# How Old Was Aisha When She Married Muhammad? > In Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, Aisha says she was married at six and that the marriage was consummated at nine. Those reports also say she remained with him nine years, until his death at sixty-three. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/islam/how-old-was-aisha - Religions: Islam - Denominations: none - Beliefs: none - Tags: islam, muhammad, hadith - Updated: 2026-10-09 - Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) ([GitHub](https://github.com/hi-its-paul)) In Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, Aisha says Muhammad married her when she was six and that she was taken into his household when she was nine. Those are her words in the two hadith collections Sunni Muslims regard as the most reliable. Writers who argue for an older age are setting those sentences aside, not quoting a different number from them. ## Key points - [Sahih al-Bukhari 5133](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5133) [(1)](#ref-1) and [5134](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5134) [(2)](#ref-2): married at six, consummation at nine, and she remained with him nine years, until his death. - [Sahih al-Bukhari 3894](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3894) [(3)](#ref-3) and [Sahih Muslim 1422](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1422) [(4)](#ref-4) tell the same ages and add that her mother took her from a swing, among her playmates. - [Sahih al-Bukhari 3536](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3536) [(5)](#ref-5) says he died at sixty-three. Read with the nine years in 5133, the consummation falls in his fifties. - [Qur’an 33:21](https://quran.com/al-ahzab/21) [(7)](#ref-7) calls him “an excellent pattern” for anyone who hopes in God. - [Qur’an 65:4](https://quran.com/at-talaq/4) gives a waiting period for divorce, including for “those who have not menstruated.” It does not name Aisha, and it is not a marriage-age verse. - [Sahih al-Bukhari 268](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:268) [(6)](#ref-6) says he went around eleven wives, and it records a report of nine. [Qur’an 33:50](https://quran.com/al-ahzab/50) makes a wider permission for him than the “two or three or four” of [Qur’an 4:3](https://quran.com/an-nisa/3). ## What Aisha says in the hadith [Sahih al-Bukhari 5133](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5133), Muhammad Muhsin Khan: > Narrated `Aisha: that the Prophet (ﷺ) married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e., till his death). [Sahih al-Bukhari 5134](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5134) repeats the ages. Hisham adds that she remained with the Prophet nine years, till his death. [Sahih al-Bukhari 3894](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3894) is Aisha’s longer account. She was engaged at six. In Medina she fell ill and her hair fell. When it grew again, her mother, Umm Ruman, found her “playing in a swing with some of my girl friends,” took her to the house, and handed her to Muhammad. The report ends: “and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age.” [Sahih Muslim 1422](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1422), Abdul Hamid Siddiqui: > '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 again describes the swing and her playmates, a month of fever, and the women of the Ansar preparing her. The two collections agree on the numbers and on the scene. They are not a single stray line. [Sahih al-Bukhari 3536](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3536): “The Prophet (ﷺ) died when he was sixty three years old.” Bukhari 5133 says she remained with him nine years, till his death. Subtracting those nine years from sixty-three puts the consummation when he was about fifty-four, and the contract, three years earlier in her report, when he was about fifty-one. That arithmetic uses only those two reports. It is not a third hadith, and it does not depend on a modern biography. ## Why readers say nine People say nine because Aisha says nine, in Bukhari and in Muslim, in more than one narration, with a domestic scene attached: illness, hair, a swing, girl friends, her mother, the women of the Ansar, and the morning he came. A revision has to explain why those narrations should not be read as they stand. The classical collections that Sunni Muslims call sound did not print a rival figure in these reports. Some modern writers raise the age by combining later biographical notes about Asma bint Abi Bakr, often that she was ten years older than Aisha and that she died at an advanced age in a known year, and then calculating backward. Those notes are not the sentences in Bukhari 5133, 5134, 3894, or Muslim 1422. A calculation from Asma is a reconstruction from other