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==Aisha bint Abi Bakr==

    

===Aisha’s Background===

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. According to {{Tabari|39|p. 201}}, one woman, Lubaba bint Al-Harith, claimed that her conversion pre-dated Abu Bakr’s.</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.

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 outside his home. 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}}; Guillaume/Ishaq 171.</ref> But the worst recorded attack on Abu Bakr is that “one of the loutish fellows of Quraysh” once threw dust on his head.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 171-172.</ref> 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>

What Muhammad later said was that Allah had instructed him to marry Aisha. He said the angel Jibreel had appeared to him in a dream, holding a veiled child and saying, “Messenger of Allah, this one will remove some of your sorrow. This one has some of the qualities of Khadijah.” Then he lifted the veil, revealing that the child was Aisha.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:54-55; {{Muslim|31|5977}}.</ref> In a second dream, Jibreel showed him Aisha’s portrait painted on silk, promising, “She will be your wife in Paradise.”<ref>{{Bukhari|5|58|235}}; {{Bukhari|9|87|140}}.</ref> If Muhammad really had any such dream, it is disturbing that he would act on it so literally.

===Marriage Contract===

That Aisha did not know that she was married was, of course, nothing unusual. Throughout history and in nearly every culture, betrothals have been arranged over cradles, and women in particular have been married without their knowledge, understanding or consent. The fact that Aisha was a child is barely an issue here; no woman of ''any'' age should be married without her own consent, whether she is six, 16, 36 or 60. However, it is unlikely that any seventh-century Arab grasped “informed consent” in the way the modern West understands it. Muhammad’s similar failure to grasp it betrays that he was no prophet or pioneer of human rights but was simply a normal product of his own culture.

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 covering 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 for his family 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 dry heat of Mecca, the emigrants found Medina damp and cool, 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>

===Paedophilia===

[[File:MosqueMedina.jpg|left|thumb|Artist's impression of the mosque at Medina, c. 630. Aisha’s house is at the bottom right, marked with A.|300px]]

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>{{Bukhari|1|10|576}}: “The ''Suffa'' companions were poor people, and the Prophet said, ‘Whoever has food for two persons should take a third one from them.’” See also [http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life3/chap8.htm/ Muir (1861), pp. 20-21.]</ref> Aisha used to count them 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>

After the conquest of Khaybar in July 628, Muhammad was no longer poor, and Aisha was granted a share of the revenues.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 521-523.</ref> She hoped that “at last we will eat our fill of dates.”<ref>{{Bukhari|5|59|547}}. See also {{Muslim|9|3506}} and {{Muslim|9|3510}}, dating from this period.</ref> But if her rations improved, she did not remember it afterwards, so the majority of her sacks of wheat and dates must have been sold for cash or distributed to the poor. On the day Muhammad died, he was “King” of all Arabia, but Aisha’s barrel contained only one handful of barley.<ref>{{Muslim|42|7091}}; Jalalayn’s commentary on Q93:8.</ref>

===Co-Wives===

Aisha was quick to emphasise her position as the preferred wife. She enumerated 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> With less plausibility, 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.<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 ({{Tabari|8|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 {{Bukhari|3|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.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:27-28.</ref>

Some Muslims, especially Shi’a, hold up Aisha’s “jealousy” as an example ''not'' to be followed: “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>

#'''Hassan ibn Thabit''' was Muhammad’s poet;<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 497; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref> his usual job was to satirise Muhammad’s political enemies.<ref>{{Bukhari|4|56|731}}.</ref> It is not known whether he had had any previous dealings with Aisha, but a tabloid editor makes it his business to publish scandals.

