Prophet’s (PBUH) marriage with the nine-year-old Aisha, part 1

Disproving the historical doubt about Prophet’s (PBUH) marriage with the nine-year-old Aisha-   part 1

1. One of the issues or other similar issues which the enemies of Islam are trying to refer to is to claim that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was as a sinner and a materialistic man so that they show Islam as a false and imperfect religion.

That claim is the issue of Prophet’s marriage with a 6-year-old girl (Lady Aisha) and some people insist on proving that Lady Aisha was married to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) when she was 6 years old and entered his house when she was nine to prove her supremacy over other wives of the Prophet (PBUH). But, is it true?

Here we are trying to disprove this claim based on authentic references in Sunni books.

First, before entering the main subject we shall find out the correct date of Prophet’s (PBUH) marriage with Lady Aisha and then we will indicate the age of Lady Aisha when she was married to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

There are different opinions about the date of the marriage of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) with Lady Aisha.

Muhammad-ibn-Ismail Bukhari quotes from Lady Aisha herself that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) married her three years after Lady Khadija had passed away:

It is quoted from Lady Aisha “I didn’t envy any woman like Lady Khadija because, a) Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) used to mention her very much, b) Prophet Muhammad married me three years after the death of Lady Khadija; c) The Lord ordered the Prophet (PBUH) or Gabriel to greet Lady Khadija and promised her a house in paradise which is built by cane.”(1)

Since it is definite that Lady Khadija passed away in the tenth year after the call to prophethood of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), hence the marriage of the Prophet (PBUH) and Lady Aisha was in the thirteenth year after the call to prophethood.

And Ibn-Mulaqqan after quoting Bukhari, added:

Prophet Muhammad brought her home in the second year after Hegira. (2)

According to this quotation, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) married Lady Aisha in the thirteenth year after the call to prophethood and brought her home in the second year after Hegira.

We can conclude from the quotations of some other great Sunni scholars that the marriage of Prophet (PBUH) with Lady Aisha happened in the fourth year after Hegira. Baladhari writes down in his book “Genealogies of the Nobles” about Lady Suda, one of the other wives of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH):

“After Lady Khadija, a few months before Hegira, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) married Suda-bint-Zuma and she was the first wife of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who entered his house in Medina.” (3)

On the other hand, Al-Dhahabi claims that Suda-bint-Zuma was the only wife of the Prophet (PBUH) for four years.

Lady Suda passed away in the last year of the rule of Umar and she was the only wife of the Prophet (PBUH) for four years and no woman or bondwoman was married to Prophet during these four years and then the Prophet (PBUH) married Lady Aisha. (4)

Conclusively, it is obvious that Lady Aisha married Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the fourth year after Hegira (four years after the marriage of the Prophet (PBUH) with Lady Suda)

Now let’s calculate the age of Lady Aisha at the time of her marriage according to historical references:

Comparing the age of Lady Aisha with her sister Asma-bint-Abu-Bakr

An exact way to calculate the age of Lady Aisha when she was married with Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is to compare her age with her sister Asma-bint-Abu-Bakr. According to quotations of great Sunni scholars, Asma was ten years older than Lady Aisha and she was 27 year old in the first year after Hegira and passed away in 72^nd year after Hegira when she was hundred years old.

Abu No’aym Isfahani writes down his book “Knowing the Companions and their Merits”:

Asma daughter of Abu-Bakr, was the older sister of Lady Aisha from her father side and she was born 27 years before the year of Hegira. (5)

And Tabarani writes down:

Asma, the daughter of Abu-Bakr, passed away in the year of 73 after Hegira after her son Abdullah-ibn-Zubair. She was 100 years old when she died and had been born 27 years before Hegira. (6)

Ibn-Asakir writes down:

Asma was the elder daughter of Lady Aisha from her father side and had been born 27 years before Hegira. (7)

Ibn-Athir writes down:

Abu-No’aym said that Asma had been born 27 years before Hegira. (8)

Al-Nawawi writes down:

It is quoted from Abu- No’aym: “Asma was born 27 years before Hegira.”(9)

