She was truthful, daughter of the truthful, wife of the most truthful, and the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) passed away in her lap.
Our Mother, Our Teacher, Aisha bint Abu-Bakr
You know, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he treated every single one of the companions so well that they all thought they were the most beloved to him. So, Amr bin al-’As decides one day that he’s going to ask the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, in front of everyone else, “من أحب الناس إليك؟”,( menn ahabbo Al naas ilayk?) – who is the most beloved person to you? So he says one day we’re sitting together, all the sahaba are there, so he says, I said to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, “يا رسول الله، من أحب الناس إليك؟”,( Ya rasool Allah, menn ahabbo Al naas ilayk?), Oh Messenger of Allah, who’s the most beloved person in the world to you? He’s like, come on tell them, I know it’s me so go ahead and tell them. So RasulAllah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says, well if you’re asking… Aisha radiAllahu anha.
That was something that was very different, because obviously in those times, they didn’t treat their women very well, they were embarrassed about their relationship with their wives. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, I love my wife more than anyone else, particularly he mentioned Aisha radiAllahu anha. He said, “no, no, no, I mean from the men, from the men. We can talk about wives later, lets talk about the men.” So, RasulAllah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, “أبوها”(abooha) , her father. He didn’t say Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu, he said her father. Still connecting Abu Bakr to her. Then Amr bin al-’As radiAllahu anhu said, then who? He said, then Umar. Then Amr bin al-’As said, I just stopped asking because I was afraid the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would never say my name.
So Aisha radiAllahu anha was that woman that was the most beloved to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. RasulAllah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said that comparing Aisha to all the other women in the world is like comparing the dish of thareed to all other dishes, and thareed was his favorite dish, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. It was a very good dish that the arabs had, it was a delicacy. So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said she’s that special.
When we look at the life of Aisha radiAllahu anha, we truly do see a special woman, and this woman excelled in so many ways. There was a reason why she was so beloved to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam.
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala of course, revealed to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in the form of a dream to marry Aisha radiAllahu anha as the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam saw Jibreel alayhi as-salam, and Jibreel alayhi as-salam directed him to Aisha radiAllahu anha, so the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam married Aisha. Her name is as-Siddiqa Bint as-Siddiq. She’s the truthful one, the daughter of the truthful one being Abu-Bakr.
Now Aisha radiAllahu Anha, because she grew up primarily in Medina, at least her adult life was in Medina, she had the characteristics and the traits of the women of Ansar. She was a very assertive woman, she was a very intelligent woman, as the women of the Ansar were. And subhanAllah, we find so many incidents between her and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and we learn so much from just their marital life. And subhanAllah, she gives us access to the life of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam that no one else could give us because she lived a very long life after the Messenger salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, she died 58 years after Hijra, so she lived for many years after the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. She was very intelligent, she was a scholar, and many of the ahadith come from Aisha radiAllahu anha. How the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam slept, when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would take a bath, and when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would do his tasks behind close doors, how else would we have known that was it not for Aisha radiAllahu anha, so we all owe her a great deal of love and respect, because it’s through her that we gained that access to the life of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. His qiyam, his sleeping, everything. The intimacy of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, the romance of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. It truly allows us to have that whole picture of the Messenger salAllahu alayhi wa sallam.
The argument of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam with his wives, and which you know, subhanAllah, we find that sometimes Aisha radiAllahu anha narrates arguments that she had with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and she was wrong, and she narrates those things about herself because she wants the ummah to be educated about that, I mean who would do that? Who would actually say, I made a mistake and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam reprimanded me. We had this argument and I was wrong. She did that so that the ummah could learn, and that was her passion, she was a scholar. So she taught the ummah, even through her personal life, through her encounters with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. It only endears the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam more by giving us that access to his life.