#'''Abdullah ibn Ubayy''' was the most powerful chief in Medina.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 206.</ref> “The people propagated the slander and discussed it in his presence. He confirmed it, listened to it and asked about it to let it prevail.”<ref>{{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref> It would have been more fitting for a leader among the people to forbid such idle tales. There is no evidence that he had any personal grudge against Aisha, but he seems to have been quite willing to sacrifice her to his political agenda. Six years earlier, he had been elected King of Medina. But before he could be crowned, a dissident faction had announced their support for the prophet from Mecca.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 277-278.</ref> Abdullah had at first cooperated with the Muslims and had even instructed his own partisans to support Muhammad rather than fight over the leadership of the city.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 249, 391.</ref> But he came to regret the way he had facilitated the Muslim take-over. After his intercession for the lives of his Qaynuqa allies<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 363-364.</ref> and his refusal to fight his Meccan friends at Uhud,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 372.</ref> Muhammad had labelled him the “chief hypocrite”.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 245-246; {{Muslim|37|6673}}.</ref> By 628 Abdullah must have hoped that the Muslims would quarrel among themselves so that Islam would crumble from within.  

The slanderers included “others about whom I have no knowledge, but they were a group.”<ref>{{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref>

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, for he would surely not have dared to strike her. 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.</ref>

After the new revelation, “in the night seventy women came to the family of Muhammad, all of whom complained about their husbands.”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:144.</ref> If they came by night, they presumably did not feel safe to complain in the open. “So Allah’s Apostle said: ‘Many women have gone round Muhammad's family complaining against their husbands. They are not the best among you.’”<ref>{{Abudawud|11|2141}}.</ref> Elsewhere he warned that women who complained about their husbands were likely to go to Hell.<ref>E.g., {{Bukhari|7|62|125}} “I saw the (Hell) Fire, and I have never before, seen such a horrible sight as that, and I saw that the majority of its dwellers were women … because … they are not thankful to their husbands and are ungrateful for the favours done to them. Even if you do good to one of them all your life, when she senses some harshness from you, she will say, ‘I have never seen any good from you.’” See also {{Bukhari|1|6|301}} and {{Bukhari|2|18|161}}.</ref> When Tamima bint Wahb came to Aisha for help because she was covered with bruises from her husband’s beatings, Aisha observed: “Her face is greener than her veil. Believing women suffer more than any others!” Muhammad took no interest in Tamima’s bruises; he only attended to determining why her marriage had apparently never been consummated.<ref>{{Bukhari|7|72|715}}; Bewley/Saad 8:295.</ref> He also had no recorded reaction to Aisha’s complaint that pagans treated their wives better than Muslims did.

Later generations of Muslims have too often inferred from all this that, although Muhammad discouraged wife-beating, this was one of those impossible ideals to which no ordinary Muslim could reasonably aspire. A 2013 study by Dr Lateefa Latif is said to have found that nearly half of Saudi women were being beaten by their husbands, fathers, brothers and even their sons, who used their hands, sticks, head-covers and sharp objects.<ref>[http://www.emirates247.com/crime/region/nearly-half-saudi-women-are-beaten-at-home-2013-02-26-1.496510/ “Nearly half Saudi women are beaten at home”] in ''Emirates 24/7'', 26 February 2013.</ref> Leaders of six Swedish mosques in 2012 advised beaten wives not to report their husbands to the police.<ref>[http://www.thelocal.se/40866/20120516/ Mosques’ advice: ‘don’t report abusive husbands’]. ''The Local'', 16 May 2012.</ref>

That day an Aws chief named Saad ibn Muaz died of a battle-injury, and Muhammad announced that Allah’s throne had shaken when the doors of Paradise were flung open for him.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 468. This was the Saad ibn Muaz who had just pronounced the death-sentence on the men of Qurayza.</ref> Soon afterwards, Aisha was with Saad’s kinsman, Abu Yahya ibn Hudayr, when the news arrived that the latter’s wife had died. He was overcome with grief. Aisha exclaimed: “Allah forgive you, O Abu Yahya! Will you weep over a woman when you have lost your [second cousin twice removed<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq pp. 204, 330. This was their patrilinear relationship; it is possible that they were more closely related in one of the female lines.</ref>], for whom the throne shook?”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 468.</ref> Her astonishment over Abu Yahya’s attachment to his wife speaks volumes about her own experience of marriage.

