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Ages of Muhammad's Wives at Marriage

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This article analyzes the widely repeated claim that all of Prophet Muhammad's wives, except for
Aisha, were elderly women.

Contents
[hide]

1 Introduction
1.1 Calculating Comparative Dates
2 Analysis
2.1 Khadijah's Age
2.1.1 Hakim ibn Hizam
2.1.2 Abdullah ibn Abbas
2.1.3 Gynaecology
2.1.4 Conclusion
2.2 Sawdah's Age
2.2.1 Sawdahs Father was Still Alive
2.2.2 Sawdah Lived another 54 Years
2.2.3 Sawdah had Not Reached Menopause
2.2.4 Conclusion
2.3 Aisha's Age
2.4 Hafsah's Age
2.5 Zaynab bint Khuzayma's Age
2.6 Hind's Age
2.7 Zaynab bint Jahsh's Age
2.8 Juwayriyah's Age
2.9 Safiyah's Age
2.10 Ramlah's Age
2.11 Maymunah's Age
2.12 Mulaykah's Age
2.13 Asma's Age
2.14 Amrah's Age
3 Ages Unknown
3.1 Rayhanah bint Zayd ibn Amr
3.2 Mariyah bint Shamoon
3.3 Fatima ("Al-Aliya") bint Al-Dahhak
3.4 "Al-Jariya" and Tukanah
4 Mean Ages
4.1 Muhammads Wives
4.2 Muhammad as Bridegroom
4.3 Skewed Statistics
5 Conclusion
6 See Also
7 References

Introduction[edit]
Many apologists claim that Muhammads wives were elderly and that he did not marry them for
physical attraction.

But all his wives were elderly ladies or widows except [Aisha and Mariyah]. If the aim had been
seeking sexual pleasures, he would have done so in his youth and would have married young
maidens, not aged widows.
Islam for Women

Then he emigrated to Medina and began spreading the word of Allah. Thereafter, he married
eight women, all of them widows or divorcees, all old or middle-aged.
Al-Islam: Life of the Prophet, chapter 25

Even some non-Muslim historians have repeated this claim.

All appear to have been elderly widows except Aisha The elderly wives were widows of
companions who had fallen in the wars, and Muhammad married them to shelter them and
provide them with homes.
Thomas, B. S. (1937). The Arabs, pp. 65-66. New York: Doubleday, Doran and Co., Inc.

What this highlights is that terms like middle-aged and elderly are subjective. They do not give
precise information about how old the women were. Rather than debate what the words middle-
aged and elderly ought to mean, we will consult the early Muslim sources and calculate the age of
each wife on the day she married Muhammad.

Calculating Comparative Dates[edit]

The Islamic year consists of twelve lunar cycles and hence it is 354 or 355 days long. This means it is
quite difficult to calculate comparative dates. For example:

The apostle came to Medina on Monday at high noon on 12 Rabi-Awwal. The apostle on that day
was 53 years of age, that being 13 years after God called him.
Guillaume/Ishaq 281.

The apostle was born on Monday 12 Rabi-Awwal in the Year of the Elephant.
Guillaume/Ishaq 69.

This calendar tool advises us that the date 12 Rabi-Awwal 1 AH is equivalent to the Gregorian date 27
September 622 AD.[1] But this does not give the 53-year-old Muhammad a birthdate of 27 September
569. Because the lunar year is shorter, Muhammads age at the time of the Hijra was only about 51
solar years. According to the calculator, his birthdate of 12 Rabi-Awwal 53 BH is equivalent to the
Gregorian date 26 April 571.

The Gregorian calendar did not exist in Muhammads day, so reporting dates in Gregorian style is an
anachronism. However, it will be convenient to compare Muhammads calendar with the Gregorian
calendar, which is internationally the most widely accepted and used civil calendar.[2][3][4]

When Muslim historians speak of the Year of the Elephant, they always mean the year when
Muhammad was born, which fell between 15 February 571 and 3 February 572.

That Muhammad apparently arrived in Medina exactly on his birthday 12 Rabi-Awwal which was
also his death-date[5] suggests that his official birthday is a made-up date. In fact the early historians
give numerous suggestions for birth-dates other than the 12th, which the calculator tells was in any
case a Friday and not a Monday. However, since the variant birthdays for Muhammad are all in the
month of Rabi-Awwal and the year of the Elephant, we shall assume here that Muhammad was
born in April 571.

A further complication is that nobody is certain that the pre-Hijri year was exactly the same as the
Muslim year that was standardised after the Hijra. However, Muhammad complained about the
custom of adding an intercalary month, which was probably a Medinan practice introduced by the
Jews.[6] The fact that he abolished intercalary months[7] suggests that no such practice had been
known in Mecca and that the old Meccan year was much the same as the later Islamic year.

Analysis[edit]
Khadijah's Age[edit]

The discussion about Khadijahs age does not arouse the type of defensiveness and imaginative
apologetics that surrounds the discussion of Aishas age. Nobody denies that Khadijah married
Muhammad as a very willing adult. Nevertheless, the traditional view of her age is probably wrong.

Hakim ibn Hizam said, The Messenger of Allah married Khadijah when she was 40 and the
Messenger of Allah was 25. Khadijah was two years older than me. She was born 15 years before
the Elephant and I was born 13 years before the Elephant.
Bewley/Saad 8:11; Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 41.

Hakim ibn Hizam said, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid died in the month of Ramadan in the tenth year
of prophethood. She was 65 then.
Bewley/Saad 8:12; Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 161.

The year 65 years before the tenth year of prophethood ran between 27 July 556 and 15 July 557,
which was 15 years before the Year of the Elephant, so this is internally consistent.

Hakim was Khadijahs nephew.[8] Since children generally know the ages of their playmates, it is
assumed that Hakim would have known the age of an aunt who was only two years older than
himself. That is why his statement that she married Muhammad when she was 40 is usually accepted
as true. However, there are problems with Hakims assertion.
Hakim ibn Hizam[edit]

The first problem is that Hakim claimed his own age to be 120.[9] This is intrinsically questionable. To
bolster his story, Hakim claimed to remember the episode when Abdulmuttalib ibn Hashim vowed to
sacrifice his son Abdullah to the god Hubal but was able to ransom him for 100 camels. He says this
was about five years before Muhammad was born.[10] But Hakims ability to recite details that were
already common knowledge does not prove he was an eyewitness to the event: he might well have
heard the story from his parents.

Hakims remarks about Khadijahs age might have served a similar function of supporting his
personal boasts rather than relaying accurate history. If he had long ago mentioned that Khadijah was
two years older than himself, he might have needed to stick to his story about her relative age and
readjust her chronological age in order to keep it consistent with his claims about his own age. There
is something suspicious about his remark here.

We asked Hakim ibn Hizam which of them was older, the Messenger of Allah or Khadijah? He
said, Khadijah was 15 years older than him. The prayer was unlawful for my aunt before the
Messenger of Allah was born. Hakims statement, The prayer was unlawful for her, means she
menstruated, but he is speaking as the people of Islam speak.
Bewley/Saad 8:9

The reporter is emphasising that Hakim was only using a figure of speech to indicate Khadijahs age
and did not literally mean that she followed Islamic prayer rituals before Muhammad was even born.
However, this kind of careless anachronism is exactly what we would expect from a person who is not
remembering an event but inventing it from his imagination. Crudely, it is the way liars speak.

It is not impossible for a human to live 120 years but it is an exception to the general rule. So it is
surprising how many early Muslims claimed to have reached this great age. Yahya ibn Mandah even
wrote a book entitled Those of the Companions who Lived 120 Years, in which he lists fourteen 120-
year-old Muslims.[11] Hakim ibn Hizam is one of them. Another is Huwaytib ibn Abduluzza.

