AISHAH the BELOVED of MOHAMMED Oi.Uchicago.Edu
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oi.uchicago.edu AISHAH THE BELOVED OF MOHAMMED oi.uchicago.edu THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS * THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY NEW YORK THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu tmssalF^'missg AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PAINTING OF THE MOSQUES OF MECCA {right) AND MEDINA {left) Oriental Institute A12048, tols. ii^-i2«. Scale: 5:4 oi.uchicago.edu A I S H A H THE BELOVED OF MOHAMMED BY NABIA ABBOTT Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies The Oriental Institute The University of Chicago Vita <3xb lAtur THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO . ILLINOIS oi.uchicago.edu COPYRIGHT 1942 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 1942 * COMPOSED AND PRINTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOI8, U.S.A. oi.uchicago.edu To MOTHER oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu Preface OHAMMED, the prayerful and perfumed prophet of Islam, was avowedly a great M lover of the ladies, for whom, in turn, he held no small attraction. He was definitely among that class of great men who have the good for tune to win and retain the energetic support and wholehearted devotion of some able and loving women who contribute largely to the success and pleasure of their lives. Of Mohammed's several wives, two—Khadijah and Aishah—had more to offer along these lines than any of the others. The Quraish had been long dominant at Mecca. The most aristocratic and powerful branches of the tribe at the time of Mohammed were the Banu Umayyah and the Banu Makhzum. The future prophet of Arabia, however, came from the then more or less obscure clan of the Banu Hashim. Left an or phan, Mohammed was brought up for a while by his grandfather and then by his none too prosperous paternal uncle, Abu Talib. He, therefore, had to ap ply himself early to the common task of earning a living. It was not until he, as a handsome and dreamy youth, had stirred the heart of his elderly but well-to- vii oi.uchicago.edu viii PREFACE do employer—the widow Khadijah—that he had the opportunity to devote himself to his dreams. His marriage to Khadijah brought him freedom from eco nomic care and leisure for spiritual contemplation. It brought him also the firm faith and energetic devo tion of an able and enthusiastic woman. She became his first convert and ever staunch supporter in the face of determined and distressing opposition. She won, in return, a place in his affections that no other woman could ever usurp. Her death was one of the severest blows that struck the rejected prophet of Mecca. The Hijrah, or Flight, of Mohammed to Medina in A.D. 622, was the first step in his finally successful mission. This success was reflected in the growing size of his harem of young girls and mature aristo cratic women that now graced, now plagued, his private life. Between them, these brought him the enviable gifts of political alliances, social prestige, ravishing beauty, gay youth, and mature charm. Of this impressive collection, Aishah, the young and viva cious daughter of Abu Bakr—Mohammed's right- hand man and Islam's first caliph—made her way deeper than any of the rest into the much-engaged affections of the aging prophet. Khadijah, with her faith and support, had steadied Mohammed's trou bled spirit on the threshhold of his prophetic career. Aishah, with her lively temperament and pert charm, brought a refreshing air of romance into the closing years of his life. oi.uchicago.edu PREFACE ix But Aishah, at Mohammed's death, still had the greater part of her own life ahead of her. How she made herself felt in the life of the prophet and how, after his death, she continued, for something like half a century, to exert her influence on the affairs of the new Moslem state are major and lively themes of early Islamic history. Outside the Islamic world, Aishah as the favorite wife of Mohammed is the most widely known of all Moslem women. Orientalists, whose interest in her has been far too secondary, have stopped here and there to highlight some spectacular event of her colorful life. This, as far as I know, the first full-length biogra phy of Aishah, was launched on its way partly by an urge to know and to make known more of the life of this First Lady of Islam and partly as a tribute to the new Moslem world. For progressive Moslems of to day, be they Arab or Persian, Indian or Chinese, Mongol or Turk, not only are keenly interested in the problems of the current Moslem woman's movement but show a gratifying curiosity regarding the achieve ment of the historic women of Islam. Aishah, the