Mothers of the Believers(Part 9): Aisha Bint Abu Bakr(Part 3) | Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi

Alhamdulillah. Isabella, near Hawley, police, animal, bird, inaudible. Hondo, Malcolm, Doyle, hamdullah, Camden, Casey, Anthony, Bernier, Bob Bullock. Tighten a high-ranked a deer on Bob banner settler and Coolibar. We open a Messiah to garden with a slim Ellen Nabil. Most powerful Kareem. Salatu was-salam ala rasulillah. Who either early he was sorry he woman when I'm about.

So today, inshallah, the others our final lesson on our mother Aisha radi Allahu anha. And actually, when I was looking over the material today, to be honest, I could have very easily done one more lecture, but time is limited. Or Milan is coming up, and I will try to finish off, if not all of the mothers, at least, Gianni, we will try to do as many lessons as we can, inshallah, who tada, before that. So I'm actually summarizing today, and we could have easily done one more lecture because there's so much material about our mother Aisha radi Allahu anha. For example, I mean, we could have gone over the entire incident of slander from Aisha's perspective, you know, and that would have been half a lecture, easily forty-five minutes. But we have done the incident of the slander in two or three lectures, and you can listen to that all over again. And the incident of the slander, the if is of course, one of the most important incidents of the entire seal. And of course, it centers on Aisha radi Allahu anha's description of Aisha, the fact that Allah revealed Quran is his famous phrase, "Wa Sura," "Bihari," "I never thought that I was so significant or Lucia, and I didn't have that shot, and that Allah would reveal Quran about me." So she's thinking to herself, "Who am I that Allah will reveal Quran about me?" But the fact that Allah revealed Quran, and that Allah described her was such beautiful here in a language. And also this descriptions, "Marcelina," "tell her FINA," "tell me not," you know, the righteous, the pious, the innocent, the believers. How Allah describes overall in any of these descriptions of light. Aisha first and foremost, but all other righteous women after her, they are mostly not. They are protecting their chastity. They are lawful. They are innocent and oblivious, you know. So Allah feel means you don't know, you're not aware. And in the case of women, Allah feel at here means they're so innocent, their minds don't go to things that are bad. And this is a very positive characteristic of modest ladies, that their minds are so pure, their lawful, they cannot even think of filthy things that the monofin were saying. As we know, Aisha didn't even understand what was being said. She had no understanding that, "How could anybody say this?" And that innocence is called Lafayette. And then of course, "mock me not," which is righteous believers. So we cannot go over the whole incident of the slander, but go back to that episode of the Serie.

So we're going to go on, finish off, in sha Allah, Allah loose ends, and then finish off with the whole issue of the age of Aisha, and go over that in a little bit of detail, because to me, it is a methodological issue more than it is a theological one. So Aisha radi Allahu anha, the things about her is that she had a nickname. The Prophet SAW had a nickname for her. He not only gave her a cunha, "Omm Abdullah," I didn't, I already mentioned this, that the Prophet SAW had a Cunha. So the Prophet said, "Okay, you are Omm Abdullah." He also had a nickname for Aisha. And nicknames are things that people do to their loved ones. They change their name and they say something that is personal between them. And this is a sign of love, and it is well known in every culture and civilization. And the nickname of Aisha was "Humera." "Humera," or in our desi cultural, "Humera," but "Humera" with the "ha" and of course, the idea of "Whitacre" with the "hamsa" at the end, it means "the little red one." "Humera," yeah, "the little red one," "the young red one," meaning that she, she is being described obviously, you know, her complexion and whatnot. And this is a description of her beauty. And our Prophet SAW would say, "Oh, you little red one," "Humera." And this name is mentioned in a number of a hadith that are still preserved for us. Obviously, as we know, the bulk of these incidents are not preserved, and neither should they be preserved. But we have titbits here and there. And of them is in the Sunnah and an acai. When the Abyssinians came to practice their spears, our Prophet SAW said, "Yeah, Humera, do you want to see them play?" And she said, "Yes, I do." And then the famous incident of her standing, and she said, "I put my cheek next to his cheek, and I stood there. Even I didn't want to see, I just wanted him to see how long that he is standing, and I wanted others to know how much he loved me." So the famous thing, but it begins, "Yeah, O'Mara." And there is a hadith as well in the "Mustafa," which has caused a lot of controversy and commentary and back and forth. And I mentioned it when we talked about Aisha radi Allahu anha, that it is mentioned that Ali and Aisha radi Allahu anhu were sitting in the same room with the Prophet SAW, and he said that a day might come when some of his wives, some of the Ummah hat, will lead an expedition. Like women don't lead expeditions. And so Aisha radi Allahu anha, like, "What? A woman gonna lead an expedition?" And so the Prophet SAW said, "Be careful, Oh Humera. It might well be you. Be careful, Oh Humera. It might well be you." And then he turned to Ali radi Allahu anhu and he said, "If you are ever in charge of her affairs, then be gentle with her." And this hadith is in the "Mustafa," and there is some controversy. Most say it is authentic, and it seems to be authentic, and Allah knows best. And so the Prophet SAW is being very gentle with Aisha. He's using his pet name, "Yeah, O'Mara. You might be that one." And we all know that is the incident of the camel, the Battle of the Gemmel, where Ali and Aisha on opposite sides. And he basically said, "Tadi, be gentle and treat her with the dignity she deserves." And that is exactly what happened when the incident of the Gemmel happened.

