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Aisha's Age: Difference between revisions
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Aside from Hisham b. 'Urwa (d. 146 AH), who was Aisha's great nephew and whose simple narration is the most widely transmitted, Muhammad b. 'Amr (d. 144 AH) is the other reconstructable Medinan common link, though like Hisham, he moved to Iraq and merely seems to append one of Hisham's versions of the hadith to another narration. The other early common links are three Kufans (in Iraq) who died 146-160 AH. Though it is possible that one or more other narrations go back to Aisha herself, this cannot be demonstrated on an ICMA basis.<ref>pp. 397-99 of Dr Little's thesis</ref> | Aside from Hisham b. 'Urwa (d. 146 AH), who was Aisha's great nephew and whose simple narration is the most widely transmitted, Muhammad b. 'Amr (d. 144 AH) is the other reconstructable Medinan common link, though like Hisham, he moved to Iraq and merely seems to append one of Hisham's versions of the hadith to another narration. The other early common links are three Kufans (in Iraq) who died 146-160 AH. Though it is possible that one or more other narrations go back to Aisha herself, this cannot be demonstrated on an ICMA basis.<ref>pp. 397-99 of Dr Little's thesis</ref> | ||
Little then analyzes in greater depth his reconstructed matns for these common links. Based on shared words, phrases and sequencing, he concludes that they all derive from a single, simple formulation, and are not independently transmitted memories of a common event. This original formulation seems to be the widely transmitted one of Hisham, who also transmitted a few versions with additional details. Hisham attributed all of these to his father 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr who was also Aisha's nephew. Hisham did so falsely, argues Little; however, in his thesis he does not notice that the distinctive content of 'Urwa's letter about Aisha's marriage reported by Hisham is also narrated by a Syrian partial common link who ascribed it via his own uncle to 'Urwa's student, al-Zuhri, who moved from Medina to Syria. The letter and al-Zuhri's narration alone share a very distinctive sequencing of seven elements, within which there are also some otherwise unique exact phrases and content.<ref>'Urwa wrote a number of letters on early Islamic history to the late Umayyad court. These letters were transmitted by his son Hisham and the traditions therein were often also transmitted by 'Urwa's Medinan student al-Zuhri. 'Urwa's letters are translated in full in Sean Anthony, ''Muhammad and the Empires of Faith: The making of the Prophet of Islam'', Oakland CA: University of California, 2020, Chapter 4. In 2012, the creators of the ICMA method, Andreas Görke, Harald Motzki and Gregor Schoeler, strongly argued that the traditions in the letters attributed to 'Urwa probably do in some way originate with him, especially when they are supported by parallel traditions going back to 'Urwa (Goerke, A, Motzki, H & Schoeler, G (2012) [https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/12692843/First_Century_Sources_for_the_Life_of_Muhammad_a_debate.pdf First-Century Sources for the Life of Muhammad?] A Debate, Der Islam, vol. 89, no. 2, pp. 2-59. https://doi.org/10.1515/islam-2012-0002).<BR /> | Little then analyzes in greater depth his reconstructed matns for these common links. Based on shared words, phrases and sequencing, he concludes that they all derive from a single, simple formulation, and are not independently transmitted memories of a common event. This original formulation seems to be the widely transmitted one of Hisham, who also transmitted a few versions with additional details. Hisham attributed all of these to his father 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr who was also Aisha's nephew. Hisham did so falsely, argues Little; however, in his thesis he does not notice that the distinctive content of 'Urwa's letter about Aisha's marriage after the death of Khadija reported by Hisham is also narrated by a Syrian partial common link who ascribed it via his own uncle to 'Urwa's student, al-Zuhri, who moved from Medina to Syria. The letter and al-Zuhri's narration alone share a very distinctive sequencing of seven elements, within which there are also some otherwise unique exact phrases and content.<ref>'Urwa wrote a number of letters on early Islamic history to the late Umayyad court. These letters were transmitted by his son Hisham and the traditions therein were often also transmitted by 'Urwa's Medinan student al-Zuhri. 'Urwa's letters are translated in full in Sean Anthony, ''Muhammad and the Empires of Faith: The making of the Prophet of Islam'', Oakland CA: University of California, 2020, Chapter 4. In 2012, the creators of the ICMA method, Andreas Görke, Harald Motzki and Gregor Schoeler, strongly argued that the traditions in the letters attributed to 'Urwa probably do in some way originate with him, especially when they are supported by parallel traditions going back to 'Urwa (Goerke, A, Motzki, H & Schoeler, G (2012) [https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/12692843/First_Century_Sources_for_the_Life_of_Muhammad_a_debate.pdf First-Century Sources for the Life of Muhammad?] A Debate, Der Islam, vol. 89, no. 2, pp. 2-59. https://doi.org/10.1515/islam-2012-0002).<BR /> | ||
