Agonizing about Aisha’s age

Dear Hadi,

Dear Agonizing,

Thank you for sharing your concern regarding the age of Aisha (we assume you are referring to the hadeeth in Sahih al-Bukhari which says that Aisha and the Prophet (pbuh) were contracted to marry when she was six years old and that the marriage was consummated when she was nine). 

Certainly, you are not alone in this concern and, while delving into this in a rigorous scholarly manner is beyond the scope of this column, we would like to share with you two points to consider that may bring you some comfort:

1.     Of all the things our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was accused of – madness, lying, sorcery, inventing the Quran – no one in his time accused him of marrying Aisha while she was at an inappropriate age.  Certainly, the Prophet’s contemporaries would not have hesitated to level this charge against him if it had been true.  This tells us that, if she had in fact married at this young age, it may have been the norm at the time, and we are simply viewing it through the narrow lens of our current time; as Professor Jonathan Brown has noted in a paper on the topic, “While such reactions seem valid in the context of our 21st-century, Western experiences, they make little sense when discussing the circumstances of people who lived more than a millennium ago. It is far easier to condemn 7th-century desert nomads as “barbarians” than for us to comprehend that our moral judgments are as much a function of our environment as the judgments of our ancestors.  Realizing this means recognizing how often we succumb to a fallacious form of reasoning known as presentism—an anachronistic misinterpretation of history based on present-day circumstances that did not exist in the past.  This is a very common mistake made by historians and laypersons alike.” (Understanding Aisha’s Age: An Interdisciplinary Approach | Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research) (Alternate Link).

2.     While many scholars take the hadeeth in Sahih al-Bukhari to be definitive and not open to critique, there are others who have questioned it.  Of course, some do so in an apologetic manner, trying to force our modern notions of “child marriage” onto the traditions of 7^th century Arabia.  However, others, namely Syrian hadith scholar Dr. Salah al-Din al-Idlibi, have engaged in the necessary rigorous academic review and have arrived at the conclusion that Aisha was more likely about 18 when she married the Prophet.  Dr. al-Idlibi’s paper states that while the transmission of the hadith is authentic, the matn (text or content) of the hadith is contradicted by historical evidence.  Dr. Idlibi’s conclusion is based on his analysis of several pieces of evidence.  For the sake of brevity, we will mention only one here:  Dr. Idlibi examined known historical information regarding the age of Aisha’s sister Asma.  Asma was known to be 10 years older than Aisha and at the time of her death in 695 AD, she was 100 years old.  This would have put her birth in 595 AD which is line with known reports that she was born 27 years before the hijrah (622 AD).  This would then put Aisha’s birth at approximately 605 AD, four years prior to revelation, as opposed to the majority opinion that Aisha was born four years after revelation.  If that is the case, then Aisha would have been approximately 18 years old when she married the Prophet in 622 AD (1 Hijrah). 

Although you did not want to be referred to outside sources, we will nonetheless include a link here to Dr. Iblibi’s paper – others may find it useful, and to be honest, you’re not doing yourself any favors by imposing that restriction on yourself:

Original Arabic:  aisha-age-research-professor-idlibi.pdf (hawramani.com) (Alternate Link).

Translated English:  A Hadith Scholar Presents New Evidence that Aisha was Near 18 the Day of Her Marriage to the Prophet Muhammad | Hawramani.com .(Alternate Link)

Of course, God knows best what Aisha’s exact age was but what we do know is that none of the Prophet’s contemporaries who criticized and attacked him for various things, ever made the argument that his marriage to Aisha was a stain on his moral character, so even if you believe they married when she was six or nine, this would not have raised concern at the time.  However, there are now other, well-reasoned opinions that Aisha in fact was about 18 at the time of the marriage.  Furthermore, we know that Aisha was not a meek person who was taken advantage of, but rather was, throughout her life, a significant force and voice within the social and political life of the Muslim umma.

In peace.