1

Sahih Hadiths of Aisha saying she was age 9 at consummation

Consummation means finalizing the marriage via intercourse.

[1] https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5134  [2] https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5133  [3] https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5158  [4] https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3896  [5] https://sunnah.com/nasai:3256  [6] https://sunnah.com/nasai:3378  [7] https://sunnah.com/nasai:3255  [8] https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:1877  [9] https://sunnah.com/abudawud:2121

Aisha's age is recorded in each of the six canonical hadith collections of Sunni Islam (which are held in highest regard), and beyond. This report is mass-transmitted (mutawātir) from Aisha by over eleven authorities among the Tābi‘īn, not even counting the other major Companions that reported the same, such as Ibn Mas‘ūd, nor other major successors that reported it from other than Aisha, such as Qatāda.

The precise age of nine at the time of consummation is reported with over eighteen different chains of narrations (isnāds) in the Six Books, nine of them in the Ṣaḥīḥayn, plus three more chains in the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad and another in al-Dārimī’s Musnad, one in Ibn Sa‘d, and others.

2

Bonus hadiths implying that Aisha was a little girl

On top of the 10+ sahih hadiths of Aisha saying her age was 6, we have other hadiths explaining that she was prepubescent, played with dolls, played on swings, was "a little girl of immature age", etc:

All of these (except bukhari:3894) occurred after consummation, which means that Aisha was described as immature even many years after she was the age of 9.

3

Historical sources by scholars that also state she was 9

On top of the many canonical sunni sahih hadiths, here are examples of historical sources by ancient scholars that also recorded Aisha's age as 9.

These include the most renowned scholars such as al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, Abd al-Ghani al-Maqdisi, Ibn Abi al-Izz, al-Tirmidhi, al-Bayhaqi, Ibn Sa'd, Imam Aḥmad, ibn Isḥāq, Ibn Ḥajar, Ibn Battal and others.

Just like in the previous section, these sources also describe Aisha as a "child", and constantly mention that she was playing with dolls or on a swing/see-saw.

4

Unanimous scholarly consensus that Aisha was 9:

As shown in the previous section, plenty of the most highly respected muslim scholars throughout the centuries had no issue recording Aisha's age as 9.

Moreover, the renowned scholars of different generations, such as Ibn Kathir and Ibn Battal, went out of their way to clearly specify that there was unanimous consensus among the scholars of their time.

Ibn Kathir relayed scholarly consensus in his book:

Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (Ibn Kathir), page 94

This is mentioned in the following Fatwas:

https://islamqa.info/en/answers/122534

https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/191627

Confirmation of consensus by a respected modern scholar:

Al-Fawzan, the highest cleric under the grand-mufti in Saudi Arabia, uses Aisha to defend that child-marriage should remain legal because Allah allows it.
Here is his well-known signed fatwa on child-marriage from his official website:

https://alfawzan.af.org.sa/ar/node/13405

Credentials: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saleh_Al-Fawzan

(He is one of the very few people in Saudi Arabia that has the authority to issue Fatwas.)

The Grand Mufti agrees with his colleague:
dailymail.co.uk > Its-injustice-NOT-marry-girls-aged-10-says-Saudi-cleric
Credentials: "The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia is the most senior and most influential Muslim religious and legal authority in Saudi Arabia."[wikipedia/Grand_Mufti]

Note: in late 2019 Saudi Arabia "banned" marriages under 18 in defiance to their religious leaders but it isn't necessarily banned, they just added an extra step for the sake of shutting up human right groups.
https://www.theweek.in/news/world/2019/12/27/saudi-arabia...

While not banning marriages below 18 entirely, it adds another step to the process. Now, such marriages will need the approval of a specialised court, which must determine whether the marriage would harm the minors in question and if it is in their best interests.

5

Muhammad's Companions + Ijma Ruling

This Fatwa mentions that the Sahaabah (Muhammad's closest companions) also married children:
https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/88089/child-marriage-in-islam

Muslim youtuber Farid also mentions this in his video at timestamp 12:40
https://youtu.be/_yw0hXk-9Pw

Ijma Ruling:

Ijma is scholarly consensus of a particular time after death of the prophet. According to sahih hadith, ijma is free from error.
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/202271

If consensus has been reached, it is not permissible for sunni muslims to differ from it. All other opinions are wrong.
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/131935

If consensus (of the Sahaabah) has been reached, it becomes binding shar‘i proof (God's immutable divine law), and what is required is to follow it; it is not permissible to differ from it.
Going against consensus may reach the level of kufr, if consensus was definitely reached and there is no doubt concerning it.

We have the actions of the Sahaabah and the consensus of the most highly respected ancient scholars throughout the ages (as shown in the previous section), which leaves no doubt that there is an ijma ruling (unambiguous scholarly consensus) regarding child marriage in Islam.