Huwaytib ibn Abduluzza lived 120 years, 60 of them in the Jahiliya and 60 in Islam.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 43.

Huwaytib died in the year 54 AH (673-674)[12] so he should have converted to Islam in the year 7 BH
(615616). The problem is, he openly admits that he did not convert until the conquest of Mecca in 8
AH (January 630). He gives a long list of excuses for the delay in his conversion[13] but he never
checks his arithmetic. If he became a Muslim in 8 AH, this was only 46 years before his death and not
60. This makes his age at death no more than 106. Of course, even this age assumes that he really was
as old as 60 at the time of his conversion, which we now have licence to doubt. Huwaytib ibn
Abduluzza lived to be elderly, but he was probably not entitled to his chapter in Yahya ibn Mandahs
book.

Muhammads poet, Hassan ibn Thabit, also claimed to be 120 years old. He said he was 60 at the time
of the Hijra and that he lived another 60 years afterwards.[14] This means he should have been born in
60 BH (seven years before Muhammad) and should have died in 61 AH (680-681). Tabari vaguely
states that he died in the caliphate of Muawiya,[15] which was between 40 and 60 AH (February 661
- April 680). Modern historians usually give his death-date as 54 AH, which is seven years too early.
[16]

Not included in Yahya ibn Mandahs book is the poet Abu Afak, who was said to be 120 years old in
624 when he was assassinated for criticising Muhammad.[17] Of course, no records have survived
from pre-Islamic Medina; it was only hearsay that attributed this great age to Abu Afak. Yet even his
enemies were willing to go along with the hearsay.

Is it really plausible that so many persons (all of them male) lived to be 120? Assuming it is not, is it
even fair to accuse them of lying about their ages? More likely, there was some culturally understood
convention attached to the number 120. People who boasted that, I was already 60 before Event X
and I have survived another 60 years since, did not expect to be taken literally. They were simply
saying, Im really, really old.

If Hakim ibn Hizam was not literally 120, nor is it necessarily true that Khadijah (or any other person)
was the age he claimed for her.

Abdullah ibn Abbas[edit]

The second problem with Khadijahs age is that there is a strong alternative tradition, one that
originates from no less a person than Abdullah ibn Abbas. Ibn Abbas was the cousin who lived at
Muhammads side through the final years in Medina.[18] He was a great source of ahadith and his
word would normally be accepted without question.[19] What is more, his mother was a close friend of
Khadijahs.[20] The only reason why Abdullah has been largely ignored on the subject of Khadijah is
that he never knew her personally while Hakim ibn Hizam did.[21] Abdullah ibn Abbas says:

On the day Khadijah married Allahs Messenger, she was 28 years old.[22]
Ibn Ishaq, cited in Al-Hakim, Mustadrak vol. 3 p. 182. Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidaya wal-Nihaya vol. 5 p. 293.

This tradition was strong enough to be accepted by Ibn Ishaq. It was not included in the recension of
Ibn Hisham (who was not interested in the ages of women) or used as a source by Ibn Saad or Tabari
(who followed Hakim ibn Hizam's tradition, presumably for the reasons given above). But it was
included by Al-Hakim al-Naysaburi, who lived about a hundred years after Tabari.[23] Although he
was not an early historian, he was apparently still early enough to have direct access to the work of
Ibn Ishaq.

An independent tradition is:

Some say that Khadijah died at 65, but age 50 is sounder.


Bayhaqi, Signs of Prophethood vol. 2 p. 71.

If she was 50 at death, she was 25 at marriage. However, this is not really a third tradition about
Khadijahs age, for the context suggests that the number 50 is only an approximation. So the tradition
that Khadijah was married at about 25 is actually independent support for the tradition that she was
in fact 28.
Gynaecology[edit]

The third problem with Khadijahs age is the common-sense consideration that she bore Muhammad
six children over a period of ten years.[24] If she married him at 40, she was 50 by the time she gave
birth to Fatima in 605.[25] While this is not completely impossible, it is a sufficiently unusual
achievement to cause us to pause and question the assertion.

Muhammads detractors in Mecca asked him why he did not perform any miracles.[26] The only
response available to him was, The Quran is my miracle,[27] but it is clear that he was not happy
about this response. He subsequently claimed to have split the moon and to have travelled to
Jerusalem and back in one night. Later tales, omitted from the earliest histories, claimed that he had
multiplied food like Jesus Christ,[28] transfigured wood into iron, reminiscent of Elishas retrieval of
the borrowed axe-head,[29] or cursed his enemys camel to sink in the sand.[30] Yet in the hostile
atmosphere of Mecca, where a miracle was desperately desired to reinforce Muhammads credibility,
he never pointed to his wifes extraordinary fecundity. He never called it a blessing similar to Sarahs
gestation of Isaac[31] or Elizabeths of John the Baptist.[32] In fact nobody expressed even mild
surprise that a woman of Khadijahs age had produced so many children.

Perhaps that was because Khadijahs fertility was a commonplace for a woman of her age. Perhaps
she was still in her thirties when she bore Muhammads children. Perhaps, when her daughter Fatima
was weaned in 607,[33] Khadijah was still a few months short of forty and that was why her
childbearing ceased.

Conclusion[edit]

If Khadijah was only two to three years older than Muhammad, this makes sense of a great deal. It
explains how she was able to use her sex appeal as well as her money to attract him. It explains how
she was able to produce six children in ten years and why she then stopped childbearing. It explains
why Muhammad remained attracted to Khadijah for so long when, in later life, he was to reject older
women.[34] It explains why, after twenty years of marriage, he began thinking about younger women,
[35]
for Khadijah would have been at that time menopausal and first losing her looks.

The Prophet returned with Maysara from Syria on the 14th night from the end of Dhul-Hijja in
the 25th year from the Day of the Elephant [3 May 595] The Prophet married Khadijah two
months and 15 days after his return from Syria, at the end of Safar in the 26th year.
Mughaltay, Al-Zahr al-Basim fi Sirat Abil-Qasim, cited in Kister, M. J. (1993). The Sons of Khadijah. Jerusalem
Studies in Arabic and Islam, 16, 59-95.

While this date, not found in the major hadith collections, might be an educated fabrication rather
than literally historical, there are no rival suggestions for Muhammad and Khadijahs wedding date.
The year at least fits with all the generally accepted information about the ages of Muhammad and his
children. 26 Elephant was 28 BH. A wedding date of 29 Safar that year would have fallen on 16 July
595.

If Khadijah was 28 at that time, she was born in the year between March 568 and March 569, some
dozen years later than Hakim ibn Hizam claimed. Her age in solar years could have been anywhere
between 26 years 4 months and 27 years 4 months. All we can do is take the median and accept it as
an approximation.

Khadijahs Median Age = 26 years and 10 months.


Muhammads Age = 24 years and 3 months.
Age Difference = (minus) 2 years and 7 months.

Far from being a much older woman, it appears that Khadijah was the only one of Muhammads
wives who might fairly be deemed the same age as himself.

Sawdah's Age[edit]

No contemporary historian gives Sawdahs exact age, so we can only make an educated guess. The
wedding date, however, is widely agreed.

The Prophet married Sawdah in Ramadan, in the tenth year after his prophethood. This was after
Khadijahs death and before his marriage to Aisha.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 170.

Ramadan fell between 13 April and 12 May 620; but as Khadijah died on 10 Ramadan[36] (22 April),
Muhammad probably married Sawdah towards the end of the month. We can call the date May 620
without being far wrong.

