Aisha: Difference between revisions

| Full Name = A'isha bt. Abi Bakr

'''ʿĀʾisha bt. Abū Bakr''' (Arabic: {{ia|عائشة بنت ابي بکر}}, d. [[58]]/678) was the third wife of [[Prophet Muhammad (s)]], who married him after the demise of [[Lady Khadija (a)]] and after his marriage to [[Suda bt. Zam'at b. Qays|Suda]]. There is a disagreement among historians as to her age at time of her marriage with the Prophet (s). The [[Incident of Ifk]] was a prominent event in A'isha's life. When after an incident, she was accused by some people, some verses of [[Qur'an 24]]<ref>Verses 11 to 26</ref> were revealed, in which God reprehended the accusers.

Of the wives of the Prophet (s), she has gained more fame due to her political activities and positions and the role she played after the [[demise of the Prophet (s)]]. She tried her best to pave the path for the [[caliphate]] of the [[Abu Bakr|first]] and the [[Umar b. al-Khattab|second]] caliphs, and she helped them strengthen their positions by citing [[hadith]]s about their virtues. During [[Uthman]]'s caliphate, she supported him at first, but later she turned away from him and orchestrated a riot against him which led to his murder. After the murder of Uthman, A'isha rioted against [[Ali (a)]] with the intention of avenging for Uthman. With the help of some [[companions]], she started the [[Battle of Jamal]] against Ali (a).

[[Sunni]] scholars appeal to certain hadiths to show the virtues of A'isha and her being favored by the Prophet (s). However, the [[Shi'a]] reject such evidence, pointing to her contemptuous behaviors and jealousy. The Shi'a have levelled many criticisms againt her behavior and conduct because of perturbing the Prophet (s), her stances during the caliphate of Imam Ali (a), and her role in initiating the Battle of Jamal.

A'isha was the daughter of [[Abu Bakr]] who was from the family of [[Taym]], and her mother Um Ruman was the daughter of Amir b. Uwaymir from the tribe of [[Banu Kinana]].<ref>Ibn Saʿd, ''al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā'', vol. 8, p. 46; Balādhurī, ''Ansāb al-ashrāf'', vol. 1, p. 409.</ref>

A'isha's [[teknonym]] was Umm 'Abd Allah after her nephew, [['Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr]].<ref>Ibn Sayyid al-Nās, ''ʿUyūn al-athar'', vol. 2, p. 368.</ref> In many historical sources, she is known with the title, "Umm al-Mu'minin" (Mother of Believers).<ref>Ibn Ṭūlūn, ''al-Aʾimma al-ithnāʿashar'', p. 131.</ref>

It is said that the Prophet (s) referred to, and addressed, her as al-Humayra'.<ref>Dīnawarī, ''al-Imāma wa l-siyāsa'', p. 83.</ref> There is a well-known hadith in which the Prophet (s) told her: "talk to me, O Humayra'". The hadith was first cited by [[al-Ghazali]] in his ''Ihya' 'ulum al-din'', but it is not cited in any earlier sources. Al-Fattani, a Sunni scholar (d. 986/1578) writes: what is cited by al-Ghazali has no origins.<ref>Fattanī, ''Tadhkirat al-mawḍūʿāt'', p. 196.</ref> [[Sayyid Murtada 'Askari]], a Shiite scholar, also believes that the hadith is totally groundless, taking it to be fabricated, and wrongly attributed to the Prophet (s), by al-Ghazali.<ref>ʿAskarī, ''Aḥādīth um al-muʾminīn ʿĀʾisha'', p. 25-26.</ref>