One of 'Urwa's letters is a short one about Aisha's marriage. It was reported in a couple of chains through Hisham and is quoted in the Relevant Quotations section above. Little contests a couple of arguments for the general authenticity of 'Urwa's letters but without wider engagement with Goerke et al. He also questions how we can in any case identify which words or elements thereof Hisham accurately transmitted (p. 314).<BR /> | One of 'Urwa's letters is a short one about Aisha's marriage. It was reported in a couple of chains through Hisham and is quoted in the Relevant Quotations section above. Little contests a couple of arguments for the general authenticity of 'Urwa's letters but without wider engagement with Goerke et al. He also questions how we can in any case identify which words or elements thereof Hisham accurately transmitted (p. 314).<BR /> | ||
However, Dr Little did not notice that another hadith he discusses which is ascribed to 'Urwa's Medinan student al-Zuhri contains the same core tradition as this letter, especially the otherwise unique sequence of elements, albeit not in the form of a letter. It is easy to imagine al-Zuhri learning it from 'Urwa directly or from the letter (though the isnad does not go that far back). Indeed, for much of this distinctive sequence they even share the same words and exact phrases, much of which would otherwise be unique to the letter. The content of the dream element is also highly distinctive to them, being very different in other narrations. The close relationship is obvious, as someone illustrated in [[Media:UrwaLetter-alZuhriComparison.png|this image]] which uses Dr Little's own isnad diagrams. See Dr Little's blog for the full diagrams, from which the distinctiveness is readily apparent. Little's transliteration of 'Urwa's reconstructed letter on pp. 310-11 of his thesis can also be compared with his reconstructed transmission from al-Zuhri of the same elemental sequence (through al-Hajjaj b. Abi Mani; pp. 204-5; see also 370-72 and 482).<BR /> | However, Dr Little did not notice that another hadith he discusses which is ascribed to 'Urwa's Medinan student al-Zuhri contains the same core tradition as this letter, especially the otherwise unique sequence of elements starting with her marriage after the death of Khadija, albeit not in the form of a letter. It is easy to imagine al-Zuhri learning it from 'Urwa directly or from the letter (though the isnad does not go that far back). Indeed, for much of this distinctive sequence they even share the same words and exact phrases, much of which would otherwise be unique to the letter. The content of the dream element is also highly distinctive to them, being very different in other narrations. The close relationship is obvious, as someone illustrated in [[Media:UrwaLetter-alZuhriComparison.png|this image]] which uses Dr Little's own isnad diagrams. See Dr Little's blog for the full diagrams, from which the distinctiveness is readily apparent. Little's transliteration of 'Urwa's reconstructed letter on pp. 310-11 of his thesis can also be compared with his reconstructed transmission from al-Zuhri of the same elemental sequence (through al-Hajjaj b. Abi Mani; pp. 204-5; see also 370-72 and 482).<BR /> | ||
Al-Hajjaj, who lived in Aleppo, Syria, serves as a partial common link for the transmission and ascribed it via his uncle to al-Zuhri, who does not himself count as a common link but did move from Medina to Damascus and later Resafa, Syria, where he tutored the Caliph's sons.<BR />Given the very short chain, compatible geography of the transmitters, and closely matched and often uniquely shared wording and elemental sequence, this evidence cannot be lightly dismissed. The closest examples of similar content to the letter are cobbled together, clearly late, long single chained false ascriptions to Qatada and Ibn Abbas with far less similarity of elemental sequence and wording (these can be seen in the "Other Traditions" isnad diagram on his blog or see pp. 375 and 393 of his thesis).</ref> This apparent corroboration is potentially significant, since al-Zuhri's knowledge would most likely have come from his teacher, 'Urwa, in which case Little's thesis would essentially be wrong. | Al-Hajjaj, who lived in Aleppo, Syria, serves as a partial common link for the transmission and ascribed it via his uncle to al-Zuhri, who does not himself count as a common link but did move from Medina to Damascus and later Resafa, Syria, where he tutored the Caliph's sons.<BR />Given the very short chain, compatible geography of the transmitters, and closely matched and often uniquely shared wording and elemental sequence, this evidence cannot be lightly dismissed. The closest examples of similar content to the letter are cobbled together, clearly late, long single chained false ascriptions to Qatada and Ibn Abbas with far less similarity of elemental sequence and wording (these can be seen in the "Other Traditions" isnad diagram on his blog or see pp. 375 and 393 of his thesis).</ref> This apparent corroboration is potentially significant, since al-Zuhri's knowledge would most likely have come from his teacher, 'Urwa, in which case Little's thesis would essentially be wrong. | ||