Questions to muslims who reject scholarly consensus:

6

Popular Muslim Youtubers Who Confirmed Aisha Was 9

When it became obvious at a certain point that there is no denying Aisha's age, Muslim youtubers began to admit there is no way around it and shifted their arguments to be about moral justifications for her age rather than denial. Later in this article I will refute every attempt at morally justifying Aisha's age.

Among them include:

Mohammed Hijab (1.2m subs), Ali Dawah (1.2m subs), Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi (650k subs), Daniel Haqiqatjou (410k subs), Farid Responds (80k subs), Zakir Naik (3.9m subs), Yaqeen Institute (1.7M subs), Battle Ignorance (300k subs)

7

Useful Muslim Resources

Important video of a Muslim demolishing every doubt about Aisha's age:

 5:00  Debunking "Hisham is weak narration". Many different narrators and in 100 sources.
 7:20  There aren't any narrations that say she was 18 19 20, they all say 9.
 8:00  Debunking Asma's age calculation hoax
11:50  Debunking "Aisha was in a battle" (she was helping the nurses).
12:20  Aisha saying she was 9 yrs old is "mutawatir" (mass transmitted, highest possible grade).
12:40  Examples of other muslim figures at the time marrying young girls, not just Muhammad.
13:30  This is also a Shia view, not just Sunni.
15:30  Debunking "they didn't have proper ways of counting the years"
16:00  Debunking "Aisha was 18", debunking "Hisham is weak narration" (again)

IslamQA Fatwa
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/122534/refutation-of-the-lie-that-the-prophet-blessings-and-peace-of-allah-be-upon-him-married-aaishah-when-she-was-18-years-old

IslamQA Fatwa #2
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/124483/how-old-was-aishah-when-she-married-the-prophet

Another fatwa with refutations, IslamWeb:
https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/191627/age-of-aaishah-may-allaah-be-pleased-with-her-at-her-marriage

Another Muslim website refuting lies:
https://www.livingislam.org/ir/d/aam1_e.pdf

The reasoning that a betrothal to Jubayr would suggest anything about age is also faulty and shows ignorance of the fact that betrothal could take place from the cradle or even before birth.

the precise age of nine at the time of consummation is reported with at least seventeen different chains in the Six Books, nine of them in the S. ah.īh.ayn, plus three more chains in the Musnad of Imām Ah.mad and one more in al-Dārimī’s Musnad
...
This makes the report mass-transmitted (mutawātir) from ‘Ā’isha by over eleven authorities among the Tābi‘īn, not counting the other major Companions that reported the same, such as Ibn Mas‘ūd nor other major Successors that reported it from other than ‘Ā’isha, such as Qatāda!

The weakest claim of all is probably the attempt to suggest weakness in the narration of Hishām ibn ‘Urwa in the following terms...

Yaqeen Institute debunking all the gaslighting:
* (Yaqeen is a respected Muslim website, with 100k followers on Twitter, 1.7m subs on Youtube)
https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/the-age-of-aisha-ra-rejecting-historical-revisionism-and-modernist-presumptions

8

Refuting Objections

🟩 = Completed
🟨 = Draft / WIP / Temporary notes
🟦 = Haven't started yet.

🟩 "I am a Quran-only Muslim"

Within Islam the two largest sects are the Sunnis (90%) and Shi'ites (10-20%), together making up almost the entirety of Islam. However, there is a small heretical group who are known as "Quranists", viewed by mainstream Islam in much the same way as the Jehovah's Witnesses are viewed by mainstream Christianity.

Muslims might take this fringe position on a whim when they have to face with embarrassing hadiths, not realizing the severe implications this has on the credibility of their religion.

---

1. Given that you are less than 1%, here are some starter questions:

•

Did 99% of Muslims for over 1400 years completely misunderstand Islam? If that is the case, how can we trust Muslims regarding anything at all, if over 99% of them are so wrong for so long. One must be paranoid on how to properly follow Islam if it is the case that 1400 years of Islamic scholarship was wrong, and that less than 1% of Muslims somehow got the right idea.

•

Is it conceivable that Allah is such a terrible communicator, that he misled over 99% of Muslims of every generation into believing there is a Sunnah, and as a result of this little communication 'error,' millions of young girls had to suffer? Does the Quran not state over and over again that its message is clear?

•

Is it your genuine worldview that Allah failed to pass his message twice because the Jews and Christians corrupted their scriptures, so he sent the FINAL messenger to set everything straight, yet over 99% of Muslims misunderstood this final message? Did Allah fail 3 times?

