The Importance of Learning the truth about Aisha

“Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research is a research institute which aims to instill conviction and inspire contribution based on mainstream Islamic texts.”

One of the most difficult topics of conversation in today’s world regarding Islam is the marriage of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to ‘Aisha.

Despite not being an issue until the beginning of the 20th century, it has become an extremely common criticism used by those trying to discredit or insult the Prophet ﷺ.

However, after a particularly difficult reception at the University of Florida from a large group of Islamophobes under the leadership of famed extremist Terry Jones, Imam Omar Suleiman found a different approach to this issue,

When a young woman who sincerely wanted to understand the terrible claims she had heard about the religion of Islam came to the Imam, the only thing she couldn’t reconcile was the marriage to ‘Aisha.In her words, she was stuck on it.

The Imam, however, gave her some very simple advice. He sent her a reading list of the person that ‘Aisha was. Not the marriage, or her age, or the discussions that went around issues. Simply on the person that she was.The scholar of hadith. The legal advisor. A leader in a community of great men.

By showing her this side of the woman she had once thought of as oppressed and abused, the woman broke through this barrier that kept away her good opinion of the religion and she eventually converted to Islam.

And when she gave birth to her first daughter, what did she name her? ‘Aisha.