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A different explanation for the Medinan legal silence on Aisha's age, as well as the hadith's non-use by many later scholars was alluded to by Carolyn Baugh in her 2017 book, ''Minor Marriage in Early Islamic Law''. Maliki law was based largely on Medinan community custom, though sometimes anecdotes about companions were used for making specific points. Contrary to Little, Baugh doubts how useful the Aisha hadith would actually have been for legal purposes.<ref>Baugh writes: "Although it is not impossible that Malik would have accepted the content of the report given early practice, Malik is one of many jurists who did not rely on the text, which does not in fact occur in any of the early books of jurisprudence except for that of al-Shafi'i and, shortly after him, 'Abd al Razzaq's Musannaf. Even later jurists such as Ibn Taymiya and Ibn al-Qayyim shy away from it, although it is used by Ibn Qudama before them. Presuming its authenticity (it occurs in Bukhari and Muslim), questions occur such as, was 'A'isha in fact compelled against her will? Can we assume that Abu Bakr did not consult her? Had she, at age nine, entered her majority or was she still prepubescent?"<BR />Carolyn Baugh, ''Minor Marriage in Early Islamic Law'', Leiden: Brill, 2017, p. 43 footnote 101<BR />Similarly, on p. 62 she elaborates why the legal implications of the hadith are obscure.</ref> Maliki jurists in Medina and Hanafi jurists in Kufah did not seek to prove that a father could contract his virgin minor daughter in marriage, which was taken for granted.<ref>In Chapter 4 she details the proof-texts used by Maliki jurists; see p. 79 regarding Hanafi jurists.</ref> Rather, they discussed a father's right to ''compell'' her without consultation, and whether he still had this right when she was no longer a virgin or minor, whether she had a right to rescind later and so on. Indeed, unlike various reports about companions used by Maliki scholars and highlighted by Baugh, the Aisha hadith does not seem to be of any use for the areas of juristic disagreement or the points which they felt a need to prove (see [[Child Marriage in Islamic Law]]). Shafi'i is the first legal scholar to make use of the Aisha marital age hadith (and more generally pioneered the Quran and sound hadith corpus as the decisive sources of law). He used the Aisha hadith for purposes of proving a father's right to marry off his daughter regardless of her wishes, though he had to read in his own assumptions to do so (see [[Forced Marriage]])<ref>See also the quotes in Dr Little's thesis, pp. 454-5, where Shafi'i can be seen using the hadith in an attempt to prove the right of paternal compulsion.</ref>. Subsequent scholars followed Shafi'i in this usage. However, the Aisha hadith merely states that her marriage was contracted when she was six (or seven), and it does not specify whether she was consulted or forced by her father, nor even whether she had reached puberty at nine. | A different explanation for the Medinan legal silence on Aisha's age, as well as the hadith's non-use by many later scholars was alluded to by Carolyn Baugh in her 2017 book, ''Minor Marriage in Early Islamic Law''. Maliki law was based largely on Medinan community custom, though sometimes anecdotes about companions were used for making specific points. Contrary to Little, Baugh doubts how useful the Aisha hadith would actually have been for legal purposes.<ref>Baugh writes: "Although it is not impossible that Malik would have accepted the content of the report given early practice, Malik is one of many jurists who did not rely on the text, which does not in fact occur in any of the early books of jurisprudence except for that of al-Shafi'i and, shortly after him, 'Abd al Razzaq's Musannaf. Even later jurists such as Ibn Taymiya and Ibn al-Qayyim shy away from it, although it is used by Ibn Qudama before them. Presuming its authenticity (it occurs in Bukhari and Muslim), questions occur such as, was 'A'isha in fact compelled against her will? Can we assume that Abu Bakr did not consult her? Had she, at age nine, entered her majority or was she still prepubescent?"<BR />Carolyn Baugh, ''Minor Marriage in Early Islamic Law'', Leiden: Brill, 2017, p. 43 footnote 101<BR />Similarly, on p. 62 she elaborates why the legal implications of the hadith are obscure.</ref> Maliki jurists in Medina and Hanafi jurists in Kufah did not seek to prove that a father could contract his virgin minor daughter in marriage, which was taken for granted.<ref>In Chapter 4 she details the proof-texts used by Maliki jurists; see p. 79 regarding Hanafi jurists.</ref> Rather, they discussed a father's right to ''compell'' her without consultation, and whether he still had this right when she was no longer a virgin or minor, whether she had a right to rescind later and so on. Indeed, unlike various reports about companions used by Maliki scholars and highlighted by Baugh, the Aisha hadith does not seem to be of any use for the areas of juristic disagreement or the points which they felt a need to prove (see [[Child Marriage in Islamic Law]]). Shafi'i is the first legal scholar to make use of the Aisha marital age hadith (and more generally pioneered the Quran and sound hadith corpus as the decisive sources of law). He used the Aisha hadith for purposes of proving a father's right to marry off his daughter regardless of her wishes, though he had to read in his own assumptions to do so (see [[Forced Marriage]])<ref>See also the quotes in Dr Little's thesis, pp. 454-5, where Shafi'i can be seen using the hadith in an attempt to prove the right of paternal compulsion.</ref>. Subsequent scholars followed Shafi'i in this usage. However, the Aisha hadith merely states that her marriage was contracted when she was six (or seven), and it does not specify whether she was consulted or forced by her father, nor even whether she had reached puberty at nine. | ||