So we see that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam used to love to joke with her. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, as Aisha radiAllahu anha says, once we were travelling with a group of companions, and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam told the companions, you guys go ahead, you go forward. Aisha didn’t know what was going on, as they moved forward RasulAllah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam looked at Aisha radiAllahu anha and he said, let’s race. So they started to race, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and Aisha radiAllahu anha. And Aisha says, the first time I beat the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and she said I put on some weight, and the second time the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam beat me, and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would make fun of me for that. He would say, see? one for one. So subhanAllah, there was that level of playfulness in their relationships. Such a level of romance, a strong connection between the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and Aisha radiAllahu anha.
She would drink from a glass and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would say to Aisha radiAllahu anha, which part of the glass did you drink from? He would drink from that exact same spot.
He would take Aisha radiAllahu anha to see the Abyssinians that were doing their war dances and war games inside the masjid, and watched that until she was satisfied. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam loved her, and he loved to be playful with her. Even in his time of death, alayhi salat wa salam, he joked with her. So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would joke with her.
In his last few days, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam walks in and Aisha radiAllahu anha complains that she has a headache, she says “وا رأساه” (waa ra’saa) , my head hurts, and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says, oh Aisha, what would be better for you than dying before me, and the Prophet of Allah would wash your body, and he would do your ghusl, and he would pray janaza on you. So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was joking with Aisha radiAllahu anha in those last moments of his life, alayhi salat wa salam; and she joked back with him. Through that, we have a fiqh ruling about the husband washing the wife at the time of death, just from that joke between the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and Aisha radiAllahu anha. So there was a deep love, a deep connection.
Obviously, during her lifetime Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala mentions the hadith al-ifk, the slander that was made towards Aisha radiAllahu anha, and obviously that was made by the chief of the hypocrites, Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Sulul, who accused her of adultery to hurt the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, because everyone knew how much the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam loved Aisha radiAllahu anha. So, Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Sulul made an accusation. He slandered her, and subhanAllah those were very difficult moments in the life of the Messenger salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. But, we learn something very, very precious there. It shows us the status of Aisha radiAllahu anha. You know, when Mariam/Mary alayhi salam was accused of what she was accused of, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala allowed a baby to be born to her, being Isa/Jesus alayhi salam, and Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala allowed that baby to speak and defend her. When Yusuf alayhi salam, the prophet of Allah Joseph, was accused of what he was accused of, Allah subhanahu wa tabula “وإذا شهد شاهد من أهلها” (wa itha shahid shaahidun min ahliha) Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala allowed a young man from the family of the wife of al-Aziz to bear witness to what had actually happened, and to defend Yusuf alayhi as-salam. But, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, with Aisha radiAllahu anha, Allah Himself took it upon Himself to reveal ten ayat to declare the innocence of Aisha radiAllahu anha, in Surah Nur, verses 10-20. That’s incredible. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala saw the honor of this woman and defended her Himself, so that shows us her status.
Now, after the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam passed away, now how did the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam pass away? RasulAllah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam passed away in her lap. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was in her lap, and his head was on her chest. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam looked at the siwak of Aisha radiAllahu anha, and Aisha said, “Do you want the siwak?” He said yes. She said, I softened it with my own teeth, and I gave it to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. That’s when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam used the siwak, then Jibreel alayhi as-salam entered upon him and gave him the choice, and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa salam chose “الرفيق الأعلى” (alrafeeq Al a’la) the high companionship, the companionship of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. He died, salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, in her lap. And she said, what an honor, subhanAllah. This love, that my saliva mixed with the saliva of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in his last moments. SubhanAllah, so that connection cannot be taken away.
We’re just talking about her status just in regards to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Aisha radiAllahu anha once had a dream, that three moons fell into her lap. So she asked her father, Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu, she said, what does this dream mean? Abu Bakr was a skilled dream interpreter. So Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu, he said to her that there is going to be good news that’s going to come to you. There’s going to be good news that’s going to come to you. And when RasulAllah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam passed away, and RasulAllah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was buried in that same area, where he passed away in her room. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was buried, Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu came to Aisha radiAllahu anha and said, the first of those moons have fallen, and he is better than the other two moons. And subhanAllah, the prophecy of that dream was that in the room of Aisha radiAllahu anha, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would be buried, then Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu, then Umar radiAllahu anha. Of course Aisha radiAllahu anha wanted the spot that Umar would be buried in for herself, but when Umar made that request, she recognized how significant it would be for Umar to be buried next to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and Abu Bakr as Siddiq radiAllahu anhu.
