Aisha r.a. And Her Marriage--Part One

[Amica]

Salaam/peace to all--

NiceCupOfTea responded to one of my reply-posts when I stated that the Prophet Muhammad pbuh did not marry a child. I argued that there is evidenced to support that. So, I promised to post something about this.
Personally, I am not a fan of single posts that are huge. I do not like to read them. Therefore, I will break up my arguments in several different posts. Also, before any of my brothers and sisters in Islam chastisize me on my stand regarding the Hadiths, I want to say that I believe that Hadiths contain our Muslim history and various good teachings. However, I believe they still need further scrutiny due to the fact that many hadiths contradict Qur'anic teachings and provide conflicting information. One of the conflicting information from hadiths is Aisha's r.a. age at the time of her marriage to Prophet Muhammad pbuh.

So... let's begin with some important points:

1) www.unfpa.org informs us about the child marriage issue world-wide. While some Muslim populations are not innocent of this, one will find on this website that historically non-Muslims have practiced child marriages for centuries. Many still to this day. One example is India which has the largest percentage of child marriages in the world. It is 83% Hindu populated. Although the indian government has attempted to stop child marriages most recently, they still happen among the Hindus. Other countries that practice child marriages are: Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Dominican Republic, Malawi, Nepal, Nicaragua, Zambia, etc. These countries have small or no Muslim population at all. This helps us conclude that the evil of child marriages is most likely cultural and an old historical custom.
2) Holy Qur'an forbids children to be exposed to adult nudity. This is seen in surah (chapter) 24, verse 58: "Oh you who believe! Let your...and those among you who have not come to the age of puberty ask your permisssion (before they come to your presence) on three occasions: before morning prayer, while you put off your clothes for noonday rest, and after late-night prayer. These three times are of privacy for you..." If Aisha r.a. was a child when her marriage was consumated, than Prophet pbuh would be in direct violation of this commandment from Qur'an.
3) When speaking of marriage, the instruction both from the Hadiths and the Holy Qur'an is to marry "women" NOT "children." For example in Holy Qur'an chapter 4, verse 4 it is said: "And give the women (in marriage) their dower as a free gift..."
4) Muslims have immitated Prophet Muhammad pbuh since the time the Revelation began as he stood to be an example of how they should behave, how and what to believe, etc. No where in the Hadith collections is it documented that ANY of the Prophet's pbuh Companions married children. If Aisha r.a. was a child when she was married, and if she was still a child when her marriage was consumated, I am sure that the Companions would follow the same example and start marrying children. They did not. And this speaks volume.
5) Prophet Muhammad pbuh was married to only one woman for 25 years, Khadija bin Khuwaylid. She was 40 years old and he was 25. It is documented in the Hadiths that they had a happy marriage. She was the only of his wives who gave him children. This too speaks volume in terms of his sexual relationships. Obviously he was able to have kids. Either his other wives were all barren or he was not very obsessed to have that much sex with them. Remember, that Muslims did not practice birth control then, just like they do not now (well, most of the Muslims don't).
6) If Aisha r.a. was a child-bride, why would Prophet Muhammad pbuh stop only at marrying one child? Why would most of his wives be widows? And why did he marry as many in the years after Khadija's r.a. death? The answers most likely lie int he fact that after Khadija's r.a. death, Muslims began to engage in full blown defensive wars. Many women lost their husbands. In those days, women depended a lot on their men. Most likely Prophet pbuh married these women to help them (as a bread bringer, home protector, as a father figure to their children, etc).
7) Holy Qur'an sets guideline that the puberty is a sign of one's maturity. Then, later, we notice in the Holy Qur'an that one has to be able to make clear judgements for himself/herself in order to be considered able to run his/her own affairs. This is seen in the verses about of orphans, one of which is in Chapter 4, verse 6: "And test the orphans till they are fit to get married (reach full age); then if you find them of proper judgement, hand over their wealth to them..." So, proper jugement is the sign of marriageable age for both girls and boys. If Aisha reached puberty, as recognized by her ability to make sound judgement, then she was considered to have become an adult.


Those are just some of the arguments that doubt Aisha r.a. being a child bride. In the next post, I will document some more arguments.