Dr Little's case is nevertheless mostly strong that Hisham formulated the wording of the Aisha marital age hadith(s) in Iraq and that others derived their versions therefrom (though a | Dr Little's case is nevertheless mostly strong that Hisham formulated the wording of the Aisha marital age hadith(s) in Iraq and that others derived their versions therefrom (though a big question remains due to the corroborating transmission ascribed to al-Zuhri containing the core content of 'Urwa's letter about the marriage, which Little did not notice as noted above). He also provides a plausible motivation for Hisham to have fabricated the story entirely. Others may then point to a couple of traditions which do not depend on Hisham and may support the possibility of a historical kernal. The hadith tradition shown in the Relevant Quotations section above about the incident of the slander (al-Ifk) does not involve Hisham and emphasises that Aisha was then "a girl of young age", though the historicity of this too might be doubted given the polemical considerations around the event. | ||
More significant may be an independent tradition which Little says can provisionally be traced back to the Medinan historian Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (d. 124 AH). Al-Zuhri's hadith, which must have been transmitted while he was in Medina, states that the Messenger of God married Aisha bint Abu Bakr in Shawwal in the tenth year after the prophethood, three years before the migration, and he arranged the marriage feast in Medina (i.e. for consummation) in Shawwal, at the beginning of eight months after his emigration to Medina. Little speculates that Hisham picked a consummation age of nine and used this report of a three year gap between Aisha's marriage and consummation to derive six or seven as the age of her marriage.<ref>See 1 hour 38 minutes in Dr. Joshua Little's lecture entitled [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr6mBlEPxW8&t=2s The Hadith of ʿAʾishah's Marital Age: A Study in the Evolution of Early Islamic Historical Memory] - youtube.com, 26 February 2023<BR />For detailed discussion see pp. 373-74, 378-82, 460-61 of Dr Little's thesis.</ref> Others may notice another significance to this apparently earlier al-Zuhri tradition. The three year gap between marriage and consummation mentioned therein, without any obvious polemical function (no age is mentioned), probably and independently implies that Aisha was a child at the time. | More significant may be an independent tradition which Little says can provisionally be traced back to the Medinan historian Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (d. 124 AH). Al-Zuhri's hadith, which must have been transmitted while he was in Medina, states that the Messenger of God married Aisha bint Abu Bakr in Shawwal in the tenth year after the prophethood, three years before the migration, and he arranged the marriage feast in Medina (i.e. for consummation) in Shawwal, at the beginning of eight months after his emigration to Medina. Little speculates that Hisham picked a consummation age of nine and used this report of a three year gap between Aisha's marriage and consummation to derive six or seven as the age of her marriage.<ref>See 1 hour 38 minutes in Dr. Joshua Little's lecture entitled [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr6mBlEPxW8&t=2s The Hadith of ʿAʾishah's Marital Age: A Study in the Evolution of Early Islamic Historical Memory] - youtube.com, 26 February 2023<BR />For detailed discussion see pp. 373-74, 378-82, 460-61 of Dr Little's thesis.</ref> Others may notice another significance to this apparently earlier al-Zuhri tradition. The three year gap between marriage and consummation mentioned therein, without any obvious polemical function (no age is mentioned), probably and independently implies that Aisha was a child at the time. | ||
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Deriving arguments from both Habib Ur Rahman and Muhammad Ali, [[Gibril Haddad|Moiz Amjad]] (who refers to himself as "The Learner") became a prominent reference for online apologetics on this issue. Moiz admits to having lifted his arguments from them, summarizing and presenting them in response to a Muslim asking him how he can respond to critical Christians.<ref name="Amjad">See: "[http://www.islamawareness.net/FAQ/what_was_ayesha.html What was Ayesha's (ra) Age at the Time of Her Marriage?]", by Moiz Amjad.</ref> With Moiz's restructured response the arguments originating from the Ahmadiyya in the 1920s and 1930s eventually achieved widespread popularity among orthodox Muslims who welcome an alternative to the traditionally accepted chronology. However, this popularity seems to be strictly limited to articles or arguments on the Internet, not between traditionalist sheikhs and scholars, nor are they accepted by Muslims concerned about the wider implications of rejecting traditionally authentic hadiths. | Deriving arguments from both Habib Ur Rahman and Muhammad Ali, [[Gibril Haddad|Moiz Amjad]] (who refers to himself as "The Learner") became a prominent reference for online apologetics on this issue. Moiz admits to having lifted his arguments from them, summarizing and presenting them in response to a Muslim asking him how he can respond to critical Christians.