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Given that the dates concerning the Prophet's marriage to Aisha, which state she was married at six and the marriage consummated at nine, contradict other historical information, such as the birth of Asma bint Abi Bakr 27 years before the Hijra, her being ten years older than Aisha, and her death at the age of 100 in 73 AH, in addition to the incident of the Slander (Al-Ifk) in the second year of the Hijra not being consistent with Aisha being eight years old at that time, does this discrepancy in the transmitted dates and events regarding Lady Aisha necessitate intellectual deliberation to conclude that her marriage occurred when she was 17 years old, without questioning Sahih Muslim and Al-Bukhari, while taking into account that narrations are susceptible to error and that the judgment on disagreements rests with Allah and His Messenger?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) was not infallible, and she could err like anyone else. She was born four or five years after the Prophetic Mission began. The Prophet (peace be upon him) married her when she was six or seven years old, and consummated the marriage when she was nine. He passed away when she was eighteen. This is confirmed by authentic narrations in Bukhari and Muslim. As for the incident of the Slander (Al-Ifk), it occurred in the sixth year of Hijra, and she was approximately fifteen years old at that time.

Asma' bint Abi Bakr was ten years older than Aishah. She was born twenty-seven years before the Hijra and lived for one hundred years, passing away in the seventy-third year of Hijra after the martyrdom of her son, Abdullah ibn Az-Zubair, as mentioned by historians. Based on the estimation of Asma's age, it becomes clear that Aishah was born approximately eight years before the Hijra. The historical narrations found in the Sahihayn (Bukhari and Muslim) are given precedence over others, especially since none of the Salaf (pious predecessors) objected to what Aishah stated about herself.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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