The Prophet’s – peace be upon him – marriage to Aysha – peace be upon her.

While listening to Sheik describe that most of the Prophet’s (PBUH) wives were either divorced or widowed I couldn’t help but wonder why Allah ordained him to marry Ayesha (PBUH) who was young. The culture was accepting of marrying younger women at that time. Also huge age differences were among the norm. In fact the prophet was 52 when he married an 80 year old woman from east Africa Then why Ayesha? Although the sheik didn’t mention it I think that the wisdom behind this probably could have been that she will outlive the prophet and be there to pass on his message directly to a few generations to come. Some might argue why not Fathima (PBUH), his beloved daughter – but who knows a man better than his own wife? Furthermore, Fathima (PBUH) did not share a house with her father. Ayesha was the live in wife who saw him day in and day out. She became the scholar who taught us half the religion we know. While there are many accounts of what her exact age was I think this was part of the reason she was divinely ordered to be married to the prophet. In today’s context does it make it ok? No. Everything that was allowed for the prophet is not allowed for us. For example it is believed that at one time he had 11 wives. Can we do this today? No way. You have to stop at 4. Most men have hard time handling just one and being fair to her… leave alone two or more. Similarly at a time when the average child at that age was more mature than the average child today and in a culture where engagements were done earlier on in life it was ok. Today the situation is more complicated.