<ref name="Amjad">See: "[http://www.islamawareness.net/FAQ/what_was_ayesha.html What was Ayesha's (ra) Age at the Time of Her Marriage?]", by Moiz Amjad.</ref> With Moiz's restructured response the arguments originating from the Ahmadiyya in the 1920s and 1930s eventually achieved widespread popularity among orthodox Muslims who welcome an alternative to the traditionally accepted chronology. However, this popularity seems to be strictly limited to articles or arguments on the Internet, not between traditionalist sheikhs and scholars, nor are they accepted by Muslims concerned about the wider implications of rejecting traditionally authentic hadiths. | ||
In July 2005, [[Gibril Haddad|Shaykh Dr. Gibril Haddad]] responded to Moiz Amjad's polemics with, "Our Mother A'isha's Age At The Time Of Her Marriage to The Prophet".<ref name="Haddad">Shaykh Gibril F Haddad - [http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=7&ID=4604&CATE=1 Our Mother A'isha's Age At The Time Of Her Marriage to The Prophet] - Sunni Path, Question ID:4604, July 3, 2005 | In July 2005, [[Gibril Haddad|Shaykh Dr. Gibril Haddad]] responded to Moiz Amjad's polemics with, "Our Mother A'isha's Age At The Time Of Her Marriage to The Prophet".<ref name="Haddad">Shaykh Gibril F Haddad - [https://web.archive.org/web/20060303064329/http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=7&ID=4604&CATE=1 Our Mother A'isha's Age At The Time Of Her Marriage to The Prophet] - Sunni Path, Question ID:4604, July 3, 2005 (archive)</ref> Shaykh Haddad was listed amongst the inaugural "500 most influential Muslims in the world"<ref name="The 500">Edited by Prof. John Esposito and Prof. Ibrahim Kalin - [http://thebook.org/books_pdf/500Muslims_2009.pdf The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World (P. 94)] - The royal islamic strategic studies centre, 2009</ref> and is considered a Muslim scholar and muhaddith (hadith expert).<ref name="The 500" /> Haddad included many facts that are easily verifiable for those who have access to the hadith and sira literature. For example, his analysis highlighted the fact that many of the arguments were based solely on faulty assumptions taken from hadiths completely unrelated to Aisha's age, or were misrepresenting the sources that were being cited (i.e. hadiths actually in support the idea that Aisha was 9). His reply has not yet been answered by Moiz Amjad. | ||
However, Haddad's response did not stop Amjad's arguments from being rehashed by apologists on the Internet with the same missionary and apologetic focus. Other transmitters of these arguments include, but are not limited to; T.O Shavanas,<ref>T.O Shanavas - [http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_151_200/ayesha_age_the_myth_of__a_prover.htm AYESHA’s AGE: THE MYTH OF A PROVERBIAL WEDDING EXPOSED] - Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.</ref> “Imam” Chaudhry (word-for-word plagiarism of Amjad's work),<ref>Imam Chaudhry - [{{Reference archive|1=http://islamicsupremecouncil.com/ayesha.htm|2=2011-05-01}} What Was The Age of Ummul Mo'mineen Ayesha (May Allah be pleased with her) When She Married To Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him)?] - Islamic Supreme Council of Canada</ref> Zahid Aziz,<ref name="Zahid Aziz">Zahid Aziz - [http://www.muslim.org/islam/aisha-age.php Age of Aisha (ra) at time of marriage] - Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha`at Islam Lahore Inc. U.S.A.</ref> Nilofar Ahmed,<ref>Nilofar Ahmed - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/17/of-aishas-age-at-marriage.html|2=2012-02-17}} Of Aisha’s age at marriage] - Dawn, February 17, 2012</ref> and David Liepert.<ref>Dr. David Liepert - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-david-liepert/islamic-pedophelia_b_814332.html|2=2012-09-21}} Rejecting the Myth of Sanctioned Child Marriage in Islam] - The Huffington Post, January 29, 2011</ref> | However, Haddad's response did not stop Amjad's arguments from being rehashed by apologists on the Internet with the same missionary and apologetic focus. Other transmitters of these arguments include, but are not limited to; T.O Shavanas,<ref>T.O Shanavas - [http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_151_200/ayesha_age_the_myth_of__a_prover.htm AYESHA’s AGE: THE MYTH OF A PROVERBIAL WEDDING EXPOSED] - Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.</ref> “Imam” Chaudhry (word-for-word plagiarism of Amjad's work),<ref>Imam Chaudhry - [{{Reference archive|1=http://islamicsupremecouncil.com/ayesha.htm|2=2011-05-01}} What Was The Age of Ummul Mo'mineen Ayesha (May Allah be pleased with her) When She Married To Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him)?] - Islamic Supreme Council of Canada</ref> Zahid Aziz,<ref name="Zahid Aziz">Zahid Aziz - [http://www.muslim.org/islam/aisha-age.php Age of Aisha (ra) at time of marriage] - Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha`at Islam Lahore Inc. U.S.A.</ref> Nilofar Ahmed,<ref>Nilofar Ahmed - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/17/of-aishas-age-at-marriage.html|2=2012-02-17}} Of Aisha’s age at marriage] - Dawn, February 17, 2012</ref> and David Liepert.<ref>Dr. David Liepert - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-david-liepert/islamic-pedophelia_b_814332.html|2=2012-09-21}} Rejecting the Myth of Sanctioned Child Marriage in Islam] - The Huffington Post, January 29, 2011</ref> | ||
