lot other than mine came out, his dislike could be seen. He did not return from any journey and visit any of his wives before me. The division [roster] began with me.”<ref>Bewely/Saad 8:124.</ref> He said, “Aisha has a part in me occupied by no one else.”<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 176}}.</ref> When he teased his wives by saying that he would give his favourite an onyx necklace, he waited for them to whisper that he would give it to Aisha before presenting it to his little granddaughter Umama.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:27-28.</ref>

Some Muslims, especially Shi’a, hold up Aisha’s “jealousy” as an example ''not'' to be followed, making such comments as: “She was absolutely consumed by jealousy throughout her whole life, and jealousy is a major sin. I don't know why such a person should be considered to be a great saint, when many ordinary women are able to rid themselves of this disease.”<ref>Haydar Husayn on [http://www.shiachat.com/forum/index.php?/topic/234992525-why-aisha-is-a-bad-woman/ ''Why Aisha is a Bad Woman''].</ref> This attempt to label Aisha as “selfish” for wanting a normal monogamous marriage deflects the blame for the conflict away from Muhammad the “perfect man”. Once the focus is returned to Muhammad, it is obvious that he showed very imperfect judgment about the nature of marriage. He claimed to be a prophet in the line of the Jews, and they did not find polygamy acceptable.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:143. “When the Jews saw Allah’s Messenger marrying women, they said, ‘Look at this person who is not satisfied by food. By God, he is only interested in women!’ They envied him because of the number of his wives and they criticised him for that, saying, ‘If he had been a prophet, he would not have desired women.’”</ref> While it is true that polygyny was normal for the pagans, Muhammad was claiming to know better than they did. The same pagans also practised polyandry, and Muhammad had enough insight to forbid this.<ref>Watt, W. M. (1956). ''Muhammad at Medina'', pp. 277-280. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref> He also knew that polygyny hurt women. When his son-in-law Ali considered taking a second wife, Muhammad preached from the pulpit that he forbade it because, “What hurts Fatima hurts me.”<ref>{{Bukhari|7|62|157}}.</ref> If he did not forbid polygyny for everyone, beginning with himself, it was essentially because he wanted this form of adultery to be legal. The South African theologian John Gilchrist believes: “Ayishah … may have been his favourite wife but her grievances clearly were motivated … by the fact that she was not his ''only'' wife … Ayishah’s expressions of jealousy are perhaps the best judgment that can be passed on the whole defence that polygamy is justified where all the wives are treated equally.”<ref>[http://www.bible.ca/islam/library/Gilchrist/Vol1/2c.html/ Gilchrist, J. (1986). “The Circumstances of his Marriages,” pp. 77-90, in ''Muhammad and the Religion of Islam''. Benoni, South Africa: Jesus to the Muslims.]</ref>

#'''Mistah ibn Uthatha''' was a poor relation of Abu Bakr’s,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 495, 497; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}; {{Muslim|37|6673}}. His maternal grandmother was Abu Bakr’s maternal aunt, i.e., he was Aisha’s second cousin. Both his parents were the second cousins of Muhammad’s father.</ref> and his mother cursed him for attacking their patron’s daughter.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 495; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}; {{Muslim|37|6673}}.</ref> It is not at all obvious what score Mistah might have had to settle with Aisha; yet he is the strongest contender for being the first author of the gossip.

#'''Hamna bint Jahsh''' had not travelled with the army, so she must have first heard the gossip after they returned to Medina. “She spread the report far and wide.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 495.</ref> Hamna was the sister of another of Muhammad’s wives; she hoped that Aisha’s downfall would pave the way for her sister to become the favourite wife.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 495; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref> Aisha did not mention that Hamna also had a more personal grudge against her. Hamna’s husband, Talha ibn Ubaydullah,<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:170.</ref> had expressed a desire to marry Aisha when Muhammad died.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:142; [http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1835&Itemid=89/ Ibn Kathir, ''Tafsir'' on Q33:53].</ref> Muhammad had responded to this affront with a revelation that his widows were never to remarry.<ref>{{Quran|33|53}}.</ref> Hamna cannot have relished the news that her husband had his eye on a pretty and politically important girl much younger than herself.

