It is the year 678 in the Hejazi desert.
A 64 year old woman quietly succumbs to an unknown disease.
A close friend of her late husband leads a prayer as she is taken to her final resting place.
This woman was a teacher, a politician, a warrior and a scholar.
She is a woman that still incites inspiration, controversy, and condemnation over 1,300 years later.
This is the story of Aisha, one of the most well-known women in the history of the Islamic world.
Aisha was born around 613 or 614 to Umm Ruman and Abu Bakr of Mecca.
Both were close companions of the new religious leader Muhammad, the founder of the Islamic faith.
Aisha was married to the prophet, Muhammad, at only six or seven years old, and there are reports that they may have consummated the marriage when she was as young as about ten.
I won’t sugar coat this, but marrying young girls to older men was not an uncommon practice in the Arabian world in the 7th century.
In fact, it was common in many places on earth this far in the past.
The marriage was likely done so Muhammad could strengthen his political ties with Abu Bakr.
In polygynous societies in the middle-ages marriage was often political.
And it’s not like this is purely historical.
Child brides in the Middle East and North African regions are not unheard of even today.
Unfortunately, it’s a frightening reality for a lot of people.
Many women are victimized because of this cultural practice, and it really is one of those things that keeps me up at night.
I should also point out that there is some contention over her age at the time of her marriage to Muhammad.
Some records put her at 12, while some historians think that the classical Arabic these record were written in might indicate that she was actually between 15 and 19.
American historian Denise Spellberg suspects that Aisha’s youth may have been exaggerated in order to remove any doubts that she was a virgin.
Why her virginity is such a big deal might make more sense when you consider that the family ties and politics will get much more complicated after Muhammad’s death as you will see.
Aisha’s young marriage to Muhammad is a difficult thing that many Muslims struggle to reconcile.
I don’t offer any answers to this.
In Islamic law there have been rules and decisions made on this issue.
My reason for telling her story is that I do not think the controversy does or should define her entire life.
Aisha stands as a much more important historical figure than simply a player in a controversy used by many to disparage the faith of 1.6 billion people.
There are a lot of records that suggest that Muhammad and Aisha grew to love each other over time.
He often referred to her as his most beloved, and several hadiths support this.
He reportedly built her a special apartment that opened into the mosque where she would be the only woman with whom he would receive divine revelations.
Other stories tell of the couple being able to very easily sense each other’s moods.
Muhammad did not entirely see himself superior to her and she felt free to speak her mind, even when it would anger him.
He often remarked on her intelligence and she shaped more than her fair share of religious practices.
In fact, many consider her the most learned women of her time.
In this period, Aisha’s life is not without controversy.
She was accused of having an affair with a nomad named Safwan.
Muhammad believed her innocent, but many of her political rivals seemed more than eager to spread the story around.
Whether you believe it today falls mostly on whether or not you like Aisha, which heavily falls on Sunni and Shia lines.
When Muhammad realized he had very little time left to live, he tried to find a way to spend time with Aisha, while also trying to fairly split time among all of his wives.
When they figured out that he wanted to be with Aisha, the other wives allowed him to retire into her apartment until his death.
And he did die there, in Aisha’s arms.
Muhammad died after nine years of marriage with Aisha, but she would go on to live for another fifty years.
Her relationship with the prophet led her to a key political career in the early Islamic empire.
She lived mostly in and around the city of Medina, spending much of her life in study.
She was so devoted to study that she completed a time-honored and, in our google-based reality, amazing feat of completely dedicating the Koran to memory.
During Aisha’s life, some Islamic practices like the veiling and secluding of women were beginning.
In spite of that, Aisha was heavily involved in the politics of the caliphates of Abu-Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthman.
In a time where women were severely kept from the political realm, she gave rousing speeches, went to war, and became one of the most important figures in understanding Muhammad's life.
The first Caliph, Aisha’s father Abu Bakr, was an extremely controversial figure.
It was his succession that began the schism between Sunni, and Shia Muslims.
Shias believe that a different man named Ali had been appointed by Muhammad to lead, while Abu Bakr was simply elected.