reports. It is not a different number inside these four narrations. [Qur’an 33:21](https://quran.com/al-ahzab/21), Saheeh International: > There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allāh an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allāh and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allāh often. The verse holds Muhammad up as the pattern for the one who hopes in God. The hadith states a consummation at nine. The two sentences stand together. Seventh-century Arabia is not a modern state, and the Qur’an does not call his marriages a local custom the believer may set aside. Aisha is the narrator of the reports. The question is the age those reports give and the word “pattern” in the verse. ## Qur’an 65:4 is not her marriage contract [Qur’an 65:4](https://quran.com/at-talaq/4) is sometimes brought in as if it were a verse about Aisha: > And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women - if you doubt, then their period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated. And for those who are pregnant, their term is until they give birth. The surah is about divorce. The “period” is the iddah, the waiting time before a divorced woman may remarry. “Those who have not menstruated” are included in that waiting rule. The verse does not name Aisha, does not give her age, and does not narrate a wedding. It does show that the Qur’an’s marriage law contemplates women who have not yet menstruated. That is a different sentence from Bukhari’s “six” and “nine,” and it should be quoted as what it is. ## How many wives did Muhammad have? The sources do not leave one tidy total, and they should not be forced into one. [Sahih al-Bukhari 268](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:268), Muhammad Muhsin Khan: > Narrated Qatada: Anas bin Malik said, "The Prophet (ﷺ) used to visit all his wives in a round, during the day and night and they were eleven in number." I asked Anas, "Had the Prophet (ﷺ) the strength for it?" Anas replied, "We used to say that the Prophet (ﷺ) was given the strength of thirty (men)." And Sa`id said on the authority of Qatada that Anas had told him about nine wives only (not eleven). The report itself carries both figures: eleven, and a version of nine. What it states clearly is a household of multiple wives at one time, visited in a round. [Qur’an 4:3](https://quran.com/an-nisa/3) addresses believers in general: > And if you fear that you will not deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry those that please you of [other] women, two or three or four. But if you fear that you will not be just, then [marry only] one or those your right hands possess. [Qur’an 33:50](https://quran.com/al-ahzab/50) then speaks to the Prophet and makes lawful the wives whose dower he has paid, captives, named classes of cousins who emigrated with him, and “a believing woman if she gives herself to the Prophet,” and it says this is “only for you, excluding the [other] believers.” The four-wife sentence and the Prophet’s wider permission are both in the Qur’an. Bukhari 268 is the hadith’s picture of how many wives that permission amounted to in the narration of Anas: eleven, or nine. Khadija, his first wife, is not one of the wives in that later round. The reports of Aisha’s age belong to the Medina years, after Khadija’s death. Bukhari 268 and Qur’an 33:50 are the count and the permission quoted here. ## Frequently asked questions ### What was the age of Muhammad and of Aisha when they married? Aisha’s reports say she was six at the contract and nine when she was taken into the house. Bukhari 3536 says Muhammad died at sixty-three, and Bukhari 5133 says she was with him nine years until that death. Read together, he was in his early fifties at the contract and about fifty-four at the consummation. ### How do Muslims defend Aisha’s age? The defense that stays inside Bukhari and Muslim accepts six and nine and appeals to the customs of the time, and to Muhammad as a mercy rather than as a pattern to be copied in every detail. The defense that denies nine argues from other biographical material, including reports about Asma, and treats the sahih numbers as mistaken or misunderstood. [Qur’an 33:21](https://quran.com/al-ahzab/21) still calls him an excellent pattern. The hadith text of the ages is plain either way. ### What does Shia Islam say about Aisha? This page quotes Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, which are Sunni collections. A Shia account of Aisha would have to be taken from a Shia source. None is quoted here, so none is summarized. ### Does Aisha have a child in these reports? Bukhari 5133, 5134, and 3894, and Muslim 1422, narrate the marriage, the move into the house, and the nine years until his death. They do not mention a child born to Aisha. ## Keep reading - [Who wrote the Qur’an? How