Age of Aisha When Married to Prophet Muhammad: Rejecting Historical Presentism And Revising The History
Islam is today faced with two major challenges. Numberless of criticisms are coming from ex-Muslims, orientalists and Islamaphobes, from one angle.
The other challenge is from within. Many clerics and their followers justify pedophilia and child marriage, citing the hadith mentioned in Sahihul Bukhari that Prophet Muhammad married Aisha when she was six and consummated the marriage when she was nine.
This thread, as the title shows, is to weigh the arguments raised in support or against the marriage, both from within and without; and to revise the history without falling into the trap of historical presentism.
Let’s start with the myriad of criticisms coming from ex-Muslims and Islamaphobes accusing Prophet Muhammad of marrying Aisha at a tender age of six and consummating the marriage at nine as mentioned in Sahihul Bukhari and Muslim.
The critics fall into the fallacy of historical presentism – looking at the historical narratives through today’s lenses. Underage marriage was normal in early societies who adapted the moral sense according to their circumstances.
Even though the arguments of the critics are flawed, Islam frowns at underage marriage in today’s world. The religion teaches that Muslim societies should adapt to the changing circumstances and to reinterpret Quran and Sunnah according to their space and time.
Several fatwas (Islamic rulings) were raised by senior clerics and scholars against child marriage. In Azhar University, a fatwa was issued that a girl shouldn’t be married to someone when she is less than 18. In the conservative Saudi Arabia, tha same fatwa was issued last year.
However, in 2014, according to Pew Research Centre, there were over 57,000 cases of underage marriage in United States, most of which between an adult man and young underage girl. This was not in the Desert Arabia or in 570 A.D.
The reactions against child marriage is valid in 21st century when a girl is expected to at least pass through primary and secondary education, but to put it on the lives of people who lived over one thousand years ago is logically fallacious.
Average life expectancy in today’s world is about 70 years and it used to be less than 35 years about one thousand years ago. Minimum age of marriage in Rome was 12 years for girls (don’t confuse it with age of consent). It seems ancients have no problem with marrying young or having sex with underage girls.
So looking at the people who lived their lives a thousand years ago through the lenses of recent Western life, is a fallacy that most people fall into while interpreting historical facts. It is the same fallacy Ibn Khaldun asked us to avoid in his Prolegomenon.
Childhood is a creation of societies. The expectations of a child in Abuja is totally different from the ones for child in Kano. The ages at which one can be adult vary according to countries and states. And being 18 doesn’t necessarily make you reach to the expectations of people. You can be stupid at 30 and insane at 50.
ABOUT THE HADITH?
The tweets above assume the hadith is authentic and the arguments of the critics are on valid premises. However, the premise can be found laid on invalid foundations, especially if someone who is not sacralising “Sahihul Bukhari” takes a good and critical look at the hadith.
Muslims who support underage marriage cite the hadith to show that the Prophet action justifies the marriage, some are even elevating it to the level of Sunnah worthy to be practiced in 21st century.
The hadith was criticised by many scholars who said Hisham bn Urwah, the only person who reported the “authentic” hadith, became confused when he moved to Iraq and started giving contradictory information about his life and Islamic history.
Hisham Ibn Urwah made a mistake while narrating what Aisha told him. Instead of saying that she was born before “bi’itha” (prophethood of Muhammad) he gave the story as if she was born after “biitha”; subtracting many years.
Other narratives, as the one gave by Ibn Kathir in “Albidaya” say Asma’u, the sister of the Aisha, is older than her with about ten years. Asma’u died in 73 after Hijira when she was 100 years old. This means Aisha was 17 when hijira and consumated tha marriage at 19 – two years after.
There’s also comparison with Fatima’s age. Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet, according to historical sources, is older than Aisha with five years and she was born five years before the prophethood. This means Aisha married the Prophet when she was at least 12, not six.
There are many problems with the Hadith. I’m not good in making long thread of tweets. Scholars wrote about detailed critique of the Hadith. Although there are many counter arguments, but many are so weak to dispute the criticisms and are motivated by sacrilisation of Bukhari.
Even if the Hadith is authentic, we can’t justify underaged marriage in today’s world. There is total change of life and circumstances between today and a thousand year ago. There was no primary school then. The economy and ways of living are totally different.
Ignoring current and social norms to promote child marriage will lead to many dangers. This doesn’t also mean we have to question the lives of people who lived their lives 1,000+ years ago.
Describing the lives of our predecessors as barbaric without looking at their different context is unscholarly and shows the narrow worldview of the critics not the predecessors.