Muhammad went out to the courtyard and recited the new revelation to the people:<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 497; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}};.</ref> “Why, when you heard it, did not the believing men and believing women think good of one another and say, ‘This is an obvious falsehood’? Why did [the slanderers] not produce for it four witnesses? And when they do not produce the witnesses, then it is they, in the sight of Allah, who are the liars.”<ref>''Ayat'' 12 & 13 of {{Quran-range|24|4|26}}.</ref> This excused Aisha even had she happened to be guilty, since she only had three and a half witnesses against her.<ref>{{Quran-range|24|11|20}}; {{Bukhari|3|48|829}}; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}; {{Bukhari|6|60|274}}; {{Bukhari|6|60|281}}; {{Muslim|37|6673}}.</ref> Hamna only counted as a half-witness because she was a woman;<ref>{{Quran|2|282}}. “Get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her.”</ref> but she still had to take the full punishment. She, Hassan and Mistah were sentenced to 80 lashes each.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 497. This was according to {{Quran|24|4}}: “And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses – lash them with 80 lashes.”</ref> The aristocratic Abdullah was not lashed.<ref>His name is conspicuously absent from Ibn Ishaq’s account of the punishment. [http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2439&Itemid=79/ Ibn Kathir in his ''Tafsir'' on Q24:14] says: “As for the hypocrites who indulged in the slander, such as Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul and his like … the threats that were narrated for a specific deed are bound to be carried out, if there is no repentance or sufficient righteous deeds to balance or outweigh it,” i.e., Abdullah was to be all the more punished in the Hereafter.</ref> Eighty lashes can cause serious injury, or even kill, although Hamna, Hassan and Mistah all survived. While the punishment seems an exaggerated retribution for mere gossip, that gossip had essentially amounted to a plot against Aisha’s life. The real problem lay in the Draconian system that not only killed adulterers but forced women in particular to take responsibility for never being suspected.

Aisha once claimed: “Allah’s Messenger never slapped a woman or a servant.”<ref>{{Muslim|30|5756}}.</ref> This is sufficiently explained by Muhammad’s 25 years as the husband of Khadijah. He would surely never have dared to strike her, and thereby he developed a personal habit of restraining his fists. In fact “never” was an exaggeration, for Aisha herself had a contrary memory. One night Muhammad arose from her bed and she quietly followed him. Probably she assumed he had gone to visit another woman. As it happened, he only went to the nearby graveyard to perform a prayer-ritual, so she ran home before he could realise she had been spying on him. Unfortunately, Muhammad had spotted her, and he asked what she had been doing out at night. When she denied that she had left the house, he thumped her chest. “That blow,” she said, “was very painful.”<ref>{{Muslim|2|2127}}; {{Muslim|2|103}}; Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' 6:147.</ref>

During one quarrel between Aisha and Muhammad, Abu Bakr walked in. Muhammad asked, “Abu Bakr, will you obtain my right from Aisha?” Aisha said, “You speak [first] but tell the truth.” Abu Bakr said, “O enemy of yourself, does he utter anything but the truth?”<ref>[http://www.ghazali.org/books/marriage.pdf/ Ghazali, ''Iḥyaa uloom al-Deen'' vol. 2 chapter 2. Translated by Farah, M. “Book on the Etiquette of Marriage,” p. 95, in ''The Revival of the Religious Sciences''.]</ref> In one version of the story, he “raised his hand and struck her hard on the chest.”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:56.</ref> In an alternative version, “he struck her until her mouth bled.”<ref>[http://www.ghazali.org/books/marriage.pdf/ Farah/Ghazali vol. 2 p. 95].</ref> Muhammad said, “May Allah forgive you, Abu Bakr! I did not mean this!”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:56.</ref> But in neither version of the story did Muhammad require Abu Bakr to apologise to Aisha, let alone to undergo any of the violent punishments that he imposed on a slanderer, a thief or an adulterer.<ref>{{Abudawud|41|4981}} also reports a variant that might refer to a separate incident. Abu Bakr, walking in to find Aisha shouting at Muhammad, tries to slap her, but Muhammad intercepts him. A few days later, Aisha and Muhammad have reconciled, so Abu Bakr says, “Bring me into your peace as you brought me into your war.” This is the nearest Abu Bakr ever comes to an apology.</ref>

