http://www.arabnews.com/?page=5§ion=0&article=118438&d=23&m=1&y=2009&pix=islam.jpg&category=Islam
Friday 23 January 2009 (26 Muharram 1430)
Aishah: The young woman
Adil Salahi, Arab News
Aishah's age at the time of her marriage to the Prophet has always been
the subject of much discussion, with Muslims trying to justify the marriage
arguing that the social and climatic conditions make it possible. It was not
uncommon for old people in the Makkan society to marry young women. On the
other hand, the desert climate of Arabia helped young people to attain puberty
at an early age. Both points are valid, but unnecessary, because Aishah was
twice the age she is always given when she was the Prophet's bride.
Those who are hostile to Islam, particularly in our modern times that
witness more determined and spiteful attacks against Islam, utilize the report
that Aishah was nine years of age at the time of her marriage to paint a false
image of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). I have always refrained from
answering such attacks on Islam or the Prophet. To engage in refuting the
accusations of people who are hostile or prejudiced is a waste of time and
energy. No matter how strong the evidence we provide, their hostility and
prejudice will continue to dictate their attitude. Our policy is to state the
facts as they are. They provide the best refutation of such baseless
accusations.
We mentioned last week that the reports of how the very idea of this
marriage between Aishah and the Prophet came about provide strong evidence that
she was a fully-grown woman at the time of the proposal. The marriage took
place three years later. However, we may mention that Abu Bakr, Aishah's father
was 28 when he married her mother, Umm Rawman. This means that their marriage
took place ten years before the start of Islamic revelations. Umm Rawman gave
Abu Bakr two children, a son and a daughter. Considering the facts that the
only method of birth control available at the time was coitus interruptus,
which is only moderately effective, and that the Arabs prided themselves on the
number of children they had, we may safely assume that Aishah was born within
the first four or five years of her parents' marriage. We need to make this
assumption because the Arabs had no record of births and deaths at the time.
Indeed, they had no calendar by which to date events. A new bride's standing in
her new family was often based on how quickly she got pregnant and whether she
gave birth to sons. When Umm Rawman gave Abu Bakr their first child, a son
named Muhammad, he would have liked another. The second pregnancy could not
have been much delayed in normal circumstances. All reports suggest that Aishah
was born in very normal conditions.
On this basis, if Aishah was born five years into her parents' marriage,
she would have been 19 or 20 at the time of her marriage to the Prophet. There
are strong indications and various reports confirming this conclusion. I
highlighted several of these on different occasions in these columns, and I
have written a paper discussing the issue. Hence, we will not go into further
details now. All we need to say is that the Hadith that puts Aishah's age at
nine years when she married the Prophet is questionable on more than one count.
Hence, compared to the various points of evidence, some of which are based on
authentic Hadiths, it cannot stand
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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