---

2. Do you reject other well-established historical events because they are not in Quran? Even if Quran is your only authoritative scripture, it is unreasonable to reject all the historical evidence of Aisha's age, which is not only found in the six cananoical Hadiths, but also in the earliest historical and biographical books of the life of Muhammad. All these different narrations in different sources could not have been fabricated, they stand as strong historical proof, regardless whether you view hadiths as authoritative in religious matters.

If one rejects the Hadith (ie. Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud), the Tafsir (e.g. Ibn Kathir, Ibn Abbas, al-Jalalayn, Maududi), and the History (ie. al-Tabari, Ibn Sa'd, al-Waqidi, Ibn Ishaq), then the entire historical context of the Quran, along with proof of Muhammad's existence is lost. The reader is left with such questions as "Who is Abu Lahab, and why are he and his wife going to be tortured?" If you accept that Abu Lahab is Muhammad's uncle, then you will also accept other basic historical facts which aren't necessarily mentioned in the Quran. Your rejection of hadiths as authoritative has no bearing on whether historical events occured or not.

---

3. Thirdly and most importantly, rejecting the hadiths won't save you here, because the Quran itself permits marrying prepubescent children, and worse than that it also permits intercourse with them.

This is explained in the following video by Mohammed Hijab, who says verbatim that Quran 65.4 allows sex with pre-pubescent children, he then adds that we have to trust hadiths for this reason because they tell you to wait until maturity before having intercourse (in other videos he clarifies his belief that girls can be mature enough at age 9).

The Extreme Consequences of Believing Quran Only.

Mohammed Hijab

https://youtu.be/oukiiE1HpX0

16:12

Mohammed Hijab is simply repeating the opinions of highly esteemed scholars, such as Abul A'la al-Maududi, who stated in his Tafsir:

Here, one should bear in mind the fact that according to the explanations given in the Qur'an the question of the waiting period arises in respect of the women with whom marriage may have been consummated, for there is no waiting-period in case divorce is pronounced before the consummation of marriage. (Al-Ahzab: 49). Therefore, making mention of the waiting-period for the girls who have not yet menstruated, clearly proves that it is not only permissible to give away the girl in marriage at this age but it is also permissible for the husband to consummate marriage with her. Now, obviously no Muslim has the right to forbid a thing which the Qur'an has held as permissible.

https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Maududi/65.4

Also see: Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi | Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs

This is corroborated in prominent Muslim websites as well:

•

https://islamqa.info/en/answers/27305/marrying-a-thirteen-year-old-girl

•

https://islamqa.info/en/answers/12708/is-it-acceptable-to-marry-a-girl-who-has-not-yet-started-her-menses

•

https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/88089/child-marriage-in-islam

It is also used as evidence to support child-marriage in famous fatwas, such as Al-Fawzan's:
https://alfawzan.af.org.sa/ar/node/13405
Wikipedia: "He is considered to be the most senior scholar of Islam in Saudi Arabia.[4]"

🟦 "I am a Shia, I reject Sunni hadiths"

e

🟨 "Hazarat Asma the sister of Aisha was 10 years older"

This unscholarly and desperate calculation involving Aisha's sister was popularized by a Hindustan Times article and continues to be circulated by Muslims to this day. However, this objection is deeply flawed on many layers and reflects very poorly on the Muslim community, as their persistent usage and heavy reliance on this long-debunked calculation demonstrates how poorly researched they are.

This objection is completely refuted from multiple angles in the Muslim Resources section above (see: Resource 1, Resource 2, Resource 3, Resource 4, and Resource 6).

Resource 1

Farid refuting Asma's age calculation hoax
(short clip taken from timestamp 8:00):

Full video: https://youtu.be/_yw0hXk-9Pw

Resource 2

IslamQA Fatwa
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/122534/

•

Debunks Asma's age calculation hoax (img 1)

•

It is evil and wrong to come up with an opposing view from the consensus of scholars throughout the centuries (img 2)

Resource 3

IslamQA Fatwa #2
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/124483/

•

Proper historical calculations (including with Asma) all agree with Aisha's statement of her being 9 (img 1)

•

Debunks Asma's age calculation hoax (img 2)

•

Asma's age calculation hoax is "an offense against knowledge and scholarship" (img 2)

Resource 4

IslamWeb refuting Asma's age calculation hoax:
https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/191627/

Resource 6

Yaqeen Institute refuting Asma's age calculation hoax:
https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/the-age-of-aisha-ra-rejecting-historical-revisionism-and-modernist-presumptions

🟩 "They started counting their age only after puberty"

This is patently false and an absurd lie, fabricated out of thin air.

There are no historical source to validate this claim, rather all the available historical sources completely disprove this.

Here are some clear examples:
(img 1) https://islamqa.info/en/answers/122534
(img 2) https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/the-age...

