عائشة
ʿĀʾisha
Person
The Prophet’s wife and a scholar of the first generation, one of the major narrators of hadith.
What it means
Aisha, daughter of Abu Bakr, was the Prophet’s wife for nine years. Companions, including senior ones, came to her for rulings, and she is credited with over two thousand hadith. She corrected other Companions where she thought they had misremembered, and later led a force against Ali at the Battle of the Camel, which she regretted.
Often misunderstood as
That Islam permits child marriage because of her marriage.
What the sources say
Sahih al-Bukhari reports that she was betrothed at six and the marriage was consummated at nine. Most scholars accept this and explain it from the customs of the time, when marriage at puberty was normal in Arabia and in other societies. Some modern scholars question the age, pointing to other reports on her age relative to her sister Asma, which would make her older. The Prophet is also reported to have said that a virgin should not be married until her permission is asked (Sahih al-Bukhari). Many scholars, citing that and Quran 4:6, hold that maturity and consent are required, and most Muslim-majority countries now set a minimum marriage age by law.