How common was domestic violence in the Muslim community? There were doubtless some families where it never happened. When Habiba bint Zayd disobeyed her husband, Saad ibn Al-Rabi, and he slapped her face, her father and brother complained to Muhammad.<ref>[http://www.altafsir.com/Books/Asbab%20Al-Nuzul%20by%20Al-Wahidi.pdf/ Al-Wahidi, ''Context of Revelation''], translation by Mokrane Guezzou, p. 51.</ref> The spouses were cousins, and the objecting brother was Saad’s stepfather,<ref>See the genealogies in Guillaume/Ishaq 402 and Bewley/Saad 8:243, 245. Saad and his stepfather/brother-in-law/cousin Kharija were both killed at Uhud in March 625 and buried in a common grave. This was the same Kharija ibn Zayd whose daughter had lately married Abu Bakr, who frankly admitted (after Kharija’s death) that he beat her ({{Muslim|9|3506}}).</ref> so even within one family, there was no consensus over what was culturally normal. Muhammad advised, “Retaliation! And there is no other judgment to be held,”<ref>[http://www.altafsir.com/Books/Asbab%20Al-Nuzul%20by%20Al-Wahidi.pdf/ Guezzou/Wahidi], p. 51.</ref> presumably meaning that Saad should be subjected to a similar slap. Muhammad announced to the community, “Do not beat Allah’s handmaidens.”<ref>{{Abudawud|11|2141}}.</ref> As a result, “they stopped beating them.”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:144.</ref> The word “stopped” indicates that there were other families where it had been normal to beat wives (and daughters and sisters, since a “handmaiden” was not necessarily a “wife”). The respite did not last long. Umar, who was “rough and ready … toting a stick or whip, which he was never afraid to use on a person,”<ref>{{Tabari|14|pp. 120, 139}}.</ref> told Muhammad, “Women have become emboldened towards their husbands.” So Muhammad “gave permission to beat them”<ref>{{Abudawud|11|2141}}; Bewley/Saad 8:144.</ref> with the new revelation: “If you suspect rebellion from your wives, reason with them, then desert them in their beds, then beat them.”<ref>{{Quran|4|34}}.</ref> Muhammad explained his change in policy to the family of Habiba bint Zayd thus: “We wanted one thing, but Allah wanted another, and whatever Allah wants is good.”<ref>[http://www.altafsir.com/Books/Asbab%20Al-Nuzul%20by%20Al-Wahidi.pdf/ Guezzou/Wahidi], pp. 51-52.</ref> Muhammad was the community leader and he could have controlled a few men whose behaviour was socially unacceptable. If he felt the need to overlook domestic beating, he must have realised that it was practised by too high a proportion of the warriors on whose loyalty he depended.

In fact, there is no evidence that Muhammad believed that it was ''intrinsically'' wrong for a man to strike a woman, child or subordinate. In his Farewell Sermon he only cautioned that wife-beating must be for some reason, in which case “Allah permits you to shut them in separate rooms and to beat them, but not severely … Treat women well, for they are domestic animals with you and do not possess anything for themselves.”<ref>{{Tabari|9|p. 113}}.</ref> Nor did he enlarge on what he meant by “not severely”. He advised his disciples, “Hang your whip where the members of the household can see it, for that will discipline them.”<ref>Al-Tabarani 10:248. A similar ''hadith'' is recorded in Al-Zamkhshari, ''The Revealer'' vol. 1, p. 525: “Hang up your whip where your wife can see it.”</ref> He confirmed a man’s right to do as he liked in the privacy of his home: “A man will not be asked why he has beaten his wife.”<ref>{{Abudawud|11|2142}}.</ref> He appointed Abu Bakr as his successor;<ref>{{Bukhari|9|89|324}}.</ref> it does not seem to have crossed his mind that his friend’s violence rendered him unfit for leadership.