Because Sawdah is described as older than her co-wives, this has led to extreme guesses that she
was a bride of 65[37] or even 80[38] However, while trying to establish Sawdahs age, we can
immediately rule out any estimates that ignore three established facts.

Sawdahs Father was Still Alive[edit]

When Khawla bint Hakim brought Muhammads marriage proposal to Sawdah:

Sawdah said, I want you to go to my father and tell him about it. Khawla states: he was a very
old man and had stayed away from the pilgrimage. I went to him and greeted him with the pre-
Islamic salutation and told him that Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abdulmuttalib had sent me to
ask for Sawdahs hand in marriage. A noble match, he replied. What does your friend say?
[Muhammad] came and [Zamaa] married her to him.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 9, p. 130.

Sawdah Lived another 54 Years[edit]

Sawdah bint Zamaa died in Medina in Shawwal of 54, during the caliphate of Muawiya.
Bewley/Saad 8:43.

This date is between 11 September and 9 October 674 more than 54 years after the day when
Sawdah married Muhammad. If she had lived to be 134, or even 114, someone would have
commented. But if she was only about 40 on her wedding day, she must have survived to her mid-90s,
which is impressive but plausible.
Sawdah had Not Reached Menopause[edit]

As [Sawdah] became old, she had made over her day with Allahs Messenger to Aisha. She said:
I have made over my day with you to Aisha. So Allahs Messenger allotted two days to Aisha,
her own day and that of Sawdah.
Sahih Bukhari 1:8:3451.

Sawdah bint Zamaa became old and the Messenger of Allah did not have much to do with her.
She became afraid that he would divorce her and she would lose her place with him. So she
said, Messenger of Allah, my day which falls for me is for Aisha and you are in the lawful in it.
Bewley/Saad 8:40.

The texts do not say that Sawdah was old but that she became old, i.e. that she was only at the
beginning of the old age period of her life. In the modern world, this would suggest that she was 65
or 70, which may explain why modern historians have assumed she was very elderly. But this is
clearly impossible in the light of the fact that she lived another fifty years.

In the culture of the medieval Arabs, when a womans value to society depended on her capacity to
bear children, a woman only had three life-stages: childhood (before she could bear children),
adulthood (childbearing age) and old age (when she was past childbearing). So an old woman was
simply one who was too old to have children possibly a healthy, active, sharp-minded woman as
young as 40. It is practically certain that the sentence Sawdah became old really only means
Sawdah reached menopause.[39]

When did Sawdah reach menopause? Obviously it was after Muhammad had consummated his
marriage to Aisha in 623. So we already know that Sawdah was pre-menopausal in 620. But in fact it
was even later than this, for the near-divorce episode is referred to in Qur'an 4:128. Ibn Kathir frankly
admits:

Ibn Abbas said that the ayah refers to, When the husband gives his wife the choice between
staying with him or leaving him, as this is better than the husband preferring other wives to her.
However, the apparent wording of the ayah refers to the settlement where the wife forfeits some
of the rights she has over her husband, with the husband agreeing to this concession, and that this
settlement is better than divorce. For instance, the Prophet kept Sawdah bint Zamah as his wife
after she offered to forfeit her day for Aishah.
Ibn Kathir, Tafsir on Q4:128.

The fourth surah of the Qur'an is long and was probably not written all at once. But it all belongs to
the same general period. It covers many family issues, including inheritance rights. Qur'an 4:7-11 was
written to answer the complaint of an Uhud widow,[40] so it must date from after 22 March 625. This
same incident confirmed the limitation of the number of wives to four,[41] so it must have been written
before Muhammad was given permission to take a fifth concurrent wife[42] on 27 March 627.[43] The
surah is also full of invectives against the Jews[44] and hypocrites,[45] who were no longer a problem
after April 627.[46] So the episode in which Sawdah became old and pleaded with Muhammad to
not divorce her occurred between mid-625 and early 627.
In fact, we strongly suspect that the date was towards the end of this period. Muhammad most likely
considered divorcing Sawdah in December 626 or January 627 expressly because he wanted to marry
a fifth woman but was trying to observe the limit of four wives.[47] If Muhammad had not been
contemplating marriage to a fifth woman, there would have been no point in divorcing Sawdah, for
she was no trouble to him at home.[48] It was only after he had decided to keep Sawdah that he needed
the special dispensation to marry unlimited wives. However, the sources do not explicitly state this
circumstance as the reason for the near-divorce. They only say that Sawdah became old and so
Muhammad wanted to divorce her.

If Sawdah was menopausal in 626, or perhaps 625, this suggests she was then aged about 45, making
her around 40 when she married Muhammad.

Conclusion[edit]

When Muhammad married Sawdah in May 620, he was 49. It is possible that Sawdah was also about
that age[49] and that she lived to be over 100. But it is unlikely. Allowing that she was not yet
menopausal and that she had a father living, she was probably closer to 40.

Sawdahs Probable Age = about 40 years.


Muhammads Age = 49 years and 1 month.
Age Difference = 9 years, plus or minus a few.

The age difference between Muhammad and Sawdah was not inappropriate for a middle-aged couple;
but she was almost certainly the younger spouse. And we will state here that Sawdah was the oldest
bride whom Muhammad ever married.

Aisha's Age[edit]

This question has already been adequately answered here and here. In sum, there is absolutely no
reason to doubt Aishas own statements.

The Messenger of Allah married me when I was six and consummated the marriage when I was
nine. I was playing on a see-saw I used to play dolls.
Bewley/Saad 8:44.

Allahs Apostle married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house when I
was nine years old.
Sahih Muslim 8:3310

The Prophet married Aisha in Shawwal in the tenth year after the prophethood [13 May - 10 June
620], three years before the Hijra. He consummated the marriage in Shawwal, eight months after
the Hijra [11 May - 9 April 623]. On the day he consummated the marriage with her, she was
nine years old.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 171.

Copious documentation on hundreds of Muhammads companions shows that most Arabs knew their
age to the nearest year. Why should Aisha, with her extraordinary memory,[50] her penchant for details
and her talent for arithmetic,[51] have been any exception? To suggest that, contrary to her clear
statement, she miscalculated or fabricated her own age is not logical. The information about her death
only confirms her consistency.

Aisha died on Tuesday night, the 17 Ramadan 58 AH [16 July 678], and she was buried the same
night after the night prayer. She was then 66 years old.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 173.

The year 66 years before 58 AH was once again nine years before the Hijra, making Aisha nine years
old at her consummation in 1 AH. While it may well be true that most Arabs only knew their age to
the year and not to the day, there is some evidence that Aishas family had noted at least the month in
which she was born.

Aisha was born at the beginning of the fourth year of prophethood, and she married the
Messenger of Allah in the tenth year, in Shawwal, when she was six.
Bewley/Saad 8:55.

If they knew that she had been born at the beginning and not the middle or the end of the year,
it is unlikely that they would have been wrong about the year itself. The fourth year of prophethood
was indeed the ninth year before the Hijra (25 October 613 - 13 October 614). It was the year when
Muhammad first preached Islam in public;[52] Aishas parents would not have forgotten what was
happening around the city at the time when their daughter was born. Abu Bakrs accuracy is not really
surprising, as he was a recognised expert on genealogy,[53] so a persons month of birth was exactly
the kind of detail that he would remember.

