Portal: Muhammad’s Wives and Consorts: Difference between revisions

The wives of the prophet are described as "أمهات المؤمنين" or "mothers of the believers". As such the prophetic example is considered instructive for all Muslim households. How the prophet interacted with his wives, and how they obeyed him, is a framework for how Muslim husbands and wives ought to interact, as well as how men should interact with their own female slaves. [[Aisha]], the prophet's favorite wife, has an especially loft position in the sacred history of Islam. She was the last person the prophet interacted with before he died, and she also forms the starting point for many important [[sahih]] narrations about his life in the [[hadith]]. As such her life is considered especially instructive for Muslim women and believers in general.

Aisha was the youngest wife of the prophet, and also his favorite. The prophet, according to the tradition, passed away in her lap. After the expansion of Islam, she was a key figure in the criticism of the early [[Khilafah (Caliphate)|caliphate]] and also a key player in the first fitna, which saw her face off against Ali at the battle of the camel, where she was defeated and Ali took the throne of the caliphate for himself. As she was the prophet's favorite, the tradition goes to great lengths to emphasize her virginity, youth, and purity, even to the point of emphasizing that she was 6 years old when she was married to the prophet and 9 when the marriage was consummated.