Why did Prophet Muhammad salAllah Alaihe wasallam married Aisha Radiallaho anha when she was 9 yrs old?
Why did Prophet Muhammad salAllah Alaihe wasallam married Aisha Radiallaho anha when she was 9 yrs old?
Assalamo alaikum brothers and sisters,first of all objection on this marriage is itself illegal becuase there was nothing wrong in this marriage.Till 20th century,no one objected to this marriage.Now lets see what is age of marriage for a girl according to quran.
Quran indicates at least on one place that there is definite age which can be termed as age of marriage:
“Make trial of orphans until they reach the age of marriage; if then yefind sound judgment in them, release their property to them; but consume it not wastefully, nor in haste against their growing up.”
(Quran 4: 6 Abdullah Yusufali)
The Muslim jurists agree that the ‘age of marriage’ mentioned here is age of puberty.Islamic scholar don’t give any specific age but agree that age of marriage can be different in different regions depending upon the age of puberty.
Islamic Law regarding age of marriage :
In Islam there is no fixed age of marriage, whenever a person reaches the age of puberty he or she is fit for marriage. Nikah, the marital contract , may be made earlierbut consummation of marriage can takeplace only after puberty is attained.
The age of maturity through the ages and over the regions :
The wisdom behind Islam not fixing an age is evident, different people reach the age of puberty at differenttimes. And the general trend also varies over the time and across the regions with variant climate conditions. For instance, people living in regions of low altitudes attain puberty earlier then those in high altitudes regions. Similarly people in warm climates attain puberty earlier then those in cold climates. Now keeping all this in mind consider that when Holy Prophet (PBUH) married Sayyidah Aisha while she was nine it was some 1400 years back and it happened in Arabia, a region with relatively lower altitude and hot climate as one of its most salient features.
Leaving all the history aside, even now puberty at nine is no wonderfula phenomenon. Experts now suggestthat age 7 (even 6 for some races) and not 8 should be considered precocious (i.e. early) for puberty among girls.
It was narrated from Aa'ishah (mayAllaah be pleased with her) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) married her when she was six years old, and consummated the marriage with her when she was nine, and she stayed with him for nine years.
Narrated by al- Bukhaari , 4840; Muslim, 1422.
From the above narration we came to know that engagment was done when she was 6 and marraige was consummated when she was 9 yearsold.
Now the question is, had amma Aisha radiallaho anha attained puberty when she was 9?
Sayyidah Aisha was fit for the marriage, considering the puberty factor and physical bearing :
It is rather erroneous to say that Sayyidah Aisha (RadiAllahu Anha) was a child bride. She was a grown up girl.
Sayyidah Aisha herself narrates; ‘Holy Prophet (PBUH) married her when she was six years old and consummated the marriage whenshe was nine years old…’ (Bukhari, Hadith 4738)
Having known this, let me draw your attention to another saying of Sayyidah Aisha which Al-Tirmidhi has narrated under a Hadith in his collection’s Book of Marriage, Chapter 18. It goes as:
Sayyidah Aisha said: ‘When a girl is nine years old, she is a woman (meaning, she has attained puberty).’ (Tirmidhi, Hadith 1109)
All the arguments ends here because Amma Aisha radiallaho anha herself said that A girl was complete woman at the age of 9 those days.So whats wrong in marring a younger woman.
It also needs to be mentioned that even before the Holy Prophet ((peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) ), she was engaged with Jubair bin Mut’am whose parents dissolved the engagement when herfamily embraced Islam.
All these details kill the argument that Holy Prophet ((peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) ) had intimate marital relations with a child, for in that particular sense she was no more a child and she herself testifies that being a nine year old she was a woman then having attained puberty.
Holy Prophet ((peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) ) consummated the marriage with Sayyidah Aisha when she was nine as she had attained puberty and, as she herself said that at nine a girl is rather a woman, but he did not burden her with tough responsibilitie s of a wife and provided her ample opportunities to enjoy her age.
This infact shows the wisdom of the Holy Prophet ((peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) ) that he did present a role model for all the people to come to care for all the needs of a wife. She married women of all age groups, elder to him like Sayyidah Khadija (RA), of hisown age like Sauda (RA), younger but mature of age like Zainab (RA) and much younger like Sayyidah Aisha (RA).
Now the question is,what is the wisdom behind this marraige?
The Prophet married Aisha for the benefit of Islam and Humanity.
Lets analyze…
The Prophet married Aisha primarily for three reasons:
* To reinforce the friendly relations already existing with Abu Bakr (his closest companion).
* To educate and train Aisha so she may serve the purposes of Islam.
*To teach her to utilize her capabilities for the sake of Islam.
* Her Marriage with the prophet was a Wahi (Divine Revelation). She, herself relates from the Prophet, He said, "I saw you in dreams three times. The angel brought you to me and you were clad in white silk. He (the angel) said that it was your consort and he (angel) showed me by opening your face. You are just like that…" Sahih Muslim, Vol.2, p.285.
*Aisha Radi Allahu anha was born after her parents had embraced Islam. Therefore, she was free from the defilement of polytheism right from her birth.
* In her youth, already known for her striking beauty and her formidable memory, she came underthe loving care and attention of the Prophet himself. As his wife and close companion she acquired from him knowledge and insight such as no woman has ever acquired.
Amma Aishah radiallaho anha lived on almost fifty years after the passing away of the Prophet. She had been his wife for a decade. Much of this time was spent in learning and acquiring knowledge of the two most important sources of God's guidance, the Quran and the Sunnah of His Prophet. Aishah Radi Allahu anhawas one of the three wives (the other two beingHafsa Radi Allahu anha and Umm Salamah Radi Allahu anhawho memorized the Revelation. Like Hafsa Radi Allahu anha she had her own script of the Quran written after the Prophet had died.
*So far as the Hadith or sayings of the Prophet is concerned, Aishah ® is one of four persons (the others being Abu Hurrah,Abdullah
* Many of the learned companions of the Prophet and their followers benefited from Aishah's knowledge. Abu Musa al-Ashari once said: "If we companions of the Messenger of Godhad any difficulty on a matter, we asked Aisha about it."
*Abu Musa al-Ashari says: "Never had we (the companions) had any difficulty for the solution of which we approached Aisha and did not get some useful information from her". Sirat-I-Aisha, on the authority of Trimidhi, pg. 163
*Men and women came from far and wide to benefit from her knowledge.
Aisha’s great interest in the study of the Qur’an is understandable.
We muslims invite all sincere humans to study thelife of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon) inthe light of the authentic sources of the Quran and the Sunnah (exemplary sayings and deeds of the Prophet) and judge for themselves where the truth lies. Indeed, by recognizing thetruth of Islam as the final andcomplete Guidance sent by our Creator can humanity find lasting peace in this world and a means of salvation from the hell fire in the hereafter.
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