Aisha narrated that Allahs Apostle married her when she was seven years old, and he she was
taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her; and when he died
she was 18 years old.
Sahih Muslim 8:3311

Abdullah narrated. The Holy Prophet married Aisha while she was a seven-year-old girl and took
her to his house as a bride when she was nine years old and he parted with her when she was 18
years old.
Ibn Majah 3:1877

These two narratives offer a variant for Aishas age when she was legally married, but this is an
uncertainty about the date of the contract (two rather than three years before the consummation). It
does not reflect any uncertainty about Aishas date of birth, since they confirm that the marriage was
consummated when she was nine. The real discrepancy can be missed by a casual reader, but it is
obvious to anyone familiar with the Islamic calendar.

Aisha was married in the first year AH (19 July 622 - 7 July 623) and widowed in the eleventh (1
April 632 - 20 March 633). Since she was married at nine, she should have been 19, not 18, when
Muhammad died. This is possibly just careless counting by some person other than Aisha: Nine and
a bit plus nine and a bit is still only 18. But it could also mean that on the day when Muhammad
died, Aisha had not yet passed her birthday. Muhammad died on 12 Rabi-Awwal 11 AH (i.e., in the
middle of the third month) (10 June 632).[54] If Aisha knew that she had been born on some date later
in the year than 12 Rabi-Awwal, then she was still only 18 and not 19 when she was widowed.
This gives us Aishas date of birth to within six weeks. It might have been as early as 13 Rabi-Awwal
9 BH (4 January 614). But it is unlikely that it was any later than 29 Rabi-Thani 9 BH (19 February
614), as any date later than the fourth month would not have been early in the year. So we can
express Aishas birthday as 27 January 614, plus or minus three weeks.

Her marriage was consummated in the tenth month of the first year AH. This fell between 11 April
and 9 May (median = 25 April 623). We can now take an informed estimate of her age at
consummation.

Aishas Median Age at Consummation = 9 years and 3 months.


Muhammads Age = 52 years and 0 months.
Age Difference = 42 years and 9 months.

The exact age or age difference down to the day or even to the year do not matter. The real points are
that (1) Aisha was a prepubescent child, and (2) Muhammad was old enough to be her grandfather.

Aisha was the youngest bride whom Muhammad married. It does not follow that she was the
youngest wife in the household. Towards the end of his life, Muhammad acquired a few women
whose age in years was even younger than Aishas.

Hafsah's Age[edit]

There is some discrepancy about Hafsahs exact age but there is no doubt at all concerning her
approximate age.

Hafsah was born when the Quraysh were building the House, five years before the Prophet was
sent.
Bewley/Saad 8:56.

This was the year from 30 January 605 to 19 January 606, so the median birthdate for Hafsah is 26
July 605. Muhammads daughter Fatima was born in the same year.[55]

Hafsah died in Shabaan AH 45 during the caliphate of Muawiya. She was then 60 years old.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 174.

This was the month between 20 October and 17 November 665, which is a contradiction. If Hafsah
died at the age of 60 Islamic years, she would have been born in 607 (median = 4 July 607), two years
later than Ibn Saad claims. However, the date when the Quraysh were rebuilding the House is
precise, and so is the mention of Shabaan as the month of death. If both these details are correct, it is
possible that she was then 60 was only meant as an approximation.

So we will assume that Hafsah was born in 605; but we should bear in mind she might have been two
years younger than this.

The Prophet married Hafsah in Shabaan 30 months after [the Hijra], before the battle of Uhud.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 174.

Shabaan 3 AH fell between 20 January and 17 February 625 (median = 3 February).


Hafsahs Median Age = 19 years and 7 months.
Muhammads Age = 53 years and 9 months.
Age Difference = 34 years and 2 months.

It does not really matter whether Hafsah was 19 or 17. The important points are that (1) she was
biologically a woman and not a child, but (2) she was a young woman, while Muhammad was
biologically old enough to be her grandfather.

Zaynab bint Khuzayma's Age[edit]

Zaynabs life is not well documented, which has led to guessing about her age.

Zainab bint Huzaima was 60 years old Of course, it is impossible for a marriage with a
sixty-year old woman to have passion. The only aim of this marriage was to help someone who
was left alone.
Hussein (2011). Could you give information about the Prophets wives and his polygamy? in Questions on
Islam.

However, there is no need for this kind of guessing, for her age is in fact recorded.

I asked, How old was she when she died? He said, Thirty years or so.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, 164.

[Muhammad] married [Zaynab] in Ramadan at the beginning of the 31st month of the Hijra. She
remained with him for eight months and then died at the end of Rabi al-Akhir at the beginning of
the 39th month.
Bewley/Saad 8:82.

Zaynab was therefore married on or soon after 18 February 625. She died on or just before 11 October
625. If she was about 30 in 4 AH, she was born in October 596, plus or minus a few years.

Zaynabs Median Age = 28 years and 4 months.


Muhammads Age = 53 years and 10 months.
Age Difference = 25 years and 6 months.

Zaynab married five times.[56] Her fifth choice, it seems, fell on a high-status and already-married
man old enough to be her father.

Hind's Age[edit]

The data about Hind (Umm Salama) is precise, and there are no variant traditions.

She died in Dhul-Qada 59 AH [17 August - 15 September 679].


Bewley/Saad 8:61.

It is related that she was 84 when she died.


Bewley/Saad 8:67
Eighty-four years before 59 AH brings us to the year between 26 April 597 and 15 April 598 and a
median birthdate of 20 October 597.

The Messenger of Allah married her at the end of the month of Shawwal 4 AH [on or before 6
April 626].
Bewley/Saad 8:61.

Hinds Median Age = 28 years and 6 months.


Muhammads Age = 55 years and 0 months.
Age Difference = 26 years and 6 months.

It is very plausible that Hind was 28 when she married Muhammad, for her fourth child was then a
newborn[57] while her eldest daughter was about ten years of age.[58]

Zaynab bint Jahsh's Age[edit]

There is dispute about Muhammad's biological cousin's[59] exact age, but there is no doubt about her
approximate age.

I saw Umar ibn Al-Khattab pray over Zaynab bint Jahsh in 20 AH [641 CE] on a summer day,
and I saw a cloth stretched over her grave.
Bewley/Saad 8:80.

According to Umar ibn Uthman [ibn Abdullah al-Jahshi] from his father: Zaynab bint Jahsh died
at the age of 53.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 182.

Note that this narrator was the grandson of Zaynabs own nephew. If Zaynab was 53 in 20 AH, she
was born in 34 BH between 23 July 589 and 11 July 590 (median = 15 January 590).

The Prophet married Zaynab bint Jahsh on the first of Dhul-Qada 5.


Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 182.

The first of Dhul-Qada 5 AH was 27 March 627. However, there is a contradiction. The same
nephew who said she died at age 53 also said:

Uthman ibn Abdullah al-Jahshi said, The Messenger of Allah married Zaynab bint Jahsh at the
beginning of the month of Dhul-Qada in 5 AH. She was 35 at the time.
Bewley/Saad 8:81

Thirty-five years before 5 AH brings us to a birth-year of 31 BH (20 June 592 - 8 June 593), a
discrepancy of three years. Probably Umar ibn Uthman was giving a round number when he said she
was married at 35; to be conservative, we will assume the earlier birthdate. However, we must bear in
mind that Zaynab might have been some three years younger than this.

Zaynabs Median Age = 37 years and 2 months.


Muhammads Age = 55 years and 11 months.
Age Difference = 18 years and 9 months.

Therefore we have to discard modern commentaries claiming that Zaynab was in late middle
age.[60] While her contemporary community might not have considered her a young woman, this is
relative. She was still young enough to have been Muhammads daughter.

