Clarifying Hadith
Reports
One of Aisha al-Siddiqah’s unique contributions was that she corrected many narrations which did not accurately convey the intended meaning of the Prophet of Islam’s words. Most hadiths reported from the Prophet relate to conversations that took place in gatherings. It sometimes happened that a Companion entered a gathering midway, heard part of the Prophet’s speech, and missed another part. Similarly, a Companion might hear a statement of the Prophet without knowing the particular context in which it was said.
For such reasons, ambiguity sometimes entered the narrations of certain Companions, and their reports did not fully represent the Prophet’s intended meaning. Aisha al-Siddiqah undertook the task of clarifying such reports by placing them in their proper context. As the Prophet’s wife, she was in his company every day. As his life companion, she was able to understand matters in greater detail and depth. On the basis of this distinctive position, she corrected those narrations of the Companions in which the Prophet’s words had not been conveyed in their proper context.
In the terminology of hadith scholars, this kind of correction is called istidrak. Several leading scholars of Hadith collected these istidrakat. One such treatise was prepared by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, entitled ‘Ayn al-Isabah fi Istidrak ‘Aishah ‘ala al-Sahabah. To understand this matter, a few examples are given below.
According to a narration in Sahih al-Bukhari, Abdullah ibn Umar reported the following statement concerning bathing: “I heard the Messenger of God say: Whoever among you comes for the Friday prayer should take a bath.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 894)
Abdullah ibn Umar narrated this hadith in a simple form. Outwardly, it may give the impression that bathing on Friday is an absolute command. However, when Aisha al-Siddiqah narrated the same hadith, she also explained its reason—a reason she certainly came to know through her close companionship with the Prophet of Islam. She narrated it as follows:
“People used to come for the Friday prayer from their homes and from the settlements outside Madinah. They would arrive covered with dust and perspiration. On one occasion, one of them came to the Prophet while he was with me. The Messenger of God said: ‘It would have been better if you had purified yourselves for this day.’” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 902)
In Abdullah ibn Umar’s narration, the Prophet’s statement is reported in an absolute form, which may create the misunderstanding that bathing is, as it were, a part of the Friday prayer itself. But Aisha al-Siddiqah narrated the statement in its proper background. This makes it clear that the bath was required because of a physical need; it was not a ritual component of the prayer.
Abdullah ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Umar, and some other Companions narrated that the Prophet said: Inna al-mayyita la-yu‘adhdhabu bi-buka’i ahlihi ‘alayh—“The deceased is punished because of his family’s weeping over him.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1286)
When this narration was mentioned before Aisha al-Siddiqah, she said that the Messenger of God had not said it in that sense. The actual incident was that one day the Prophet passed by the funeral of a non-Muslim, while her relatives were weeping over her. He said: “They are weeping over her, while she is being punished.” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 932)
Aisha al-Siddiqah’s point was that weeping is not the cause of punishment. Rather, the two matters are separate. The mourners were weeping over her death, while the deceased was suffering the consequences of her past deeds. Weeping is the act of others, and they themselves will bear responsibility for it. The deceased cannot be held accountable for it. Every person is answerable only for his or her own deeds.
This explanation by Aisha al-Siddiqah concerning the Prophet’s statement shows that in such matters, regular discussion took place between the Prophet and Aisha. Through these discussions, matters became clear to Aisha that generally remained unknown to others.
At the Battle of Badr, when some of the polytheists were killed, the Messenger of God stood at their place of burial and said: “Have you found that what your Lord promised you is true?” (Quran, 7:44)
The Companions asked: “O Messenger of God, are you addressing the dead?” Ibn Umar, probably narrating from Umar, and Anas ibn Malik, narrating from Abu Talhah, reported that the Prophet replied: “You do not hear better than they do, but they cannot reply.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1370)
When this narration was mentioned to Aisha al-Siddiqah, she said that the Messenger of God did not say it in that form. Rather, he said: “They now know that what I used to say to them was true.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1371)
What Aisha al-Siddiqah said was based on deep religious understanding. Where did she acquire such exceptional depth of religious insight? There can be only one answer: she acquired it through her close and continuous learning from the Prophet of Islam.
Some people came to Aisha al-Siddiqah and said that Abu Hurayrah narrated from the Messenger of God: “Bad omen is found in three things: a woman, a horse, and a house.” Aisha replied that this was not correct. Abu Hurayrah had heard one part of the statement and missed the other. What the Messenger of God had actually said was: “The Jews say that bad omen is found in three things: a woman, a horse, and a house.” (Musnad Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi, Hadith No. 1641; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 25168)
Aisha’s clarification is extremely important. Had she not clarified the matter, Abu Hurayrah’s narration would have left a lasting ambiguity on this issue—an ambiguity that no one else could have removed.