===Islam===

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>{{Muslim|8|3453}}; {{Muslim|8|3454}}; Sahih Bukhari 6:60:311: “Narrated Aisha. I used to look down upon those ladies who had given themselves to Allah’s Apostle and I used to say, ‘Can a lady give herself (to a man)?’ But when Allah revealed: "You (O Muhammad) can postpone (the turn of) whom you will of them (your wives), and you may receive any of them whom you will; and there is no blame on you if you invite one whose turn you have set aside (temporarily),’ (Q33.51) I said (to the Prophet), ‘I feel that your Lord hastens in fulfilling your wishes and desires.’”</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 directly 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> Muhammad 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 her husband 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>

Although Aisha claimed to have seen Jibreel, she qualified this. What she actually saw was Muhammad talking just outside her house to a man mounted on a horse. She thought the man was Dihya ibn Khalifa al-Kalbi, but when she asked Muhammad about it, he replied, “You have seen a great blessing. That was Jibreel.” A short time later, Muhammad announced that Jibreel was in the room and that he brought Aisha the greeting of peace. She replied, “Peace be upon him, and the mercy of Allah and his blessings.”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:48.</ref> But when she narrated the story years later, she admitted to her audience, “I could not see [Jibreel]. [Muhammad] used to see things that I did not see.”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:55.</ref>

===Death of Muhammad===

She had limited control over her movements, for she needed permission to leave Medina. It was not until October 644, when she was 30, that she and her seven surviving co-wives were given leave to make a ''Hajj'' pilgrimage to Mecca (i.e., to take a holiday). They travelled in ''howdahs'' covered with green shawls, preceded by the camel of Uthman ibn Affan and followed by the camel of Abdulrahman ibn Awf. Uthman and Abdulrahman “did not let anyone come near them nor see them,” and shouted, “Get away! Get away! Go left!” or “Go right!” at anyone whom they passed on the road. In the midday heat they camped in ravines, shielded by trees on every side, “and they did not let anyone come near them.” A woman who brought them some meat and milk wept at the sight of them, saying she “remembered Allah’s Messenger,” which made all of them weep with her. Some years later, they petitioned, and were granted permission, to make a second ''Hajj'', again guarded on every step of the journey.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:146-148.</ref> It is not recorded that Aisha left Medina again until 656.

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.

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.  

Sometimes she gave legal judgments even to senior companions, for “nobody else was so knowledgeable in law.”<ref>Ahmad, ''Musnad'' 6:67; Al-Hakim, ''Mustadrak'' 4:11.</ref> She ruled that the guardian of an orphan was allowed to enjoy the income of her ward’s property.<ref>{{Abudawud|23|3521}}; {{Abudawud|23|3522}}.</ref> She warned some Syrian women to stop their custom of visiting public bath-houses since, “If a woman undresses outside her own home, she tears the veil between herself and Allah.”<ref>{{Abudawud|31|3999}}.</ref> When she recalled Muhammad’s word that, “Breaking a dead man’s bone is like breaking it when he is alive,”<ref>{{Abudawud|20|3201}}.</ref> she was presumably dealing with a current case. She mentioned that Muhammad had not claimed the estate of a freedman who, after falling out of a palm-tree, had died without heirs, but had paid it out to a man from the servant’s village.<ref>[http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/29/ Tirmidhi 4:29:2251], {{Abudawud|18|2896}}.</ref> She was good at arithmetic, so the Muslims used to consult her on dividing up an inheritance or profits.<ref>Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' vol. 2, p. 481.</ref>

*[[Aisha and Puberty]]

*[[The Tragedy of Aisha]]

*[[Rejecting Dr David Lieperts Aisha Was Older Apologetic Myth|Rejecting Dr. David Liepert's "Aisha Was Older" Apologetic Myth]] ''(Essay)''

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

===References===

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