Aisha was one of the wives of the Prophet (s). She married him after the death of [[Lady Khadija (a)]] and after the Prophet's marriage to [[Suda bt. Zam'at b. Qays|Suda]], the daughter of Zam'a b. Qays.<ref>Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, ''al-Istīʿāb'', vol. 4, p. 1881.</ref> Her marriage with the Prophet (s) lasted nine years and five months.<ref>Ibn Ḥazm, ''Jawāmiʿ al-sīra al-nabawīyya'', p. 37.</ref> It is widely agreed that the marriage took place after the demise of Lady Khadija (a). However, there is a disagreement as to whether it occurred two or three years before [[Hijra]].<ref>Majlisī, ''Biḥār al-anwār'', vol. 23, p. 235; Ibn Ḥajar, ''al-Iṣāba'', vol. 8, p. 232.</ref> On some accounts, A'isha's marriage to the Prophet (s) preceded his marriage to Suda. However, according to the majority of hadiths, the Prophet's marriage to Suda preceded his marriage to A'isha.<ref>Ibn Saʿd, ''al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā'', vol. 8, p. 46; Dīnawarī, ''al-Maʿārif'', p. 133-134.</ref> It is said that Khawla, [[Uthman b. Maz'un]]'s wife, went to [[Abu Bakr]] and proposed the marriage to A'isha's father. The Prophet (s) married A'isha in [[Shawwal]] of [[11]] (December 632).<ref>Ibn Sayyid al-Nās, ''ʿUyūn al-athar'', vol. 2, p. 368.</ref> The [[mahr]] for their marriage was four hundred dirhams.<ref>Suhaylī, ''al-Rawḍ al-unuf'', vol. 7, p. 534.</ref>

===A'isha's Age at the Time of Marriage===

There are disagreement about her age at the time of marriage. Her age at the time of marriage and consummation is reported between six to eighteen.<ref>Majlisī, ''Biḥār al-anwār'', vol. 23, p. 291; Ibn Ḥajar, ''al-Iṣāba'', vol. 8, p. 232.</ref> According to popular sources of history, A'isha was around six or seven years old at the time of her marriage to the Prophet (s).<ref>Ibn Saʿd, ''al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā'', vol. 8, p. 47-48. </ref> The consummation of their marriage took place a few years later after the migration to [[Medina]] when A'isha was nine years old.<ref>Ibn Saʿd, ''al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā'', vol. 8, p. 47-48; Ibn Hishām, ''al-Sīra al-nabawīyya'', vol. 2, p. 644.</ref>

[[Al-Sayyid Ja'far Murtada al-'Amili]] denies that A'isha was underage at the time of marriage. He argues that she was between thirteen and seventeen at the time of 'aqd (the [[Marriage formula]]). He cites Ibn Ishaq's account according to which A'isha was one of the people who converted to Islam early after [[Bi'tha]]; in fact she was the nineteenth Muslim. Al-Sayyid Ja'far Murtada al-'Amili draws on this to show that if she was, say, seven at the time of Bi'tha, then she must have been seventeen at the time of marriage and twenty at the time of Hijra, unless it is claimed that she was younger than seven when she converted to Islam.<ref>ʿĀmilī, ''al-Ṣaḥīḥ min sīrat al-nabīyy'', vol. 3, p. 285-287.</ref>

According to narrations that appear under the exegesis of certain verses of [[Qur'an 24]], it is related that in the year [[5]]/626-627, on the return from the [[Battle of Banu l-Mustaliq]] when the caravan had halted for rest, A'isha distanced herself from the caravan to relieve herself. When she found her necklace to be missing, she went looking for it. The caravan, not aware that she was missing, left carrying her palanquin with them assuming she was inside it. Upon returning to the place the caravan was pitched and finding it vacant, she stayed there until a man named Safwan b. Mu'attal came to her and gave her his camel and escorted her to her caravan. This incident caused some companions of the Prophet (s), who according to Islamic texts were [[hypocrites]], to defame A'isha. They accused A'isha of unchaste behavior and consequently, the aforementioned verses of the Qur'an announced slander of chaste women to be a grave sin.<ref>Ibn Hishām, ''al-Sīra al-nabawīyya'', vol. 2, p. 297-302; Bukhārī, ''Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī'', vol. 5, p. 223-227.</ref>

Sunnis believe that the [[revelation]] of these verses exhibits a virtue for A'isha. Thus, they quoted A'isha herself and her close companions as saying that she was superior to other wives of the Prophet (s); for example, the quote that the most favored woman for the Messenger of God was A'isha.<ref>Ibn Hishām, ''al-Sīra al-nabawīyya'', vol. 8, p. 68.</ref> However, some Shiite scholars, while admitting that the verses were revealed about A'isha, deny that they constitute a virtue for her, because they only acquit A'isha of adultery.<ref>See: Ṭabāṭabāyī, ''al-Mīzān'', vol. 15, p. 97-105.</ref>

