Aisha’s Marriage and her Historic Role

Aisha’s Marriage and her Historic Role It often happens that, out of reverence and devotion, people form opinions that do not correspond to the actual facts. Once such views become widespread, ordinary people usually do not have the courage to challenge them. At such times, extraordinary insight is required. Only a person endowed with exceptional insight can dare to speak with certainty. Aisha al-Siddiqah acquired this insight through her continuous companionship with the Prophet of Islam, and it enabled her to speak and act with complete confidence. For example, after the death of the Prophet, it began to be said during the period of the Tabi‘un that the Prophet of Islam had seen God with his own eyes. When Aisha al-Siddiqah heard this, she became deeply disturbed and said: Man haddathaka anna Muhammadan sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam ra’a rabbahu faqad kadhab—“Whoever tells you that Muhammad saw his Lord has made a false statement.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 4855) Similarly, after the Prophet’s death, the practice of repeatedly completing the Quran became widespread. Instead of emphasizing reflection upon the Quran, people began to attach importance to completing it again and again through verbal recitation. Great rewards were associated with such completions. When this was mentioned to Aisha al-Siddiqah, and she was told that certain people completed the Quran several times in a single day, she