Madam Aishah, a Study of her age at the time of her marriage with Prophet Muhammad

Some thought-provoking suggestions:

Some have suggested that Aishah was born in 610 CE, some 11 or 12 years before the Migration to Madinah in 622, which would mean that at the time of her full marriage she would have been around 14 years old, and not 9.³

Some have suggested that she was born in 605 CE and thus when Muhammad attained the Prophethood she would have already been 5 years old, 17 in the year of Hijrah, and 19 when she took full marriage.⁴

Another suggestion is that at the time of her nikah Aishah was 16 years old (sittah ashra). It is quite possible that the later authors, while quoting the figures, mistakenly omitted ‘ashar (ten in Arabic), thus changing 16 to 6 years old.⁵

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3. ‘Aishah’, compiled by Abbas Mahmud al-Aqqad and translated into Urdu by Shaykh Muhammad Ahmad Panipati, p.44.

4. ‘Sayyidah Aishah Siddiqah’ by Miyan Muhammad Said, p.5.

5. Ibid. p.8; ‘Muhammad the Prophet’ by Muhammad Ali Lahori, p.229.