During the period of the [[caliphate]] of Abu Bakr and [[Umar b. Khattab|Umar]], A'isha did not directly interfere in political matters in spite of being the wife of the Prophet (s), the daughter of [[Abu Bakr|the first caliph]], occupying a high social status and being well served by the first two caliphs. According to a group of Shi'a authors, A'isha played an important role in making Abu Bakr accede to caliphate, and on the last days of the Prophet's (s) life, strove to pave the ground for her father's caliphate. Likewise, she narrated traditions from the Prophet (s) mentioning the virtues of Abu Bakr and Umar in order to help establish and legitimize their caliphate.<ref>Wāridī, ''Naqsh-i hamsarān-i rasūl-i khudā'', p. 114.</ref> There are accounts which relate the first two caliphs offering gifts and reaching out to A'isha and extending continuous help and offerings to her much more compared to the other wives of the Prophet (s).<ref>Ibn Saʿd, ''al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā'', vol. 8, p. 53.</ref> These reports have caught the attention of the Shi'a and have been regarded as a form of unfairness.<ref>Taqīzāda Dāwarī, ''Taṣwīr-i khāniwāda-yi Payāmbar'', p. 115-116.</ref>

A'isha's relation with [[Uthman b. 'Affan|Uthman]] was cordial during the first few years of his caliphate, but soured during the end. However, in the second half of his caliphate, their relationships tended to hostility, cultivating in her leadership of riots against, and murdering, Uthman.<ref>ʿAskarī, ''Naqsh-i ʿĀʾisha dar tārīkh-i Islām'', vol. 1, p. 150.</ref> Based on accounts of the dispute between A'isha and the third caliph, it was grounded in Uthman's poor administrative performance, tribalism, and corruption. Moreover, political disputes between A'isha and Uthman was fueled by his injustice to [[companions]] such as [['Abd Allah b. Mas'ud]], [['Ammar]], [[Abu Dhar]], and [[Jundab]].<ref>Taqīzāda Dāwarī, ''Taṣwīr-i khāniwāda-yi Payāmbar'', p. 120.</ref> In her sermons, as well as in her encounters with Uthman in the [[Masjid al-Nabawai|Mosque of Medina]], she seriously criticized the caliph.<ref>Ibn Aʿtham, ''al-Futūḥ'', vol. 2, p. 421.</ref> In response, Uthman likened her to the wives of [[Noah (a)]] and [[Lot (a)]] who betrayed their husbands and entered the [[Hell]]. A'isha strongly reacted to the response and shouted, "kill the stupid old man, because he has become an unbeliever", thus announcing that Uthman deserved death.<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 4, p. 459.</ref>

A'isha was amongst the opponents of [[Imam Ali (a)]]. Some writers have recognized this conflict to have begun during the lifetime of the [[Prophet (s)]] itself. <ref>Mufīd, ''al-Jamal'', p. 426.</ref>

The role A'isha played in stimulating a massive uprising against the caliphate of Imam Ali (a), which led to the [[Battle of the Camel]], was a huge indicator of her enmity towards him. Some [[Sunni]] writers believed her to be under the influence of instigative evil-doers and supposed her gathering of an army to be for the revenge from Uthman's killers and not an act of opposition to Imam Ali (a). They considered this an error in [[ijtihad]] for which A'isha herself was later repentant.<ref>Nadwī, ''Sīrat al-sayyidah ʿĀʾisha'', p. 189-192.</ref>

A'isha, who was amongst the opponents of Uthman and was present in [[Mecca]] at the time of Uthman's murder,<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 4, p. 448.</ref> on hearing the news of Imam Ali's [[caliphate]], remained in Mecca.<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 4, p. 459.</ref> After a while when [[Talha]] and [[Zubayr b. al-'Awwam|Zubayr]] reached Mecca, the three after gathering an army of Arab tribes journeyed to [[Basra]] and claimed to avenge the blood of Uthman.<ref>Dīnawarī, ''al-Imāma wa l-siyāsa'', p. 71-73.</ref> After conquering this city, they deployed their army against that of Imam Ali's (a).<ref>Yaʿqūbī, ''Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī'', vol. 2, p. 180-181.</ref> The battle that ensued thereafter was named the Battle of the Camel because of Aisha's presence in it as she sat on the top of a Camel.<ref>Mufīd, ''al-Jamal'', p. 334.</ref> This was the first battle to take place between the Muslims themselves.

