Question:
What’s the condition of the Hadith reported by An-Nisāi: That Abu Bakr and ‘Umar proposed to Fātima, to which the Prophet ﷺ said: “She’s young”, then ‘Ali proposed to her, so he married her to ‘Ali?
What’s the condition of this Hadith?
And upon what (understanding) is his statement ﷺ: “She’s young” carried to if the Hadith is authentic?
Answer:
Yes, the Hadith is authentic. It’s the Hadith of Buraidah, and it was mentioned by our Shaykh, May Allah have mercy upon him, in “Saheeh Al-Musnad Mimma Laysa Fi Saheehayn”, and it can be interpreted in three ways.
The first meaning: is that when Abu Bakr and ‘Umar proposed to her, she was young. Then ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, proposed to her after she became older from that scope, hence why (the Prophet ﷺ) married her to him.
The second meaning: is understood as he hadn’t been ordered (by Allah) at that particular time to marry her off. So, revelation then came permitting him to do so the period when ‘Ali proposed for her, and this suggests abrogation.
As in, his previous statement was abrogated, to which he would them give permission for her to be married to ‘Ali.
The third position: is carried to the meaning that when the Prophet ﷺ said:
(إنها صغيرة) “She’s young”.
It was to the consideration that she’s not from your age. Hence why some of the people of knowledge take age as something to be taken into consideration. Furthermore, in support to this position is the Hadith of Jābir bin Abdillah that the Prophet ﷺ said:
أَتَزَوَّجْتَ يَا جَابِرُ , قُلْتُ نَعَمْ . قَالَ ”بِكْرًا أَمْ ثَيِّبًا” . فَقُلْتُ ثَيِّبًا. قَالَ : فَهَلاَّ بِكْرًا تُلاَعِبُهَا وَتُلاَعِبُكَ
“Did you get married O Jābir? He said: “Yes”. He (ﷺ) then asked: “To a virgin or a non virgin?”. He said: “A non-virgin O Messenger of Allah”.
He (ﷺ) said: “Why didn’t you marry a virgin so she could play with you and you could play with her, and so she could make you laugh and you make her laugh?!”
Thus, the Prophet ﷺ made age something of consideration for Jābir seeing as he himself was youthful; and that if she is of his age then she would be more attuned to him in terms of entertainment and comfort.
So because of this Hadith, some scholars regard age as a factor to be considered, since the Prophet ﷺ wanted to marry his daughter to someone who was of her age, as that would be more of a way to be make them comfortable with him. Those are the three angles (of how it can be understood).
The third contains what it contains; since the Prophet ﷺ married ‘Aisha whilst he was older and she was younger. A person may say: The situation of the Prophet ﷺ with regards his mannerisms, guidance, characteristic, and his strength is different to that of others. This is without doubt, and he was given some specific characteristics that weren’t given to others.
Answered by: Shaykh, the Allamah, the Trustworthy Advisor, Abu Abdirrahman Yahya bin Ali Al-Hajuri – may Allah preserve him
Source: https://t.me/Nasih_amin/175
Translated by: Abu Mālik Nāsir bin Rāshid Al-Ma’mary