The dissection of the so called hadith in question.
- According to Abdurrahman b. Ebi Zinad el-Medeni, Ibn Kathir and Ibn Hajar, Asma the elder sister of Aisha, was ten years older than Aisha. It is reported in Ibn Kathir’s Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, as well as in Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani’s Taqreeb al-Tehzeeb:
“Asma died in 73 A.H. at the age of one hundred years. She was ten years older than her sister Aisha.”
According to this, Asma (ra) must be around 27-28 during the migration (al-hijrat), which makes Aisha 17-18 at the migration (in 622). It is a known fact that she started to live with Muhammad (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) at least two years after the migration. Then, Aisha must be 19-20 when she started to live with Muhammad (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). This is the strongest evidence.
Sheikh Imran Hossein describes it
There is other proof that Aisha was at least fifteen years old when she started to live with Prophet Muhammad (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ):
- Narrated Ibn `Umar: That the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) inspected him on the day of Uhud while he was fourteen years old, and the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) did not allow him to take part in the battle. He was inspected again by the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) on the day of Al- Khandaq (i.e. battle of the Trench) while he was fifteen years old, and the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) allowed him to take Part in the battle.[1] When we take into account that Aisha took part in the preparations before Badr and the war of Uhud, and we consider the duties that a woman would have to fulfill in war, it is evident that Aisha must be at least 16 years old during the Battle of Uhud, which is one year after she started to live with Muhammad (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).
- According to Kitab al-Tafsir by Bukhari, Aisha (ra) herself is reported to say that she was a young girl (jariyah) when the Surah al-Qamar was sent down[2]. Variations of the narration includes the texts of the 45th and 46th verses of Surah al-Qamar. That Surah was sent down eight years before the migration. As an infant cannot be aware of such an incident, we can infer that Aisha was between the ages 6-13 during the revelation of this Surah. Taking into account that she had memorized the two verses of the surah, proximity to 13 is more logical. According to this, she must be between 14-21 when she got married to Muhammad (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) (with proximity to 21 being more logical).
- Reported Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal in his Musnad: After the pass away of Khadijah bint Khuwaylid,Hawlah Bint Hakim, the wife of Uthman Ibn Maz’un, came to the Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) and asked him: “O Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) of Allah, would you like to get married?” The Prophet (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) asked: ‘With whom?” She answered:“Aisha (ra), the daughter of the dearest person to you (i.e. Abu Bakr)”In Arabic, for a girl to be called “bikr = بكر”, she must have, in the least, reached the puberty.
- It was also reported by Imam Ahmad that Aisha (ra) used to be engaged to Jubair Bin Mutyim who was the son of Al-Mutyim Bin Udai who was a disbeliever, before she got married to Prophet Muhammad (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ). Abu Bakr (ra), father of Aisha(ra), would not have agreed to this engagement after the start of the revelation since this family were disbelievers. This proves that Aisha (ra) was born before the start of the revelation, and that she was a girl at a marriageable age even before her marriage to Prophet Muhammad (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ).
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