Religion Essay Aisha

Aisha Bint Abu Bakr was born on 615 CE and was the daughter of Abu Bakr and the wife of the prophet Muhammad. She was involved in Islamic politics and was believed to be the 19th convert to the religion of Islam. She had a large impact on the Islamic faith and contributed to the development and expression of Islam and may be considered an inspiration to Muslim women in today’s society. It is also said that Muhammad received the most revelations in her company. Although she has made a positive outcome on the Islamic faith, there has been much dispute between Sunni’s and Shi’as if she was a good leader or not.
Aisha left over 2000 hadiths, but only 200 were included in accepted Hadith collections. The hadiths provided followers of the religion information on ways of living and even gave an insight into the Prophet Muhammad’s behaviour. In Hadith number 312 “An Ansari woman asked the Prophet how to take a bath after finishing from the menses. He replied, “Take a piece a cloth perfumed with musk and clean the private parts with it thrice. The Prophet felt shy and turned his face. So pulled her to me and told her what the Prophet meant.” This hadith showed Aisha’s role in the development and expression of Islam as she was somewhat an interpreter of the religious guidance that affected women’s ritual purity. It also shows that Muslim female leaders were taught the proper women instruction of day-to-day living so they may provide guidance for other Muslim women who couldn’t seek men for the information. This was good for the men as they did not want to discuss these personal matters.
In Hadith number 430, “There was a black slave girl belonging to an 'Arab tribe and they manumitted her but she remained with them. The slave girl said, "Once one of their girls (of that tribe) came out wearing a red leather scarf decorated with precious stones. It fell from her or she placed it somewhere. A kite passed by that place, saw it Lying there and mistaking it for a piece of meat, flew away with it. Those people searched for it but they did not find it. So they accused me of stealing it and started searching me and even searched my private parts." The slave girl further said, "By Allah! while I was standing (in that state) with those people, the same kite passed by them and dropped the red scarf and it fell amongst them. I told them, 'This is what you accused me of and I was innocent and now this is it.' “Aisha added: That slave girl came to Allah's Apostle and embraced Islam. She had a tent or a small room with a low roof in the mosque. Whenever she called on me, she had a talk with me and whenever she sat with me, she would recite the following: "The day of the scarf (band) was one of the wonders of our Lord, verily He rescued me from the disbelievers' town. 'Aisha added: "Once I asked her, 'What is the matter with you? Whenever you sit with me, you always recite these poetic verses.' On that she told me the whole story.” Through this hadith, both Aisha and the slave girl are narrating. The disbelievers abused the slave girl because they thought she was lying, but Allah proved her innocence and saved her. After that, the slave girl had seen what Allah had done for her and came to Allah’s Apostle and embraced Islam, she often went to Aisha to speak. This shows many women looked up to Aisha for guidance and to talk to as she was full of knowledge and wisdom which proved her to be a good role model for Muslim Sunni women, in a society that was dominantly ruled by men.
Although Sunni’s thought highly of the prophet Muhammad’s wife Aisha, there were some who did not, particularly the Shi’ites and this argument still continues in today’s society.
The Shi’ites view of Aisha is negative due to them seeing her as her contempt for Ahl al-Bayt and her attempts to stir up the civil war at the time. The most significant event that she undertook was the Battle of Jamal against Imam Ali, which was a fight between Sunni’s and Shi’ites.
Quoted by the messenger of Allah “Loving Ali is the sign of belief, and hating Ali is the sign of hypocrisy.” This was stated that if people hated Imam Ali, they were not a true believer of Allah or a proper Muslim. Another reference to this was when Imam Ali stated “By him who split up the seed and created something living, the Apostle gave me a promise that no one but a believer would love me, and none but a hypocrite would nurse grudge against me.”
Although there are disagreements between whether Aisha contributed to the Islamic faith or not, it is obvious that she had a large impact on both male and female Muslims and has contributed to Islam through her real life experiences that she has narrated in the hadith and through her wisdown and knowledge. She also proves that any woman can be a teacher or a leader. In a quote by a Muslim girl Aliyatul Hikmah she states her adoration for Aisha- “The life of 'Aishah is proof that a woman can be far more learned than men and that she can be the teacher of scholars and experts. Her life is also proof that a woman can exert influence over men and women and provide them with inspiration and leadership. Her life is also proof that the same woman can be totally feminine and be a source of pleasure, joy and comfort to her husband.”