Aisha's Age
And the marriage to children
Narrated Aisha: That the Prophet married her when she was six years old, and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old
Islam Allows Marriage to Minors
Before we look at the details about Aisha's age and marriage, we should examine Islam's view on marriage to minors.
Let's look at this answer to a question on Seeker's Guidance about marrying and having sex with children:
And the sleeping with a minor age wife and having intercourse with her, if the husband and the guardian of the wife agreed upon something that is not harmful for the minor age wife, it is legitimate and if they did not agree upon then Ahmad and Aboo Ubayd say that if she is at nine years of age she can be forced to, not the younger ones, and Malik and Shafi’i and Aboo Hanifah say that the criteria is that she can bear intercourse, and the differences of opinion about this issue comes from these scholars. But the correct opinion is that it does not depend upon age.
Now, an interesting note on the scholar's answer, which he divides into two parts:
a) Getting Married
1. Her father marries her off. It is not permitted for anyone, other than the father to marry her off.
2. The father must be sane and possess integrity.
3. There must be a benefit or welfare for the young lady in the marriage
b) Intercourse
Once the young girl is married, she may move in with her husband and partake in sexual intercourse, whether she reached the age of puberty or not, when the following conditions are met:
1. The father permits and deems it an acceptable practice.
2. She could physically bear sexual intercourse
3. Society in terms of its practice and culture approves of it
4. That the law of the country one lives in, is not contravened.
Now - the other incredible part - if the father permits it? And what pre-teen can physically bear and potentially get pregnant?
Numbers 3 and 4 are also quite funny - isn't Islam supposed to be the moral guide, that's constant throughout time? Shouldn't it protect these children from these predators? The author added points 3 and 4 to make it more palatable. But if we look at what Islam allows - this behavior is acceptable, for all eternity.
Those last two points seem to offer some protection until you realize, it doesn't. After all, here we are in 2025, and Iraq has legalized marriages to children as young as 9.
The Quran confirms it
As answered in Islam Q&A, which uses the Quran as its source:
Marrying a young girl before she reaches the age of adolescence is permitted in sharee’ah; indeed it was narrated that there was scholarly consensus on this point.
Which cites this verse from the Quran:
As for your women past the age of menstruation, in case you do not know, their waiting period is three months, and those who have not menstruated as well. As for those who are pregnant, their waiting period ends with delivery. And whoever is mindful of Allah, He will make their matters easy for them
Again, looking to Tafsir Maududi for clarification:
Therefore, making mention of the waiting-period for the girls who have not yet menstruated, clearly proves that it is not only permissible to give away the girl in marriage at this age but it is also permissible for the husband to consummate marriage with her. Now, obviously no Muslim has the right to forbid a thing which the Quran has held as permissible."
(And those who have not menstruated): Likewise is the waiting period of those who did not menstruated among the little girls due to being too young if their husbands divorced them after entering.
The Almighty saying: Who did not menstruate, meaning the little ones, their waiting period is three months
Consider this scenario:
A rich man comes to a very religious man, who has a daughter, who is age 5. The religious man determines he is of sound character, and the rich man offers his daughter a lifestyle she could not otherwise afford, and the religious man agrees. This is perfectly legal in Islam.
"Her silence means her consent."
Islam is very loose on consent
Narrated `Aisha:
I asked the Prophet, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! Should the women be asked for their consent to their marriage?" He said, "Yes." I said, "A virgin, if asked, feels shy and keeps quiet." He said, "Her silence means her consent."
Aside from the obvious that a child cannot consent, imagine being a teenager, and being presented to an older man to marry.
And imagine the type of parents you'd have who think this is acceptable: deeply religious, they don't care what you think, they force the hijab on you. I have personally known many people with this type of family.
If you're too scared to speak up (what child wouldn't be?), it's implied that you're ok with what's going to happen:
His father said: “A girl came to the Prophet and said: 'My father married me to his brother's son so that he might raise his status thereby.' The Prophet gave her the choice, and she said: 'I approve of what my father did, but I wanted women to know that their fathers have no right to do that.' ”
As we know, Aisha was the daughter of Abu Bakr, one of the first and most hardcore companions of the Prophet. He'd have known of his daughter since she was born.
He was having dreams about her (a little weird)
Allah's Messenger said to me, "You were shown to me twice (in my dream) before I married you. I saw an angel carrying you in a silken piece of cloth, and I said to him, 'Uncover (her),' and behold, it was you. I said (to myself), 'If this is from Allah, then it must happen.' Then you were shown to me, the angel carrying you in a silken piece of cloth, and I said (to him), 'Uncover (her), and behold, it was you. I said (to myself), 'If this is from Allah, then it must happen.' "
If we look at Muhammad Ibn Sa'd's biography Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabir, Volume VIII: The Women of Madina:
'Atiyya said, "The Messenger of Allah asked for the hand of 'A'isha bint Abi Bakr when she was a child. Abu Bakr said, 'Messenger of Allah, will you marry your brother's daughter?' He said, 'You are my brother in the deen."'