However, as you remember Abu Bakr was Muhammad’s father in law, and so he took power.
His rule is known as the period when many foundations of Islamic imperial politics began.
As his daughter and the wife of the prophet, Aisha held a special position of power at this time.
She was known as the truthful woman, and daughter of the truthful man.
It is a reference to Abu Bakr’s support during the Isra and Mi’raj, a spiritual and literal journey taken by him and Muhammad in 621 to a mosque in Buraq and Muhammad’s journey to heaven.
This is where Muslims believe Muhammad spoke directly to god.
Abu Bakr died of an illness in 634, and Aisha became a political consultant to his successor ‘Umar.
She spent ten years in his court advising him on how to manage the politics of day to day life in the Islamic empire.
When 'Umar was assassinated, the next successor was 'Uthman, who was part of the influential Umayyad family.
It took a few years, but Aisha found herself in his orbit as well.
She wasn’t a fan.
We aren't sure why but she came to really not like him.
When he beat up a close friend of her late husband, she called him out, claiming he had lost touch with the Islamic way.
They publicly argued when Uthman spared his brother from punishment after he reportedly prayed incorrectly, and possibly drunk.
He began to question if she as a woman should be involved in politics, splitting the Muslim community at the time.
The fragile new Caliphate began to fracture when an Egyptian opponent of Uthman began to circulate letters calling for true Muslims to cut off food and water to the Caliph.
Angry rioters filled the streets, and 'Uthman was forced to try and convince Aisha to stay and use her influence to help keep the peace.
But, she wasn’t having any of that, and left for the city of Mecca.
About a thousand rebels sieged 'Uthman’s house.
They eventually got in and killed the third Caliph.
This started a civil war called the first Fitna.
Ali, from the earlier Shia Sunni divide took the crown.
Aisha unleashed an angry speech against our friend Ali for not doing anything to avenge 'Uthman’s death.
With the help of the Umayyad family and the governor of Mecca, Aisha raised the funds to launch a campaign against Ali.
She didn’t just fund and set off this army. She was physically in the army.
She was there when the army took the city of Basra.
Ali’s forces tried to take it back, and Aisha was in the battlefield giving orders from camel-back.
This battle called the Battle of the Camel was the first time Muslims fought fellow Muslims on the battlefield.
She lost, but her army would continue to fight for another 110 days.
The two sides came to an agreement which would send her to Medina with a military escort, and a pension as long as she took no more role in state affairs.
Though her role in the war was over, the First Fitna would rage on without her.
She spent her last years as a teacher.
As a lifelong advocate for educating Muslim women, she established the first madrasa, or Islamic school for women in her own home.
Her students were relatives, orphaned children, and even some men.
She retired from public life but did have some influence over those important in Islamic politics, so she wasn’t entirely checked out.
She was known as an intelligent woman who would debate with the men.
Her last years were as a storyteller, telling stories of her life with Muhammad and trying to correct the stories circulating about him that had developed the primordial Islamic law.
Aisha had a huge impact on the development of Islam.
She’s known as the inventor of many proper Islamic rituals such as formalizing the pilgrimage to Mecca.
She is one of the most important sources of the Hadiths, a collection of stories about the life of Muhammad.
Today, Sunni Muslims call her Aisha, the one who affirms the truth.
She’s still cited today by many Islamic scholars, and is an important heroine for Muslim feminists.
She leaves a mixed legacy in modern Islam.
Sunni Muslims believe she was Muhammad’s favorite wife, and destined by god to marry him.
Shia Muslims have an entirely different opinion of her.
They accuse her of hating their preferred successor to the prophet, and do not forgive her for the defiance of Ali at the Battle of the Camel.
They doubt that she was Muhammad’s favorite wife, and portray her as being jealous of the others.
It’s really hard to discern truth and facts when looking at events so long ago, but Aisha’s story, no matter what the interpretation, is one of the pillars of this massive religion.
Hey everyone, I want to thank Ines Dawson for her help supplying the voice for this episode.
She runs her own channel called Draw Curiosity which you can find here, or in the video description.
If I missed any other really interesting information about Aisha, please tell me about it down below.
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