Juwayriyah's Age[edit]

Juwayriyahs age is only mildly controversial.

According to Juwayriyah: I was 20 years old when the Prophet married me.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 184.

Juwayriyah died in 50 AH [1 February 670 - 20 January 671] when she was 65.
Bewley/Saad 8:85.

If Juwayriyah was 65 in 50 AH, the year in which she was born would have been 16 BH, which fell
between 9 January and 28 December 607. (Although there is a variant tradition that she did not die
until 56 AH,[61] this tradition does not state her age at death, so we shall ignore it.) The year in which
she was 20 would have been 5 AH. There is indeed some evidence for a wedding date of 5 AH.

He married Juwayriyah bint al-Harith ibn Abi Dirar al-Khuzaiya, who was among the captives of
the Mustaliq of Khuzaa tribe.
Ibn Hisham note 918.

[The apostle] attacked the Mustaliq branch of the Khuzaa tribe He went out and met them at a
watering-place of theirs called al-Muraysi
Guillaume/Ishaq 490.

I asked Aisha about the marriage of the Messenger of Allah to Zaynab bint Jahsh. She said, On
our return from the expedition of al-Muraysi or shortly after it.
Bewley/Saad 8:81

The Prophet married Zaynab bint Jahsh on the first of Dhul-Qada 5 AH.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 182.

This supports a date of 5 AH, though earlier than the eleventh month of Dhul-Qada, for the marriage
to Juwayriyah.

However, this cannot be right. For a start, Ibn Ishaq disagrees.

[The apostle] attacked the Mustaliq branch of the Khuzaa tribe in Shaaban 6 AH [19 December
627 - 16 January 628].
Guillaume/Ishaq 490.

Further, it is certain that the raid at al-Muraysi and consequent marriage to Juwayriyah took place not
before, but after, Muhammads marriage to Zaynab bint Jahsh. As Aisha tells the story:
[Muhammad] cast lots between his wives which of them should accompany him. He did this on
the occasion of the raid on the Mustaliq tribe, and the lot fell on me, so the apostle took me out.
Guillaume/Ishaq 494.

On the way home, Aisha was temporarily lost:

So I wrapped myself in my smock [Safwan ibn al-Muattal al-Sulami] passed me He saw


my form and came and stood over me. He used to see me before the veil was prescribed for us, so
when he saw me he exclaimed in astonishment, The apostles wife! while I was wrapped in my
garments.
Guillaume/Ishaq 494.

Muhammad had ordered his wives to be veiled at the time he married Zaynab,[62] so the raid at al-
Muraysi must have been after this. After Safwan brought Aisha back to Medina, they found
themselves the focus of gossip.

The greatest offenders were Hamna bint Jahsh, for the reason that her sister Zaynab bint Jahsh
was one of the apostles wives and only she could rival me in his favour. As for Zaynab, Allah
protected her by her religion and she spoke nothing but good. But Hamna spread the report far
and wide, opposing me for the sake of her sister.
Guillaume/Ishaq 495.

This makes it very clear that Muhammad was already married to Zaynab during this controversy,
which arose before the warriors had even arrived home from the al-Muraysi expedition. He married
Zaynab in late 5 AH, so Ibn Ishaqs date of 6 AH for the raid must be the correct one. It does seem
odd that Aisha would give the wrong sequence for two such dramatic events as the raid at al-Muraysi
and the Prophets marriage to Zaynab. However, it is more likely that, when asked for a date, she
accidentally named the wrong expedition than that, recalling what could be considered 'the crisis of
her life', she could not remember whether she had been veiled or who had been spreading gossip
about her.

If Juwayriyah was 20 years old in 6 AH, she must have been born in 15 BH (between 29 December
607 and 17 December 608). That would make her only 64, not 65, at her death in 50 AH. This is not a
serious discrepancy, but it does mean that one of these ages is only an approximation. On balance, the
younger age is more likely to be correct. Young people are usually accurate about their ages (When
my husband was killed, I was definitely 20, not 19 or 21) whereas the elderly are more likely to use
round numbers (I think this will be my final illness, for Im already in my mid-60s).

Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, we shall take a two-year range for Juwayriyahs birthdate,
between 9 January 607 and 17 December 608. The median is 28 December 607. She was married in
Shabaan 6 AH, a median date of 2 January 628.

Juwayriyahs Median Age = 20 years and 0 months.


Muhammads Age = 56 years and 9 months.
Age Difference = 36 years and 9 months.

So another one of Muhammad's wives, Juwayriyah, was young enough to be his granddaughter.
Safiyah's Age[edit]

Safiyah gives us unusual precision, for it appears that she knew her age to the month.

I was not even 17, or I was just 17, the night I entered the Prophet.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 185.

She married Muhammad at the time when Khaybar fell. The exact date of this victory is not recorded,
but the general period of the siege is clear.

The apostle stayed in Medina during Dhul-Hijja and part of al-Muharram ... Then he marched
against Khaybar The apostle seized the property piece by piece and conquered the forts one by
one as he came to them The apostle took captives from them, among whom was Safiyah bint
Huyayy ibn Akhtab. The apostle chose Safiyah for himself When the apostle returned from
Khaybar to Medina he stayed there from the first Rabi until Shawwal.
Guillaume/Ishaq 510, 511, 530

The Muslims therefore began the march to Khaybar in late May or early June 628 and were back in
Medina before the end of July. So Muhammad married Safiyah early in Rabi-Awwal 7 AH (mid-July
628). Safiyah apparently knew that she had been born in Rabi-Awwal 17 years earlier, though she did
not know whether it had been late or early in the month and therefore did not know whether she had
reached 17 full years on the particular night when she married Muhammad. The Rabi-Awwal of 17
years earlier fell between 14 January and 12 February 612, giving Safiyah a birthdate of 28 January
612, plus or minus a fortnight.

Safiyahs Age = 16 years and 6 months.


Muhammads Age = 57 years and 3 months.
Age Difference = 40 years and 9 months.

Safiyah was yet another bride who was young enough to be Muhammads granddaughter.

Ramlah's Age[edit]

It is said, citing Sunan Nasai vol. 1 book 1 #60 p. 127, that Ramlah (Umm Habiba) was 23 years
younger than Muhammad.[63] Since he was born in 53 BH, this would place her birth in 30 BH. If this
citation is correct, it is in broad agreement with the other sources.

[Ramlahs marriage] occurred in the year 7 AH. She was thirty-odd years old when she was
brought to Medina.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 180.

[Ramlah] married the Prophet Muhammad in 1 AH, although she did not actually come to live
with him in Medina until 7 AH, when the Prophet was 60 years old and she was 35.
Ibn Kathir, Umm Habiba in The Wives of the Prophet.

Ibn Kathir makes Muhammad 25 years older than Ramlah. This is not a serious contradiction. If
Muhammad was 53 in 1 AH, then he was only 59 and not 60 in 7 AH; so calling Ramlahs age 35
rather than 36 may also be an approximation, much like Tabaris thirty-odd. Since Ibn Kathir is not
a primary source, we shall be conservative and assume that thirty-odd means 36 and that Ramlah
was born in 30 BH.

30 BH fell between 9 June 593 and 28 May 594, giving Ramlah a median birthdate of 2 December
593. Her marriage to Muhammad was consummated upon his return from Khaybar in July 628.[64]

Ramlahs Median Age at Consummation = 34 years and 7 months.


Muhammads Age = 57 years and 3 months.
Age Difference = 22 years and 8 months.

Ramlah was young enough to be Muhammads daughter.

Maymunah's Age[edit]

There are two traditions about Maymunah, neither of which makes very much sense.