 

[NiceCupOfTea]

thanks for that Amica

 

[NiceCupOfTea]

and Ramadan Mubarack

 

[Amica]

Thank you.

 

[Abdullah]

I'll post up those two posts in the What is the future of Islam? thread as they are more relevent here:

Salaam Amica!

i have to say Sis that the view that Ayesha [ra] got married to the prophet [saw] at the age of 6 and got her marraige consummated [went to live with the prophet [saw] at the age of 9 [so effectiely got 'married' at the age of 9] is decicively established from the Sunnah/hadith sources and there is a consensus on it; what this means that it is impossible for this view to be wrong for there are many hadiths that say that Allah would not make this ummah agree [have a consensus on] an error, thus apart from a few modernists, the entire ummah agree on this:

[in the following article, the questioners paragraphs and the Shaykhs answers are all together, but it can be easily figured out which is of which]

Question:


To begin with, I think it is the responsibility of all those who believe that marrying a girl as young as nine years old was an accepted norm of the Arab culture, to provide at least a few examples to substantiate their point of view. I have not yet been able to find a single dependable instance in the books of Arab history where a girl as young as nine years old was given away in marriage. Unless such examples are given, we do not have any reasonable grounds to believe that it really was an accepted norm.

Answer:

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,



- Abu Tughlub ibn Hamdan married the daughter of `Izz al-Dawla Bakhtyar when she was three and paid a dowry of 100,000 dinars. This took place in Safar 360 H. (Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil).


- Al-Shafi`i in al-Umm reported that he saw countless examples of nine-year old pubescent girls in Yemen. Al-Bayhaqi also narrates it from him in the Sunan al-Kubra as does al-Dhahabi in the Siyar.


- Al-Bayhaqi narrated with his chains in his Sunan al-Kubra no less than three examples of Muslim wives that gave birth at age nine or ten.

- Hisham ibn `Urwa himself (whom the objector claims to know enough to forward the most barefaced judgments on his reliability) married Fatima bint al-Mundhir when she was nine years old (al-Muntazam and Tarikh Baghdad).


- Our liege-lord `Umar married Umm Kulthum the daughter of `Ali and Fatima at a similar age per `Abd al-Razzaq, Ibn `Abd al-Barr and others.

- And our Mother `Aisha herself was first almost betrothed to Jubayr ibn Mut`im before her father dropped that option when he received word from the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless and greet him and be well-pleased with them.


In my opinion, the age of Ayesha (ra) has been grossly mis-reported in the ahadith. Not only that, I think that the narratives reporting this event are not only highly unreliable, but also that on the basis of other historical data, the event reported, is quite an unlikely happening. Let us look at the issue from an objective stand point. My reservations in accepting the narratives, on the basis of which, Ayesha's (ra) age at the time of her marriage with the Prophet (pbuh) is held to be nine years are: Most of these narratives are reported only by Hisham ibn `Urwah, reporting on the authority of his father. An event as well known as the one being reported, should logically have been reported by more people than just one, two or three.


Try more than eleven authorities among the Tabi`in that reported it directly from `A'isha, not counting the other major Companions that reported the same, nor other major Successors that reported it from other than `A'isha.


It is quite strange that no one from Medinah, where Hisham ibn `Urwah lived the first seventy one years of his life has narrated the event, even though in Medinah his pupils included people as well known as Malik ibn Anas.


Not so. Al-Zuhri also reports it from `Urwa, from `A'isha; so does `Abd Allah ibn Dhakwan, both major Madanis. So is the Tabi`i Yahya al-Lakhmi who reports it from her in the Musnad and in Ibn Sa`d's Tabaqat. So is Abu Ishaq Sa`d ibn Ibrahim who reports it from Imam al-Qasim ibn Muhammad, one of the Seven Imams of Madina, from `A'isha. All the narratives of this event have been reported


Nor by narrators from Iraq, where Hisham is reported to have had shifted after living in Medinah for seventy one years.


Not so. In addition to the above four Madinese Tabi`in narrators, Sufyan ibn `Uyayna from Khurasan and `Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya from Tabarayya in Palestine both report it.


