Aisha bint Abi Bakr
Early Life and Family:
Aisha bint Abi Bakr was born in Makkah years before the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ made Hijrah to Madinah.
She was born into Islam and did not live in the times of Jahiliyyah (Days of ignorance).
Father:
Her father was Abu Bakr, the most beloved companion to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Mother:
Aisha’s mother was Umm Ruman, who was a God-fearing and righteous woman.
She passed away in the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, in the year 6 AH.
The Marriage of the Messenger of Allah to Aisha:
In the ‘Year of Sorrow’, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was saddened by the deaths of his uncle, Abu Talib and his wife, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid,
The companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ witnessed his grief and hoped he would marry a righteous woman who could help ease his sorrow, after the passing of his wife, Khadijah.
One day, Khawlah bint Hakim, the wife of Uthman ibn Mazun went to the Prophet and asked: Will you not marry, O Messenger of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ replied: Who?
Khawlah replied: If you wish, a virgin, and if you wish, a woman who has been married before?
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ asked: Who is this virgin? Khawlah replied: The daughter of the most beloved person in Allah’s creation to you, Aisha bint Abi Bakr.
The Prophet then asked: And who is the previously married woman? Khawlah replied: She is Sawdah bint Zam’ah, she believes and follows what you say and she is a virtuous woman.
The Prophet thought about this and after a while, he said: but Aisha is still a small child.
Khawlah bint Hakim said: You may propose to her, then leave her in her parent’s house until she is of marriageable age.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: Then go and mention my proposal to them.
Khawlah bint Hakim went to the house of Abu Bakr, where she found Aisha’s mother, Umm Ruman.
Khawlah told her: What a great blessing Allah has blessed upon you. Umm Ruman replied: What is that?
Khawlah said: the Messenger of Allah has sent me to propose to Aisha.
After hearing this, Umm Ruman told Khawlah to wait for her husband, Abu Bakr who was not present in the house at the time.
Eventually, Abu Bakr returned and when he heard about the Prophet’s proposal, he asked: Is that right for him, when she is the daughter of his brother?
Khawlah bint Hakim then went back and told the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ about this, who replied: Tell him (Abu Bakr) that he is my brother in Islam and your daughter is permissible to me.
After Abu Bakr was informed of this, he told Khawlah bint Hakim: Tell the Messenger of Allah to come.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ formulated the contract to marry Aisha bint Abi Bakr and he gave her a dowry of four hundred dirhams.
This occurred three years before the Hijrah, when Aisha was around six years old, but the marriage was consummated after the Battle of Badr, when she was nine years old. (Bukhari)
Aisha bint Abi Bakr was the only virgin that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ married.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said regarding a dream he had about Aisha bint Abi Bakr: I saw you in a dream on three nights, you were brought by an angel wrapped in a piece of silken material and he said: ‘This is your wife’. So I uncovered your face and there you were. I said: ‘If this (dream) is from Allah, He will fulfill it.’ (Bukhari, Muslim)
Aisha bint Abi Bakr benefitted from living with the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, where she acquired a large amount of knowledge.
Aisha bint Abi Bakr narrated over two thousand Hadiths of the Prophet (2210).
The Prophet’s Love for Aisha:
Aisha bint Abi Bakr was the wife that was most beloved to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Amr ibn al-A’as once asked the Prophet: Which of the people is dearest to you, O Messenger of Allah? The Prophet ﷺ replied: Aisha.
Amr then asked: And among men? The Prophet responded: Her father. (Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi)
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ once told his wife, Umm Salamah: Oh Umm Salamah! Do not hurt me regarding Aisha, for Allah, revelation has not come to me when I was under the blanket of any of you besides her. (Bukhari, Muslim)
Anas ibn Malik reported that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: The superiority of Aisha over other women is as the superiority of Tharid, over all other foods. (Bukhari, Muslim)
The Incident of the Slander:
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was accompanied by Aisha bint Abi Bakr on the journey to Al-Muraysi.
