2 of 8 · Contract in Makkah · moved to his house in Shawwal, 1–2 AH · Makkah and Madinah
'A'ishah bint Abi Bakr رضي الله عنها
Her Marriage, and the Question of Her Age
Her marriage to the Prophet ﷺ was contracted in Makkah, after the death of Khadijah, and she moved into his house in Madinah after the Hijrah. She liked to point out that both happened in the month of Shawwal, which some Arabs considered unlucky for weddings — and asked which of his wives had been more fortunate with him than she was (Sahih Muslim 1423).
She came to his house still young enough to play. She kept her dolls, and her friends would come to play with her; when they shyly slipped away as he entered, he would send them back to her (Sahih al-Bukhari 6130).
In Sahih al-Bukhari she reports that she was six when the marriage was contracted and nine when she moved into his house, and that she lived with him for nine years (Sahih al-Bukhari 5133; also in Sahih Muslim 1422). Scholars have discussed this report, as the note below explains.
She grew up inside the house of revelation, and that is why so much of how the Prophet ﷺ lived reaches us through her.
What do you learn by watching someone's daily life that you could never learn from their words alone?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 5133 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 1422 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 1423 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 6130 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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