Het huwelijk van de Profeet (vrede zij met hem) met Aicha

[hijab_girl]

Alle lof zij Allah en zegeningen en vrede zij met Zijn Profeet Mohammed.

De vijanden van de islam zullen te allen tijde met ijver hun strijd tegen de Islam voortzetten en proberen de moslims onzeker te maken ten aanzien van hun geloof. Zij schuwen daarbij geen middelen, noch moeite en stellen alles in het werk om de Islam in een vals daglicht te plaatsen en één van hun laatste vijandelijke aanvallen betreft het huwelijk van de Profeet (vrede zij met hem) met cAa’ishah (moge Allah tevreden met haar zijn). Zij zeggen dat het tegennatuurlijk en pervers is dat een man van boven de vijftig met een zesjarig meisje trouwt.

Allereerst zal eenieder moeten weten dat de Profeet (vrede zij met hem) daadwerkelijk met cAa’ishah trouwde toen zij zes jaar oud was, maar de huwelijksconsummatie heeft pas op haar negende plaatsgevonden, zoals vermeld wordt door al-Boechari en Moeslim.

Wat betreft deze laaghartige en ongegronde bewering, kunnen wij het volgende zeggen:

Het is algemeen bekend dat de Profeet (vrede zij met hem) niet de eerste was die toestemming vroeg om met cAa’ishah te trouwen. Hij is namelijk voorgegaan door anderen zoals Djoebayr ibnoe Moetcim ibnoe cAdiyy en dit geeft aan dat cAa’ishah volgens de toenmalige Arabieren huwelijksgereed was.

Het was Khauwlah bintoe Hakiem die de Profeet (vrede zij met hem) aanmoedigde om de hand van cAa’ishah te gaan vragen. Dus ook de vrouwen van die tijd vonden dat cAa’ishah huwelijksgereed was.

De toenmalige vijanden van de Profeet (vrede zij met hem) die alle middelen aanwendden om hem een slechte naam te bezorgen, vonden het huwelijk van de Profeet (vrede zij met hem) met cAa’ishah een normale zaak die in overeenstemming was met de gebruikelijke wijze van doen in de maatschappij van die tijd.

cAa’ishah was niet de eerste die op vroege leeftijd trouwde, zo trouwde Haalah op hetzelfde leeftijd met cAbdulmoetalib en de dochter van cAli (moge Allah tevreden met hen zijn) met cOmar toen hij op hoge leeftijd was. Dus het was een normaal verschijnsel in de Arabische samenleving.

Ook dient men te weten dat het rijp worden van een vrouw niets te maken heeft met leeftijd. Zo zien wij soms dat meisjes op een vroege leeftijd symptomen van volle vrouwelijke rijpheid vertonen zoals menstruatie, borsten enz. Meerdere deskundigen geven te kennen dat westerse meisjes symptomen van rijpheid beginnen te vertonen op hun zevende of achtste, terwijl de Afrikaanse meisjes dit doen op hun zesde. En de huidige wetenschap zegt dat de eerste periodieke (maandelijkse) bloeding, ook wel ‘menarche’ genoemd, op een negenjarige leeftijd al kan optreden.

Ook verschilt het rijp worden van streek tot streek. Zo beginnen de meisjes in warme streken vroegtijdig tot rijpheid te komen, in tegenstelling tot de meisjes in koude streken.

Samenvattend kunnen wij zeggen dat het huwelijk van de Profeet (vrede zij met hem) met cAa’ishah destijds de gewone gang van zaken was en dat de beschuldiging die richting de Profeet (vrede zij met hem) wordt gedaan slechts een leugenachtige lastercampagne is.

En vrede en zegeningen zij met de Boodschapper van Allah.

[zeeman]

Bewijs dat de Profeet geen seks had met een negenjarig meisje (Bericht #)


Was Ayesha A Six-Year-Old Bride?

