GupShup Forums - View Single Post - T.O. Shanavas' selective quotes, re. Aisha's (r) age

ahmadjee · Oct 1st, 2002, 11:03 AM

Iqbal,

Thank you for your explanation, and I think most people will agree that the hadiths does report a young age for Hazrat Aisha (ra). Putting behind the discussion of what is authentic and what is not, or even on who is a credible reporter & who is not, lets move on to compiling an answer for those who question/object on the basis of "age difference" and "marrying at a young age" or even "lust".

How do you answer them? Or satisfy their queries?

I usually give the following answers and I hope you will comment on how I can make it better or where you disagree with me:

1) Its true that the Hadiths reports the age to be 6 or in some instances 9 & some are quoted Hazrat Aisha (r) as saying so herself. Though it is also true that people are mistaken on their own ages (like the example I gave of my own family) and there is no proof 'beyond doubt' that points to her age being 6, no more no less, as DOBs were not kept & most of the Arabs were illetrate.

2) It was customary for the culture world wide at the time for women to get married at an early age. The differences of the couple was normally much more than a few years which we see normal these days.

3) Most women (not all) didn't work and usually their duties were to take care of the house hold. From the very childhood were brought up in such a way that they were capable of taking care of the household by the time they were around 10. There are examples of such even in today's world in most of the poor nations of the world.

4) When a girl is physically ready for marriage differ from female to female and also depends on diet & climate. Modern science favors that argument.

5) Those who object and say that AnHazoor (saw) did it out of lust (Naozubillah), do not know the back ground or the history of Islam & life of Holy Prophet (saw). He married his first wife, Hazrat Khadija (r), when she was in her 40s & a widow. Till the day she was alive, he didn't marry anyone else, regardless of the fact that it was customary & permitted and obviously many prospective women available and he was young at that time. He took care of her in her old age like no one else and according to the traditions was thoroughly depressed when she passed away. I remember one tradition when he was walking down the street & saw a women who resembled Hazrat Khadija (r), with teary eyes he said "Is it you, Khadija (r)?" ... another tradition says that he used to do Qurbani on Eid-ul-Adhiya in her name even many years after she passed away and send the meat to her friends apart from distributing it to the family and poor, just like she used to do when she was alive. So, to say that a man with such dedicated love for his wife who in his youth never married anyone else, somehow turned to lust in his old age is outrageous & points to the prejudice in the questioner's heart.

Oct 1st, 2002, 11:03 AM	#7 (permalink)
ahmadjee ~Dream Quasher~ Join Date: Dec 22, 2000 - 1:00 am Posts: 17,956 Blog Entries: 652	Iqbal, Thank you for your explanation, and I think most people will agree that the hadiths does report a young age for Hazrat Aisha (ra). Putting behind the discussion of what is authentic and what is not, or even on who is a credible reporter & who is not, lets move on to compiling an answer for those who question/object on the basis of "age difference" and "marrying at a young age" or even "lust". How do you answer them? Or satisfy their queries? I usually give the following answers and I hope you will comment on how I can make it better or where you disagree with me: 1) Its true that the Hadiths reports the age to be 6 or in some instances 9 & some are quoted Hazrat Aisha (r) as saying so herself. Though it is also true that people are mistaken on their own ages (like the example I gave of my own family) and there is no proof 'beyond doubt' that points to her age being 6, no more no less, as DOBs were not kept & most of the Arabs were illetrate. 2) It was customary for the culture world wide at the time for women to get married at an early age. The differences of the couple was normally much more than a few years which we see normal these days. 3) Most women (not all) didn't work and usually their duties were to take care of the house hold. From the very childhood were brought up in such a way that they were capable of taking care of the household by the time they were around 10. There are examples of such even in today's world in most of the poor nations of the world. 4) When a girl is physically ready for marriage differ from female to female and also depends on diet & climate. Modern science favors that argument. 5) Those who object and say that AnHazoor (saw) did it out of lust (Naozubillah), do not know the back ground or the history of Islam & life of Holy Prophet (saw). He married his first wife, Hazrat Khadija (r), when she was in her 40s & a widow. Till the day she was alive, he didn't marry anyone else, regardless of the fact that it was customary & permitted and obviously many prospective women available and he was young at that time. He took care of her in her old age like no one else and according to the traditions was thoroughly depressed when she passed away. I remember one tradition when he was walking down the street & saw a women who resembled Hazrat Khadija (r), with teary eyes he said "Is it you, Khadija (r)?" ... another tradition says that he used to do Qurbani on Eid-ul-Adhiya in her name even many years after she passed away and send the meat to her friends apart from distributing it to the family and poor, just like she used to do when she was alive. So, to say that a man with such dedicated love for his wife who in his youth never married anyone else, somehow turned to lust in his old age is outrageous & points to the prejudice in the questioner's heart.