Nor was this hadith reported only by `Urwa but also by `Abd al-Malik ibn `Umayr, al-Aswad, Ibn Abi Mulayka, Abu Salama ibn `Abd al-Rahman ibn `Awf, Yahya ibn `Abd al-Rahman ibn Hatib, Abu `Ubayda (`Amir ibn `Abd Allah ibn Mas`ud) and others of the Tabi`i Imams directly from `A'isha.


This makes the report mass-transmitted (mutawatir) from `A'isha by over eleven authorities among the Tabi`in, not counting the other major Companions that reported the same, such as Ibn Mas`ud nor other major Successors that reported it from other than `A'isha, such as Qatada!

Tehzibu'l-tehzib, one of the most well known books on the life and reliability of the narrators of the traditions of the Prophet (pbuh), reports that according to Yaqub ibn Shaibah: "narratives reported by Hisham are reliable except those that are reported through the people of Iraq".

It further states that Malik ibn Anas objected on those narratives of Hisham which were reported through people of Iraq. (vol11, pg 48 - 51)

Rather, Ya`qub said: "Trustworthy, thoroughly reliable (thiqa thabt), above reproach except after he went to Iraq, at which time he narrated overly from his father and was criticized for it." Notice that Ya`qub does not exactly endorse that criticism.


As for Malik, he reports over 100 hadiths from Hisham as is evident in the two Sahihs and Sunan! to the point that al-Dhahabi questions the authenticity of his alleged criticism of Hisham.


Indeed, none among the hadith Masters endorsed these reservations since they were based solely on the fact that Hisham in his last period (he was 71 at the time of his last trip to Iraq), for the sake of brevity, would say, "My father, from `A'isha? (abi `an `A'isha)" and no longer pronounced, "narrated to me (haddathani)".


Al-Mizzi in Tahdhib al-Kamal (30:238) explained that it became a foregone conclusion for the Iraqis that Hisham did not narrate anything
from his father except what he had heard directly from him.


Ibn Hajar also dismisses the objections against Hisham ibn `Urwa as negligible in Tahdhib al-Tahdhib (11:45), saying: "It was clear enough to the Iraqis that he did not narrate from his father other than what he had heard directly from him".


In fact, to say that "narratives reported by Hisham ibn `Urwa are reliable except those that are reported through the people of Iraq" is major nonsense as that would eliminate all narrations of Ayyub al-Sakhtyani from him since Ayyub was a Basran Iraqi, and those of Abu `Umar al-Nakha`i who was from Kufa, and those of Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman from Kufa (the Shaykh of Abu Hanifa), and those of Hammad ibn Salama and Hammad ibn Zayd both from Basra, and those of Sufyan al-Thawri from Basra, and those of Shu`ba in Basra, all of whom narrated from Hisham!

Mizanu'l-ai`tidal, another book on the narrators of the traditions of the Prophet (pbuh) reports that when he was old, Hisham's memory suffered quite badly. (vol 4, pg 301 - 302)


An outright lie, on the contrary, al-Dhahabi in Mizan al-I`tidal (4:301 #9233) states: "Hisham ibn `Urwa, one of the eminent personalities. A Proof in himself, and an Imam. However, in his old age his memory diminished, but he certainly never became confused. Nor should any attention be paid to what Abu al-Hasan ibn al-Qattan said about him and Suhayl ibn Abi Salih becoming confused or changing! Yes, the man changed a little bit and his memory was not the same as it had been in his younger days, so that he forgot some of what he had memorized or lapsed, so what? Is he immune to forgetfulness? [p. 302] And when he came to Iraq in the last part of his life he narrated a great amount of knowledge, in the course of which are a few narrations in which he did not excel, and such as occurs also to Malik, and Shu`ba, and Waki`, and the major trustworthy masters. So spare yourself confusion and floundering, do not make mix the firmly-established Imams with the weak and muddled narrators. Hisham is a Shaykh al-Islam. But may Allah console us well of you, O Ibn al-Qattan, and the same with regard to `Abd al-Rahman ibn Khirash's statement from Malik!"


continued below

 

[Abdullah]

According to the generally accepted tradition, Ayesha (ra) was born about eight years before Hijra. But according to another narrative in Bukhari (kitabu'l-tafseer) Ayesha (ra) is reported to have said that at the time Surah Al-Qamar, the 54th chapter of the Qur'an, was revealed, "I was a young girl". The 54th surah of the Qur'an was revealed nine years before Hijra.