Aisha once asked Muhammad, “Shouldn’t we [women] participate in holy battles and ''jihad'' [war] along with you?” He replied, “The best and the most superior ''jihad'' (for women) is ''Hajj'' [i.e., to go on pilgrimage to Mecca].” <ref>{{Bukhari|3|29|84}}.</ref> Despite this disapproval of a woman’s direct participation in war, Muhammad nevertheless expected Aisha to contribute to the ''jihad'' effort.

In 628 Aisha’s brother Abdulrahman finally became a Muslim and was “reconciled” to his family. He reminded Abu Bakr: “O Father, twice at the Battle of Badr I had you under my sword, but my love for you stayed my hand.” Abu Bakr replied, “Son, if ''I'' had had ''you'' under ''my'' sword even ''once'', you would be no more.”<ref></ref> Although the Muslims had been the aggressors at this battle, Islam superseded all natural relationships; the moral difference between Muslim father and pagan son is striking. In 629 Ali’s brother Jaafar became a ''jihad'' “martyr”, and soon afterwards his widow, Asma bint Umays, married Abu Bakr. She bore his third son, Muhammad, in 632.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:197. “Abu Bakr ''as-Siddiq'' married Asma bint Umays after Jaafar ibn Abi Talib died and she bore him Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr … at Dhu’l-Hulayfa when they were intending to make the Farewell ''Hajj''.”</ref> Abu Bakr’s father did not become a Muslim until the conquest of Mecca in 630, when Muhammad proclaimed that anyone who did not convert would be killed.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 548-549.</ref>

After the Necklace Affair, the lottery to accompany Muhammad to the wars never again fell on Aisha.<ref>This is the calculation of [http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life4/chap24.htm/ Muir (1861)], vol. 4 p. 114 f 3. Muir does not comment on whether this observation might be anything more than a coincidence.</ref> Although she helped him pack his military equipment early in 630, she admitted to her father that she did not know where the troops were going.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 544.</ref>

There is no real evidence that Aisha “believed” Islam in the sense of giving intellectual assent to the literal existence of Allah. On the contrary, she expressed her scepticism to Muhammad’s face. When he told her that Allah had given him permission to reject or accept as many as he liked of the women who offered themselves to him,<ref>{{Quran|33|51}}.</ref> she responded, “It seems to me that your Lord is very quick to grant your desires!”<ref>[http://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=60&translator=1&start=307&number=311/ {{Bukhari|6|60|311}}]; {{Muslim|8|3453}}; {{Muslim|8|3454}}.</ref> When she was accused of infidelity, she wept night and day as long as she feared Muhammad might reject her. But when he finally spoke to her face to face about the accusations, he did not mention the usual punishment for adultery but only said, “Fear Allah, and if you have done wrong as men say, then repent towards Allah, for he accepts repentance from his slaves.” At this hint that Muhammad intended to exonerate her, “my tears ceased, and I could not feel them.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 496; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref> He immediately entered the prophetic trance to hear Allah’s verdict, and “I felt no fear or alarm … [but] as for my parents … I thought that they would die from fear.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 497; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref> Aisha was not afraid of Allah because she already knew that Muhammad had decided in her favour – that is, she knew who Allah really was. In one quarrel she told Muhammad directly: “You are the one who ''claims'' to be the prophet of Allah!”<ref>[http://www.ghazali.org/books/marriage.pdf/ Farah/Ghazali vol. 2 p. 95.]</ref>

Despite her scepticism, Aisha became an expert on Islam. “Whenever Aisha heard anything that she did not understand, she used to ask again till she understood it completely.”{{Bukhari|1|3|103}}.</ref> She memorised the whole Qur’an.<ref>Ibn Hajar, ''Fath al-Bari'' (''Victory of the Creator'') vol. 7 pp. 82-83.</ref> It was said that nobody had “more knowledge of the ''sunna'' [lifestyle] of Allah’s Apostle than Aisha … nor better knowledge of the verses [of the Qur’an] as to what they were revealed about.”<ref>Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' vol. 2, p. 481.</ref> It was inevitable that she should become a teacher. She even had the clear, carrying voice<ref>{{Tabari|17|p. 65}}.</ref> required for public speaking, and of her teaching style, Musa ibn Talha confirmed, “I did not see anyone more eloquent than Aisha.”<ref>Tirmidhi 6:46:3884; Al-Hakim, ''Musadrak'' vol. 4 p. 11.</ref> From the earliest times, Muslim women clustered around Aisha in the mosque,<ref>Ibn Hajar vol. 7 pp. 82-83.</ref> and Muhammad, who said that, “Some eloquence is so beautiful that it constitutes sorcery,”<ref>{{Bukhari|7|62|117}}.</ref> instructed them, “Take half your religion from this little redhead.”<ref>Ibn Athir, ''An-Nihayah''. A variant in Ibn Manzur’s ''Kitab al-Firdaus'' is, “Take one-third of your religion from the house of ''Al-Humayra''.”</ref>