According to [[al-Shaykh al-Mufid]], because of her position as the wife of the Prophet (s) and the daughter of the first caliph, A'isha was able to boost the chances of Imam Ali's opponents to rage a war against him.<ref>Mufīd, ''al-Jamal'', p. 226-227.</ref> When the Battle ended, Imam Ali reprehended A'isha whose face was slightly injured. He then ordered [[Muhammad b. Abi Bakr]] to check his sister's condition, and she was then respectfully returned to [[Medina]].<ref>Mufīd, ''al-Jamal'', p. 160-169, 369-382.</ref>

Although some people believe that A'isha was silent in the [[Umayyad]] period, others have shown that she was a supporter of the Umayyad dynasty.<ref>Taqīzāda Dāwarī, ''Taṣwīr-i khāniwāda-yi Payāmbar'', p. 126.</ref> Although her brother, Muhammad b. Abi Bakr, was tragically murdered at the command of Mu'awiya<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 5, p. 105.</ref> and she reprimanded Mu'awiya for murdering [[Hujr b. 'Adi]] and his companions,<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 5, p. 257.</ref> she made a compromise with him after the martyrdom of Imam Ali (a).<ref>Dīnawarī, ''al-Imāma wa l-siyāsa'', vol. 1, p. 205.</ref> Mu'awiya also tried to become closer to A'isha by sending her gifts.<ref>Ibn Athīr, ''al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh'', vol. 7, p. 136-137.</ref> It is said that he sent her one hundred thousand dinars and paid off eighteen thousand dinars of her debts.<ref>Ibn Athīr, ''al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh'', vol. 7, p. 136.</ref>

Amongst the issues that sustained the Shi'a's criticism of A'isha was her not allowing the burial of [[Imam al-Hasan]]'s (a) body next to the grave of the Prophet (s).<ref>Abū al-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī, ''Maqātil al-ṭālibīyyīn'', p. 82.</ref> The resting place of the Prophet (s) was in A'isha's house and after that, had been the burial place of the first two caliphs too. With the martyrdom of Imam al-Hasan (a), his brother [[Imam al-Husayn (a)]] initially intended to bury him next to the grave of the Prophet (s) in accordance with his will; but A'isha, with the help of the governor of [[Medina]], prevented its fulfillment. To avoid discord, Imam al-Husayn (a) resigned from it.<ref>Yaʿqūbī, ''Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī'', vol. 2, p. 225; Majlisī, ''Biḥār al-anwār'', vol. 44, p. 141.</ref>

A'isha died of a natural death on [[10 Shawwal]] [[58]]/[[8 August]] 678 (or 57/677) at the age of 66 in [[Medina]]. [[Abu Hurayra]] led her funeral prayer and she was buried in the [[al-Baqi' cemetery]].<ref>Ibn Athīr, ''al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh'', vol. 3, p. 520; Dhahabī, ''Tārīkh al-Islām'', vol. 4, p. 164.</ref> Some said she died on 17 [[Ramadan]] 58.<ref>Maqrīzī, ''Imtāʿ al-asmāʾ'', vol. 6, p. 42.</ref>  

There is a disagreement about why A'isha died. Some people believe that she died a natural death. Others appeal to certain sources to show that [[Mu'awiya]] had a role in killing A'isha by digging a hole and throwing her in it,<ref>Bayāḍī, ''al-Ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm'', vol. 3, p. 48.</ref> because she had criticized him for forcing people to pledge their [[allegiance]] to [[Yazid]].<ref>Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, ''Ithbāt al-hudāt'', vol. 3, p. 402.</ref> People who believe that A'isha was killed, date the event to the late [[Dhu l-Hijja]].<ref>Sayyid b. Ṭāwūs, ''al-Ṭarāʾif'', vol. 2, p. 503.</ref>