Of the mattress opera, as well, is that out of all of the mothers, she was the most famous for her knowledge of Islam, for her knowledge of Fiqh, of Hadith, even of theology, and for her narrations of Hadith. Out of all the narrators of Hadith, Aisha is in the top four narrators. She has narrated over 2,200 a hadith of the Prophet SAW. Of them, 174 are with Bukhari and Muslim. And in the Muslim, Umma, he met the famous, as you know, four or five volumes are dedicated to Aisha. She has 2,311 hadith in the Muslim. And one of the largest mootness in "Musnad," in the "Mustafa Muhammad," 2,311 with repetition are narrated by her. And the fact that she is so much into knowledge and her intelligence, this is shown even in the lifetime of the Prophet SAW by her questions for analyses. You can see that Aisha was an intelligent lady. She was a very smart lady. For example, in Sahih Bukhari, the Prophet SAW was reading the Quran and he came across the verse, and then he said, and he remarked, "There's a famous hadith that, 'Man who Siva Ruthven, okay, whoever Allah accounts for his hyssop, whoever's hyssop is accounted for, shall be punished.'" Okay? So if Allah does his hyssop, you're going to be punished. So Aisha said, "O Messenger of Allah, doesn't Allah say in the Quran, 'For so for you, how about his habbaniyah zero,' that he will have an easy hyssop?" So she is immediately connecting this hadith with the Quran and saying, "Hold on a sec, ya Rasulullah, how do we understand this verse when you are saying, 'Man who Siva Ruthie?'" And so the Prophet SAW said, "That, who allowed that ayah is just showing the hyssop, but whoever's hyssop is accounted for, whoever has to do line by line, let us just say, taxi. This season is coming up. If you are audited, you are in trouble. Okay? And if it's just passed by, then you are fine. We ask Allah for raffia." Okay? So in this world and in the next world, we are more scared of the next. This world is manageable. But even then, we ask Allah for a fear. So the point is that the Prophet SAW is explaining to Aisha, and she's saying the Quran and what you said, how do we reconcile it? And this shows her and her understanding as well. We learn as well that she would ask the Prophet SAW questions about the Quran. For example, the Prophet SAW was reciting once from the Quran, and he recited the verse in Surah Al-Mu'minin, "Well did well Dina, you too, nama Telugu, who moi gelatin, they give from what Allah has given them in charity, and their hearts are trembling, they are scared, even as they give sadaqa." So our Aisha said, "Who are these people, O Messenger of Allah, that when they are giving charity, their hearts are trembling? Are they the ones who drink wine and doing zina?" So they're scared that that's, you know, they were doing good deeds as well. And the Prophet SAW said, "No, oh daughter of Asiya, Kif intercept the oh no, daughter of Asiya. That is not the ayah. Rather, these are the people who fast and they pray. They are good people. And when they give charity, they are worried that their good deeds will not be accepted." Okay? So he is talking about a level of Iman that be the people who are doing good deeds, and they're still trembling. And the point is that Aisha is probing about what is the meaning of this verse, what is this? And this is showing her intelligence. And that is why later on in life, she was regularly asked questions about Fiqh, about theology, about Hadith, about various and and understandings of Hadith. And she would be an active participant in the academic circles of Medina, even if she never appeared in public, but from behind the veil and through her students, she will play a very vital role. And in fact, Sahaba would send messengers to her. Sometimes they would come themselves and they would ask directly. And none of the other wives had as anywhere close to that status as Aisha had in terms of getting asked questions and in terms of giving fatwas and Fiqh. And there are many, many examples that can be given. For example, her nephew, Atta, who was a Fatiha later on in his life. Right now, he's still a minor student. Later on, he becomes the Fatiha of Medina. Her nephew, Atta, once gave a fatwa that whoever does Hajj, you don't have to do Sayyid. You've never heard this fatwa before because it doesn't exist in Fiqh. Once upon a time, Atta said it. Why did he say this? Because it's in the Quran. Or that's his opinion of the Quran. Because Allah says in the Quran, "Felisa aleikum Juna." Write that, no, not that one. "In the soffit overwhelm our what I mean, Shia Eddie, Allah has man had jailbait away at Amara, fala Juna Holly, and your tawaaf a behemoth. Whoever