Her chief income was the revenues of Khaybar. After the surviving Jews were banished to Syria, Aisha chose to take control of her share of the real estate (“land and water”) rather than the annual income of dates and barley.<ref>{{Bukhari|3|39|521}}.</ref> She lived very frugally. She was asked why she bothered to mend her old trousers when “Allah has given you so much wealth,” and she replied, “Enough! A person who has nothing old and worn has nothing new.”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:51.</ref> She expended most of her wealth in charity. Her nephew once sent her two sacks of coins, a total of 100,000 ''dirhams'' (about £500,000). Aisha spent all day dividing the money up into bowls to give away as alms. She did not keep even enough to buy her evening meal, although she said she would have done this much if she had thought of it.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:47-48.</ref> Another time he gave her a gown of rough silk, which she did keep for herself.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:49.</ref> Over her trousers she would wear a shift, gown and veil, all dyed with safflower (yellow or bright pink), and gold jewellery. Wolfskin furs and a black veil are also mentioned.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:49-50.</ref>. She never wore white.

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 said that it did not matter in which order the ''suras'' of the Qur’an were arranged, but she could, on request, recite them in chronological order.<ref>{{Bukhari|6|61|515}}.</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.

She was also consulted on medicine, for nobody knew more home remedies. “A person would become ill and would be prescribed something, and it would benefit, and I would hear the people prescribing for each other, and I would memorise it all.”<ref>Ahmad, ''Musnad'' 6:67; Al-Hakim, ''Mustadrak'' 4:11.</ref> For example, Muhammad had always treated her fevers with broth.<ref>[http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/28/ Tirmidhi 4:28:2173].</ref> She used to recommend ''talbina'', a gruel of barley-flour, milk and honey, for a depressed mood, even though patients disliked it.<ref>{{Bukhari|7|71|593}}; {{Bukhari|7|71|594}}.</ref>

 

 

 

 

 

 

Umar was assassinated by a disaffected slave in 644.<ref>{{Tabari|14|pp. 90, 95}}.</ref> He petitioned to be buried beside Muhammad and Abu Bakr. Although Aisha had assumed that this burial spot would be hers, she conceded, “Today I prefer Umar to myself.”<ref>{{Bukhari|2|23|475}}.</ref> With three graves occupying her house, Aisha’s usable living space must have been reduced to half. She hung a curtain in front of the tombs and never passed through the curtain unveiled: even though Umar was dead, she did not like to expose her face in his “presence”.<ref></ref>

 

Uthman ibn Affan, a son-in-law of Muhammad from the aristocratic Umayya clan, was elected the third caliph.<ref>{{Tabari|15|p. 252}}</ref> Aisha, who was now 30, had no ties of kinship or friendship with him. He began his reign by reducing her pension<ref></ref> yet at the same time he increased the salaries of his officials<ref></ref> and made extravagant gifts to his personal friends.<ref></ref> He continued the policy of military conquest, adding North Africa, Anatolia (modern Turkey), Khorastan (modern Afghanistan) and part of western India (modern Pakistan) to the Islamic empire.<ref></ref> He standardised the Qur’an to the form it takes today.<ref></ref> None of this required help from Aisha.

