In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Refuting the Claim that Aisha Was 18 or 19

Her Age at Her Marriage

Shaykh Ibn Baz stated the account in his answer on the appropriate age for marriage: the Prophet ﷺ entered into the marriage contract with Aisha when she was six or seven years old, and the marriage was consummated when she was nine (Islamic Fatawa Regarding Women, Q155, printed p. 165). His answer on a young lady not being forced to marry a man she does not want rests on the same event, which it gives as “stated in authentic Hadith” (Q157, printed pp. 167-168).

She was also the only wife of the Prophet ﷺ who had never been married before (The Book of Marriage, printed p. 38).

Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan states the same account in his book Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women, in his chapter on taking a woman’s opinion about her marriage. Of the virgin who is below the age of puberty, he grounds the ruling in this event:

This is because Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq, may Allah be pleased with him gave his daughter ‘A’isha, may Allah be pleased with her in marriage when she was six years old, and the marriage was consummated when she was nine years old. Agreed upon.

(Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women, printed p. 111)

And al-Fawzan closes his discussion of the marriage with his own words:

I say: In the marriage of ‘A’isha by Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with both of them when she was six years old to the Prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him is the strongest rebuttal to those who condemn the marriage of a young, pre-pubescent girl to an adult man and revile it, and consider it an evil. This is due entirely to their ignorance or because they intend to cause mischief.

(Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women, printed p. 112)

The Sealed Nectar likewise records that he married her in the eleventh year of Prophethood, when she was six years old, and consummated the marriage with her in Shawwal after the Hijrah, when she was nine (The Sealed Nectar, The Prophetic Household, printed pp. 630-631).

Clarification from Ibn Kathir

Some people also appeal to Ibn Kathir to support the argument that Aisha was older. However, the same Ibn Kathir clearly affirms that there was no disagreement about the well-known report regarding her age.

Ibn Kathir said:

The Prophet married her when she was 6 years old, and consummated with her when she was 9 years old there is no difference of opinion between the people about it.

(Sirah al-Nabawiyyah by Ibn Kathir 2/141)

The Claim About Her Age

Some people claim that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was eighteen or nineteen years old when she married the Prophet ﷺ. This claim usually comes from a report attributed to Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi al-Zinad, in which he said that Asma, the sister of Aisha, was ten years older than her.

The narration is recorded as follows:

Abu al Hasan Ali ibn Ahmad al Maliki informed us, and from him Ahmad ibn Abd al Wahid al Sulami informed us, and from him my grandfather Abu Bakr informed us, and from him Abu Muhammad ibn Zabr informed us, and from him Ahmad ibn Saad ibn Ibrahim al Zuhri informed us, and from him Muhammad ibn Abi Safwan informed us, and from him Al Asmai informed us, from Ibn Abi al Zinad who said that Asma the daughter of Abi Bakr was ten years older than Aisha.

(Tarikh Dimashq by Ibn ‘Asakir 69/10)

If this report were assumed to be correct, Asma would have been about twenty-seven years old at the time of the Hijrah. Based on this, some people argue that Aisha would have been around seventeen at the time of the Hijrah. Since it is known that Aisha’s marriage took place two or three years before the Hijrah, they then conclude that she would have been around fourteen or fifteen when the marriage took place and around seventeen or eighteen when the marriage was consummated.

The Issue of the Narrator

However, the main issue with this argument is the reliability of the narrator. Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi al-Zinad was considered weak by many scholars of hadith.

Several scholars spoke about him:

Ibn Mahdi said he is weak, and al-Fallas said there is weakness in him.
Abdullah ibn Ahmad narrated from his father that he said about him: “He is such and such,” meaning that he weakened him.
Ibn Hibban said that Abdurrahman was someone who would be alone in narrating reversed reports from reliable narrators, and that came from his poor memory and many mistakes, so it is not allowed to use him as proof except in what agrees with the trustworthy narrators, and he is truthful.
Abu Ahmad al Hakim said he is not considered a hafidh according to them.

(Siyar A‘lam an-Nubala by adh-Dhahabi 8/167-170)

Article’s note: this is not the case with this narration, since it is not backed up by trustworthy narrators.

Other scholars also mentioned weakness in him:

Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al Qasim ibn Mahraz narrated from Yahya ibn Ma‘in that he said he is not from those whose narrations the people of hadith use as proof and he is nothing when it comes to narrating hadiths.
Muhammad ibn Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah narrated from Ali ibn al Madini that he was considered weak according to our companions.
Abu Hatim said his hadith is written down but he is not used as proof and he is more beloved to me than Abdurrahman ibn Abi al Rijal and Abdurrahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam.
An-Nasa’i said his hadith is not used as proof.
Many other scholars also viewed him as weak.

(Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma al-Rijal by al-Hafidh al-Mizzi (742 AH) 17/95-101)

Two of these verdicts are also recorded in a book held in this site’s library. The Abridged Biography of Prophet Muhammad, in a footnote on a different narration that comes through this same narrator, says of him: “’Abdur-Rahman bin Abiz-Zinad, who was declared weak by Ahmad and Yahya bin Ma’een.” (footnote 2, printed pp. 45-46).

Because of this weakness in the chain, the report about Asma being ten years older than Aisha cannot be relied upon to determine her age.

Clarification Regarding Hisham ibn Urwah

Another objection sometimes raised concerns Hisham ibn Urwah, who appears in the chains of narration regarding Aisha’s age. Some claim that his narrations became confused later in life. However, al-Dhahabi addressed this claim in his Mizan al-I‘tidal.

He said:

Hisham ibn Urwah is one of the well known imams. He is a proof and an imam, but when he became old his memory became less, although he never mixed up and he was never someone whose narration became confused, and there is no weight to what Abu al Hasan ibn al Qattan said that he and Suhayl ibn Abi Salih mixed up and changed. Yes the man changed a little and his memory did not remain as it was when he was young, so he forgot some of what he had memorised or he made a mistake, so what is the problem in that, is he protected from forgetting.

(Mizan al-I‘tidal by adh-Dhahabi 4/301)

This shows that the claim that his narrations are unreliable is not supported by the statements of the scholars.

Key Lessons

There was also great wisdom behind this marriage. Aisha lived in the household of the Prophet ﷺ and personally witnessed many events, including the revelation of verses and the explanation of Islamic rulings. Because of her close position, she was able to observe matters related to women and private aspects of family life that others would not have seen.

Later, she transmitted this knowledge to the Muslim community, and many companions and later students of knowledge learned from her. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen described her as “a distinguished personality in terms of knowledge, worship, opinion and decision-making” (Sharh Riyaad as-Saaliheen, Vol. 6, printed p. 753), and recorded that after the Prophet’s ﷺ death she “was involved in the rapid and vast spreading of the Message, knowledge and the rulings of Islam” (Vol. 4, printed p. 134).

References

Islamic Fatawa Regarding Women, Darussalam, First Edition 1996/1417H, compiled by Muhammad bin Abdul-Aziz al-Musnad, translated by Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo. Q155, “The Appropriate Age for Marriage” (Shaykh Ibn Baz), printed p. 165; Q157, “The Young Lady is Not to be Forced to Marry a Man She Does Not Want to Marry” (Shaykh Ibn Baz), printed pp. 167-168.
The Book of Marriage, from Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen’s Explanation of Bulugh al-Maram, Maktabatulirshad Publications USA, First Edition, February 2017, translated by Mustafa Lamei ‘Abdul Hakim al-Misri. Printed p. 38: the Prophet ﷺ married no virgin wife except ‘Aishah.
Four Essays on the Obligation of Veiling, Al-Ibaanah, 3rd edition, 2008. The Second Treatise, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, “An Essay on Hijaab”, printed pp. 49-50: Asma bint Abi Bakr was twenty-seven years old at the Hijrah.
Abridged Biography of Prophet Muhammad, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab. Footnote 2, printed pp. 45-46: ‘Abdur-Rahman ibn Abi al-Zinad was declared weak by Ahmad and Yahya ibn Ma‘in.
Sharh Riyaad as-Saaliheen, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-‘Uthaymeen, Dar-us-Salam. Vol. 2, printed p. 315; Vol. 4, printed p. 134; Vol. 6, printed p. 753: her knowledge, her teaching, and her spreading of the rulings of Islam after the Prophet’s ﷺ death.
The Sealed Nectar (Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum), Safiur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, Darussalam. The Prophetic Household, printed pp. 630-631: he married ‘Aishah in the eleventh year of Prophethood when she was six years old, and consummated the marriage in Shawwal after the Hijrah when she was nine; she was the only virgin he married.
Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women, Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan, Darussalam, Second Edition, June 2003, ISBN 9960-347-29-5, translated by Burhan Loqueman. Marriage and Divorce chapter, “Taking the opinion of a woman about her marriage”, printed pp. 111-112: Abu Bakr gave ‘A’isha in marriage when she was six years old and the marriage was consummated when she was nine, marked “Agreed upon”, and al-Fawzan’s closing statement on the marriage.

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