A Blessing Called ʿĀʾishah

The marriage of Muhammad (peace be upon him) to ʿĀʾishah—how come it was so important? This much should be said first: one of the greatest blessings of Allah on us as Muslims—again, one of the greatest blessings of Allah on us as Muslims—is that Muhammad (peace be upon him) married ʿĀʾishah. This particular marriage, that some people have doubts in their heart about due to the fact that Muhammad (peace be upon him) marries a girl who's six years old, they don't realise that it would have been a disaster on the ummah if Muhammad (peace be upon him) didn't marry ʿĀʾishah. It is one of the best things that happened to us.

ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) had a mind of a scholar. She had a very bright mind, very intelligent, and she had an inquisitive nature. ʿĀʾishah describes herself and says, "The companions of Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to hear the hadith of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and they would immediately follow it, while I would ask Muhammad (peace be upon him) questions about it." ʿĀʾishah, being the wife of the Prophet (peace be upon him), and being the most beloved of his wives, had this informal relationship with the Prophet (peace be upon him), so she could afford to question him and ask him, while the others were very respectful of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and they wouldn't dare do that. So it needed somebody who had this intimate relationship with Muhammad (peace be upon him) to be able to ask questions and to inquire about certain statements of Muhammad (peace be upon him). There is the earlier account of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, and how much he loved Muhammad (peace be upon him): when he was dying he said, "If you would ask me to describe to you Muhammad (peace be upon him), I wouldn't be able to do so, because I had so much love and admiration and respect for him, I lived with him for years, and I couldn't even look him straight in the eye because of the deep respect that I had for him." But ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her), being very young and playful at that age, and having a very close relationship with him—so much was learned because of that.

Plus, ʿĀʾishah had the mind of a scholar, and she became one of the greatest scholars of Islam, among the top seven narrators of hadith. ʿĀʾishah comes number four. ʿĀʾishah is one of the top seven narrators of the hadith of Muhammad (peace be upon him). Number one is Abū Hurayrah, five thousand plus. Number two, ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar, twenty-six hundred. Number three, Anas ibn Mālik. Number four, ʿĀʾishah, twenty-two hundred. So really the difference between rank four, three and two isn't much—Abū Hurayrah was outstanding, he's almost double the second place. Open any book of fiqh, and it's impossible to study a book of fiqh without going through the name of ʿĀʾishah, her narrations and her opinions in fiqh. In every fiqh—Ḥanafī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanbalī, Mālikī—ʿĀʾishah, her knowledge is there. So much was learned from ʿĀʾishah.

It was the destiny of Allah that Muhammad (peace be upon him) would marry ʿĀʾishah, and it was—just as it was a divine inspiration to Muhammad (peace be upon him), and maybe he didn't think about it before—it was a surprise to Abū Bakr when Muhammad (peace be upon him) went and proposed to Abū Bakr that he wants to marry his daughter. Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq was surprised. He said, "I am your brother," meaning they were very close in age—"I am your brother." Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, "You are my brother, and your daughter is appropriate for me." This was a command from Allah (swt), and subḥāna Allāh, it was a blessing from Allah (swt) on this ummah. Sometimes something would appear to be in a certain way; however, digging a little bit deeper reveals something completely different: ʿasā an takrahū shayʾan wa huwa khayrun lakum—you might dislike something. Muslims should be very proud and happy that Muhammad (peace be upon him) married ʿĀʾishah, and thankful to Allah that that happened, rather than having these doubts in the heart and this fear and inhibition. It is a blessing of Allah (swt) on us.

One final point: Muhammad (peace be upon him) didn't marry any virgin woman except ʿĀʾishah, and Muhammad (peace be upon him) never married any woman who was young except ʿĀʾishah. It was an exceptional case. Studying the marriage life of Muhammad (peace be upon him) that was initiated by him means looking at every wife except ʿĀʾishah and Zaynab, and that shows who the women were that Muhammad (peace be upon him) was marrying.