 

 

 

Ibn Sa’d (3/60) and Al-Baladhuri (5/597). Aisha criticised those who killed Uthman. Masrooq said to her, ‘You did this. You wrote to the people to revolt against him.’ She replied, ‘No, by the One in whom believed the believers and disbelieved the disbelievers, I did not write to them with the black (i.e. ink) on the white (i.e. paper) until this sitting of mine.’ A’mash said, ‘So they used to believe that it was fabricated over her.’

 

 

 

Aisha had expected that the next caliph would be one of her own allies, probably her nephew.<ref></ref> She was horrified when Ali was elected.<ref></ref> She suddenly remembered that Muhammad had thrice told Uthman, “If Allah ever places you in authority, and the hypocrites want to rid you of the garment, do not take it off,” and when she was asked why she had not told everyone that ''hadith'' earlier, she replied, “I was made to forget it.”<ref>Ibn Majah 1:112.</ref> She returned to Mecca and called for his murder to be avenged, an inconsistency for which she was criticised.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 52-53}}.</ref> Ali denied any involvement with the murder of Uthman,<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 180-181}}.</ref> but nevertheless he claimed he was powerless to punish the murderers<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 18}}.</ref> and he refused to comment on whether the killing had been just or unjust.<ref>{{Tabari|17|p. 26}}.</ref> Ali had not been universally welcomed as the new caliph.<ref></ref> The anti-Ali faction now gathered around Aisha, her brother-in-law Al-Zubayr ibn Awwam and her kinsman Talha ibn Ubaydullah,<ref></ref> who, using Ali’s ambivalence over the murder as a rallying-cry,<ref></ref> plotted to depose him.<ref></ref>

 

Aisha raised an army of 30,000<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 121}}.</ref> and marched out to Syria. There she defeated the Governor of Basra in DATE.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 76}}.</ref> It seemed that her faction would overpower Ali’s. Then Ali confronted her with an army of 20,000.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 121}}.</ref> Aisha directed her troops from a red armour-plated ''howdah'' on a red camel.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 124, 156}}.</ref> At first each side held up copies of the Qur’an, urging the other not to fight.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 129, 130, 152}}.</ref> Aisha’s side cursed Uthman’s killers, and Ali’s side started cursing them too.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 132}}.</ref>

 

Talha was one of the first to be killed, by an arrow to his knee.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 111, 126, 127, 150}}.</ref> However, since most of the warriors were wearing armour, arrows killed only inefficiently, so both sides concentrated on hacking off one another’s limbs.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 135}}.</ref> The battle was long and bloody. Al-Zubayr was killed at prayer.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 112, 159}}.</ref>

 

 

Aisha was captured and brought to Ali.<ref></ref> It would have been politically incorrect to subject a Mother of the Faithful to judicial execution, but Ali threatened to annul her marriage to Muhammad if she did not surrender,<ref></ref> hence causing her to forfeit her place in Paradise as the Prophet’s wife. It is doubtful that Aisha literally believed that Ali had the power to annul Muhammad’s own promise, but she had no real choice, for the battle was lost. She surrendered, and Ali staged a public show of reconciliation. He addressed Aisha as “Mother,” and they each asked the other’s forgiveness.<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 158}}.</ref> Then he arranged for her to be escorted back to Medina, effectively under house-arrest.<ref></ref> She was to play no further part in public affairs.<ref></ref>

 

In the Battle of the Camel, the first war where Muslim fought Muslim, ten thousand had died.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp. 164}}.</ref> Muslims have frequently seen this disaster as “proof” that women are not fit for politics. In fact Aisha was no more aggressive than her male counterparts, and the war was no more disastrous than the hundreds of wars (including Muslim-against-Muslim wars) that male Muslims have fought ever since. The real problem was not that Aisha was a woman but that her Islamic world-view had taught her to solve problems by despotism, assassination and open war.