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===Age of Asma=== | ===Age of Asma=== | ||
One [[Sahih#Da'if|da'if]] (weak) hadith narrated from al- | One [[Sahih#Da'if|da'if]] (weak) hadith narrated from Ibn Abi al-Zinād and recorded in the works of some medieval scholars, including al-Dhahabi,<ref>al-Dhahabi. "Siyar a`lam al-nubala'". IslamWeb. Retrieved 3 September 2018. <q>قال عبد الرحمن بن أبي الزناد : كانت أسماء أكبر من عائشة بعشر" (Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi al-Zunad said: Asma was older than Aisha by ten years.)</q></ref> states that Aisha's older sister Asma was ten years older than her. This has been combined with improbable information, ironically from Hisham, about Asma being 100 years old at the time of her death in 73 AH to calculate that Aisha was eighteen or nineteen at the time of her marriage consummation (1 AH or 2 AH - (73 - 100) - 10). | ||
Shaykh Haddad and the IslamQA website both independently criticise this approach as relying on a single narrator, who most scholars regard as weak, and note that a hadith by a more reliable chain from the same narrator gives a broader range for the age difference between the sisters.<ref name="Haddad" /><ref>Fatwa 124483 - [https://islamqa.info/en/answers/124483/ IslamQA.info]</ref> Both also note that al-Dhahabi too gave the vaguer opinion that Asma was "ten or more" years older than Aisha. | Shaykh Haddad and the IslamQA website both independently criticise this approach as relying on a single narrator, who most scholars regard as weak, and note that a hadith by a more reliable chain from the same narrator gives a broader range for the age difference between the sisters.<ref name="Haddad" /><ref>Fatwa 124483 - [https://islamqa.info/en/answers/124483/ IslamQA.info]</ref> Both also note that al-Dhahabi too gave the vaguer opinion that Asma was "ten or more" years older than Aisha. | ||
===Tabari's account of Abu Bakr's children and wives=== | ===Tabari's account of Abu Bakr's children and wives=== | ||
This | This claims misinterprets [[Tabari|al-Tabari's]] ''History'' (''Tarikh'') to argue that Aisha was born in the pre-islamic period, and thus could not have been less than 14 years old.<ref>All four of his [i.e. Abu Bakr's] children were born of his two wives - the names of whom we have already mentioned - during the pre-Islamic period. | ||
Tarikh al-umam wa al-mamloo'k, Al-Tabari, Vol. 4, Pg. 50, Arabic, Dar al-fikr, Beirut, 1979</ref> | Tarikh al-umam wa al-mamloo'k, Al-Tabari, Vol. 4, Pg. 50, Arabic, Dar al-fikr, Beirut, 1979</ref> | ||
Firstly, al-Tabari's own account reports at least five times that Aisha was around 6-7 years old during marriage and the marriage was consummated 3 years later.<ref>The angel brought down my likeness; the Messenger of God married me when I was seven; my marriage was consummated when I was nine; he married me when I was a virgin, no other man having shared me with him | |||
[[The History of al-Tabari|Al-Tabari,]] [[The History of al-Tabari#Volume VII: The Foundation of the Community|Vol. 7, p. 7]]</ref><ref>I was then brought [in] while the Messenger of God was sitting on a bed in our house. [My mother] made me sit on his lap... Then the men and women got up and left. The Messenger of God consummated his marriage with me in my house when I was nine years old. Neither a camel nor a sheep was slaughtered on behalf of me. | [[The History of al-Tabari|Al-Tabari,]] [[The History of al-Tabari#Volume VII: The Foundation of the Community|Vol. 7, p. 7]]</ref><ref>I was then brought [in] while the Messenger of God was sitting on a bed in our house. [My mother] made me sit on his lap... Then the men and women got up and left. The Messenger of God consummated his marriage with me in my house when I was nine years old. Neither a camel nor a sheep was slaughtered on behalf of me. | ||
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[[The History of al-Tabari|Al-Tabari,]] [[The History of al-Tabari#Volume XXXIX: Biographies of the Prophet.27s Companions and Their Successors|Vol. 39, pp. 171-173]]</ref> | [[The History of al-Tabari|Al-Tabari,]] [[The History of al-Tabari#Volume XXXIX: Biographies of the Prophet.27s Companions and Their Successors|Vol. 39, pp. 171-173]]</ref> | ||
Furthermore, Shaykh Gibril Haddad says that the initial passage mentioned is misinterpreted, stating "Al-Tabari nowhere reports that 'Abu Bakr's four children were all born in Jahiliyya' but only that Abu Bakr married both their mothers in Jahiliyya, Qutayla bint Sa`d and Umm Ruman, who bore him four children in all, two each, Aisha being the daughter of Umm Ruman."<ref name="Haddad" /> | Furthermore, Shaykh Gibril Haddad says that the initial passage mentioned is misinterpreted, stating "Al-Tabari nowhere reports that 'Abu Bakr's four children were all born in Jahiliyya' but only that Abu Bakr married both their mothers in Jahiliyya, Qutayla bint Sa`d and Umm Ruman, who bore him four children in all, two each, Aisha being the daughter of Umm Ruman."<ref name="Haddad" /> Various translations of the relevant passage are available.<ref>Al-Tabari's words with translation:<BR/> | ||
