"In the time before Islam, Abu Bakr married two women. The first was
Fatiladaughter of Abdul Uzza, from whom Abdullah and Asma were born.
Then he married Umm Ruman, fromwhom Abdur Rahman and Aisha were born.
These four were born before Islam." [5]
Being born before Islam means being born before the Call.
2. The compiler of the famous Hadith collection Mishkat al-Masabih,
Imam Wali-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Khatib, who died 700 years
ago, has also written brief biographical notes on the narrators of
Hadith reports.He writes under Asma, the older daughter of Abu Bakr:
"She was the sister of AishaSiddiqa, wife of the Holy Prophet, and was
ten yearsolder than her. … In 73 A.H.… Asma died at the age of one
hundred years." [6]
(Go here to see an image ofthe full entry in Urdu.)
This would make Asma 28 years of age in 1 A.H., the year of the Hijra,
thus making Aisha 18 years old in 1 A.H. So Aisha would be 19 years
old at the time of the consummation of her marriage, and 14 or 15
years old at the time of hernikah. It would place her year of birth at
four or five years before the Call.
3. The same statement is made by the famous classical commentator of
the Holy Quran, Ibn Kathir, in his book Al-bidayya wal-nihaya:
"Asma died in 73 A.H. at the age of one hundred years. She was ten
years older than her sister Aisha."[7]
Apart from these three evidences, which are presented in the Urdu
pamphlet referred to above, we also note that the birth of Aisha being
a little before the Call is consistent with the opening words of a
statement by her which is recorded four times in Bukhari. Those words
are as follows:
"Ever since I can remember(or understand things) my parents were
following thereligion of Islam." [8]
This is tantamount to saying that she was born sometime before her
parents accepted Islam but she can only remember them practising
Islam. No doubt she and her parents knew well whether she was born
before or after they accepted Islam, as their acceptance of Islam was
such a landmark eventin their life which took place just after the
Holy Prophet received his mission from God. If she had been born after
they accepted Islam it would make no sense for her to say that she
always remembered them as following Islam. Only if she was born before
they accepted Islam, would it make sense for her to say that she can
only remember them being Muslims, as she was too young to remember
things before their conversion. This is consistent with her being born
before the Call, and being perhaps four or five years old at the time
ofthe Call, which was also almost the time when her parents accepted
Islam.
Two further evidences cited by Maulana Muhammad Ali
In the footnotes of his Urdutranslation and commentary of Sahih
Bukhari, entitled Fadl-ul-Bari, Maulana Muhammad Ali had pointed out
reports of two events which show that Aisha could not have been born
later than the year of the Call. These are as follows.
1. The above mentioned statement by Aisha in Bukhari, about her
earliest memory of her parents being that they were followers of
Islam, begins with the following words in its version in Bukhari's
Kitab-ul-Kafalat. We quote this from the English translation of
Bukhari by M.Muhsin Khan:
"Since I reached the age when I could remember things, I have seen my
parents worshipping according to the right faith of Islam. Not a
single day passed but Allah's Apostle visited us both in the morning
and in the evening. When the Muslimswere persecuted, Abu Bakr set out
for Ethiopia as an emigrant." [9]
Commenting on this report,Maulana Muhammad Ali writes:
"This report sheds some light on the question of theage of Aisha. …
The mention of the persecutionof Muslims along with the emigration to
Ethiopia clearly shows that this refers to the fifth or the sixth year
of the Call. … At that time Aisha was of an age to discern things, and
so her birth could not have been later than the first year of the
Call." [10]
Again, this would make hermore than fourteen at the time of the
consummation of her marriage.
2. There is a report in SahihBukhari as follows:
"On the day (of the battle) of Uhud when (some) people retreated and
left the Prophet, I saw Aisha daughter of Abu Bakr and Umm Sulaim,
with their robes tucked up so that thebangles around their ankles were
visible hurrying with their water skins (in another narration it is
said, 'carrying the water skins on their backs'). Then they would pour
the water in the mouths of the people, and return to fill the water
skins again and came back again to pour water in the mouths of the
people." ....
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