AISHA BINT ABI BAKR (MAY ALLAH BE PLEASED WITH HER)

She was the Daughter of Abu Bakr and beloved wife of Prophet Muhammad(S). In the fifty years following his death, she became a great teacher of Islam and preserved and transmitted over two thousand Ahadeeth.

The Prophet (s) married her in Shawwal, a year after marrying Saudah. Aishah was the only virgin the Prophet (s) married and was regarded as the best loved of all the Prophet's wives. In her youth, she came under the loving care and attention of the Prophet Muhammad (S) himself. As his wife and close companion she acquired from him knowledge and insight such as no woman has acquired. She was the most learned female Muslim jurist in history. She passed away on Ramadan 17 Ramadan 57 A.H., and was buried in Baqi.  ^[1]

Brief Biography

Her Intellectual

A'isha narrated that once she asked him, "O Allah's Messenger! Suppose you landed in a valley where there was a tree of which something had been eaten and then found trees of which nothing had been eaten, on which tree would you let your camel graze?-He said that he would let his camel graze on the tree of which nothing had been eaten. The sub-narrator added that A'isha meant that Allah's Messenger had not married a virgin besides herself. (Bukhari).

The fact is that A'isha was very intelligent, able and alert and gained immense knowledge of multifarious problems from the Prophet.

Some hadith reveal the close relationship between the Prophet and A'isha through their hearty and good-humored remarks about each other. However, these remarks should be seen as between husband and wife and not as between a Prophet and his follower. Once A'isha (complaining of a headache) said,~"Oh, my head!" Allah's Messenger said, "I wish that had happened while I was still living, for then I would ask Allah's forgiveness for you and invoke Allah for you." A'isha said in distressed voice, "By Allah, I think you want me to die, and if that should happen, you would spend the last of the day sleeping with one of your wives!" The. Prophet said, "Nay, I should say, "Oh my head!" (the Prophet smiled)(Bukhari).

In spite of this strong relation between the two, this relation was confronted by a severe test, which is called the incident of slander in which, the Prophet, Aisha, and her parents experienced a very hard time, had a great suffering, and lived a lengthy time, which lasted more than a month. The result was very great for every body and a revelation of her innocents and purification was sent from Allah the almighty.

Her superiority

A'isha's love and devotion to Prophet Muhammad and his cause made her excel over his other wives in many ways. Abu Musa reported Allah's Messenger as saying, "A'isha's superiority over other women is like the superiority of tharid (a food) over other foods." (Bukhari and Muslim). Once, when 'Umar Ibn Al-As returned from Gazwa That As-Salasal, he asked Allah's Messenger, "Who do you love most in this world?" He said, "A'isha." He said, "O Allah's Messenger, the question is about men." He said, "A'isha's father."

Urwah ibn Zubair was of the opinion that he did not find any greater scholar than A'isha in the Qur'an, fara'id (Inheritance), halal and haram (lawful and unlawful things), fiqh (jurisprudence), poetry, medicine, (which she learned from al-Aaraab Bedouins who was showing there medicine to the Prophet), Arabic history and knowledge of genealogy. Another testimony of Imam Zahri goes like this. "If the knowledge of all men and the wives of the Prophet were put together, the knowledge of A'isha would exceed it all." She is counted among the mujtahidin, companions of the Prophet, and her name can be mentioned without any doubt along with that of 'Umar, Ali, Abdullah ibn Masud and Abdullah ibn Abbas. She used to give judgement (fat'wa) during the time of Abu Bakr, 'Umar and Uthman. She narrated two thousand two hundred and ten hadith of the Prophet. According to some scholars, one fourth of the injunctions of the Shari'ah are narrated by her.

Prophet(S) last days with her

Above all, the fact that the Prophet requested the other wives to allow him to stay with A'isha in his last days and that he died in A'isha's lap is evident testimony of her excellence and superiority over the other wives. A'isha reported that in his fatal illness, Allah's Messenger asked his wives, "Where shall I stay tomorrow? Where shall I stay tomorrow?" In fact, he was looking forwards to A'isha's turn and wanted permission from his wives to stay with her. So all his wives allowed him to stay where he wished, and he stayed at A'isha's house till he died there. A'isha added that he died on the day of her usual turn at her house. Allah took him to Himself while his head was between her chest and neck and his saliva was mixed with her saliva (for she chewed a green miswak (tooth stick) and gave it to him). (Bukhari) It is another addition to the excellence of A'isha that the Prophet died in her compartment and was buried in a corner of the same compartment. ^[2]

Full Name

Aisha bint Abi Bakr('Abdullah) b. 'Uthman b. 'Amir b. 'Amr b. Ka'b b. Sa'd b. Taym b. Murrah

Parents

Abu Bakr As-Siddique / Umm Ruman

Siblings

Abdur Rahman bin Abi Bakr

Birth Date/Place

9 BH/614 CE (Makkah)

Death Date/Place

57 AH/678 CE (17 Ramadan) (Medina)[ Natural ]

Places of Stay

Makkah/Medina

Area of Interest

Recitation/Quran, Tafsir/Quran, Narrator [ ع - صحابة ], Fiqh, Seerah

Spouse(s)

Prophet Muhammad(s)

Children

None

Teachers/Narrated From

Muhammad (s), Abu Bakr As-Siddique, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, Talha ibn 'Ubaidullah, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, Fatima bint Muhammad, Judhama bint Jandal al-Asadiyya

Students/Narrated By

Asma' bint Abi Bakr, 'Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, Abu Hurairah, ibn Abbas, ibn Umar, Abu Musa al-Asha'ari, 'Amr bin al-'Aas, al-Qasim ibn Muhammad, 'Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, 'Abdullah ibn 'Abdur-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr, Hafsa bint 'Abdur-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr, Asma bint 'Abdur-Rahman, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, Others

Narrations

Sahih Bukhari: 741    Sahih Muslim: 503^[3]

References

Books of al-Isabah[8/17,18,19,20,21] , Thiqat[Vol:3] , Tabaqat[Vol:8] , Siyar A'lam[2/135-201] , Tahdheeb al-Tahdheeb[Vol:12] , Tahdheeb al-Tahdheeb[Vol:12] , Taqrib al-Tahdheeb[750] 

[1] [3] http://www.muslimscholars.info/

[2] http://www.pbuh.us/prophetMuhammad.php?f=Re_Wives