it was compiled](/islam/how-was-the-quran-compiled) - [Was Jesus a Muslim?](/islam/was-jesus-a-muslim) - [Jesus in the Qur’an and the Gospels](/islam/jesus-in-the-quran-and-the-gospels) - [Is Muhammad the prophet of Deuteronomy 18?](/islam/is-muhammad-the-prophet-of-deuteronomy-18) ## Passages quoted on this page ### Sahih al-Bukhari 5134 Muhammad Muhsin Khan. [Open on sunnah.com](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5134) > Narrated `Aisha: that the Prophet (ﷺ) married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old. Hisham said: I have been informed that `Aisha remained with the Prophet (ﷺ) for nine years (i.e. till his death). ### Sahih al-Bukhari 3894 Muhammad Muhsin Khan. [Open on sunnah.com](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3894) > Narrated Aisha: The Prophet (ﷺ) engaged me when I was a girl of six (years). We went to Medina and stayed at the home of Bani-al-Harith bin Khazraj. Then I got ill and my hair fell down. Later on my hair grew (again) and my mother, Um Ruman, came to me while I was playing in a swing with some of my girl friends. She called me, and I went to her, not knowing what she wanted to do to me. She caught me by the hand and made me stand at the door of the house. I was breathless then, and when my breathing became Allright, she took some water and rubbed my face and head with it. Then she took me into the house. There in the house I saw some Ansari women who said, "Best wishes and Allah's Blessing and a good luck." Then she entrusted me to them and they prepared me (for the marriage). Unexpectedly Allah's Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age. ### Sahih Muslim 1422 Abdul Hamid Siddiqui. [Open on sunnah.com](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1422) > '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. ### Qur’an 65:4 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/65/4) > And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women - if you doubt, then their period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated. And for those who are pregnant, their term is until they give birth. And whoever fears Allāh - He will make for him of his matter ease. ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [Sahih al-Bukhari, 5133](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5133) (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan.) 2. [Sahih al-Bukhari, 5134](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5134) (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan.) 3. [Sahih al-Bukhari, 3894](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3894) (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan.) 4. [Sahih Muslim, 1422](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1422) (English translation by Abdul Hamid Siddiqui.) 5. [Sahih al-Bukhari, 3536](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3536) (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan. The Prophet’s age at death.) 6. [Sahih al-Bukhari, 268](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:268) (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan. The report gives eleven wives, and a note of nine.) 7. [Qur'an, 33:21; 33:50; 4:3; 65:4](https://quran.com/al-ahzab/21) (Saheeh International, as published on Quran.com. Words in square brackets are part of that translation. The link is the first passage, 33:21.) ## See also - [Is Muhammad the Paraclete or Ahmad?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/is-muhammad-the-paraclete) — Some Muslims hear Muhammad in Jesus' promise of the Comforter, and in the name Ahmad in Qur'an 61:6. John 14–16 says who that person is. - [Is Muhammad the Prophet of Deuteronomy 18?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/is-muhammad-the-prophet-of-deuteronomy-18) — Qur'an 7:157 says the unlettered prophet is written in the Torah and the Gospel. Deuteronomy 18 is the passage most often offered. - [Can God Have a Son?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/can-god-have-a-son) — The Qur'an condemns the claim that God has taken a son, especially a son by a consort. Christians deny that picture and still confess the eternal Son. - [Did Jesus Die on the Cross?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/did-jesus-die-on-the-cross) — The Qur'an is widely read as saying Jesus was not crucified. The Gospels, Paul, and two Roman-era historians say he was. - [Did Paul Invent Christianity?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/did-paul-invent-christianity) — Muslims often say Paul turned the prophet Jesus into a divine saviour. The creed he says he received, and the apostles he names, are the test of that claim. ## History [View history on GitHub](https://github.com/Apologetics-Wiki/apologetics-wiki/commits/main/src/content/articles/how-old-was-aisha.md)