# How old was Aisha when she married the Prophet? *The age of Aisha: why the story of six or nine is false* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/c9vke9rpq9o/s/2/ - Date: 2019-09-19 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: A reply to Asadulah Al-Andalusi on the age of Aisha (r) | Mufti Abu Layth (2:30–6:57) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9vke9Rpq9o&t=150s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/c9vke9rpq9o/ **Topics:** The age of Aisha; Replies to attacks on the Prophet **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth says the report that Aisha was six or nine is false and that she was in her late teens, about seventeen to nineteen. Promoting the child-marriage story and then taking offence at the charge of paedophilia is irresponsible. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the story that Aisha was six, seven or nine is not true and that she would have been in her late teens. **Evidence, his words at 3:45:** “this story is not true that I share was six years old or seven or nine” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9vke9Rpq9o&t=225s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth says he replied that while some critics are bigots, Muslims are partly to blame: they teach that the Prophet married a six- or nine-year-old and then take offence when people call it paedophilia. He says the story is not true and that, as he explains in a detailed video, Aisha would have been in her late teens, roughly seventeen to nineteen, some saying up to twenty. He cites her age relative to her elder sister, her being allowed onto the battlefield when Ibn Umar was turned away at fourteen, her memory of a Makkan surah revealed years before the hijrah when she was a jariyah, and her prior engagement to Jubayr ibn Mut'im [?], which would be absurd at two or three. He says it is irresponsible for a Muslim to promote that the Prophet married a child of six, and relates that the preacher answered that real scholarly research shows she was a little girl of six. ## Sources and names cited - Aisha - Asma bint Abi Bakr - Abdullah ibn Umar - jariyah (girl approaching adolescence) - report: aisha was a jariyah playing when the verse was revealed - Jubayr ibn Mut'im [?] - Sahih al-Bukhari ## Transcript (machine tier, 2:30–6:57) [1:54] to say we should build bridges with X Muslims and so on and so forth and let it mean let it be you know let it let me be clear this is him that there's no way on earth I'll ever be friends with these people they hate Allah they hate you know he's Pro feet and I can never be friends with somebody that's like an act of betrayal and bla bla bla bla bla yeah so basically I don't build bridges I build walls and I kind of soak on myself in until we're so secluded that [2:29] we just diminish so now I responded by saying look I strongly disagree I do accept that there are some people who are Islamophobe there are some people who just hate on everything they will hate religions faiths no matter what there are bigots out there unfortunately I do accept that that said I feel that there are many people out there who are X Muslims who are maybe they appear they do criticize Islam but I said is that not our own fault that we present certain things so he had said in his initial post they [3:07] call our prophet a pedophile I said in my comment look you can't teach people that the Prophet married a six year old and then say when they say oh but that's pedophilia you you throw a fuss and say oh my god oh no you're not allowed to go sorry I meant nine like that makes it any better that doesn't change anything so and then you get all offended that they say yeah but that's pedophilia they say no nur is not pedophilia here in pedophilia everywhere else but not here [3:45] and you think well no that would be pedophilia because so so these people then get so I said look who's to blame because it's not even true this story is not true that I share was six years old or seven or nine this isn't nonsensical this story is miss related it is wrong right and I've got a little detailed video explaining that she was in her late teens a specific age we don't know because the Arabs would too accurate documenting ages but she would have been anything at that time between it comes as anything between seventeen to nineteen it comes as some people say [4:24] maybe up to 20 but that's based on all the evidence is based on all the hadith evidences in Bihari another thing her being around from a certain time I shall being older than her elder sister her elder sisters age was so much herself being allowed to go to the battlefield when Omar even home are the son of Omar wasn't allowed and he was 14 so she must have been much older than that and so all these kind of this a lot of and her saying that oh I remember when such a surah was revealed and it was revealed years before the hijra a monkey surah she says I used to be a young girl who could reason and [5:02] understand things and I remember that surah Ange area is usually a young girl not like I don't mean young like as a kid it's usually anything you could say and this is when that surah was revealed which was years before the hijra even took place and she speaks about a particular verse she says and you you might say that at that jolly is often anything let's say between 8 to early teens or at least 8 to 12 you would have they would call that acharya at least now if she was that at that stage then years later when the hijra takes place [5:42] how old would have she been the fact that she was already engaged when the proposal came according to this story because she was engaged for about three years to jebaited numata i'm now according to this story schwa she would have been engaged if she was two years old or three that's ridiculous and so this whole thing nevertheless I said look you can't be promoting you it is irresponsible of you to be promoting as a Muslim that the Prophet married a [6:22] child age six and then get all worked up when people call that pedophilia because you are to blame first of all it's false but why are you promoting this nonsense so he then responded to me to the law by saying real scholarly research shows that you're wrong that I'm wrong and I Cheryl the Alanna was just a little girl was like six so I ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment c9vke9Rpq9o/s/2. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/c9vke9rpq9o/s/2/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.