When they were on their way back from Madinah, they would stop at certain points for rest. At one of these rest stops, Aisha was accidentally left behind.
Aisha lost a necklace that she had and went to look for it. The women would be in portable tents, so the men lifted up the portable tent and put it on the camel thinking Aisha was inside it.
Aisha bint Abi Bakr found her necklace and realised that everyone had left, so she decided to wait at the point where they had left.
Safwan ibn Muattal had reached the place where Aisha was waiting, he saw her sleeping and realised that she had been left behind.
Safwan then got off his camel and brought his camel to her. He looked away as Aisha would mount the camel, and Safwan guided the camel on foot.
On the whole trip, they never said a word to each other. Aisha said: The only thing I heard from the mouth of Safwan was when he said ‘Inna Lillahi wa inna ilahyi rajioon’ to wake me up.
The leader of the Munafiqin, Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul saw Safwan and Aisha and because of his hatred for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, he started a rumour about Aisha. He said: Wallahi, something happened between Safwan and Aisha.
Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul accused Aisha bint Abi Bakr of an act of immorality.
To hurt the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, he made false accusations about his wife.
The period of time when this rumour spread was one of the most difficult periods of the life of the Prophet, Aisha, Abu Bakr and the family of Aisha.
Muslims Who Spread the Rumour:
Three Muslims fell into the trap of spreading rumours about Aisha and Safwan.
Hammanah bint Jahsh, the sister of Zainab bint Jahsh, the wife of the Prophet, spread the rumour because she wanted her sister to be put in a higher status over Aisha bint Abi Bakr.
Hassan ibn Thabit, the poet of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, also spread this rumour and so did Mistah bin Utatha, a relative of Abu Bakr.
Aisha bint Abi Bakr’s Illness:
Aisha returned home from Madinah and she was sick. At this time, she was unaware of the rumours that had started about her. However, she noticed that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had changed towards her.
Normally, the Prophet ﷺ would speak to her but instead, he would come in and ask Aisha’s mother how she was doing.
Aisha bint Abi Bakr then requested the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ for her to stay with her parents and he agreed to her request.
The Prophet Publicly Addresses the Rumours:
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was hurt by the rumours so he gathered the people and said: What is wrong with these people who are harming me? I know nothing about my family except good.
The Prophet also defended Safwan by saying: what is wrong with these people who are accusing a man from amongst my companions, who is a good man and he never enters my house except that I am with him.
The Prophet Seeks Advice from Usamah ibn Zayd and Ali ibn Abi Talib:
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ then asked two of his closest companions for advice, Usamah ibn Zayd and Ali ibn Abi Talib.
When the Prophet asked Usamah, he replied: your family is honourable, you know your family and we know your family. None of these rumours can be true.
Ali ibn Abi Talib said to the Prophet: you have many choices (in terms of marrying women) so you are not limited to Aisha. But I would advise you to ask her servant as she would have more insight. She can tell you if she noticed anything about the character of Aisha.
The Prophet Calls for Aisha’s Servant:
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ called for the servant of Aisha, Barira.
Ali told Barira: tell the Prophet about anything you have seen from Aisha. Barira replied: I have never seen anything from her, she is very good and she is very innocent.
Aisha Learns of the Rumour:
Aisha bint Abi Bakr then went out to go to the bathroom accompanied by Umm Mistah, the mother of one of the Muslims that spread the rumour.
Umm Mistah tripped and fell down. As she got up, she said: May Mistah be cursed!
Aisha was surprised when she heard this and she said: How can you say that about your own son, he is one of the companions who witnessed the Battle of Badr and he was one of the greatest companions of the Messenger of Allah.
Umm Mistah replied: Has it not reached you what he said about you? Aisha had no knowledge about this and Umm Mistah then told her about the rumours.
Aisha bint Abi Bakr was shocked by this, she started to cry and she could not stop crying.
