Mother of the Believers, a scholar among the best of The Companions, she was unique in every aspect. She conveyed from the Prophet many hadiths which couldn’t have been conveyed by other Sahaba because none of the male muhaddiths among them had known the Prophet so intimately. She was the most beloved person to the Prophet. Let us have a glimpse at the life of this amazing person.
Aisha bint Abi Bakr was born in the year 614 CE. Her father was the most beloved Companion of the Messenger ﷺ, Abu Bakr Siddique (radiyallahu anhu), and her mother was Umm Roman (radiyallahu anha). Despite being born in a Makkah which was yet to accept Islam, she was a born Muslim, and she grew up in a home environment free from the touches of jahiliyah (ignorance …show more content…
The Prophetﷺ asked her what it was, and she replied it was a horse. The Prophet said smilingly that horses did not have wings. She replied that Sulaiman (alaihi salam) had horses that were winged.
Az Zuhri said of her, “If ‘Aishah’s knowledge is compiled and compared to the knowledge of all women, her knowledge will surely excel theirs.”
Aisha was shown in divine revelation to the Prophet in the form of dreams. The Messenger said to Aisha, “You have been shown to me in (my) dreams on three nights. An angel was carrying you in a silken cloth and said to me, ‘This is your wife.’ And when I uncovered it; behold, it was you. I then said, ‘If this dream is from Allah, He will cause it to come true.’
And the dream did come true by Allah’s will. The proposal was taken to the parents of Aisha by Khalwah bin Hakeem (radiyallahu anha), and since Aisha had not yet reached adulthood, she was engaged to the Messenger ﷺ , the only virgin among the Prophet’s wives.
When the migration from Makkah to Madinah took place she was eight, and she later narrated its minute details, which she remembered many years later. It was this amazing strength of memory which enabled her to narrate thousands of hadith of the Prophet ﷺ …show more content…
One of them was when she was maliciously accused of adultery by the hypocrites. Allah revealed verses 11 to 21 of surat an Nur on her defense. Another such occasion was the revelation of the verse of tayammum of surat an Nisa verse 43.
Aishah saw the angel Jibreel (alaihi salam) personally. On one occasion, she saw the Prophet talking to a horse rider. She saw who it was, and the Prophet said it was Jibreel in the form of a human, and that he requested that his greetings be conveyed to her.
The Prophet spent the last few days of his blessed life in Aisha’s apartment, and died in her lap. He was buried in her apartment, which is still the only remaining room among the Prophet’s household.
Aisha continued teaching Islam and narrating hadiths throughout her life. She was the fourth topmost narrator of hadith and narrated a total of 22102 ahadith. Several of the best chains of narration go back to her, among them Ubaydullah ibn Umar from Qasim from Aishah, which is considered a golden chain.
Three of her students received hadiths from her in written form: Mu’awiyah, Urwah ibn Zubair and Zayd ibn Abi Sufyan (radiyallahu ‘anhum