The Ancient Myth Exposed

by T.O. Shanavas

A Christian friend asked me once, “Will you marry your seven year old daughter to a fifty year old man?” I kept my silence. He continued, “If you would not, how can you approve the marriage of an innocent seven year old, Ayesha, with your Prophet?” I told him, “I don’t have an answer to your question at this time.” My friend smiled and left me with a thorn in the heart of my faith. Most Muslims answer that such marriages were accepted in those days. Otherwise, people would have objected to Prophet’s marriage with Ayesha.

However, such an explanation would be gullible only for those who are naive enough to believe it. But unfortunately, I was not satisfied with the answer.

The Prophet was an exemplary man. All his actions were most virtuous so that we, Muslims, can emulate them. However, most people in our Islamic Center of Toledo, including me, would not think of betrothing our seven years daughter to a fifty-two year-old man. If a parent agrees to such a wedding, most people, if not all, would look down upon the father and the old husband.

In 1923, registrars of marriage in Egypt were instructed not to register and issue official certificates of marriage for brides less than sixteen and grooms less than eighteen years of age. Eight years later, the Law of the Organization and Procedure of Sheriah courts of 1931 consolidated the above provision by not hearing the marriage disputes involving brides less than sixteen and grooms less than eighteen years old. (Women in Muslim Family Law, John Esposito, 1982). It shows that even in the Muslim majority country of Egypt the child marriages are unacceptable.

So, I believed, without solid evidence other than my reverence to my Prophet, that the stories of the marriage of seven-year-old Ayesha to 50-year-old Prophet are only myths. However, my long pursuit in search of the truth on this matter proved my intuition correct. My Prophet was a gentleman. And he did not marry an innocent seven or nine year old girl. The age of Ayesha has been erroneously reported in the hadith literature. Furthermore, I think that the narratives reporting this event are highly unreliable. Some of the hadith (traditions of the Prophet) regarding Ayesha’s age at the time of her wedding with prophet are problematic. I present the following evidences against the acceptance of the fictitious story by Hisham ibn ‘Urwah and to clear the name of my Prophet as an irresponsible old man preying on an innocent little girl.

EVIDENCE #1: Reliability of Source

Most of the narratives printed in the books of hadith are reported only by Hisham ibn `Urwah, who was reporting on the authority of his father. First of all, more people than just one, two or three should logically have reported. It is strange that no one from Medina, where Hisham ibn `Urwah lived the first 71 years of his life narrated the event, despite the fact that his Medinan pupils included the well-respected Malik ibn Anas. The origins of the report of the narratives of this event are people from Iraq, where Hisham is reported to have shifted after living in Medina for most of his life.

Tehzibu’l-Tehzib, one of the most well known books on the life and reliability of the narrators of the traditions of the Prophet, reports that according to Yaqub ibn Shaibah: “He [Hisham] is highly reliable, his narratives are acceptable, except what he narrated after moving over to Iraq” (Tehzi’bu’l-tehzi’b, Ibn Hajar Al-`asqala’ni, Dar Ihya al-turath al-Islami, 15th century. Vol 11, p. 50).

It further states that Malik ibn Anas objected on those narratives of Hisham which were reported through people in Iraq: “I have been told that Malik objected on those narratives of Hisham which were reported through people of Iraq” (Tehzi’b u’l-tehzi’b, Ibn Hajar Al-`asqala’ni, Dar Ihya al-turath al-Islami, Vol.11, p. 50).

Mizanu’l-ai`tidal, another book on the life sketches of the narrators of the traditions of the Prophet reports: “When he was old, Hisham’s memory suffered quite badly” (Mizanu’l-ai`tidal, Al-Zahbi, Al-Maktabatu’l-athriyyah, Sheikhupura, Pakistan, Vol. 4, p. 301).

CONCLUSION: Based on these references, Hisham’s memory was failing and his narratives while in Iraq were unreliable. So, his narrative of Ayesha’s marriage and age are unreliable.

