Real Age of Hazrat Ayesha (r.a) during marriage with Holy Prophet (S.A.W)

Real Age of Hazrat Ayesha (r.a) during marriage with Holy Prophet (S.A.W)

Mathematical Proof:

According to Abda-Rahman ibn Abi Zanna:

Asma was 10 years older than Ayesha

(Siyar A’lama-nubala, Al-Zahabi, Vol. 2, pg 289, Arabic, Muassasatu-risalah, 1992).

According to Ibn Kathir:

She [Asma] was elder to her sister [Ayesha] by 10 years

(Al-Bidayah wa-nihayah, Ibn Kathir, Vol. 8, pg 371, Dar al-fikr al-`arabi, Al-jizah, 1933).

According to Ibn Kathir:

She [Asma] saw the killing of her son during that year [73 A.H, Islamic calendar],

as I have already mentioned, and five days later she herself died. According to other narratives, she died not after five days but 10 or 20, or a few days over 20, or 100 days later.

The most well known narrative is that of 100 days later. At the time of her death, she(Asma) was 100 years old.

(Al-Bidayah wa-nihayah, Ibn Kathir, Vol. 8, p. 372, Dar al-fikr al-`arabi, Al-jizah, 1933); Ibne Asakir vol 69 Page 18; Alsunnan Alkubra Albehaqi Vol.6 Page 204).

According to Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani:

She [Asma] lived a hundred years and died in 73 A.H.

(Taqribu-tehzib, Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani, p. 654, Arabic, Bab fi-nisa, al-harfu-alif).

According to almost all the historians; Asma, the elder sister of Ayesha, was 10 years older than Ayesha.

Calculation and analysis:

Asma was 10 years older than Ayesha (r.a)

Asma died in 73 A.H at age 100 years.

73*355 (Islamic calendar) = 25915 days.

25915/365 = 71 years (conversion to Gregorian calendar).

Death of Asma:

71 years after migration (Hijrat) to Madina at age 100, Migration to Madina in 622 C.E.

Therefore, 622+71= 693 C.E

Birth of Asma:

693 -100= 593 C.E

Birth of Ayesha (r.a), who is 10 years younger than Asma,

593+10= 603 C.E

The marriage occurred after the Battle of Badr in Shawal 2nd A.H (hijri)

(A’ini, vol. 8, pg. 96)

622+2= 624 C.E

624-603= 21 YEARS

A fully grown woman not 6 or 9 year old girl.

(6 or 9 is just a myth).

PROOF #2: Ayesha was young girl during revealation of AL-Qamar in 614:

But according to another narrative in Bukhari, Ayesha is reported to have said:

“I was a young girl (jariyah in Arabic)”when Surah Al-Qamar was revealed.

(Sahih Bukhari, kitabu’l-tafsir, Bab QaulihiBal al-sa`atu Maw`iduhum wa’l-sa`atu adha’ wa amarr).

Chapter 54 of the Quran was revealed eight years before hijrah (The Bounteous Koran, M.M. Khatib, 1985), indicating that it was revealed in 614 C.E. If Ayesha started living with the Prophet at the age of nine in 623 CE or 624 CE, she was a newborn infant (sibyah in Arabic) at the time that Surah Al-Qamar (The Moon) was revealed. According to the above tradition,

Ayesha was actually a young girl, not an infant in the year of revelation of Al-Qamar (614 C.E.). Jariyah means young playful girl (Lane’sArabic English Lexicon). So, Ayesha, being a jariyah(young girl) not a sibyah (infant), must be somewhere between 9-13 years old at the time of revelation of Al-Qamar in 614 C.E, and therefore must have been 18-21 years at the time she married the Prophet.

CONCLUSION:

This tradition also contradicts the marriage of Ayesha at the age of nine. When she was a young girl in 614 C.E, surely can’t be 9 or 6 or 4 year old girl in 624 C.E.

PROOF # 3: Reliability of Sources who narrated 6 or 9 years age:

Most of the narratives printed in the books of hadith are reported only by Hisham ibn `Urwah son of Zubair, and Urwah’s mother was Aisha (r.a) sister Asma, who was reporting on the authority of his father. But Born in the year 61 A.H. (Hijri) and died in the year 146 A.H.

First of all, more people than just one, two or three should logically have reported. It is strange that no one from Medina, where Hisham ibn `Urwah lived the first 71 years of his life narrated the event, despite the fact that his Medinan pupils included the well-respected Malik ibn Anas.

The origins of the report of the narratives of this event are people from Iraq, where Hisham is reported to have shifted after living in Medina for most of his life.

Tehzibu-Tehzib, one of the most well known books on the life and reliability of the narrators of the traditions of the Prophet, reports that according to Yaqub ibn Shaibah: He [Hisham] is highly reliable; his narratives are acceptable, except what he narrated after moving over to Iraq. (Tehzi, Ibn Hajar Al-`asqalani, Dar Ihya al-turath al-Islami, 15th century. Vol 11, p.50).

It further states that Malik ibn Anas objected on those narratives of Hisham which were reported through people in Iraq: have been told that Malik objected on those narratives of Hisham which were reported through people of Iraq (Tehzi-tehzib, Ibn Hajar Al-`asqalani, Dar Ihya al- turath al-Islami, Vol.11, p. 50).

Mizan-ai`tidal, another book on the life sketches of the narrators of the traditions of the Prophet reports:

When he was old, Hisham memory suffered quite badly

(Mizan-ai`tidal, Al-Zahbi, Al- Maktabatu-athriyyah, Vol. 4, p. 301).

CONCLUSION:

Based on these references, Hisham memory was failing and his narratives while in Iraq were unreliable. So, his narrative of Ayesha marriage and age are unreliable. He was born in 61 A.H and moved to Iraq in 131 A.H.

The above proves 100% that Ayesha (r.a) was not 6 or 9 or 4 when she got married it is a myth. She was at least 20-21; Moreover, the Quran rejects the marriage of immature girls and boys as well as entrusting them with responsibilities.

Sources:
1. (Sahih Bukhari, kitabu’l-tafsir, Bab QaulihiBal al-sa`atu Maw`iduhum wa’l-sa`atu adha’ wa amarr).
2. (Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Vol. 6, pg 210, Arabic Dar Ihya al-turath al-`arabi).
3. (Siyar A’lama-nubala, Al-Zahabi, Vol. 2, p. 289, Arabic, Muassasatu-risalah, 1992).
4. (Al-Bidayah wa-nihayah, Ibn Kathir, Vol. 8, p. 371, Dar al-fikr al-`arabi, Al-jizah, 1933).
5. Taqribu-tehzib, Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani, p. 654, Arabic, Bab fi-nisa, al-harfu-alif).
6. (Tehzi, Ibn Hajar Al-`asqalani, Dar Ihya al-turath al-Islami, 15th century. Vol 11, p.50).
7. (Mizan-ai`tidal, Al-Zahbi, Al- Maktabatu-athriyyah, Vol. 4, p. 301).