powers of reasoning, criticism and deduction to resolve problems
on the basis of tho transmission of the teachings of Islam,
it is simply preposterous and outrageous to suggest that she was
the victim of some form of child and marital abuse. We ask in particular
the Christian and Jewish critics of Islam, who are reviling the
Holy Prophet Muhammad on the basis of his marriage with Aisha, whether
they can point out any example of a woman in their religions
who played a role like that of Aisha in learning the religion from
its founder and becoming the teacher and instructor of all his followers,
including men, after his death.
Age of Aisha at time of marriage with Holy Prophet Muhammad
It is believed on the authority of some Hadith reports that the
marriage ceremony (known as nikah, amounting to betrothal)
of Aisha with the Holy Prophet Muhammad took place when she was
six yearsorts relating to historical matters as they
did before accepting reports relating to the practical teachings
and laws of Islam. The reason is that the former type of report
was regarded as merely of academic interest while the latter type
of report had a direct bearing on the practical duties of a Muslim
and on what was allowed to them and what was prohibited. Thus the
occurrence of reports such as the above about the marriage of Aisha
in books of Hadith, even in Bukhari, is not necessarily a proof
of their credibility.
Determination of the true age of Aisha
It appears that Maulana Muhammad Ali was the first Islamic scholar
directly to challenge the notion that Aisha was aged six and nine,
respectively, at the time of her nikah and consummation of
marriage. This he did in, at least, the following writ_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title="">[4] (Bolding is mine.)
To facilitate understanding dates of these events, please note
that it was in the tenth year of the Call, i.e. the tenth year after
the Holy Prophet Muhammad received his calling from God to his mission
of prophethood, that his wife Khadija passed away, and the approach
was made to Abu Bakr for the hand of his daughter Aisha. The hijra
or emigration of the Holy Prophet to Madina took place three years
later, and Aisha came to the household of the Holy Prophet in the
second year after hijra. So if Aisha was born in the year
of the Call, she would be ten years old at the time of the nikah
and fifteen years old at the time of the consummation of the marriage.
Later research
Research subsequent to the time of Maulana M if she was born before they accepted Islam, would it make
sense for her to say that she can only remember them being Muslims,
as she was too young to remember things before their conversion.
This is consistent with her being born before the Call, and being
perhaps four or five years old at the time of the Call, which was
also almost the time when her parents accepted Islam.
Two further evidences cited by Maulana Muhammad Ali
In the footnotes of his Urdu translation and commentary of Sahih
Bukhari, entitled Fadl-ul-Bari, Maulana Muhammad Ali had
pointed out reports of two events which show that Aisha could not
have been born later than the year of the Call. These are as follows.
1. The above mentioned statement by Aisha in Bukhari, about
her earliest memory of her parents being that they weis
link.
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