CHRONOLOGY: It is vital also to keep in mind some of the pertinent dates in the history of Islam:

pre-610 CE: Jahiliya (pre-Islamic age) before revelation
610 CE: First revelation
610 CE: AbuBakr accepts Islam
613 CE: Prophet Muhammad begins preaching publicly.
615 CE: Emigration to Abyssinia
616 CE: Umar bin al Khattab accepts Islam
620 CE: Generally accepted betrothal of Ayesha to the Prophet
622 CE: Hijrah (emigation to Yathrib, later renamed Medina)
623/624 CE: Generally accepted year of Ayesha living with the Prophet
EVIDENCE #2: The Betrothal

According to Tabari (also according to Hisham ibn ‘Urwah, Ibn Hunbal and Ibn Sad), Ayesha was betrothed at seven years of age and began to cohabit with the Prophet at the age of nine years.

However, in another work, Al-Tabari says: “All four of his [Abu Bakr’s] children were born of his two wives during the pre-Islamic period” (Tarikhu’l-umam wa’l-mamlu’k, Al-Tabari (died 922), Vol. 4, p. 50, Arabic, Dara’l-fikr, Beirut, 1979).

If Ayesha was betrothed in 620 CE (at the age of seven) and started to live with the Prophet in 624 CE (at the age of nine), that would indicate that she was born in 613 CE and was nine when she began living with the Prophet. Therefore, based on one account of Al-Tabari, the numbers show that Ayesha must have born in 613 CE, three years after the beginning of revelation (610 CE). Tabari also states that Ayesha was born in the pre-Islamic era (in Jahiliya). If she was born before 610 CE, she would have been at least 14 years old when she began living with the Prophet. Essentially, Tabari contradicts himself.

CONCLUSION: Al-Tabari is unreliable in the matter of determining Ayesha’s age.

EVIDENCE # 3: The Age of Ayesha in Relation to the Age of Fatima

According to Ibn Hajar, “Fatima was born at the time the Ka`bah was rebuilt, when the Prophet was 35 years old... she was five years older that Ayesha” (Al-isabah fi tamyizi’l-sahabah, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Vol. 4, p. 377, Maktabatu’l-Riyadh al-haditha, al-Riyadh, 1978).

If Ibn Hajar’s statement is factual, Ayesha was born when the Prophet was 40 years old. If Ayesha was married to the Prophet when he was 52 years old, Ayesha’s age at marriage would be 12 years.

CONCLUSION: Ibn Hajar, Tabari an Ibn Hisham and Ibn Humbal contradict each other. So, the marriage of Ayesha at seven years of age is a myth.

EVIDENCE #4: Ayesha’s Age in relation to Asma’s Age

According to Abda’l-Rahman ibn abi zanna’d: “Asma was 10 years older than Ayesha (Siyar A`la’ma’l-nubala’, Al-Zahabi, Vol. 2, p. 289, Arabic, Mu’assasatu’l-risalah, Beirut, 1992).

According to Ibn Kathir: “She [Asma] was elder to her sister [Ayesha] by 10 years” (Al-Bidayah wa’l-nihayah, Ibn Kathir, Vol. 8, p. 371, Dar al-fikr al-`arabi, Al-jizah, 1933).

According to Ibn Kathir: “She [Asma] saw the killing of her son during that year [73 AH], as we have already mentioned, and five days later she herself died. According to other narratives, she died not after five days but 10 or 20, or a few days over 20, or 100 days later. The most well known narrative is that of 100 days later. At the time of her death, she was 100 years old.” (Al-Bidayah wa’l-nihayah, Ibn Kathir, Vol. 8, p. 372, Dar al-fikr al-`arabi, Al-jizah, 1933)

According to Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani: “She [Asma] lived a hundred years and died in 73 or 74 AH.” (Taqribu’l-tehzib, Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani, p. 654, Arabic, Bab fi’l-nisa’, al-harfu’l-alif, Lucknow).

According to almost all the historians, Asma, the elder sister of Ayesha was 10 years older than Ayesha. If Asma was 100 years old in 73 AH, she should have been 27 or 28 years old at the time of the hijrah.

If Asma was 27 or 28 years old at the time of hijrah, Ayesha should have been 17 or 18 years old. Thus, Ayesha, being 17 or 18 years of at the time of Hijra, she started to cohabit with the Prophet between at either 19 to 20 years of age.