Firstly we would like to make it clear that nothing apart from the Qur'an is infallible and that the Qur'an should always be used as an instrument to scrutinize and judge anything and everything because Allah called it Al Furqan/The Criterion to judge between Truth and falsehood and the Ahadith are no exception to it. Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (peace be upon him) delineated that the Qur'an should be used to validate prophetic traditions : if they were in agreement (with the Qur'an) they are accepted, if not, they are rejected. Hence using this methodology we came to the conclusion that the Hadith which says Aisha (may God be pleased with her) got married to the Prophet (ﷺ) when she was only 'six years old' is a fabrication and a lie attributed to the blessed Prophet (ﷺ).
In fact this is one of the greatest lies that has been attributed to the Prophet (ﷺ) and yet the Ummah has accepted it to be true because 'Hadith' is in the Sahihain (i.e., Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim) and they try to defend it using fragile arguments even while knowing that this Hadith is in clear contradiction with the Qur'an, as we will see in this thread Insha Allah.
The Qur'an rules out the idea that the Prophet (ﷺ) married a six year old
The Qur'an clearly states that the marriageable age for a female is 'when she has become a woman/when she reaches puberty/when she starts menstruating (in other words, a woman who could bear a child).' The Qur'an has always used the word 'WOMEN' when it talks about marriage. In the 4th Surah of the Qur'an which is entitled as 'An-Nisa/The Women' Allah says
فَانْكِحُوْا مَا طَابَ لَكُمْ مِّنَ النِّسَآءِ
"..then marry those that please you of WOMEN.."
- Qur'an 4:3
• A 6 year old child cannot be called as, a woman, and the alleged Hadith itself states that the consummation was done 'three years' after the Nikah hence it confirms that Aisha was not yet a woman (who had reached the age of puberty) when she got married to the Prophet (ﷺ).
Hadith
Narrated `Aisha: that the Prophet (ﷺ) married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old.
Bukhari 5134
• But, Allah has set a condition that there shall be no Nikah unless the girl reaches puberty, So how come the Prophet (ﷺ) acted contrary to the Qur'an and marry a child who had not yet reached her puberty? It is the belief of every Muslim that the Prophet (ﷺ) can never act against the Qur'an and has indeed never acted against the Qur'an.Hence this ayah alone eliminates the 'alleged Hadith' straight away.
(Now those who defend that Hadith argue [weakly so] that marriage of a six year old child was common in Makkah and that the girls there reached puberty quite early. We ask such people who use this as an argument to provide a single instance where any of the Sahaba who got married to a six year old child or any girl who reached puberty at such a young age)
Allah says in Surah Al-Baqarah that your Woman (wives) are a place of cultivation for you through whom you can have a child
نِسَآؤُكُمْ حَرْثٌ لَّكُمْ ۪ فَاْتُوْا حَرْثَكُمْ اَنّٰي شِئْتُمْ
"Your WOMEN are a place of cultivation [i.e., sowing of seed] for you, so come to your place of cultivation however you wish.."
- Qur'an 2:223
• A six year old can never be considered as a place of cultivation, and as we've explained above, a girl who hasn't reached her puberty cannot get married. A woman becomes able to get pregnant (to cultivate) when she ovulates for the first time — about 14 days before her first menstrual period, but Aisha had not yet hit the age of puberty when she got married!
And Allah also says in Surah Ar-Rum that He created us in pairs so that we can find Sukoon/Tranquility in each other
وَمِنْ اٰيٰتِهٖۤ اَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مِّنْ اَنْفُسِكُمْ اَزْوَاجًا لِّتَسْكُنُوْۤا اِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُمْ مَّوَدَّةً وَّرَحْمَةً ؕ اِنَّ فِيْ ذٰلِكَ لَاٰيٰتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَّتَفَكَّرُوْنَ
And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquility in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.