Not true. The hadith Masters, Sira historians, and Qur'anic commentators agree that the splitting of the moon took place about five years before the Holy Prophet's (upon him blessings and peace) Hijra to Madina.

Thus it is confirmed that our Mother `Aisha was born between seven and eight years before the Hijra and the words that she was a jariya or little girl five years before the Hijra match the fact that her age at the time Surat al-Qamar was revealed was around 2 or 3.


According to this tradition, Ayesha (ra) had not only been born before the revelation of the referred surah, but was actually a young girl (jariyah), not an infant (sibyah) at that time. Obviously, if this narrative is held to be true, it is in clear contradiction with the narratives reported by Hisham ibn `Urwah. I see absolutely no reason that after the comments of the experts on the narratives of Hisham ibn `Urwah, why we should not accept this narrative to be more accurate.


A two year old is not an infant. A two year old is able to run around, which is what jariya means. As for "the comments of the experts" they concur on 6 or 7 as the age of marriage and 9 as the age of cohabitation.

According to a number of narratives, Ayesha (ra) accompanied the Muslims in the battle of Badr and Uhud. Furthermore, it is also reported in books of hadith and history that no one under the age of 15 years was allowed to take part in the battle of Uhud. All the boys below 15 years of age were sent back. Ayesha's (ra) participation in the battle of Badr and Uhud clearly indicate that she was not nine or ten years old at that time. After all, women used to accompany men to the battle fields to help them, not to be a burden on them.


First, the prohibition applied to combatants. It applied neither to non-combatant boys nor to non-combatant girls and women. Second, `A'isha did not participate in Badr at all but bade farewell to the combatants as they were leaving Madina, as narrated by Muslim in his Sahih. On the day of Uhud (year 3), Anas, at the time only twelve or thirteen years old, reports seeing an eleven-year old `A'isha and his mother Umm Sulaym having tied up their dresses and carrying water skins back and forth to the combatants, as narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim.


According to almost all the historians, Asma, the elder sister of Ayesha was ten years older than Ayesha.


Well, Ibn Kathir based himself on Ibn Abi al-Zinad's assertion that she was ten years older than `A'isha, however, al-Dhahabi in Siyar A`lam al-Nubala' said there was a greater difference than 10 years between the two, up to 19, and he is more reliable here.


It is reported in Taqri'bu'l-tehzi'b as well as Al-bidayah wa'l-nihayah that Asma died in 73 hijrah when she was 100 years old. Now, obviously if Asma was 100 years old in 73 hijrah she should have been 27 or 28 years old at the time of hijrah. If Asma was 27 or 28 years old at the time of hijrah, Ayesha should have been 17 or 18 years old at that time. Thus, Ayesha, if she got married in 1 AH (after hijrah) or 2 AH, was between 18 to 20 years old at the time of her marriage.


Ibn Hajar reports in al-Isaba from Hisham ibn `Urwa, from his father, that Asma' did live 100 years, and from Abu Nu`aym al-Asbahani that "Asma' bint Abi Bakr was born 27 years before the Hijra, and she lived until the beginning of the year 74." None of this amounts to any proof for `A'isha's age whatsoever.


Tabari in his treatise on Islamic history, while mentioning Abu Bakr, reports that Abu Bakr had four children and all four were born during the Jahiliyyah -- the pre Islamic period. Obviously, if Ayesha was born in the period of Jahiliyyah, she could not have been less than 14 years in 1 AH -- the time she most likely got married.


Al-Tabari nowhere reports that "Abu Bakr's four children were all born in Jahiliyya" but only that Abu Bakr married both their mothers in Jahiliyya, Qutayla bint Sa`d and Umm Ruman, who bore him four children in all, two each, `A'isha being the daughter of Umm Ruman.


According to Ibn Hisham, the historian, Ayesha accepted Islam quite some time before Umar ibn Khattab.