Confrontation at Abu Bakr’s House:
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ went to the house of Abu Bakr, as he knew that Aisha had found out about the rumours.
The Prophet told Aisha: If you are innocent, Allah will free you from blame. But if it is true, ask Allah for forgiveness and Allah will forgive you.
Aisha’s tears then stopped and she was shocked and saddened that the Prophet was not sure about the situation.
She told her parents to answer the Prophet but even they were unsure about what to say.
Aisha ibn Abi Bakr said: Wallahi I will not repent to Allah from what you have mentioned because I never did it. You have heard these rumours about me and it seems you believe these rumours. So if I tell you that I am innocent, you will not believe me. But if I falsely confess, then you will believe me.
Aisha continued: I have nothing to say except for what the father of Yusuf said: Patience is beautiful and Allah is the helper of that which you describe.
Aisha bint Abi Bakr turned away and was hoping that Allah SWT would give the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ a sign to show that she was innocent.
Aisha later on said: I never thought I was significant enough to be mentioned in the Quran but I thought Allah SWT could show the Prophet through a dream.
Revelation of Aisha’s Innocence:
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was now receiving a revelation in the house of Abu Bakr.
Abu Bakr was very scared because he was afraid that maybe the revelation would confirm the rumours.
Aisha bint Abi Bakr said: when she saw the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in the state of receiving revelation, she was completely relaxed because she knew she was innocent.
As soon as the Prophet received the revelation, he said to Aisha: Ya Aisha, praise Allah, surely Allah has declared your innocence. (Bukhari, Tirmidhi)
Allah SWT revealed Ayats in the Quran regarding her innocence. (Quran, 24:11-20)
The mother of Aisha, Umm Ruman, told her to stand up and thank the Prophet but Aisha replied: Wallahi I will not stand and I will not thank anyone except Allah. (Bukhari, Ahmad)
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ gathered the people and recited the Ayats of Surah An-Nur.
The rumour was now over and it was clear to everyone that Aisha and Safwan were innocent.
Abu Bakr was so hurt that his cousin Mistah was involved in the slander of his daughter Aisha that he said: Wallahi, I am not going to spend on him anymore (help him out financially).
Allah SWT then revealed an Ayat in Surah An-Nur: ‘Let them pardon and forgive. Do you not love to be forgiven by Allah? And Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful’. (Quran, 24:22)
Abu Bakr then started to spend on Mistah again, he forgave him and said: Wallahi, I will never stop spending on him.
Aisha’s Knowledge:
Urwah ibn Az-Zubayr said: I have not seen anyone with a greater knowledge of the Quran, or its obligations, or the lawful and unlawful, or of poetry or the sayings of the Arabs, or of genealogy than Aisha.
Abu Burda ibn Abi Musa al-Ash’ari reported that his father, Abu Musa said: There was never a problem which we, the companions of Muhammad, were unable to solve and referred to Aisha, except that we found knowledge of it from her.
Abu Umar ibn Abdul-Barr said: Aisha was unique in her time, being knowledgeable in three sciences: The science of Islamic jurisprudence, the science of medicine and the science of poetry.
Az-Zuhri said: If the knowledge of Aisha was compared to the knowledge of all of the other wives of the Prophet and with all women, the knowledge of Aisha would be greater.
Mu’awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan asked his son, Ziyad: O Ziyad! Who is the most knowledgeable person? Ziyad responded: You, O Amir ul-Mu’minin!
Mu’awiyah said: I insist that you answer me truthfully, do not flatter me. Ziyad then said: If you press me, I would say that it is Aisha.
Adh-Dhahabi said: Aisha was the most knowledgeable woman in Islamic jurisprudence in the whole Muslim nation.
Aisha’s knowledge was so valuable that both Umar ibn al-Khattab and Ali ibn Abi Talib used to consult her in many matters of Islamic jurisprudence.
As mentioned above, Aisha bint Abi Bakr narrated 2,210 Hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, with 297 reported in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
No one narrated more Hadiths except Abu Hurayrah.