- Qur'an 30:21
• The Prophet (ﷺ) is narrated to have married Aisha in the year 620 C.E. i.e., the year followed by the year known as 'The year of Grief' wherein his most beloved wife Khadijah (may God be pleased with her) and his uncle Abu Talib passed away. The Prophet (ﷺ) was facing boycotts and later was pelted with stones at Taif.
• The Prophet (ﷺ) needed someone to console him like Khadijah did and to say that the Prophet (ﷺ) married a six year old child while he was in such a state of grief is just incomprehensible. And even if we take the alleged Hadith to be true then what would have the Prophet (ﷺ) gained by marrying a child? Sukoon/Tranquility?
Not at all.
We hope these arguments from the Qur'an have made it clear that the Prophet (ﷺ) did not marry a six year old child. Obviously there is much more in the Qur'an which speaks on this subject, however we've used only three.
Now we come to the other sources such as Seerah and other History books to give the readers a more elaborated view.
1. Ibn Hisham writes that Aisha was one of the earliest converts to Islam during the time where the Da'wah was still done in secrecy at Arqam's (may God be pleased with him) house. The Prophet (ﷺ) called people to Islam in secrecy for 3 years, so Aisha became a Muslim before the public call for Islam was made. - Sirat Ibn Hisham (earliest biographies of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ))
Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) recieved the first revelation in year 610 CE and then for 3 years the call towards Islam was made in secrecy and according to Ibn Hisham, Aisha accepted Islam within these 3 years and in order for Aisha to accept Islam she must have been at least of such age where she could understand Islam. So even if we assume and reason that Aisha accepted Islam in the 3rd year of Prophethood i.e., 613 CE and reason that she was at least 8-10 years old at that time, this will make her 15-17 years old when she got married to Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) i.e., in 620 CE.
Well, If Aisha was really six, when she got married to the Prophet (ﷺ) then it makes her non existing till 614 CE where she is reported to have accepted Islam by 613 CE!
2. Ibn Jarir at-Tabari, an eminent historian of the early era, stated: 'Abu Bakr (may God be pleased with him) married two women in the pre-Islamic era, who gave birth to four children. Abdullah and Asma were by Qatilah, while Abdur Rahman and Aisha were by Umm Ruman bint Amir. All these children were born before the advent of Islam" - Tarikh al-Ummam wa al-Muluk
3. Ibn Kathir stated that Asma (may God be pleased with her) breathed her last in 73 AH when she was 100 years old, and was older than her sister Aisha by ten years. - Al-Bidayah wa'n-Nihayah
• Asma was ten years older than Aisha, and...was born twenty-seven years before the Hijrah of the Prophet (ﷺ).
- Nawawi, Tahdheeb al-Asmaa wal-Lughaat: under ‘Asmaa Bint Abi Bakr al-Siddeeq’
Therefore, by deducting 73, the year of Asma's death, from 100, her age at that time, we can easily conclude that she was 27 years old during Hijrah. This puts the age of Aisha at 17 during the same period.
a little mathematics
100 (total of Asma's lifespan) - 73 AH (death of Asma) = 27 (age of Asma before Hijrah) & 27 (age of Asma before Hijrah) - 10 (Aisha was 10 years younger to Asma) = 17 (age of Aisha before Hijrah)
And if the generally accepted tradition that Aisha entered the Prophet's (ﷺ) home as his fully married wife (when marriage was consummated) in 2 AH i.e., after Hijrah, she must have been 19 years old.
4. Most historians (though not all) agree that Aisha died when she was 67 years old. Moreover, Hisham ibn Urwah, the grandson of Aisha's sister Asma, gave the date of her death as 50 AH/672 CE. - Siyar A'lam al-Nubala, Al-Dhahabi
Khalifa ibn al-Khayyat al-Usfuri, an authority on lineage and biography, and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal also tell us that Aisha breathed her last in 50 AH/672 CE.
The importance of this date cannot be underestimated. If she was 67 years old in 50 AH, then at the time of the Hijrah in 620 CE she must have been 17 years old; this again backs up the conclusion that she was 19 at her marriage was consummated in 2 AH and not 9.