most famous of this group, bids fair to be of special interest to the progressives of both East and West in a world so rapidly contracting. The student of any phase of early Islam is con fronted at the start with that vast body of generally little-read but much-condemned Islamic source mate rial—tradition. The condemnation is largely but not wholly deserved. Tradition, it is true,has brought forth oi.uchicago.edu X PREFACE much tares among the wheat. But a good deal of the former is so evident that it can be readily weeded out. Among the rest, the discerning eye alights on patches of golden grain that should be gratefully harvested, even at the risk of gathering in a tare or two. For what garnering of any source of human history is ever entirely free from all risks? Besides, for the tedious task of much weeding, the cautious reaper is re warded in another direction. These traditions, cast from the start in a conversational and anecdotal vein, have preserved certain human elements that all too frequently are lost sight of alike in meager annals and bulky systematized compilations. The great danger of this particular Islamic source material lies in the indiscriminate use of isolated tra ditions or of groups of traditions emanating from single, biased sources or from well-defined politico- religious groups, each seeking to establish that ver sion of "history" that best suited its claims and ambi tions. But considerably heavy spade work has been done along the lines of critical research in early Is lamic history to expose notorious individual fabrica tors of tradition and well-organized politico-religious camps expertly at work in the use of this tool as effec tive propaganda of all sorts and for any occasion. One needs but mention such scholars as Wellhausen, Goldziher, Noldeke, Caetani, and even such extrem ists as Lammens and Casanova, to realize the great extent of the invaluable service rendered along these lines. The student who profits by this service ere he oi.uchicago.edu PREFACE XI digs for himself into tradition need not rest from his labors empty handed. For within a reasonable mar gin of error he can learn to detect the true from the false and the probable from the improbable. The Frontispiece is reproduced from a miniature found in a copy of Al-Jazull's Dala'? il al-Khairdt, now in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. The manuscript, richly illuminated and beautifully written, was copied by Ahmad of Erzerum at Medina in A.H. 1178 (A.D. 1764-65). I am indebted to Dr. Watson Boyes, Museum Secretary, for the prelimi nary photograph for the plate. It is again my happy privilege to acknowledge my great indebtedness to Professor Martin Sprengling, who has been an ever inspiring and most generous col league. He followed the development of the present study with constant and enthusiastic interest, reading each section as it was first completed. He gave liber ally of his time and store of knowledge in making pregnant suggestions and pertinent criticisms. To the Oriental Institute and its director, Professor John A. Wilson, I am grateful for a subvention toward publi cation. Professor Wilson has, in addition, done me the great favor of reading the entire manuscript and offering many valuable suggestions. My thanks are also due to the University of Chicago Press for many and varied services in the course of publication. NABIA ABBOTT ORIENTAL INSTITUTE Chicago 1942 oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu w... w Contents I. BELOVED OF MOHAMMED i II. MOTHER OF THE BELIEVERS . .. 82 III. SAGE AND SAINT IN ISLAM .... 177 MAP 219 TABLE OF TRIBAL AND FAMILY RELA TIONSHIPS OF CHIEF CHARACTERS facing 218 INDEX 221 xiii oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu Beloved of Mohammed ISTORY and tradition are overwhelmingly in favor of assigning the first place of influ H ence in Mohammed's prophetic career, the earlier role of Khadljah excepted, to the first convert outside Mohammed's family, the lifelong and faithful friend, cAbd Allah ibn Abi Quhafah, famous for all time in the Moslem world as Abu Bakr al-§iddlq. He and his family lived in the same quarter of the city of Mecca as did Khadljah and Mohammed. Here, in about A.D. 614, was born his daughter Aishah. She was given out for nursing and foster-parentage, as was the custom in Arabia, to a Makhzumite family.1 She is accounted by some as the nineteenth convert to Islam, which may mean nothing more than that she as a child was reckoned as a believer.2 At any rate, she herself could not remember the time when both her parents were not Moslems and when Mohammed himself did not visit at her father's house morning 1 Ibn Hanbal, Musnad (6 vols.; Cairo, 1313/1895-96), VI, 201, 33 and 38.