تَزَوَجَ أَبُو بَكْرٍ فِي الجَاهِلِيَةِ قُتَيْلَةَ ... فَوَلَدَتْ لَهُ عَبْدَاللهِ وأَسْمَاء، وتَزَوَجَ أَيْضًا فِي الجَاهِلِيَةِ أُمَ رُومَانٍ ... فَوَلَدَتْ لَهُ عَبْدَالرَحْمَنِ وعَائِشَةض، فَكُلُ هَؤُلاءِ الأَرْبَعَةِ مِن أَوْلَادِهِ وُلِدُوا مِنْ زَوْجَتِيْهِ اللّتَيْن سَمَيْنَاهُمَا فِي الجَاهِلِيَة. | |||
In al-jahiliyah, Abu Bakr married Qutaylah … she gave birth to Abdullah and Asma'. He also married in al-Jahiliyah Umm Ruman … she gave birth to Abd ar-Rahman and A'isha. So all four of his children were born from his two wives we named both of whom in al-Jahiliyah.<BR/> | |||
Tabari, Tarikh al-Umam wa al-Muluk, Vol. 2, p. 351<BR/> | |||
See similar translations [https://www.islamiqate.com/3188/what-are-the-arguments-aisha-was-years-when-married- here] and [https://islamistruth.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/the-age-of-aishah_s-marriage-between-historians-and-hadith-scholars.pdf here] | |||
</ref> | |||
===Time of Umar's conversion to Islam=== | ===Time of Umar's conversion to Islam=== | ||
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{{Quote|<ref name="Haddad" />|Nowhere does Ibn Hisham say this. Rather, Ibn Hisham lists `A'isha among 'those that accepted Islam because of Abu Bakr.' This does not mean that she embraced Islam during the first year of Islam. Nor does it mean that she necessarily embraced Islam before `Umar (year 6) although she was born the previous year (year 7 before the Hijra) although it is understood she will automatically follow her father's choice even before the age of reason.}} | {{Quote|<ref name="Haddad" />|Nowhere does Ibn Hisham say this. Rather, Ibn Hisham lists `A'isha among 'those that accepted Islam because of Abu Bakr.' This does not mean that she embraced Islam during the first year of Islam. Nor does it mean that she necessarily embraced Islam before `Umar (year 6) although she was born the previous year (year 7 before the Hijra) although it is understood she will automatically follow her father's choice even before the age of reason.}} | ||
=== | ===Aisha's previous engagement to Jubayr=== | ||
This argument claims that | This argument claims that Aisha had been previously engaged to Jubayr, son of Mutʿim ibn ʿAdiyy, and therefore was likely older than six when she was subsequently married to Muhammad. However, this prior betrothal was very short-lived, if it began at all. Al-Tabari states "Abu Bakr hadn't promised anything" to Mutʿim before it was called off.<ref>''The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 9: The Last Years of the Prophet'', translated by Ismail K. Poonawala, pp. 129-130</ref> | ||
Proponents of this claim admit they have no primary source, which originated in Kandhalvi's Urdu booklet.<ref name="Amjad" /> Shayk Haddad responds that "there is no mention of emigration in Tabari's account of Abu Bakr's discussion with Mut`im" and "there had been only some preliminary talk, not a formal arrangement".<ref name="Haddad" /> | It has further been claimed that this occurred when Abu Bakr was planning to migrate to Abyssinia (Ethiopia). This migration is claimed to have occurred eight years before hijrah, at which time Aisha had only just been born if she consummated her marriage to Muhammad at the age of 9 or 10. Proponents of this claim admit they have no primary source, which originated in Kandhalvi's Urdu booklet.<ref name="Amjad" /> Shayk Haddad responds that "there is no mention of emigration in Tabari's account of Abu Bakr's discussion with Mut`im" and "there had been only some preliminary talk, not a formal arrangement".<ref name="Haddad" /> | ||
===The meaning of ''bikr''=== | ===The meaning of ''bikr''=== | ||
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Abu Dawud's comment is ay tanaffasat (أَىْ تَنَفَّسَتْ), which is "That is to say 'I breathed'". The verb nun-fa-sin is used here in Arabic form V with the ta prefix and shadda (doubled) middle letter, which Lane's Lexicon says means "breathed". Form I can mean menstruated, but that is not the form used in the hadith.<ref>nun-fa-sin - [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/25_n/208_nfs.html Lane's Lexicon]</ref> | Abu Dawud's comment is ay tanaffasat (أَىْ تَنَفَّسَتْ), which is "That is to say 'I breathed'". The verb nun-fa-sin is used here in Arabic form V with the ta prefix and shadda (doubled) middle letter, which Lane's Lexicon says means "breathed". Form I can mean menstruated, but that is not the form used in the hadith.<ref>nun-fa-sin - [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/25_n/208_nfs.html Lane's Lexicon]</ref> | ||
===Aisha remembered the migration setting out to Abyssinia=== | ===Aisha remembered the migration setting out to Abyssinia (Ethiopia)=== | ||
Another hadith has been | Another, lengthy hadith has been used to claim that Aisha remembered her father Abu Bakr's attempt to migrate to Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia). Many of Muhammad's early followers in Mecca were forced to migrate there starting in 614 CE (when Aisha had just been born if she was married at six) due to what Urwa b. al-Zubayr in his first letter describes as the first persecution (al-fitnah al-ūlā), before the migration eight years later in 622 CE to Medina. Aisha also narrates her father's Medina migration later in the same lengthy hadith. | ||