Nowhere does Ibn Hisham say this.

This shows that Ayesha accepted Islam during the first year of Islam. While, if the narrative of Ayesha's marriage at seven years of age is held to be true, Ayesha should not have been born during the first year of Islam.


Rather, Ibn Hisham lists `A'isha among "those that accepted Islam because of Abu Bakr." This does not mean that she embraced Islam during the first year of Islam. Nor does it mean that she necessarily embraced Islam before `Umar (year 6) although she was born the previous year (year 7 before the Hijra) although it is understood she will automatically follow her father's choice even before the age of reason.


Tabari has also reported that at the time Abu Bakr planned on migrating to Habshah (8 years before Hijrah), he went to Mut`am -- with whose son Ayesha was engaged -- and asked him to take Ayesha in his house as his son's wife. Mut`am refused, because Abu Bakr had embraced Islam, and subsequently his son divorced Ayesha (ra).


Not at all, there is no mention of emigration in Tabari's account of Abu Bakr's discussion with Mut`im. Nor did he ever ask him to take `A'isha because there had been only some preliminary talk, not a formal arrangement. Umm Ruman, Abu Bakr's wife, reportedly said: "By Allah, no promise had been given on our part at all!" Rather, al-Tabari said that when news of the Prophet's interest in `A'isha came, he went to see Mut`im. Then Mut`im's wife manifested her fear that her son would become Muslim if he married into Abu Bakr's family. Abu Bakr then left them and gave his assent to the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace.

Now, if Ayesha was only seven years old at the time of her marriage, she could not have been born at the time Abu Bakr decided on migrating to Habshah. On the basis of this report it seems only reasonable to assume that Ayesha had not only been born 8 years before hijrah, but was also a young lady, quite prepared for marriage.


Your assumption fizzles at the root when you read al-Tabari's positive assertion: "On the day he consummated the marriage with her, she was nine years old."


According to a narrative reported by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, after the death of Khadijah, when Khaulah came to the Prophet advising him to marry again, the Prophet asked her regarding the choices she had in her mind. Khaulah said: "You can marry a virgin (bikr) or a woman who has already been married (thayyib)". When the Prophet asked about who the virgin was, Khaulah proposed Ayesha's name. All those who know the Arabic language, are aware that the word "bikr" in the Arabic language is not used for an immature nine year old girl. The correct word for a young playful girl, as stated earlier is "Jariyah". "Bikr" on the other hand, is used for an unmarried lady, and obviously a nine year old is not a "lady".

This is ignorant nonsense, bikr means a virgin girl, a girl who has never been married even if her age is 0 and there is no unclarity here whatsoever.


According to Ibn Hajar, Fatimah was five years older than Ayesha. Fatimah is reported to have been born when the Prophet was 35 years old. Thus, even if this information is taken to be correct, Ayesha could by no means be less than 14 years old at the time of hijrah, and 15 or 16 years old at the time of her marriage.


Rather, Ibn Hajar mentions two versions: (1) al-Waqidi's narration that Fatima was born when the Prophet was 35; and (2) Ibn `Abd al-Barr's narration that she was born when he was 41, approximately one year more or less before Prophethood, and about five years before `A'isha was born. The latter version matches the established dates.


So our Mother `A'isha was nineteen to twenty years younger than her sister Asma' (b. 27 before Hijra-d. 74) and about five years to eight years Fatima's junior.


These are some of the major points that go against accepting the commonly known narrative regarding Ayesha's (ra) age at the time of her marriage. In my opinion, neither was it an Arab tradition to give away girls in marriage at an age as young as nine or ten years, nor did the Prophet marry Ayesha at such a young age. The people of Arabia did not object to this marriage, because it never happened in the manner it has been narrated.


Those that itch to follow misguidance always resort to solipsisms because they are invariably thin on sources. In this particular case "the Learner" proves to be ignorant and dishonest. It is no surprise he moves on every single point, without exception, from incorrect premises to false conclusions.

Hajj Gibril

Our Mother A'isha's Age At The Time Of Her Marriage to The Prophet


Basically what we should look to is that, back in those days there was nothing wrong with such a marriage and the whole world practiced it

 

[Abdullah]

why did not any of the Companions marry children?