Abdullah ibn Abbas narrated that the Prophet saw God twice: once on the occasion of the Mi‘raj, and once on the occasion mentioned in Surah al-Najm. With reference to this, Masruq, a Tabi‘i, asked Aisha al-Siddiqah: “O Mother of the Believers, did the Prophet see God?” Aisha replied: “You have said something that has made the hair on my body stand on end. Whoever tells you that Muhammad saw his Lord has lied.” She then recited the verse: “No vision can grasp Him, but He grasps all vision; and He is the Subtle, the All-Aware.” (Quran, 6:103) After this, Aisha recited another verse of the Quran (42:51): “It is not granted to any human being that God should speak to him other than by revelation or from behind a veil.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 4855)
The clarification that Aisha al-Siddiqah made in this matter required extraordinary religious courage. Such courage could be found only in someone who had spent a long period in the company of the Prophet of Islam and, through intellectual exchange with him on such matters, had acquired deep insight into religion.
When Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri was near death, he asked for new clothes and put them on. He explained that the Messenger of God had said: “A Muslim will be raised in the same clothing in which he dies.” When Aisha al-Siddiqah came to know of this, she said: “May God have mercy on Abu Sa‘id. By clothing, the Messenger of God meant a person’s deeds. Otherwise, the Prophet clearly stated that people will be raised on the Day of Resurrection barefoot, unclothed, and uncircumcised.” (‘Ayn al-Isabah by al-Suyuti, p. 49)
This clarification by Aisha al-Siddiqah reveals an important principle: to understand a hadith correctly, it is sometimes necessary not to take a statement literally, but to understand it symbolically.
On one occasion, the Prophet instructed that the meat of sacrifice should not be kept for more than three days. On the basis of the apparent wording, some Companions understood this command to be permanent. Aisha al-Siddiqah explained the wisdom behind the instruction and clarified that it was a temporary ruling. A man asked her: “Did the Messenger of God prohibit eating the meat of sacrifice after three days?” Aisha replied: “No. At that time, only a few people were able to offer sacrifice. Therefore, the Prophet gave this instruction so that those who had offered sacrifice would feed those who had not.” (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 24707)
This correction by Aisha al-Siddiqah further shows that it is permissible to preserve sacrificial meat for a long period by modern methods. In relation to the present age, this clarification is extremely important. Had Aisha al-Siddiqah’s explanation not been available, the wisdom behind the hadith would have remained unclear, and people might have considered the preservation and later use of sacrificial meat to be contrary to Islamic teaching.
It appears that the narrator, in his simplicity, did not fully understand the Prophet’s words. The Prophet had referred to a belief held by the people of the pre-Islamic age, but the narrator mistakenly attributed that belief to the Prophet himself. Aisha al-Siddiqah, however, possessed exceptional intelligence and, through her long and close association with the Prophet, had gained a deep understanding of the spirit of religion. Therefore, she immediately grasped the real point. As soon as she heard the narrator’s statement, she recognized the reality on the basis of her religious insight, rejected the incorrect attribution, and explained the matter in its proper form.
These few examples show the greatness of Aisha al-Siddiqah’s contribution to Islam. In fact, studying her narrations is extremely important for understanding the true spirit of Islam.
Perhaps the most important legacy later generations received through Aisha was her deep religious insight. Through her extraordinary intelligence and her complete dedication to Islam, she attained a depth of understanding in which perhaps no one was her equal. On the basis of this deep insight, she guided the Muslim community directly for nearly half a century. As for her indirect guidance, it continues to this day and will undoubtedly continue until the Day of Judgment.
The reality is that religion has two levels: the outward form of religion and the inner reality of religion. A man or woman who receives religion only at the outward level is like someone who has received a fruit only at the level of its peel. But a man or woman who receives religion at the level of its deeper meaning is like someone who has reached the kernel of the fruit. It is this second kind of person who truly possesses the fruit.
Aisha al-Siddiqah understood God’s religion in its true spirit. In this way, she not only shaped herself into an elevated, God-oriented personality, but through her life she also established a great historical example of how any man or woman can attain such a high level of realization in religion.
In the early period of the Prophet of Islam’s life, he married Khadijah, who was fifteen years older than him. In the later period of his life, he married Aisha, who was much younger than him. Both marriages were extremely significant. In the early period of the Prophet’s life, he needed an experienced woman; in the later period, a young woman like Aisha was needed, as will become clear in the next chapter. (Aurat Memar e Insaniyat)