Maymunah died in the year 61 AH during the caliphate of Yazid ibn Muawiya. She was the last
of the wives of the Prophet to die, and her age was then 80 or 81.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 186.

This would place her death in the year between 4 October 680 and 22 September 681 and her birth in
21 or 20 BH between 4 March 602 and 10 February 604 (median = 21 February 603).

The Messenger of Allah married Maymunah bint Al-Harith in Shawwal in 7 AH.


Bewley/Saad 8:94

This was between 4 February and 4 March 629 (median = 18 February), indicating that her age at
marriage was 26, plus or minus a year.

But in fact the death-date of 61 AH might have been a mistranscription. Other sources indicate that
she could not have been the last survivor of Muhammads widows, for Aisha outlived her, and Hind,
of course, outlived Aisha.

Zaynab was the first of the Prophets wives to die, and Umm Salama [Hind] was the last.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 177.

We stood on the walls of Medina, looking out [Aisha said]: By Allah! Maymunah is no
more! She has gone, and you are left free to do whatever you like. She was the most pious of all
of us and the most devoted to her relatives.
Al-Hakim al-Nishaburi, Mustadrak vol. 4 p. 32. Ibn Hajar, Al-Isaba vol. 8 p. 192.

While it is possible that Aishas remarks on Maymunahs death are apocryphal (the sources are not
particularly early), the story lends strength to an alternative tradition that Maymunah died about a
decade before 61 AH.

After the Prophet's death, Maymunah continued to live in Medina for another forty years, dying
at the age of 80, in 51 AH [21 January 671 - 10 January 672], being the last but one of the
Prophet's wives to die.
Ibn Kathir, Maymunah in The Wives of the Prophet.

This is still not correct, as not one, but four or five, of Muhammads widows were still alive in 51 AH
(Hind, Aisha, Sawdah, Safiyah and perhaps Juwayriyah). Ibn Kathir, writing 700 years after the event,
was either trying to harmonise the conflict without considering all the facts also known as
guessing or else blindly copying the text of someone else who did. If Ibn Kathir (or his source)
guessed at which part of his original text was the error, he might also have been guessing at the year
of Maymunahs death. So we have no real confidence that the correct year was either 51 or 61 AH.
The only consistency is that Maymunah lived to be about 80.

While we do not really know Maymunahs death-date, and therefore her birth-date, we will accept Ibn
Kathirs more conservative tradition. According to this, she was born in 30 BH, i.e., between 9 June
593 and 28 May 594 (median = 2 December 593). This would make her about 35 when she married
Muhammad in February 629, although we will bear in mind that she might have been many years
younger.

Maymunah's Median Age at Marriage = 35 years and 2 months.


Muhammads Age at Marriage = 57 years and 10 months.
Age Difference = 22 years and 8 months.

Sir William Muirs unsourced comment that Maymunah is said to have been at this time 51 years of
age[65] is thus wide of the mark.

Mulaykah's Age[edit]

Mulaykahs exact age is not given, but there is a clue in this statement.

Her clan came to the Prophet and said, She is small and has no mind of her own; she was
beguiled.
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, 165.

If they expected Mohammed to believe that she is too young to think for herself, they were
suggesting that she was barely an adult someone whose body had so recently reached puberty that
her mind had not yet caught up.

This makes sense in the light of the fact that Mulaykah found a new fianc within days of her divorce
from Muhammad, before she had completed her three-month waiting-period.[66] It looks as if this man
had already been a suitor before it became politically necessary for Mulaykah to marry Muhammad. If
she had been courted but not married, this also suggests that she was very young.

Since the mean age of menarche was 12 years,[67] this indicates that Mulaykah was about 13, plus or
minus a couple of years. As for the date of the wedding:

In this year [8 AH] the Messenger of God married Mulaykah ... He had killed her father the day
of the conquest of Mecca [14 January 630].
Al-Tabari, Vol. 8, p. 187.
The year 8 AH did not end until 22 April 630. But in fact Muhammad must have married Mulaykah
earlier than this. Her tribe lived near Mecca; they had resisted him at Mecca on 14 January; and
Muhammad left Mecca on 28 January to fight the Hawazinites and Thaqifites.[68] It is practically
certain that he married Mulaykah during his fortnight of residence in the city, i.e. in the second half of
January 630.

Mulaykahs Probable Age = about 13 years.


Muhammads Age at Marriage = 58 years and 9 months.
Age Difference = 45 years and 9 months.

While this is only a guess, we were also only guessing about Sawdah. By the time Muhammad
married Mulaykah, Aisha had become 16. Although Mulaykah was an older bride, she was almost
certainly younger in years than Aisha.

Asma's Age[edit]

Asmas age is unknown but her age-range is clearly implied.

O Messenger of Allah, shall I give you in marriage the most beautiful among the Arab widows?
She had been married to a relative of hers, but he died, and she lost her way
Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 188-189.

Since Asmas family had adopted Jewish cultural norms over a century earlier,[69] it is safe to say that
she had passed puberty at the time of her first marriage.[70] Further, the text suggests that her first
husband had been dead for some months or even years. When she arrived in Medina in the summer of
630,[71] she must have been at least 14 years old and perhaps considerably older. She displayed a
dignity and sense of duty[72] that make her seem more mature than Mulaykah bint Kaab or Fatima bint
Al-Dahhak. While this could tell us more about Asmas education than her age (she was, after all, a
princess), it is clear that she was no child-bride.

At the same time, Abdullah ibn Abbas suggests Asmas upper age-limit.

Ibn Abbas said: Asma bint An-Numan was the most beautiful and youthful of the people of her
time.
Bewley/Saad 8:103.

This kind of accolade would be absurd for a woman who was older than 20. The sources do not
describe Hafsah, Juwayriyah or Safiyah as youthful, and Asmas naivet certainly suggests youth.

In conclusion, Asma was probably in her late teens; but we do not really know. To be conservative,
we will say that she was 20.

Asmas Maximum Age = 20 years and 0 months.


Muhammads Age at Marriage = 59 years and 3 months.
Age Difference = 39 years and 3 months.

Asma was once again young enough to be Muhammads granddaughter.


Amrah's Age[edit]

Amrahs age is not stated anywhere. However, we do know the age of her first husband. He was
Muhammads cousin, Al-Fadl ibn Abbas.[73] Al-Fadls brother Abdullah recalled: We reached
Allahs Apostle five years after he had made Hijra and were with the Quraysh when they marched
during the year in which the Battle of Ahzab [Trench] was fought [627]. I was with my brother Fadl
I was then eight years old while my brother was 13.[74]

If Al-Fadl was 13 in 627, he was born in late 613 or 614 that is, he was exactly the same age as
Aisha. His family emigrated to Medina three years later,[75] and soon afterwards, Al-Fadl petitioned
Muhammad to arrange a marriage for him. Muhammad found him a wife on the same day, but it was
not Amrah bint Yazid. The girl whom Al-Fadl married in 630 was his cousin, Safiya bint Mahmiyah.
[76]

It is a little strange that such a young man would so soon afterwards take on a second wife, but it is
safe to say that he did so willingly, for Amrah was of no political importance. There is no obvious
reason for this marriage beyond the documented fact that Al-Fadl was susceptible to pretty girls.[77]
He was also the eldest son of a very wealthy man,[78] so if he wanted a second wife, there was nothing
to stop him taking one. It is therefore highly unlikely that Amrah was plain or that she was older than
Al-Fadl. She would have been the same age as her bridegroom or a little younger.

