|
|
| Line 448: |
Line 448: |
| ===Amrah's Age=== | | ===Amrah's Age=== |
|
| |
|
| Amrah’s age is not stated anywhere. However, we do know the approximate age of her first husband. | | Amrah’s age is not stated anywhere. However, we do know the age of her first husband. He was Muhammad’s cousin, Al-Fadl ibn Abbas.<ref>Ibn Ishaq, cited in Guillaume, A. (1960). ''New Light on the Life of Muhammad'', p. 55. Manchester: Manchester University Press.</ref> Al-Fadl’s brother Abdullah recalled: “We reached Allah’s Apostle five years after he had made ''Hijra'' and were with the Quraysh when they marched during the year in which the Battle of ''Ahzab'' [Trench] was fought [627]. I was with my brother Fadl … I was then eight years old while my brother was 13.”<ref>Tabrani/Haythami vol. 6 p. 64 reported on the chain of narrators for this hadith. Cited in Khandhlawi, M. M. Y. (1959). ''Hayatus Sahaba''. Translated by Elias, A. H. (2008). ''The Lives of the Sahabah'', vol. 1, p. 373. Farid Book Depot (Pvt.) Ltd.</ref> |
|
| |
|
| He was Al-Fadl, the older brother of Abdullah ibn Abbas.<ref>Ibn Ishaq, cited in Guillaume, A. (1960). ''New Light on the Life of Muhammad'', p. 55. Manchester: Manchester University Press.</ref> Abdullah was born in early 620,<ref>{{Tabari|39|55}}.</ref> while their next brother, Ubaydallah, was only a year younger.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 95}}.</ref> A fourth brother, Quthum, was born before March 624;<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 313</ref> a sister, Umm Habib, before 630;<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 311. Bewley/Saad 8:94.</ref> and there were also two other brothers, Maabad and Abdulrahman, both born before Muhammad’s death in June 632.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 201}}. Bewley/Saad 8:94.</ref> The close spacing of the whole family suggests that Al-Fadl, the firstborn,<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 95}}.</ref> was only a few years older than Abdullah. Since Abdullah was only 12 when Muhammad died, Al-Fadl was surely a teenager.
| | If Al-Fadl was 13 in 627, he was born in late 613 or 614 – that is, he was exactly the same age as Aisha. His family emigrated to Medina three years later,<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 202}}.</ref> and soon afterwards, Al-Fadl petitioned Muhammad to arrange a marriage for him. Muhammad found him a wife on the same day, but it was not Amrah bint Yazid. The girl whom Al-Fadl married in 630 was his cousin, Safiya bint Mahmiyah.<ref>{{Muslim|5|2347}}.</ref> |
|
| |
|
| The following episode must have occurred after the family of Abbas emigrated to Medina, which was after Muhammad’s return from the conquest of Mecca in late March 630.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 202}}.</ref>
| | It is a little strange that such a young man would so soon afterwards take on a second wife, but it is safe to say that he did so willingly, for Amrah was of no political importance. There is no obvious reason for this marriage beyond the documented fact that Al-Fadl was susceptible to pretty girls.<ref>See {{Bukhari||74|247}}.</ref> He was also the eldest son of a very wealthy man,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 113, 114, 309-310.</ref> so if he wanted a second wife, there was nothing to stop him taking one. It is therefore highly unlikely that Amrah was plain or that she was older than Al-Fadl. She would have been the same age as her bridegroom or a little younger. |
|
| |
|
| {{Quote|{{Muslim|5|2347}}|Abdulmuttalib ibn Rabi'a narrated. … [Al-Fadl ibn Abbas and I] spoke: “Messenger of Allah, you are the best of humanity and the best to cement the ties of blood-relations. '''We have reached the marriageable age.''' We have come so that you may appoint us as tax-collectors, and we would pay you just as The Thins [''apparently slang for “tax-collectors”''] pay you, and receive our share as others receive it [so that we can earn our living and afford to marry].” ... [Muhammad said]: “It is not suitable for Muhammad's family to collect tax ... Call to me Mahmiyah (and he was the treasurer) and Nawfal ibn Harith ibn Abdulmuttalib.” They both came to him, and he said to Mahmiyah: “Marry your daughter to this young man (Al-Fadl),” and he married her to him. And he said to Nawfal ibn Harith: “Marry your daughter to this young man (Abdulmuttalib),” and he married her to me. He said to Mahmiyah: “Pay the dower on behalf of both of them out of the treasury.”}}
| | However, Al-Fadl divorced Amrah within a matter of months, and she was afterwards married to Muhammad. While the date of this marriage is unknown, there would scarcely have been time for all these events to have occurred before January 631. Since Muhammad fell ill and then died in early June 632,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 689</ref> the latest possible date for his marriage to Amrah would be May 632. So the median wedding date is September 631. We do not know how old Amrah was in 631, but Al-Fadl was 17, so it is reasonable to suggest that Amrah was about 15 – a couple of years younger than Aisha. |
| | |
| It is not clear whether these marriages were long-standing betrothals that the young men wanted to consummate or whether they were spontaneous choices made by Muhammad. The point here is that the young cousins had to remind Muhammad that they had reached puberty, so they must have been quite recently pubescent. This suggests that Al-Fadl was born in 615, plus or minus a year. Mahmiyah ibn Jazi did not take his family on his emigration to Abyssinia,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 148, 527.</ref> so his daughter must have been conceived in Mecca before 615. Her age is not known beyond this; we can only guess that she was paired off with Al-Fadl (her cousin) because they were roughly the same age, i.e., about 15.
| |
| | |
| Later Al-Fadl married Amrah bint Yazid. It is safe to say that he married her willingly. Amrah was of no political importance, and Al-Fadl was extremely susceptible to pretty girls.<ref>See {{Bukhari|8|74|247}}.</ref> So it is highly unlikely that Amrah was older than Al-Fadl (or that she was plain). She would have been the same age as her bridegroom or a little younger. However, Al-Fadl subsequently divorced Amrah, and she was afterwards married to Muhammad.
| |
| | |
| While the date of Amrah’s marriage to Muhammad is unknown, there would scarcely have been time for all these events to have occurred before January 631. Since Muhammad fell ill and then died in early June 632,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 689</ref> the latest possible date for his marriage to Amrah would be May 632. So the median wedding date is September 631. | |
| | |
| We do not know how old Amrah was in 631, but it is reasonable to suggest that she was 14 or 15 – a couple of years younger than Aisha. | |
|
| |
|
| *Amrah’s Probable Age = about 15 years. | | *Amrah’s Probable Age = about 15 years. |