Not to mention, this goes against all of the scholarly consensus throughout the last 1400 years, and one must also ignore all the sources when Aisha is descibed as a young, immature, prepubescent girl, even many years after her consummation at the age of 9.

(Bukhari:5236, Bukhari:4750, Bukhari:2661, Bukhari:6130, Abudawud:4932)

🟩 "Aisha took part in battles"

The Battle of the Camel took place at 656 CE, this was over 30 years after her marriage to Muhammad, completely irrelevant. Aisha was past the age of 40 by this time and Muhammad was long dead.

The Battle of Uhud took place at 625 CE, which is after her consummation at 623 CE. Aisha was around 11 to 12 years old at this time. Aisha did not participate in the battle, she was only helping the nurses. An 11 year old girl is capable of passing around tools to the nurses. It was customary for Muhammad to bring at least one of his wives to battles, but their role was never to partake in the battle itself obviously.

Muslim sources have also refuted this:

•

Yaqeen Institute
(respected Muslim website with 1.7m subscribers on Youtube)
https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/the-age-of-aisha...

•

Farid briefly mentioned this in his video at timestamp 11:50:
https://youtu.be/_yw0hXk-9Pw

🟩 "In some sources Aisha said 7 and other times 6, hence it is unreliable"

There is no difficulty here, Aisha was 6 but approaching 7, sometimes Aisha counted in the few left months, and sometimes she didnt. Al-Nawawi suggested that at times she rounded her age upwards because she was nearing 7.
To throw everything out as unreliable because of this insignificant discrepancy would be absurd and dishonest, the Muslims who mention this make a huge jump and say Aisha was 18 rather than 6 or 7.

More importantly, in all of the sources Aisha unequivocally states that she was 9 at consummation, and there is zero discrepancy in regards to that.

IslamQA has also addressed this contention:
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/122534/

🟦 "They didn't have proper ways of counting the years"

e

🟨 "Hisham is a weak narrator"

Muslims who regurgitate this ignorant assertion are exposing themselves as severely uninformed on this subject.

They suggest that Hisham is the only narrator, however this is painfully ignorant because there are over 20 other chains of narrations. Hisham is only one narrator among a plethora of other narrators, which makes the narration "mutawātir" (mass-transmitted and held in highest regard).

On top of that, the notion that Hisham is a weak narrator is a poor assessment and a desperate one.

This objection is completely demolished in the Muslim Resources section above.
See: Resource 1, Resource 3, Resource 5, and Resource 6.

🟨 "Aisha hit puberty" hadiths (Abi Dawud 4933, Bukhari 476)

The hadiths in question are the following:
[1] https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4933
[2] https://sunnah.com/bukhari:476

The second hadith is actually an archived screenshot because recently Sunnah.com decided to update their poor translation, unfortunately their updated translation is still misleading.
Here is their current translation of Bukhari 476:

•

[1] Abu Dawud:4933:
Sunnah.com deliberately mistranslated the Arabic commentary of Abu Dawud. It does not say "I menstruated", rather it says "I breathed".
This was done out of desperation in a time when the age of Aisha was constantly criticized.
This hadith is insufficient for proving Aisha's maturity or puberty.
But even if it was the case that Aisha had her first menstruation, it does not mean she has attained full puberty. Puberty is a process that takes years, the first period is in no way an indication that a young girl a developed woman who is physically and psychologically prepared for intimacy. For reference, it is perfectly common for 9 year olds today to also have their first menstruation, you can see with your own eyes that they are premature.

•

[2] Bukhari 476:
This hadith is also deliberately mistranslated. It does not say "age of puberty", rather Aisha is saying "age of recollection". They translated it properly in another version (Bukhari 2297).
She is stating that for as far back as she can remember, her parents were Muslim. This suggests that Aisha was quite young, as Islam was a recent phenomenon and her parents were previously polytheists. Her father Abu Bakr was one of the earliest followers of Islam, because he converted the same year when Muhammad began preaching, at 610 CE. If Aisha was older she would've recalled memories of her parents practicing polytheism.

Sunnah.com tempering with translations is an admission they are ashamed of Aisha's age, and it also serves as evidence of the deceitful tactics used to mislead non-Arabic speakers.

These hadiths were refuted by a Muslim Youtuber in this short clip:

Full video: https://youtu.be/iImW2UwAyXI

•

Here is a more detailed refutation by David Wood and Al Fadi (non-muslims):
https://youtu.be/g3oCTdashV4

•

IslamQA mentioned Imam al-Bayhaqi's commentary on Bukhari as evidence that Aisha was young:

https://islamqa.info/en/answers/124483/

9

Refuting Moral Justifications

At this stage the person accepts that Aisha was 9, but makes all sorts of attempts to morally justify it.