Muhammad the kindred to Humanity — Page 13
13. At a time when youth is full of longing he married a woman who had practically run her course of life. . After marriage, Khadija (God be pleased with her) laid all her wealth at the feet of the Prophet. But the first thing the Prophet did was to use the wealth to set free all her slaves. So that after his marriage, as before, the Holy. Prophet displayed unequalled moral qualities. . In regard to his marriage with Aisha (God be pleased with her) it has been said that the Prophet was an old man while Aisha was a girl barely nine years of age, and so great a disparity between the ages of the two was nothing but tyrannical to Aisha. . Aisha's Testimony. First of all, it is not true to say that Aisha was only nine years at the time of her marriage. We have conflicting account of Aisha's age. According to the most plausible account she must have been about thirteen, and if some other accounts are to be believed, she might even have been above seventeen years of age. Thirteen, however is the most correct measure. But even so, she must have been quite young at the time. The point however, is that the only person to judge or feel the pain of this disparity between husband and wife was Aisha herself. Those Western writers who have written tearfully about it, cannot have known the pain better than the lady Aisha herself. She married at thirteen. Nine years later, the Holy Prophet died, so that at twenty-two, Aisha was left a widow. Would you say that Aisha had her life ruined by her marriage? No, because if you try to peep into the depth of Aisha's own heart you find quite another story. You find there nothing but unmixed love for the Holy Prophet. Only see her, years after the Prophet's depth. She is rich; indeed exceedingly so. Gifts pour in from all sides: We have it in the traditions that sometimes she would receive gifts worth thousands of dollars on a single day. But nothing seems to change her simple mode of living. Whatever she receives