Why didn't he, if he married "child" Aisha r.a., marry more children, if that was such a norm?

Why doesn't Qur'an speak of marrying children? The Holy Book rather tells Muslim men to marry women, not 'girls'.
And, times change. Just because such practice happened in the past, why should it continue today? Why do some Muslim men continue such unholy practice as child marriages?

some examples are given in that article i posted of how even the Sahabah [ra] married girls of similar ages; here they are:

- Abu Tughlub ibn Hamdan married the daughter of `Izz al-Dawla Bakhtyar when she was three and paid a dowry of 100,000 dinars. This took place in Safar 360 H. (Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil). [she was probably 'betrothed' at the age of 3 and sent to live with her husband at a much older age]


- Al-Shafi`i in al-Umm reported that he saw countless examples of nine-year old pubescent girls in Yemen. Al-Bayhaqi also narrates it from him in the Sunan al-Kubra as does al-Dhahabi in the Siyar.


- Al-Bayhaqi narrated with his chains in his Sunan al-Kubra no less than three examples of Muslim wives that gave birth at age nine or ten.

- Hisham ibn `Urwa himself (whom the objector claims to know enough to forward the most barefaced judgments on his reliability) married Fatima bint al-Mundhir when she was nine years old (al-Muntazam and Tarikh Baghdad).


- Our liege-lord `Umar married Umm Kulthum the daughter of `Ali and Fatima at a similar age per `Abd al-Razzaq, Ibn `Abd al-Barr and others.

- And our Mother `Aisha herself was first almost betrothed to Jubayr ibn Mut`im before her father dropped that option when he received word from the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless and greet him and be well-pleased with them.

................

there is one even of Umar [ra] there

Ibn kathir mentions in his tafsir of Quranic verse:


Allah said,

[وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلاَّ تُقْسِطُواْ فِى الْيَتَـمَى فَانكِحُواْ مَا طَابَ لَكُمْ مِّنَ النِّسَآءِ مَثْنَى]

(And if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry (other) women of your choice, two) Allah commands, when one of you is the caretaker of a female orphan and he fears that he might not give her a dowry that is suitable for women of her status, he should marry other women, who are plenty as Allah has not restricted him. Al-Bukhari recorded that `A'ishah said, "A man was taking care of a female orphan and he married her, although he did not desire to marry her. That girl's money was mixed with his, and he was keeping her portion from her. Afterwards, this Ayah was revealed about his case;

[وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلاَّ تُقْسِطُواْ]

(If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly)'' Al-Bukhari recorded that `Urwah bin Az-Zubayr said that he asked `A'ishah about the meaning of the statement of Allah,

[وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلاَّ تُقْسِطُواْ فِى الْيَتَـمَى]

(If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls.) She said, "O my nephew! This is about the orphan girl who lives with her guardian and shares his property. Her wealth and beauty may tempt him to marry her without giving her an adequate dowry which might have been given by another suitor. So, such guardians were forbidden to marry such orphan girls unless they treated them justly and gave them the most suitable dowry; otherwise they were ordered to marry woman besides them.'' `A'ishah further said, "After that verse, the people again asked the Messenger of Allah (about marriage with orphan girls), so Allah revealed the Ayah,

[وَيَسْتَفْتُونَكَ فِى النِّسَآءِ]

(They ask your instruction concerning the women..) [4:127].'' She said, "Allah's statement in this Ayah,

[وَتَرْغَبُونَ أَن تَنكِحُوهُنَّ]
(yet whom you desire to marry) [4:127] refers to the guardian who does not desire to marry an orphan girl under his supervision because she is neither wealthy nor beautiful. The guardians were forbidden to marry their orphan girls possessing property and beauty without being just to them, as they generally refrain from marrying them (when they are neither beautiful nor wealthy).''
.................................


