Assalamualaikum my dearest companions. First of all, allow me to apologise for my tardiness in sharing my little piece of thoughts with all of you. Alhamdulillah, we've completed 25 days of fasting and with it as well, our daily tazkirah sessions. My tazkirah today is just a personal sharing of my own experience in doing some research on the topic of Saidatina Aisyah R.A, particularly on the issue of "child marriage".
During one of my Islamic Literature lectures in UIA, my lecturer presented a new "theory" in regards to this matter, where some scholars were coming up with historical facts that were trying to prove that Saidatina Aisyah was already in her late teens when she got married. This was originally the information that I initially thought of sharing today, thinking that it would serve as a good point of argument against the vilification of our prophet's character in regards to this matter.
However, as I was rummaging through the nets, sourcing for more credible information to share, I stumbled upon this one hour talk by Sh. Omar Suleiman, aptly titled; Ending The Debate on Aisyah's Age. Let me try to sum up the lecture into a few main points:
1) Child Marriage issue is a double edge sword that was meant to assassinate both characters; the Prophet Muhammad SAW & Aisyah R.A.
- Aisyah's age has never been an issue during the prophet's time. If it's really something frowned upon by the society at that time, prophet's enemies would have used it as a point against him. Furthermore, none of the early Islamic scholars find it necessary to discuss the age of Aisyah as it is really a non-issue.
- this issue was raised just as a propaganda to portray muslim men as being abusive and Muslim women as being abused and weak. This is definitely both not true for our Prophet Muhammad and Aisyah R.A.
2. Aisyah R.A did not show any physical and mental sign of a child being abused and pressured into marriage.
- Aisyah grew up to be one of the 7 most sought after scholars of her time. Sometimes unparalleled to even the other male scholars. This is not a sign of someone being abused in the marriage.
- She narrated more than 2,000 hadith, none in which she shares any signs of her husband being abusive towards her. Instead, she readily narrates personal instances where she was at wrong so that we could all learn of how rightfully treated she was by the prophet.
3. There was also no sign of power abuse in the marriage. Aisyah is given the title Ummul Mukminin and the prophet even addressed her as "your mother" when speaking his companions.
- Aisyah R.A is even portrayed as being a jealous wife sometimes. She is also described as being playful and carefree when she was with the prophet. There was never any sign of imbalance of power in the marriage, even after taking consideration of Aisyah, a non-prophetic person, marrying a prophet.
To sum up on the issue, when asked of what is the age of Aisyah R.A when she got married to the Prophet? The answer is simply old enough.
It is important to note that what is considered a normal age for a woman to marry has been significantly different in those days compared to today. Even if we compare with the days of our parents and grandparents, we would be able to see the differences. What is important is for us to realise that the issue of Aisyah's age is in reality, a non-issue that was only being brought up in recent years just to put our prophet and his beloved wife in an unsavoury position. We must not fall into this trap. Yes, it would be easier to explain and to maybe comfort ourselves if we were to say that Aisyah was older when she was married to the Prophet but that might not have been the truth. So yes, when asked of how old she was when she got married, just simply answer, she was old enough to marry and that time and she continues on to live as the most beloved wife of the prophet and the best example of a great wife, a great woman, and she is our mother, she is Ummul Mukminin. Wallahua'lam.
With that, I would also like to share a Nasyid that was inspired by our Ummul Mukminin. The lyric was originally written by me, and then was awesomely reworked and given a beautiful melody by our talented brother, Azalammmmbayu Zakaria. With that, enjoy....
Sir Sedol
During one of my Islamic Literature lectures in UIA, my lecturer presented a new "theory" in regards to this matter, where some scholars were coming up with historical facts that were trying to prove that Saidatina Aisyah was already in her late teens when she got married. This was originally the information that I initially thought of sharing today, thinking that it would serve as a good point of argument against the vilification of our prophet's character in regards to this matter.
However, as I was rummaging through the nets, sourcing for more credible information to share, I stumbled upon this one hour talk by Sh. Omar Suleiman, aptly titled; Ending The Debate on Aisyah's Age. Let me try to sum up the lecture into a few main points:
1) Child Marriage issue is a double edge sword that was meant to assassinate both characters; the Prophet Muhammad SAW & Aisyah R.A.
- Aisyah's age has never been an issue during the prophet's time. If it's really something frowned upon by the society at that time, prophet's enemies would have used it as a point against him. Furthermore, none of the early Islamic scholars find it necessary to discuss the age of Aisyah as it is really a non-issue.
- this issue was raised just as a propaganda to portray muslim men as being abusive and Muslim women as being abused and weak. This is definitely both not true for our Prophet Muhammad and Aisyah R.A.
2. Aisyah R.A did not show any physical and mental sign of a child being abused and pressured into marriage.
- Aisyah grew up to be one of the 7 most sought after scholars of her time. Sometimes unparalleled to even the other male scholars. This is not a sign of someone being abused in the marriage.
- She narrated more than 2,000 hadith, none in which she shares any signs of her husband being abusive towards her. Instead, she readily narrates personal instances where she was at wrong so that we could all learn of how rightfully treated she was by the prophet.
3. There was also no sign of power abuse in the marriage. Aisyah is given the title Ummul Mukminin and the prophet even addressed her as "your mother" when speaking his companions.
- Aisyah R.A is even portrayed as being a jealous wife sometimes. She is also described as being playful and carefree when she was with the prophet. There was never any sign of imbalance of power in the marriage, even after taking consideration of Aisyah, a non-prophetic person, marrying a prophet.
To sum up on the issue, when asked of what is the age of Aisyah R.A when she got married to the Prophet? The answer is simply old enough.
It is important to note that what is considered a normal age for a woman to marry has been significantly different in those days compared to today. Even if we compare with the days of our parents and grandparents, we would be able to see the differences. What is important is for us to realise that the issue of Aisyah's age is in reality, a non-issue that was only being brought up in recent years just to put our prophet and his beloved wife in an unsavoury position. We must not fall into this trap. Yes, it would be easier to explain and to maybe comfort ourselves if we were to say that Aisyah was older when she was married to the Prophet but that might not have been the truth. So yes, when asked of how old she was when she got married, just simply answer, she was old enough to marry and that time and she continues on to live as the most beloved wife of the prophet and the best example of a great wife, a great woman, and she is our mother, she is Ummul Mukminin. Wallahua'lam.
With that, I would also like to share a Nasyid that was inspired by our Ummul Mukminin. The lyric was originally written by me, and then was awesomely reworked and given a beautiful melody by our talented brother, Azalammmmbayu Zakaria. With that, enjoy....
Sir Sedol
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