So she had a very special status. Obviously all of the wives of the Prophet do, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala called them the Mothers of the Believers. But just in her personality, you know, she was the knowledgeable of all the women “أعلم نساء الأرض” (a’lam nisaa al ard) she was the most knowledgeable of all of the women, in fact Imam az-Zuhri rahimahullah said she was the most knowledgeable of all the wives of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. By the way, this counters a lot of the claims that are made against Aisha radiAllahu anha, and against the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam for marrying her while she was young. She’s the opposite of everything that you would expect from a young girl that was supposedly forced into a marriage at a young age. She was confident, assertive, knowledgeable, eloquent. She loved her husband, she loved the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, she was jealous of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam’s other wives. But, her knowledge, az-Zuhri says that she was the most knowledgeable of all of the wives of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he said in fact if you took all of the knowledge of all of the wives of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and compared it to the knowledge of Aisha radiAllahu anha, her knowledge was more.
Urwah ibn Zubair who was her nephew, there are beautiful narrations of Urwah radiAllahu anhu, for example, walking in one day and seeing Aisha radiAllahu anha reading for an entire day and night, one ayah from the Quran, standing up, crying and making dua. The ayah from Surah at-Tur, فَمَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَيْنَاوَوَقَنَاعَذَابَ السَّمُومِ,(famanna Allahu AAalayna wawaqanaAAathaba assamoom) , Allah was kind to us and protected us from the punishment, from the greivous punishment. Urwah is the one who got to see that because Urwah was her nephew. So Urwah gives us some of her personal virtues, and he also narrates many of the ahadith and seerah from Aisha radiAllahu anha. Urwah radiAllahu anhu, he says, I have heard the speeches of Abu Bakr, and the speeches of Umar, and the speeches of Uthman, and the speeches of Ali, and he says that there is no person, none of them was as eloquent as Aisha radiAllahu anha. She was a better speaker, she was more eloquent than all of them. Even khulafa ar-rashideen. He said she was the most knowledgeable in fiqh, she was the most knowledgeable in hadith, he said she even excelled everyone else, she passed everyone else in her knowledge of poetry, and her knowledge of medicine. SubhanAllah, she became knowledgeable, a faqhi, a scholar in all of those different regards. So Aisha radiAllahu anha surpasses everyone in those regards.
Abu Musa al-Ashari radiAllahu anhu said, whenever we, the companions, couldn’t figure something out, we just go to Aisha radiAllahu anha, and she always had clarity on the issue. Even on issues of inheritance, which are the hardest issues. She always was able to figure it out. Her fiqh was that great. She was that knowledgeable, she was such a genius. Again, eloquent, assertive, she was the shaykha, she was the teacher of all of the other sahaba. Urwah radiAllahu anhu said, there was not a scholar from among the companions, except that I saw him seeking knowledge from Aisha radiAllahu anha, so she is the shaykha of all of the other companions.
Through her, we have 2,210 ahadith. Can you imagine? 2,210 ahadith that give us access to the life of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, that otherwise we simply would not have.
Again, she lived for many, many, many years and taught the ummah, and educated the ummah. And she lays the ground. She shows us that a woman can have a role in society, can be a scholar, can be a speaker, and maintain her modesty at the same time. Aisha radiAllahu anha did not need to do anything immodest to hold that position. She maintained her modesty, and at the same time excelled in every single way. May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala have mercy upon her, and allow us to meet with our mother Aisha radiAllahu anha in Jannat ul-Firdous. Allah humma ameen.