However, Al-Fadl divorced Amrah within a matter of months, and she was afterwards married to
Muhammad. While the date of this marriage is unknown, there would scarcely have been time for all
these events to have occurred before January 631. Since Muhammad fell ill and then died in early
June 632,[79] the latest possible date for his marriage to Amrah would be May 632. So the median
wedding date is September 631. We do not know how old Amrah was in 631, but Al-Fadl was 17, so
it is reasonable to suggest that Amrah was about 15 a couple of years younger than Aisha.

Amrahs Probable Age = about 15 years.


Muhammads Age at Marriage = 60 years and 5 months.
Age Difference = 45 years and 5 months.

Again, this is a guess, but it is an estimate based on real data about Amrahs life. We can make no
such guesses about the remaining women in Muhammads life.

Ages Unknown[edit]
Muhammad had some kind of marriage contract with several other women, but most of these unions
were dissolved before consummation. The other women with whom he is known to have had a sexual
relationship are the five listed below, four of whom were technically concubines (sex slaves) rather
than legal wives. The ages of these five women are unknown.

Rayhanah bint Zayd ibn Amr[edit]

Rayhanah was a Jewish female from the Nadir tribe in Medina. She married a Qurazi,[80] which means
she must have been married before the Nadir tribe was banished from Medina in August 625.[81] As a
Jew, she would not have been living with her husband before she reached menarche[82] or before the
age of 12 years.[83] So her latest possible birthdate is mid-613.

In Shawwal 5 AH [Jibreel said]: God commands you, Muhammad, to go to the Qurayza


tribe. He besieged them for 25 nights until they were sore pressed, and God cast terror into
their hearts.
Guillaume/Ishaq 459, 461.

These details, a siege of 25 nights starting from some time in Shawwal 5 AH (26 February - 26 March
627), place the surrender of the Qurayza between 23 March and 20 April 627. Within a day or two of
the surrender came the distribution of booty.

Then the Apostle divided the property, wives and children of the Qurayza tribe among the
Muslims The apostle had chosen one of their women for himself, Rayhanah bint Amr ibn
Khunafa, one of the women of the Amr clan of the Qurayza, and she remained with him until she
died, in his power.
Guillaume/Ishaq 466.

So Muhammad captured Rayhanah in spring 627, a date when her youngest possible age would have
been 14. She might have been considerably older than this minimum. Although secondary historians
have guessed that she was about 15, this is not stated in the early sources. Since her exact age is not
known, we have omitted her from the calculation.

Mariyah bint Shamoon[edit]

Mariyahs age is not stated anywhere. The only certain fact is that, since she bore Muhammad a son in
630, she must have been of childbearing age.[84] Various guesses that she was 20[85] or 17[86] betray
the assumptions of the secondary historians that if she attracted Muhammad, she must have been
young. The truth is, they are probably right. But because we dont know Mariyahs age, we have
omitted her from the calculation.

Fatima ("Al-Aliya") bint Al-Dahhak[edit]

The only objective clue to Fatimas age is that she lived another 50 years after Muhammad divorced
her.[87] Subjectively, her behaviour seems immature and suited to a child aged 15 or 16.[88] But
because we do not know Fatimas age, we have omitted her from the calculation.

"Al-Jariya" and Tukanah[edit]

These two concubines were presumably selected for their looks and were presumably young. But
presumption is not fact. We do not know their ages and so we have omitted them from the calculation.
Mean Ages[edit]
Muhammads Wives[edit]

We can now calculate the mean age of 14 of Muhammads wives at the time he married them.

1. Khadijahs Median Age = 26 years and 10 months.


2. Sawdahs Approximate Age = 40 years.
3. Aishas Median Age = 9 years and 3 months.
4. Hafsahs Median Age = 19 years and 6 months.
5. Zaynab bint Khuzaymas Median Age = 28 years and 4 months.
6. Hinds Median Age = 28 years and 6 months.
7. Zaynab bint Jahshs Median Age = 37 years and 2 months.
8. Juwayriyahs Median Age = 20 years and 0 months.
9. Safiyahs Age = 16 years and 6 months.
10. Ramlahs Median Age = 34 years and 7 months.
11. Maymunahs Median Age = 35 years and 2 months.
12. Mulaykahs Approximate Age = 13 years.
13. Asmas Maximum Age = 20 years.
14. Amrahs Approximate Age = 15 years.

Total Years = 343 years and 10 months.


Mean Age of Muhammads Brides = 24.56 years

The mean age of Muhammads brides was about 24 years. Even by the historical Arabian standards,
a woman of 24 was not quite middle-aged.

Muhammad as Bridegroom[edit]

We can also calculate Muhammads mean age as a bridegroom. Here is his age when he
consummated each of these marriages.

1. Khadijah = 24 years and 3 months.


2. Sawdah = 49 years and 1 month.
3. Aisha = 52 years and 0 months.
4. Hafsah = 53 years and 9 months.
5. Zaynab bint Khuzayma = 53 years and 10 months.
6. Hind = 55 years and 0 months.
7. Zaynab bint Jahsh = 55 years and 11 months.
8. Juwayiriyah = 56 years and 9 months.
9. Safiyah = 57 years and 3 months
10. Ramlah = 57 years and 3 months.
11. Maymunah = 57 years and 10 months.
12. Mulaykah = 58 years and 9 months.
13. Asma = 59 years and 3 months (not consummated, but legalities finalised).
14. Amrah = 60 years and 5 months (not consummated, but legalities finalised).

Total Years = 751 years and 4 months.


Mean Age of Muhammad as Bridegroom = 53.66 years
Muhammads mean age at marriage was 53 years and 8 months. The mean age difference between
Muhammad and all his wives was over 29 years.

Skewed Statistics[edit]

Muhammads first marriage to Khadijah skews the statistics. She was the only wife whom
Muhammad married as a young man. She was the only wife who was close to his own age, as
opposed to being significantly younger. Some statisticians would exclude her as an outlier before they
began the calculation.

A more serious skew of the statistics is caused by the fact that these 14 wives were not the only
women whom Muhammad married. He also had four known concubines and at least one other full
wife. While we do not know the ages of any of these women, we can infer a definite trend. They all
seem to have been teenagers significantly younger than the mean. If their ages could be added to the
calculation, the mean age of Muhammads brides would be even lower, perhaps around 22 years.

Muhammad acquired these five women in the last five years of his life, so his mean age as
bridegroom has to be raised. While we dont know all of his wedding dates, the new figure would
probably come to about 55 years making the age difference between Muhammad and his average
wife a grand mean of 33 years.

Therefore our calculation that Muhammads average wife was 29 years younger than himself and that
she became his bride when she was 24 has to be taken as conservative.

Conclusion[edit]
The widows whom Prophet Muhammad married after Khadijahs death do indeed fall into two
distinct age-groups. But to label these two groups as the middle-aged and the elderly gives
atypical definitions to these terms. The elderly group would refer to those brides between 28 and 40
while the middle-aged group would mean the teenagers.

Muhammad loved Khadijah, who was the same age as himself, when they were both young. He
rejected Sawdah, who was a little younger than himself, when they were both middle-aged. All his
other wives were young enough to be his daughters and several were young enough to be his
granddaughters. He divorced one woman before consummating the marriage[89] and broke off another
courtship[90] solely because he decided that these women were too old for him, and he continued to
pursue teenagers until the day he died.[91] Nor does he seem to have been embarrassed by his own
preference.[92]

The inevitable conclusion is that Muhammad preferred younger women, and the widely repeated
claim that almost all of his wives were elderly has no basis in historical fact.