5. The last phase of Mu'awiyah's (may God be pleased with him) Caliphate is the last stage of Aisha's life. At that time, she was 67 years old.
• Aisha was a widow and in that state she passed 40 years of her life.
- Sirat-e-Aishah, Sayyid Sulayman Nadvi
If Aisha lived to be 67, with a widowhood spanning 40, this confirms that she was 27 when the Prophet (ﷺ) passed away and 'not 17 (the result emerging from the alleged Hadith).'
6. Narrated Anas (may God be pleased with him) : On the day (of the battle) of Uhud when people retreated and left the Prophet, I saw Aisha bint Abu Bakr and Um Sulaim (may God be pleased with both of them), with their robes tucked up so that the bangles around their ankles were visible hurrying with their water skins (in another narration it is said, "carrying the water skins on their backs"). Then they would pour the water in the mouths of the people, and return to fill the water skins again and came back again to pour water in the mouths of the people. Sahih al-Bukhari, 2880
Narrated Ibn Umar (may God be pleased with him) : That the Prophet (ﷺ) inspected him on the day of Uhud while he was fourteen years old, and the Prophet (ﷺ) did not allow him to take part in the battle. He was inspected again by the Prophet (ﷺ) on the day of Al-Khandaq (i.e. battle of the Trench) while he was fifteen years old, and the Prophet (ﷺ) allowed him to take Part in the battle. - Sahih al-Bukhari, 4097
As Uhud took place a year after the marriage was consummated, this would make Aisha only 10 if we follow the '6-9' narration. The description of Aisha in the above Hadith (i.e., Bukhari 2880) however does not seem to be of a ten year old girl, and it is extremely unlikely that a girl of ten would have been allowed onto the scene of battle. The Prophet (ﷺ) did not even permit several boys to join the army (for instance Ibn Umar wasn't allowed at the battlefield because he was just 14), as they were too young. The description does fit for a young woman in her late teens or early twenties.
• Some may argue that the reason Ibn Umar was not allowed is because here the Prophet (ﷺ) was considering about 'taking arms and fighting' and even though Aisha was 10, she was allowed because she wasn't there to fight, she was there to serve water to the people. The irony of such people is that a 10 year old girl aided the people at Uhud while a 14 year old boy was prohibited from even being present, common! A 14 year old boy could be more helpful in the battlefield than a 10 year old girl, if not as a 'fighter' then as an 'aid'. The Prophet (ﷺ) could've allowed him atleast to serve the people as he allowed a girl of 10 to do so, but he didn't.
• So, since it was not allowed for Muslims younger than 15 years old to participate in Uhud battle, Aisha, who participated in Uhud, must have been at least 15 years or more during the battle of Uhud.
We believe we've stated enough, even though there are many arguments left to put forth on this issue to reject the idea that the Prophet (ﷺ) ever married a 6 year old child, Insha Allah.
Conclusion
Although the widely-cited Hadith states that Aisha was nine years old when her marriage to the Prophet (ﷺ) was consummated, this is contradicted by Qur'an and strong historical evidence. Tabari, the famous historian and hadith expert, states that Aisha was born at least fifteen years before the marriage was consummated, and both early prophetic biographers, Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham, mention that Aisha was amongst the earliest converts to Islam, once again making her much older than the '6-9' reports indicate, and corroborating Tabari's opinion. Also, reports of Aisha's age in works by such authorities as Nawawi, Asqalani and Ibn Kathir all place her in her late teens at the time the marriage was consummated. Moreover, historical reports in books such as Sahih Bukhari contain descriptions of Aisha in which she appears much older than the '6-9' narrations would suggest. Pre-modern people were typically not aware of age or birth dates as we are in modern bureaucratised society, and conceptualisation of numbers was also very different in the past. Pre-modern people would often approximate their age when asked, and numbers were often expressed as descriptors rather than intended to be chronologically precise.
Comments