In this hadith, Aisha begins with a brief formulation about her early memories of her parents and Muhammad's daily visits which commences also a variety of her other narrations. Then she narrates how Abu Bakr set off from Mecca to Ethiopia to escape persecution, apparently alone. But before completing his journey he wins the protection of Ibn Ad-Daghina, who persuades the Quraysh to let him worship privately in Mecca. Abu Bakr builds a courtyard mosque to pray publicly, violating the protection pact, so he releases Ibn Ad-Daghina from the pact by mutual agreement. Four months later Abu Bakr migrates with Muhammad to Medina. | |||
Only in this latter migration to Medina does Aisha start to include herself in the story. Thus, it does not appear that she is claiming to have witnessed the earlier attempted migration to Abyssinia. Secondly, these are not the kinds of memories a young child would be able to understand and retain into late adulthood, so could hardly be her own first hand witness account of the first migration attempt even supposing she was already a young child at that point. | |||
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|5| | {{Quote|{{Bukhari|5|58|245}} (also {{Bukhari|3|37|494}})|Narrated 'Aisha: | ||
(the wife of the Prophet) I never remembered my parents believing in any religion other than the true religion (i.e. Islam), and (I don't remember) a single day passing without our being visited by Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) in the morning and in the evening. When the Muslims were put to test (i.e. troubled by the pagans), Abu Bakr set out migrating to the land of Ethiopia, and when he reached Bark-al-Ghimad, Ibn Ad-Daghina, the chief of the tribe of Qara, met him and said, "O Abu Bakr! Where are you going?" Abu Bakr replied, "My people have turned me out (of my country), so I want to wander on the earth and worship my Lord." Ibn Ad-Daghina said, "O Abu Bakr! A man like you should not leave his home-land, nor should he be driven out, because you help the destitute, earn their livings, and you keep good relations with your Kith and kin, help the weak and poor, entertain guests generously, and help the calamity-stricken persons. Therefore I am your protector.<BR /> | |||
[...]<BR /> | |||
So the people of Quraish could not refuse Ibn Ad-Daghina's protection, and they said to Ibn Ad-Daghina, "Let Abu Bakr worship his Lord in his house. He can pray and recite there whatever he likes, but he should not hurt us with it, and should not do it publicly, because we are afraid that he may affect our women and children." Ibn Ad-Daghina told Abu Bakr of all that. Abu Bakr stayed in that state, worshipping his Lord in his house. He did not pray publicly, nor did he recite Quran outside his house. Then a thought occurred to Abu Bakr to build a mosque in front of his house, and there he used to pray and recite the Quran. The women and children of the pagans began to gather around him in great number. They used to wonder at him and look at him. Abu Bakr was a man who used to weep too much, and he could not help weeping on reciting the Quran.<BR /> | |||
[...]<BR /> | |||
'''At that time the Prophet (ﷺ) was in Mecca, and he said to the Muslims, "In a dream I have been shown your migration place, a land of date palm trees, between two mountains, the two stony tracts." So, some people migrated to Medina''', and most of those people who had previously migrated to the land of Ethiopia, returned to Medina. Abu Bakr also prepared to leave for Medina, but Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to him, "Wait for a while, because I hope that I will be allowed to migrate also." Abu Bakr said, "Do you indeed expect this? Let my father be sacrificed for you!" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Yes." So Abu Bakr did not migrate for the sake of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) in order to accompany him. He fed two she-camels he possessed with the leaves of As-Samur tree that fell on being struck by a stick for four months. '''One day, while we were sitting in Abu Bakr's house at noon''', someone said to Abu Bakr, "This is Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) with his head covered coming at a time at which he never used to visit us before." Abu Bakr said, "May my parents be sacrificed for him. By Allah, he has not come at this hour except for a great necessity." So Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came and asked permission to enter, and he was allowed to enter. When he entered, he said to Abu Bakr. "Tell everyone who is present with you to go away." Abu Bakr replied, "There are none but your family. May my father be sacrificed for you, O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)!" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "i have been given permission to migrate." Abu Bakr said, "Shall I accompany you? May my father be sacrificed for you, O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)!" Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Yes." Abu Bakr said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! May my father be sacrificed for you, take one of these two she-camels of mine." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) replied, "(I will accept it) with payment." '''So we prepared the baggage quickly and put some journey food in a leather bag for them.''' [...]}} | |||
==Apologetic justifications for the marriage== | ==Apologetic justifications for the marriage== | ||