He said, "So he gave her in marriage to him for some household goods which were worth about fifty dirhams. Her nurse came to her while she was playing with the girls and took her hand and brought her to the house and tidied her and took a veil with her and brought her to the Messenger of Allah." (Ibn Saʻd, 1997, p. 43)
Abu Bakr seems like he was taken aback, seeing that he saw Mohammed as a brother - which was corrected. Again, no mention of asking Aisha, the 6-year-old, for her consent:
A'isha said, "The Messenger of Allah married me while I was playing with the girls. I did not know that the Messenger of Allah had married me until my mother took me and made me sit in the room rather than being outside. Then it occurred to me that I was married. I did not ask her and my mother was the one who told me." - (Ibn Saʻd, 1997, p. 43)
If the consent of any woman mattered, it would have been explicitly mentioned, like various other issues that Islam has very clear rulings on. But if it didn't matter for the Prophet's wife, why would it matter for anyone else?
'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported:
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house at the age of nine. She further said: We went to Medina and I had an attack of fever for a month, and my hair had come down to the earlobes. Umm Ruman (my mother) came to me and I was at that time on a swing along with my playmates. She called me loudly and I went to her and I did not know what she had wanted of me. She took hold of my hand and took me to the door, and I was saying: Ha, ha (as if I was gasping), until the agitation of my heart was over. She took me to a house, where had gathered the women of the Ansar. They all blessed me and wished me good luck and said: May you have share in good. She (my mother) entrusted me to them. They washed my head and embellished me and nothing frightened me. Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) came there in the morning, and I was entrusted to him.
Aisha's Age
The Age of Aisha
Now that we have the background of marriage with children in Islam, we can now see how it was practiced by Mohammed:
Narrated 'Urwa:
The Prophet (ﷺ) wrote the (marriage contract) with `Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death).
Narrated 'Aishah:
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) married me when I was seven years old. The narrator Sulaiman said: or Six years. He had intercourse with me when I was nine years old.
She was still playing with dolls!
Another hadith that outlines her age
Narrated `Aisha:
I used to play with the dolls in the presence of the Prophet, and my girl friends also used to play with me. When Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) used to enter (my dwelling place) they used to hide themselves, but the Prophet would call them to join and play with me. (The playing with the dolls and similar images is forbidden, but it was allowed for `Aisha at that time, as she was a little girl, not yet reached the age of puberty.)
'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) married her when she was seven years old, and he was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she was eighteen years old.
It was narrated that 'Aishah said:
"The Messenger of Allah married me when I was six, and consummated the marriage with me when I was nine, and I used to play with dolls."
The Prophet married a child
The number of hadith which confirm this cannot be disputed. It's clear. We can look at this fatwa, which states it quite clearly:
The Prophet only held his marriage contract with `Aa'ishah when she was six years old, but he consummated the marriage when she was nine years old, as reported by Al-Bukhari and others.
This fact is reported in many books of Seerah (biography) through many chains of narrators that cannot be rejected.
You'll also see it justified in several ways, for example, it was "normal" at the time to marry a 9-year-old - it was not. The Greeks and Romans regarded it as very young, and would at least wait until they were teenagers:
Historically, individuals were allowed to enter into a marriage contract at a very young age. In Ancient Rome, the appropriate minimum age was regarded as 14 for males and 12 for females - source
The other justification is that some 9-year-olds go through puberty early. Ask yourself - have you seen a mature 9-year-old? Do you believe she can consent to sex with a man in his 20s? How about his 30s? 40s? 50s? 60s? Do you regard that as moral and model behavior?
Islam claims to be perfect and timeless, it's clear that the consensus is that marriages to children are permitted and allowed, through multiple fatwas.
Islam had the chance to eradicate this practice, by making the rules around it and divorce even clear. If God is Al-Alim - "the one whose knowledge is comprehensive and extends to all that is seen and unseen", he would have foreseen that any ambiguity in this issue would result in millions of girls and women suffering through time. We know it can be clear when it wants to - the rules around alcohol and pork are solid, without any room for interpretation. However, it chooses not to.
Then, instead of asking "can" or "can't", the question becomes - is this moral? Is it right? And none of the tafsirs or Imams or hadiths address this, because disagreeing with Islam's position on this (or any) issue would deem you to be an apostate.