Its always tiring to see how easy some people assert they've
reached & gain certainty of the deep recesses of islam compared
to some praticing muslims themselves. They then proceed to throw
words like hadith, "islamic law", without acquainting with the full
extent of the meanings or the proper applications for it.
That there are hadiths saying Aishah is 9 yrs old when Muhammad
married her is true. But hadiths are not regarded as sacrosanct. In
the study of hadiths, hadiths has to pass the matn, textual
analysis, among others, before the hadith can be accepted.
In this case, the presence of tons more historical narratives
contradicts the reported age of Aishah at the time of her marriage.
(Pointed out by faroukalhadad here, among others again)
So its presumptive and not polite at all how you prefer to rather
accept hadiths at face value (which is erroneous even in muslim
study) and then conveniently dismiss the actual investigative
measures of muslims who finds it very questionable "as not knowing
his own faith very well."
I am from Brunei where study of the Quran and Hadith is
compulsory even if I am a non-muslim. If the hadith is erroneous,
why get people to study it?
what point did Faroukalhadad provide? other than linking his
argument to
http://www.justjihad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18 ?
Lets study the information in the link
1. According to several authentic
narratives, Aisha accompanied the Muslims in the Battles of Bad’r
and Uhud. It is a well known fact in Islamic history that Muhammad
disallowed anyone below the age of 15 to participate in his war
entourage. Taking time references from these battles and her
marriage, she could not be only 9 years old at the time of
wedding.
A’isha, being a girl, never fought in any battles. The age of 15
"is the limit between childhood and manhood". So what would a girl
be there for?
A 10/11-year old, besides keeping Mohammed company at night, had
many things to do. The women and young children went on the
battlefield after the battle and gave water to the wounded Muslims
and finished off the enemy wounded. al-Tabari vol.12
p.127,146. During the days of the battle, the women and children
were there to dig graves for the dead. al-Tabari vol.12
p.107
Finally, young A’isha was considered an adult, for Muslims
called a girl an adult when she first started her period according
to the English translator's note in Bukhari vol.3 book 48
ch.18 prior to no.832 p.513
2. The youngest daughter from
Muhammad’s first marriage, Fatimah, was five years older than
Aisha. This is as reported by Ibn Hajjar. Fatimah is reported to
have been born when Muhammad was 35 years old. Therefore by simple
mathematical calculations, it is impossible for Aisha to be only 9
when she got married to Muhammad.
Sunan Nasa’i vol.1 #29 p.115-116 (English material at
the front) actually says that Fatima was 29 years old when she died
(six months after Mohammed), which makes her ten years older than
A’isha. So either Ibn Hajar, or else everybody else made a mistake.
The authoritative hadiths would be trusted by most Sunni Muslims
more than Ibn Hajar. Regardless though, A’isha was younger.
3. Aisha had an elder sister by
the name of Asma who was 10 years older than her. Asma died at the
ripe old age of 100 years old in the year 73 Hijrah. This means
that she would be about 27 years old at the time of Hijrah – a good
reference timing for Muhammad’s wedding to Aisha. This clearly
illustrates that Aisha was already a teenager when she got married
to Muhammad.
Assuming these books are reliable on this point, people can
report the age of someone incorrectly after they died.
For example, if you trust ibn Hajar on the previous slide on
when ‘Asma died, you should trust him ibn Hajar’s Isabah
IV, p.359-360 when he shows A’isha was married by the time she was
9 years old. (footnote in al-Tabari vol.11 p.141 footnote
766)
What about the dolls? Contrary to Objection 6, a writer reported
that many Muslim sources refer to A’isha still playing with her
dolls when she was married. (Sahih Muslim vol.2 book 8
ch.548 no.3310,3311 p.716; Sahih Muslim vol.4 book 29
ch.1005 no.5981-5982 p.1299; Sunan Abu Dawud vol.3 book 36
ch.1769 no.4913 p.1373, ibn Hanbal.
4. Prominent Muslim scholars argue
that the particular Hadith, which claim that Aisha’s age at
marriage was 9, have only been conveyed from one source- Hisham ibn
`Urwah. No other credible sources from his time have related the
same thing. For a Hadith to be largely credible, often more than
one source has to be cited to ensure its authenticity.
Hisham ibn ‘Urwah is a transmitter in
many quotes. If he was mistaken, then all the people who accurately
quoted him would have wrong information too.
Mizanu'l-ai`tidal, a book on the [life sketches of the]
narrators of the traditions of the Prophet (pbuh) reports that when
he was old, Hisham's memory suffered quite badly. (v.4,
p.301-302)
, 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. (vol.11, p. 48 - 51)
To
the practicing muslims, let me pose you a
question.
Do you know who is Imam Shafi’i? If you do, please understand
you own Islamic teachings and Imam Shafi'i teachings.
According to Imam Shafi’i, marriage in childhood is not
something appreciable. It was under some exceptional circumstances
that Hadrat ‘A’isha was married to the Prophet (may peace be upon
him). The second point to be noted is that Islam has laid down no
age limit for puberty for it varies with countries and races due to
climate, hereditary, physical and social conditions. Those who live
in cold regions attain puberty at a much later age as compared with
those living in hot regions where both male and female attain it at
a quite early age. All of this was quoted from Sahih
Muslim vol.2 footnote 1958 p.715.