How Old Was Aishah(ra) at the

Time of Her Marriage?

By: Husain A. Nuri
Aishah was one of the wives of Prophet
Muhammad(s). How old was Aishah when she was
engaged or married to the Prophet(s)? Was she six
years old, nine years old, or in her teens? Because
of some misleading Islamic writings and a false
hadith, people now believe the Prophet(s) married
Aishah when she was 6-year old!
Muslim scholars are to be blamed for their
writings and teachings that Aishah (ra) was six
years old when she was engaged. They do not care
to research, analyze the information, and study
the facts. They are busy in blindly following
untruth. Their uncharacteristic support for this
wrong information brought much shame to Islam
and defamed Nabi Muhammad (S). To them, this
false hadith statement is absolute, even if goes
against the teachings of the Qur’ān, even if it
portrays Islam in a poor light, and even if it
maligns Nabi Muhammad (S).
Below I am discussing only a few pieces of
evidence to prove that Aishah (ra) was not six
years old when she was engaged and she was not
nine years old when she lived with Nabi
Muhammad (S). Please note that there are many
more evidences to prove the falsity of the popular
notion.
In the year 620 C.E., Muhammad(s) was 50. It is
true at the age of 50, he married Aishah and
began to live with her when he was 53. The
question is whether Muhammad(s) was cohabiting
with a nine-year-old child? Could Muhammad (s)
violate the Qur’ānic prohibition of child marriage
stated in verse 4:6?
If Aishah (ra) was six years old when the
engagement took place, then she must have been
born in the year 613 C.E. If this alleged birth year
is investigated and analyzed with evidences, the
falsity will become clear.
At-Tabari, a famous scholar and commentator
of the Qur’ān, states that all four of Abū Bakr’s
children were born during the pre-Islamic period.
Abū Bakr was Aishah’s father. The Islamic period
began in 610 C.E. Therefore, by at-Tabari’s
statement, Aishah was born before 610 C.E.—in
the year 609 C.E or a few years earlier. If we
consider she was born in 609 C.E., then she was at
least 14 years old when she began to live with the
Prophet(s). Let us investigate further.
The Prophet’s youngest daughter, Fātimah was
born in 635 C.E., Some biographers say Fātimah
was five years older than Aishah. If this is true,
then Aishah was born in 640 C.E., the year
the Prophet(s) received the first divine revelation.
At that time he was 40 years old. Therefore, at the
time of his engagement to Aishah, she was ten
years old and at the time of the actual marriage,
she was 13 years old. But this needs further
investigation.
Let us analyze further. Asmā’ was Aishah’s
elder sister. According to all historians, Asmā’ was
10 years older than Aishah. Asmā’ lived for 100
years and died in the year 692 C.E. Her death is
well documented because by that time the Islamic
calendar was fully established and events were
being recorded fairly accurately. Working
backward from the year of death, Asmā’ was born
in 592 C.E. Therefore, Aishah was born in 602 C.E.
This finding is in agreement with at-Tabari’s
statement that all four of Abū Bakr’s children were
born during the pre-Islamic era. If this finding is
correct, then Aishah was 17 years old at the time
of her engagement and 20 years old when she
lived with the Prophet(s).
Ibn Hisham is the most famous biographer of
Nabi Muhammad (S). His book is widely accepted
as the most reliable source about the life and
mission of the Nabi. In his book, he lists 40 names
of people who accepted Islam during the early
years. In this list, he did not include any child’s
name. Everybody knows that Ali (r ) and Fatimah
(ra) were early believers. But they were children
when they accepted Islam. His list includes Asma
and Aisha’s names as 18th and 19th individuals to
accept Islam. But he noted they were young. This
shows Aisha (ra) was not a child during the early
years of Islam.
Let us analyze further. Chapter 54 in the
Qur’ān, named Qamar, was revealed in 614 C.E. It
is recorded in a hadith that Aishah stated that she
was a young girl (jārīah) when this chapter was
revealed. If she was six years old at the time of her
engagement, then in 614 C.E. she was a one-year-
old infant. In Arabic the words for “infant” and
“young girl” are different. By definition, the word
jārīah for “young girl” is someone between 6 and
13 years old. If we consider she was between 6
and 13 years old in 614 C.E., then she was at least
14 and anywhere between 14 and 21 years of age
when she began living with the Prophet(s).
 On two occasions, two of the Prophet’s close
companions asked for Fātima’s hand in marriage.
On both occasions, the Prophet(s) rejected the
proposals. At that time Fātima was in her teens.
The Prophet(s) himself was not in favor of giving
his teenage daughter in marriage to a companion
equal to his own age, so how could he himself
volunteer to marry a child? This analysis further
indicates that Aishah was not six years old at the
time of her engagement.
No sane person would agree to marry his or her
six-year-old child to a man 50 years of age. We
have to ask some serious questions: is it possible
that the Prophet(s) knowingly proposed to a six-
year-old child, and actually lived with her when
she was nine years old? Is it possible that he
would set such an example? The issue has serious
repercussions in the Muslim world, so we must
seek guidance from the Qur’ān. The Qur’ān
contains the best guidance and the best teachings.
Islam does not provide a specific age for
marriage, either for a man or a woman. However,
the age of marriage is stated to be when one has
reached “maturity.” The marriageable age for girls
is explained in another verse by using the term
fatāya meaning “young woman.” At this stage, the
girl has attained puberty or sexual maturity.
The purpose of this analysis is to show that the
marriageable age for a man or a woman is when
he or she reaches maturity. In Islam, the
marriageable age is never in the pre-puberty
stage. For girls, more specifically, marriage is
never in the pre-menstruation age. During
medieval periods, many countries practiced child
marriage. In many Muslim societies, the practice
was common, however, this was not Islamically
correct.
It is not possible that Prophet(s) would set the
wrong example by marrying a six or nine-year-old
girl. There are a number of other historical pieces
of evidence to prove that the Prophet(s) married
Aishah (ra) when she was 16 and lived together
when she was 19.

- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --
This is an excerpt from the book titled “Islam:
Faith and Practice Explained” by Husain A. Nuri