A’ishah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah's Messenger (Peace and Blessings be upon him) said: "You were shown to me in a dream for three nights. An Angel brought you to me in a silk cloth and he said: '

Here is your wife' and when I removed (the cloth) from your face, lo, it was you, so I said: If this is from Allah, He will carry it out".

The above narration is testimony of the great honour placed on her. She is A'ishah, daughter of the leader, As-Siddiq, Abu-Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him). The Mother of the Believer's, wife of the Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him), the most knowledgeable woman without an exception.

As for her knowledge, Urwah bin Az-Zubayr said: "I have accompanied A'ishah” -she was his maternal aunt-“I did not find anyone who has more knowledge of the verses that were revealed, nor of the obligatory matters, nor of the Sunnah and nor of poetry. No one reported from him (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) more than her. No one had more knowledge of historical events of the Arabs, nor of genealogy, nor of such and such, nor of legal matters, nor of medicine than her. So I said to her: ‘My aunt, regarding medicine, from where did you learn it?’ She replied : ‘ If I was ill, he would recommend to me something and if he fell ill too, I would recommend some remedy to him and I heard people recommending medication to one another and I memorized it.”

The famous saying ‘Knowledge is Light’ resonates in almost every orator’s speech whilst he contrives to explain the importance of knowledge, yet here is A’ishah (May Allah be pleased with her), an example of knowledge embodied. Her vast knowledge in almost every field proves that indeed knowledge is crucial and is in fact an obligation on us, as the hadith goes al ilm faridah al’a kulli muslim wa mulimah – Knowledge is obligatory on every male and female Muslim.

However, the field of knowledge wasn’t the only battle that she had triumphed in, her benevolence too, was at its peak, as we learn from various incidents. One such occasion was when she gave out in charity 70 000 while she patched her garment on the side and at another instance, when she was fasting, distributed 1 lakh dirhams while forgetting to leave anything for herself with which to break her fast.

These are but, few examples amongst many, and the lessons that we learn from these instances are indeed invaluable.
It is high time, don’t you think my dear friends, that we ceased cheese paring in charity, giving only the most bedraggled of rags to the less fortunate and ‘exploiting’ ourselves in only the latest extravaganza.

A’ishah (May Allah be pleased with her) was a combination of all that, that would distinguish her over and above other women as she narrated ‘I have been given 9 virtues that were not given to any woman after Maryam Bint Imran : Jibreel descended with my picture in his sleep until Allah’s Messenger (Peace and Blessings be upon him ) was commanded to marry me, he married me while I was a virgin and he never married any virgin besides me, his soul was taken while his head was on my lap and he was buried in my house. The angels had surrounded my house, I am the daughter of his Khalifah and his sideeq, my excuse was revealed from the heaven. I was created pure. I have been promised forgiveness (of sins) and noble provision.’

Indeed A’ishah (May Allah be pleased with her) was one of the most intelligent,  ladies to walk on the face of the Earth, she was a scholar in her own right, her accomplishment in the study of ahadith is unmarred, a scholar and teacher for all times, a paradigm for all generation of women to come.

Bint Hasan
Writer, AAT

Narrated Anas: The Prophet said, "The superiority of `Aisha to other women is like the superiority of Tharid to other kinds of food . " (Bukhari)