Sunni sources of hadiths and history provide detailed and exclusive accounts of A'isha and her virtues.<ref>Ibn Athīr, ''Usd al-ghāba'', vol. 6, p. 189-191; Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, ''Fatḥ al-bārī'', vol. 7, p. 83.</ref> They characterize her as a person of knowledge and literature, as she was educated by her father, and as someone who was familiar with medicine.<ref>Ibn Ḥanbal, ''Musnad Ibn Ḥanbal'', vol. 6, p. 67.</ref> She is also said to be knowledgeable of revealed verses of the Qur'an, divine rulings, Islamic traditions, poems, Arabian battles, judgeship, and genealogy.<ref>Dhahabī, ''Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ'', vol. 2, p. 183.</ref>

It is quoted that A'isha was the only wife of the Prophet (s) who had not been married earlier.<ref>Balādhurī, ''Ansāb al-ashrāf'', vol. 1, p. 409.</ref> Sunni Muslims cite many accounts indicating the Prophet's (s) great affection for her to the extent of calling her the Prophet's (s) most beloved wife.<ref>Ibn Hishām, ''al-Sīra al-nabawīyya'', vol. 8, p. 68; Ibn Kathīr, ''al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya'', vol. 8, p. 99.</ref>

[[Shi'a]] scholars consider the reports present in Sunni works about A'isha to be fabricated and exaggerated. They cite reports which mention her actions to have caused the Prophet (s) to become angry and unhappy, or quote the Prophet (s) to have complained on her account. Likewise, they cite reports mentioning A'isha's jealousy towards the Prophet's other wives and her vicious actions against them.<ref>Ibn Ṭāwūs, ''al-Ṭarāʾif'', vol. 1, p. 290.</ref>

According to the Shi'a, A'isha's jealous acts against other wives of the Prophet (s) were repugnant.<ref>ʿĀmilī, ''al-Ṣaḥīḥ min sīrat al-nabīyy'', vol. 3, p. 291.</ref> This is shown by historical accounts of her jealousy towards other wives of the Prophet (s), particularly [[Lady Khadija (a)]]. There is an abundance of evidence for this characteristic in Sunni sources. She is quoted as saying that she felt jealous when the Prophet (s) repeatedly mentioned Khadija (a).<ref>Muslim, ''Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim'', vol. 4, p. 1889.</ref> There are also accounts of her jealousy of [[Mariya al-Qibtiyya]] when she gave birth to a child.<ref>Yaʿqūbī, ''Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī'', vol. 2, p. 87.</ref> According to sources, the Prophet (s) was upset by her jealous acts.<ref>Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, ''al-Istīʿāb'', vol. 4, p. 278-279.</ref>

On the claims that A'isha was extremely beautiful and favored by the Prophet (s), the Shi'a believe that since most of these accounts go back to A'isha herself and her nephew, 'Urwa b. Zubayr, they are not reliable. They provide several pieces of evidence to show that, to the contrary, she was not beautiful and not favored by the Prophet (s).<ref>ʿĀmilī, ''al-Ṣaḥīḥ min sīrat al-nabīyy'', vol. 3, p. 289-291.</ref>

====Cursing A'isha====

When Yasir al-Habib, the Kuwaiti Shiite clergyman based in London, cursed A'isha, a number of Shiite scholars in al-Ahasa in Arabia inquired [[Ayatollah Khamenei]]'s view about insulting and cursing the Prophet's wife. In response, Ayatollah Khamenei wrote, "It is [[haram (fiqh)|forbidden]] to insult the symbols of our Sunni brothers, including the denunciation of the Prophet's wife [A'isha]. This includes the wives of all prophets (a) and in particular the head of prophets, our great prophet Muhammad (s)". This [[fatwa]] attracted the attention of world and Islamic media.

A'isha was among the narrators of the words and the life of the Prophet (s). The number of traditions related to her exceeds 2210.<ref>Maqrīzī, ''Imtāʿ al-asmāʾ'', vol. 6, p. 43.</ref> Parts of the reports narrated by her which are present in hadith sources have been subject to research and criticism by the [[Shi'a]] researchers and academics.

Many books have been written about A'isha in different languages throughout years by many Shiite and Sunni scholars, including: