Was Aisha Pre- or Post-Pubertal?
This is a huge debate between some well-meaning Muslim laypersons on the one hand,
and Islamaphobes on the other. Some Muslim laypersons insist that Aisha (peace be
upon her) was post-pubertal (baligh) when she married the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Like I said earlier, this statement can either be true or false. If we take the meaning of
“post-pubertal” (baligh) to be post-menarchal (after the onset of menses), then there is no
way to prove this either way. And as such, Muslims should not insist upon this as if it is
incontrovertible fact. But Islamaphobes should not get too happy at me saying this,
because neither can anyone claim to know for sure that she was not post-menarchal.
More on this later.
Yet, if we take the second usage of post-pubertal—which involves the physical changes
and maturity that comes about due to puberty—then we know with certainty that Aisha
(peace be upon her) had reached this stage. It is a requirement of Islamic Law (Shari’ah)
that a girl reach physical maturity before marriage is consummated; what then is the level
of sexual maturity that must be reached? The answer is simple: the girl must be sexually
mature enough that sexual activity will not be harmful to her in any way whatsoever.
This means that when Aisha (peace be upon her) consummated the marriage with the
Prophet (peace be upon her), she had reached a stage at which it was not harmful for her.
We know this for certain because that is the very reason that Prophet Muhammad (peace
be upon him) delayed consummating the marriage with her for three or four years. If he
had not cared about her safety, then nothing prevented him from consummating the
marriage in those three years. Instead, the Prophet (peace be upon him) waited until she
was ready for it.
Western audiences should only be indignant if the girl was harmed, yet Aisha (peace be
upon him) was not harmed in any whatsoever; so it is a non-issue. Sure, it sounds strange
that a nine or ten year old girl would be ready for sexual intercourse, but this was over
one thousand years ago, when people used to have an average lifespan in their twenties.
I’ve already cited numerous examples of venerated Christian figures who married girls of
a similar age, as well as provided extensive quotes and references which show that far
from being unheard of, it was the norm all over the world to have such young marriages.
It is problematic to judge ancient civilizations based on our current cultural mores. To
give just one example, in ancient civilizations it was not at all uncommon for people to
go months without taking a shower. In fact, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
commanded his followers to shower at least once a week. Only once a week, you say!
Back then, this was considered a lot and the Prophet’s command to shower once a week
made the Muslims the cleanest of people in Arabia. The matter was no different in
Europe; in fact, the Muslims are the ones who introduced soap to the Europeans, who had
hitherto never used it. By today’s standards, someone who does not shower for an entire
week is considered “gross”. Yet, back in those days, once a week with soap would put
the person in the finicky clean category. Just as showering once a week or even once a
month was business as usual, so too was marrying young girls.
In any case, Aisha (peace be upon her) was most definitely post-pubertal if we use the
word “puberty” in its second usage, i.e. sexual maturity. In other words, her body went
through the physical changes and maturation that puberty brings, such that her body had
become ready for sexual intercourse. There is a very strong proof we can use to show
that Aisha (peace be upon her) had reached physical maturity before she moved into the
Prophet’s house, and this is Aisha’s own statement in which she said:
When the girl reaches nine years of age, she is a woman.
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Kitab al-Nikah)
From this, we can see that Aisha (peace be upon her) had the body of a woman when she
consummated her marriage with the Prophet (peace be upon him). She was mature, and
not immature, as the Islamaphobes claim. But if by post-pubertal (baligh) we mean postmenarchal,
which is the way that Islamic scholars use the term, then we can never know
for certain if Aisha (peace be upon her) was this or not. The reason is because there is no
single hadeeth (narration) which informs us when Aisha (peace be upon her) experienced
her first period. It is, however, largely irrelevant, because some girls menstruate long
after their bodies have physically matured; some girls don’t menstruate until in their
twenties.
In any case, the evidence seems to indicate that Aisha (peace be upon him) was in fact
post-menarchal. However, we can’t know for sure, so I think it is fruitless to argue this
point, especially since it doesn’t matter. What matters is whether or not Aisha (peace be
upon her) was physically mature or not, and she definitely was, and all Islamic scholars
have consensus (Ijma) on that.