See Also[edit]
Muhammad's Wives - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Muhammad's wives and
concubines
References[edit]

1. If you would like to use the calendar converter, bear in mind that it is programmed to assume that year-
numbers are integers, i.e., that each date-system includes a year 0. Of course, none of them does. The year
before 1 AH is 1 BH and the year before 1 AD is 1 BC. So if, for example, you want to calculate the year
53 BH, you need to call it -52 on this calculator.
2. Introduction to Calendars. United States Naval Observatory. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
3. Calendars by L. E. Doggett. Section 2.
4. The international standard for the representation of dates and times, ISO 8601, uses the Gregorian
calendar. Section 3.2.1.
5. Guillaume/Ishaq 689
6. See Calendar, History of in Funk & Wagnalls (1906). Jewish Encyclopaedia. New York: Author.
7. Qur'an 9:36-37.
8. Guillaume/Ishaq 160
9. Sahih Muslim 10:3662; Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 106.
10. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 41, 106.
11. Yahya ibn Mandah. Juz fihi man 'asha miattan wa-'ishrina sanatan min al-Sahabah.
12. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 40.
13. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 43-46.
14. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 72.
15. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 72
16. The Diwan of Hassan ibn Thabit.
17. Ibn Saad, Tabaqat vol. 2 p. 31.
18. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 95.
19. See Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 54-57, 95 for brief accolades. For a modern assessment of his contribution,
see Siddiqi, M. Z. (2006). Hadith Literature: its origin, development, special features and criticism, pp.
33-34. Kuala Lumpar: Islamic Book Trust.
20. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 201; Bewley/Saad 8:193.
21. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, 55; Bewley/Saad 8:12; Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 161.
22. Hanbali, cited in Al-Irbali, Kashf al-Ghumma. Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar vol. 16 p. 12.
23. Robson, J. (2013). "Al-akim al-Naysaburi" in Bearman, P., Bianquis, T., Bosworth, C. E., van Donzel,
E., & Heinrichs, W. P. (1960). Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd Ed. Leiden: Brill.
24. Guillaume/Ishaq 83. Bewley/Saad 8:10.
25. Bewley/Saad 8:13.
26. Qur'an 2:118. Qur'an 2:145. Qur'an 6:37. Qur'an 6:109. Qur'an 10:20. Qur'an 13:7. Qur'an 17:59.
Guillaume/Ishaq 133ff. Sahih Bukhari 9:92:379.
27. Qur'an 24:1. Qur'an 98:1-4.
28. 42.35/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:42:35-36; Matthew 14:13-21.
29. 42.38/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:42:38; II Kings 6:5-7.
30. 42.40/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:42:40.
31. Genesis 17:15-21, 21:1-7.
32. Luke 1:5-25, 57-80.
33. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, 166; see Qur'an 2:233 and Guillaume/Ishaq 71 for two years as the customary
duration of nursing.
34. See Bewley/Saad 8:40, 111, 113; Al-Tabari, Vol. 9, pp. 139, 140.
35. Muir (1861) 2:141-144. See also Sell, E. (1923). The Historical Development of the Qur'an, 4th Ed, pp.
25-26. London: People International.
36. Bewley/Saad 8:152. See also Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 4, 161.
37. Prophets Wives (Ummul Momineen).
38. Al Ghoudairy, F. Why Did Prophet Muhammed Marry Aisha; the Young Girl, p. 24. Dare to read.
39. Personal communication with native speakers of Arabic. See also this image of an elderly lady (kahla)
from Afghanistan.
40. Sunan Abu Dawud 18:2885; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir on Q4:7; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir on Q4:11.
41. Qur'an 4:3.
42. Qur'an 33:50.
43. Al-Tabari, Vol. 8, pp. 1-4; Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 182; Bewley/Saad 8:72-73, 81.
44. Qur'an 4:46-59; Qur'an 4:150-175.
45. Qur'an 4:60-68; Qur'an 4:136-149.
46. Guillaume/Ishaq 466.
47. Qur'an 4:3.
48. Bewley/Saad 8:40.
49. Ahmed, S. Prophet Muhammad and Aisha Siddiqa.
50. For a modern assessment of Aishas contribution to the hadith literature, see Siddiqi, M. Z. (2006).
Hadith Literature: its origin, development, special features and criticism, pp. 33-34. Kuala Lumpar:
Islamic Book Trust.
51. Bewley/Saad 8:47.
52. Guillaume/Ishaq 117.
53. Guillaume/Ishaq 115.
54. Guillaume/Ishaq 689
55. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 166.
56. Ibn Hisham note 918; Bewley/Saad 8:82; Al-Tabari, Vol. 9, p. 138; Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 163-614.
57. Bewley/Saad 8:63-66.
58. Guillaume/Ishaq 147.
59. Bewley/Saad 8:72; Al-Tabari, Vol. 8, p. 4; Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 180; cf Guillaume/Ishaq 3; Maududi
(1967), Tafhimul Quran, Chapter Al Ahzab
60. Akhter, J. (2001). The Prophet's Marriages and Wives in The Seven Phases of Prophet Muhammad's
Life. Chicago: ISPI.
61. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 184; Bewley/Saad 8:85.
62. Sahih Bukhari 7:62:95; Bewley/Saad 8:126-127.
63. Why Did Mohammed Get So Many Wives? See also Hadrat Umm-e-Habiba (r.a) in Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) Guidance for Soul Satisfaction.
64. Guillaume/Ishaq 526, 529-530.
65. Muir, W. (1861). The Life of Mahomet vol. 4 p. 89. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
66. Bewley/Saad 8:106; Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 165.
67. Finley, H. (2003). Average age at menarche in various cultures.
68. Al-Tabari, Vol. 9, pp. 2-3.
69. Lecker, M. (1995). Judaism among Kinda and the Ridda of Kinda. Journal of the American Oriental
Society, 115, 635-650.
70. Ezekiel 16:7-8. Prohibited Marriages and Illegitimate Children in Judaism 101.
71. Bewley/Saad 8:103.
72. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 189-190.
73. Ibn Ishaq, cited in Guillaume, A. (1960). New Light on the Life of Muhammad, p. 55. Manchester:
Manchester University Press.
74. Tabrani/Haythami vol. 6 p. 64 reported on the chain of narrators for this hadith. Cited in Khandhlawi,
M. M. Y. (1959). Hayatus Sahaba. Translated by Elias, A. H. (2008). The Lives of the Sahabah, vol. 1, p.
373. Farid Book Depot (Pvt.) Ltd.
75. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 202.
76. Sahih Muslim 5:2347.
77. See Sahih Bukhari 74:247:1.
78. Guillaume/Ishaq 113, 114, 309-310.
79. Guillaume/Ishaq 689
80. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 164-165.
81. Guillaume/Ishaq 437-438, 445.
82. Ezekiel 16:7-8.
83. Prohibited Marriages and Illegitimate Children in Judaism 101.
84. Al-Tabari, Vol. 9, pp. 39, 137.
85. Thomson, H. A. (1993). Maymunah bint Al-Harith in The Wives of the Prophet Muhammad. London:
Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd.
86. Ahmed, S. Prophet Muhammad and Aisha Siddiqa.
87. Bewley/Saad 8:100
88. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 187-188; Bewley/Saad 8:101.
89. Bewley/Saad 8:111
90. Bewley/Saad 8:113
91. Bewley/Saad 8:105
92. "Nothing was dearer to the Prophet of Allah than a horse. Then he said: O Allah! Excuse me, no! The
women! (i.e., not dearer than women)." - 90.6/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat Vol. 1 Chapter 90:6.

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