so we can see Allah talks about marrying orphan GIRLS in the verse

And basically the overwhelming proof that Ayesha [ra] did get 'married' to the Prophet [saw] at the age of 9 will be the hadiths Sister rather than any other examples being needed, for as seen in the previous article, the hadiths confirming it are mutawatir, i.e mass transmitted from Ayesha [ra] and mass transmission is the highest form of proof of authenticity of hadiths, for they are hadiths reported by such a large number of people that it cannot be reasonable expected for all of them to have colluded to lie; the Qurans authenticity is based on mass-transmission.

hence we can be sure without a shred of doubt that Ayesha [ra] put her age at 9 at the time of consummation, and thus we have the word of a saintly woman here and no other proof should be required

This marriage was ordered by Allah Himself; the Prophet [saw] was instructed in a dream to marry Ayesha [ra], hence he did

most of the prophet [saw's] other marriages was in order to look after widows, forge better ties with 'enemies' etc,

One reason why ALlah may have ordered this marriage is because Ayesha [ra] became one of the greatest Scholars ever due to living with the Prophet [saw] and memmorising so many sayings of of him; it is said that all the Scholars of the world of today couldn't equall the knowledge of Ayesha [ra] hence she has been a source of vast amounts of islamic knlowledge for all generations to come, and being so young when the prophet [saw] died, she continued to convey this knowledge for many years after his death

As for such marriages happening now; well they are rare and restricted to only certain rural and remote communites

In Hanafi fiqh i have read that parents have the right to give their pre-pubecent girls in marriage and the girls can back out of the marriage if they want once they reach adulthood; also in Hanafi fiqh the law for age of marriage can be set at 18, thus we can see from this that Islamic jurisprudence is flexible to suit the times and culture

here is a great video on this topic from Shaykh Hamza Yusuf:

‪Hamza Yusuf - Prophet Muhammad marriage to Aisha‬‏ - YouTube

 

[Muslimwoman]

I think what is really important to note in the Hamza Yusuf video is that he says (at 2:24) that in Sahih Bukhari it says she was 9 or 12 (when she gave up playing) ... so we can see that there is no absolute evidence of her age at the time of consumation of the marriage but this issue would have been a non issue until very modern times. It is only when we project modern (and often western) attitudes to this issue do we start to feel uncomfortable about this subject.

Even today in many Arab cultures marriage is not a boy meets girl, boy asks girl to marry him issue .. it is a community issue. So if the community of the time were comfortable with this marriage we should leave her age to Allah and worry about if we fasted today and prayed 5 times today or did we do a good deed today.

 

[Abdullah]

I think what is really important to note in the Hamza Yusuf video is that he says (at 2:24) that in Sahih Bukhari it says she was 9 or 12 (when she gave up playing) ... so we can see that there is no absolute evidence of her age at the time of consumation of the marriage but this issue would have been a non issue until very modern times. It is only when we project modern (and often western) attitudes to this issue do we start to feel uncomfortable about this subject.

Even today in many Arab cultures marriage is not a boy meets girl, boy asks girl to marry him issue .. it is a community issue. So if the community of the time were comfortable with this marriage we should leave her age to Allah and worry about if we fasted today and prayed 5 times today or did we do a good deed today.

IN THAT video, all shaykh Hamza says is that there is a narration saying that Ayesha [ra] was twelve years old, but dont mention the authenticity of it, thus given the consensus that she was 9, it's probably unauthentic and desregarded by the Scholars; Shaykh Hamza is famous for mitigating Islam as much as possible in the eyes of westerners, even by alluding them to weak narrations; this is not compromising Islam, but just a way to get them to shut up

it is ok in Islam to use truth in smart ways so as to avoid fitnah [disorder], for example, when once a great Scholar was being harassed for some of his comments regarding wether the divine scriptures are created or not, one person came up to him and asked him if he believed the Quran was created, he answered, just to make that person insensed with him and for him to go away and leave him alone [so as to avoid argument by lengthening the talk], he lifted his fingers up and said, the Quran, Torah, Injeel and Zabur, these four [meaning his fingers] are created!, the man was so insensed that he immediately left!

when the christian patriarchs gathered round the abysinnian king and demanded to know his beliefs and wether he could remain king or not, the king replied, the father, son and holy ghost, this [pointing to his chest, where there was a pocket with a peace of paper he had put there with the shahadah written on it] is what i believe, so the patriarchs said you can remain king!