Aisha bint Abi Bakr

Aisha bint Abi Bakr (may God be pleased with her) was the daughter of the first caliph and a wife of the Prophet. Sunni tradition counts her among the greatest transmitters of hadith, and among the most learned women of the first Islamic century.

She was born in Mecca around 613–614 CE, and the date of her birth is disputed. She migrated to Medina with the Hijra, and married Muhammad around 623 CE ¹. She grew up in the Prophet's household, and her contemporaries recorded her sharp memory and intelligence ².

In 627 CE came the episode of the slander. She fell behind the caravan on the way back from a raid, and a young Companion brought her back to the people, while the rabble gossiped with malice. The tradition of tafsir links her innocence to verses revealed on that matter ².

The Prophet died when she was about eighteen. She lived in Medina for nearly five decades and related more than two thousand hadith in the Sunni collections. She corrected the Companions in matters of fiqh and worship. She had a part in the first civil strife, when she led the side that met Ali at the Battle of the Camel in 656 CE ¹. She died in Medina in July 678 CE.

Her voice runs through Sunni fiqh, creed and tafsir. Whenever the community asked what the Prophet had said or done, Aisha's answer carried a particular weight.

Ibn Ishaq, from Asim ibn Umar ibn Qatada, relates that Aisha said to the Prophet that she owed the freeing of a slave from the descendants of Isma'il. He said to her: "The captives of Banu al-Anbar are coming now, and we will give you one of them to free." See the raid on Banu al-Anbar ³.

The Prophet married her in Shawwal of the eleventh year of the mission, when she was six years old. He consummated the marriage in Medina in Shawwal of the first year of the Hijra, when she was nine ^{4 5}.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), article signed Ch. Pellat, calls 'A'isha the third and favourite wife of the Prophet, born at Mecca about 614, daughter of Abu Bakr and of Umm Ruman (may God be pleased with her) of the Kinana. The article gives the marriage as proposed through Khawla bint Hakim, the wife of 'Uthman b. Maz'un, after Khadija's death; an earlier betrothal of 'A'isha to Jubayr b. Mut'im was set aside, and the marriage was consummated some months after the Hijra, when she was nine or so. The article notes that Muhammad's marriages had political purposes and that this one strengthened his tie with Abu Bakr. ⁶

In 5/627, on the return from the expedition against Banu l-Mustaliq, she was left behind when she went to find a necklace. A young man, Safwan b. al-Mu'attal al-Sulami, escorted her back to Medina, which was improper in the circumstances. The gossip was magnified by 'Abd Allah b. Ubayy, the leader of the hypocrites, and when no solid evidence was found, a revelation (Qur'an 24) implied her innocence and rebuked the gossips, and Ibn Ubayy was publicly humiliated. The article notes stories of Muhammad's affection for her and hers for him, but judges that they do not show her engaged in political intrigue; there were two factions among the wives, one led by 'A'isha and Hafsa, which supported the policy of their fathers, and another led by Umm Salama, but their rivalry had little political effect. She nursed him in his last illness, and he was buried in her chamber, where Abu Bakr and 'Umar were also buried. She was a childless widow of about eighteen, and was not to remarry. ⁶

After the murder of 'Uthman in Dhu l-Hijja 35/June 656 she left Medina for Mecca and then, with about a thousand men of Quraysh, for Basra, with Talha and al-Zubayr, professing to avenge 'Uthman. At the battle of the Camel (Jumada II 36/December 656), around the camel carrying her litter, 'Ali was victorious; 'A'isha was treated with respect, while Talha and al-Zubayr were killed. She then lived quietly in Medina for over twenty years, became reconciled with 'Ali, and did not oppose Mu'awiya. She died in Ramadan 58/July 678. The article notes that more than two thousand traditions were related on her authority, of which far fewer were retained by al-Bukhari and Muslim; she was known for poetry, eloquence and history. ⁷