And Hafiz Haythami writes down:

Asma was 100 years old when she died and was born 27 years before Hegira and Abu-Bakr was 21 years old when she was born. (10)

And Badruddin Ayni writes down:

Asma- the daughter of Abu-Bakr was born 27 years before Hegira and she was the 17^th who converted to Islam and passed away 73 years after Hegira after the death of his son Abdulla-ibn-Zubair when she was 100 years old. At this age none of her teeth were lost and she was in sound mind. (11)

To be continued…

References:

1. Muhaamad –ibn- Ismail Abu-Abdallah (D. 256 H.), “Sahih-al-Bukhari”, Vol. 3, p.3606, Hadith 3606; “The Merits of the Companions“, Chapter: “Marriage of the Prophet (PBUH) with Lady Khadija (PBUH) and her Merits”, edited by Mustafa Deeb-al-Bagha, Dar Ibn Kathir, Al-Yamama- Beirut 3^rd publication. 1987

2. Siraj-al-Din Abi-Hafs Umar-ibn-Ali-ibn-Ahmad called ibn-Mulaqqan (D. 804 H.), Ghayat al-Sul fi Khasa’is al-Rasul – Vol. 1, p. 236, edited by Abdullah Bahruddin Abdullah, Beirut, 1993.

3. Baladhari, Ahmad-ibn-Yahya-ibn-Jabir (D. 279 H.) “Genealogies of the Nobles”, Vol. 1, p. 181
4. Al-Dhahabi, Muhammad-ibn-Ahmad-ibn-Uthman, (D. 748), “Major History of Islam”, Vol. 3, p. 288, edited by Umar Abdu alsalam Tadmiri, Dar-ul-Kitab al-Arabi – Lebanon/Beirut, first publication, 1987.
5. Al-Isbahani, Abu-No’aym Ahmad-ibn-Abdullah (D. 430 H.), “Knowing the Companions and their Merits”, Vol. 6, p. 3253, No. 3769.
6. Al-Tabarani, Sulaiman-ibn-Ahmad-ibn-Ayub Abul-Ghasim (D. 360 H.), “Almojam Alkabir” Vol. 24, p. 77, edited by Hamdi-ibn- Abdulmajid al-salafi, Maktabah-al-Zahra – Mosul, second publication, 1983.
7. Ibn Asakir Addamishqi, abu-al-Ghasim Ali-ibn-al-Hassan-ibn-Hebatullah-ibn-Abdullah, (D. 571 H.), “History of Damascus” Vol. 69, p. 9, edited by Muhab-al-din abi-Saeed Umar-ibn-Karama al-Umari, Dar-ul-Fikr Publication, Beirut, 1995.
8. Al-Jadhri, Iz al-ddin-ibn-al-Athir abi-al-Hassan Ali-ibn-Muhammad (D. 630 H.), “The Lion of the Forest and the Knowledge of the Companions”, Vol. 7, p. 11, edited by Adil-ahmad-al-Rufaei, Dar Ihya al-Turath-al-Arabi Publication, Beirut, Lebanon, First publication, 1996.
9. Al-Nawawi, abu-Zakaria Yahya-ibn-Sharif-ibn-Marri, (D. 676 H.), “Tahdhib-al-Asma wal-Lughat”, Vol. 2, pp. 597-598, Dar-ul-Nashr Publication-Beirut, First publication, 1996.
10. Al-Haytami, abu-al-Hassan Ali-ibn-Abu-Bakr, (D. 807 H.), “Majma al-Zawaid wa Manba’al-Fawaid”, Vol. 9, p. 260, Dar-al-Rayyan lel-Turath Publication/ Dar-al-Kitab-al-Arabi Publication. Cairo, Beirut, 1407 H.
11. Al-Ayni, Badr a;-aldin abu-Muhammad Mahmud-ibn-ahmad al-Kaytabi al-Hanafi (D. 855 H.), “Umdat-ul-Qari Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari”, Vol. 2, p.93, Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi publication, Beirut.