 

Aisha regretted the Battle of the Camel; she said she wished she had died twenty years beforehand,<ref>{{Tabari|16|p. 162}}.</ref> or even, “I wish I had been a stone! I wish I had been a clod of earth! By Allah, I wish that Allah had not created me as anything at all! I wish I had been a leaf on a tree!”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:52.</ref> Sunni Muslims believe that she repented of leaving her home and dabbling in politics.<ref></ref> However, it is not completely clear whether she regretted starting the war or whether her real regret was only that she had lost. When a man told her to “repent, for you have made a mistake,” he was sentenced to a hundred lashes.<ref>{{Tabari|16|pp.165-166}}.</ref>

 

The remainder of Ali’s reign was dominated by his conflict with Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, a brother-in-law of Muhammad and kinsman of Uthman. In due course, Muawiya captured Aisha’s brother Muhammad, killed him “in retaliation for Uthman,” then “cast him into the corpse of a donkey and set fire to it.” Although Aisha had demanded vengeance on Uthman’s assassins, she apparently had not meant her brother, for whom she grieved deeply and made extra prayers.<ref>{{Tabari|17|pp. 157-158}}.</ref>

 

 

 

 

 

Despite the observation of these basic courtesies, however, it is clear that Aisha was in no position to overrule anyone of importance. When she heard that a father had removed his newly divorced daughter from her home, Aisha instructed the Governor of Medina to follow the usual rules for the ''idda'' and order the woman’s return. The Governor pleaded the case of Fatima bint Qays,<ref>{{Abudawud|12|2288}}. This governor was the future Caliph Marwan I.</ref> whom Muhammad had long ago allowed to serve her ''idda'' at the house of a blind man.<ref>{{Abudawud|12|2282}}.</ref> Aisha, who had “severely objected” to the ruling, told the Governor that, “Fatima lived in a desolate house and she feared for her loneliness there,” so Muhammad had made a special exception,<ref>{{Abudawud|12|2285}}.</ref> which should not be used as a general precedent.<ref>{{Abudawud|12|2286}}.</ref> The Governor advised Aisha that if she understood why Muhammad had made an exception for Fatima, she ought to understand why the woman in the present case also had good reason to be considered an exception.<ref>{{Abudawud|12|2288}}.</ref> The silence as to the outcome of the dispute indicates that, even in this trivial matter, Aisha did not prevail against the Governor.

 

Aisha devoted the last 17 years of her life to professional rather than political activities. She continued to teach the Qur’an and to reminisce about Muhammad. Whenever she recited, “Women, remain in your houses,”<ref>{{Quran|33|33}}.</ref> she wept until her veil was soaked.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:56.</ref>

Aisha died on Tuesday 17 Ramadan 58 AH,<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:54.</ref> the 56th lunar anniversary of the Battle of Badr.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 299-300.</ref> By the Gregorian calendar, it was 16 July 678, and she was 64 years old. According to her own instructions, <ref>Bewley/Saad 8:52.</ref> she was buried beside nine of her co-wives in the ''Jannat al-Baqi'' (Celestial Cemetery) in Medina. “The ''Ansar'' gathered and attended [the funeral], and no other night was ever seen that was more crowded than that one. [Even] the people of the villages outside Medina came.”<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 173}}.</ref>

Aisha chose not to be buried in her own house “as I would not like to be looked upon as better than I really am”<ref>{{Bukhari|2|23|474}}.</ref> and “because I have caused mischief after Allah’s Messenger.”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:52.</ref> She deliberately waived the posthumous glory that she might have attracted if she had lain beside her husband, on display throughout all history as the most important of Muhammad’s consorts.

• [[Qur’an, Hadith and Scholars:Aisha]] (''primary and early sources about Aisha'')

 

• [[Aisha’s Age of Consummation]]

 

• [[Refutation to Muslim Apologetics against Aisha’s Age of Consummation]]

 

• [[Responses to Apologetics: Muhammad and Aisha]]

 

• [[Aisha and Puberty]]

 

• [[The Tragedy of Aisha]]

 

• [[A Refutation of ‘The Islamophobe’s Glass House’]]

 

• [[Rejecting Dr. David Liepert’s “Aisha Was Older” Apologetic Myth]] (''Essay'')

 

• [[Muhammad’s Wives]] (''Hub Page'')

 

• [[Polygamy]] (''Hub Page'')

 

• [[Islam and Pedophilia]] (''Core Article'')

 

• [[Forced Marriage]]

 

• [[Wife Beating in Islam]]

 

• [[Adultery]]

 

• [[Aisha (Farsideology)]] (''satire'')