does Hajj and Umrah, there is no sin if he does sorry as well." Okay? "Fala Juna Holly," there is no sin. But although I read the Quran, remember, if it has not yet been established, people are still deriving Fiqh. And always says, "Okay, the Quran is saying there is no sin if you do tawaf, which means there's no not tawaf, which means there's no sin if you leave as well. Allah is not saying it's watching. Allah is saying there's no sin if you do tawaf." So Aisha, and this is her nephew, is saying, "No, that is not the understanding of the verse." He's correcting, saying, "No, when this verse came down, the Sahaba were hesitant to do Sayyid because it was a jahili practice. You know, when Hajj came and eliminated most of the rituals of jahiliya, right? Only a few things were left. You shouldn't know that much of Hajj. They had other rituals, other things, and Islam came and got rid of all of that. And so the Sahaba thought maybe the Sayyid is also a part of the pagan rituals. Also, there were two idols on Safa and Marwah that I mentioned before, now, Ln SF, right? And the idols were venerated by doing Sayyid. And so some of the Sahaba felt that that is paganism. So Allah saying, 'No, there is no sin on you going between Safa and Marwah.' That's the point here. That no, you're wrong. There's nothing wrong with doing Safa and Marwah." So Aisha corrected Atta, because she knew the circumstances of revelation. And once she heard a fatwa from Abdullah bin Amr, that in a house that Abdullah bin Amr would tell his wives, his that whenever they had to do also, they had to untie all of their hair. And so she said, "I Japan, what a strange fatwa he is giving. Verily, I did also with the Prophet SAW in the same container, from the same container, and all I did was I would pour water over my hair three times." Okay? And we know, and I've taught this in the Fiqh of Tahara all the time, that women when they are doing also from Janaba, they do not have to, if their hairs are tied up, they do not have to untie their hair. They don't have to take their braids out. And I've done whatever else would give the fatwa that they have to do that. And Aisha said, "I know better than you, and with the Prophet SAW with this." So he's seeing me. It's not as if you can accuse me. I don't know. I'm doing no. He is with me. We're doing ghusl from the same container, and I would just pour water over my hair, meaning, as you know, that you have to get the, the roots, the scalp, you have to get it wet. And as for the braids of hair, you don't have to get every single hair wet when you do ghusl. And so she is explaining to Abdullah bin Amr. And in her house, and she heard a fatwa from Ibn Umar, prohibiting a Haram, even Sayyid, prohibiting perfume, even before Ephraim. So he's basically saying, "Before you enter a Haram, make sure you don't have any perfume on." Okay? When you're doing tawaf, or whatever, when you're going for Hajj, make sure you have not, no perfume on. And we all know that it is, in fact, Sunnah to have perfume before a Haram. And so she heard this fatwa, she said, "I was the one who would put perfume on the Prophet SAW right before his Haram." And we know, and if you studied the Fiqh of Hajj and Umrah with me, we went over this as well. Before you put the Haram on, it is Sunnah to put perfume on your body. Where do we know this? This is the hadith of Aisha. Aisha herself said, "I was the one who put perfume on the Prophet SAW's body." As we said, you don't put it on the Haram garment, but you put some dabs of perfume on your body, then you enter the state of Ihram. And then in Ihram, you do not put perfume on your body. And she heard an opinion by one of the Sahaba that kissing breaks the wudu. And so she's the one that says, "The Prophet SAW would kiss me while he is fasting, forget just wudu, even while he's fasting, and he would not make wudu." So again, all of these, she's teaching the Sahaba. Very important for Fiqh. We all need to know these issues as well. And once Abu Hurairah gave a lecture, and Abu Hurairah was giving in the Masjid of the Prophet SAW, and Aisha can overhear. And so he says in that lecture, a phrase that he said, this was his position that he held for opinions that whoever wakes up in Janaba in Ramadan, he cannot fast that day. Okay? If it's Ramadan, and you haven't done ghusl before Fajr, Halas, you have to make up the fast later on. Okay? So two of the students in the audience, their names, I mentioned, famous Tabi'un, they then went to Aisha's chamber and they sought permission. And they said, "What is your opinion?" And she said, "That the Prophet SAW would wake up in the state of Janaba in Ramadan, and he would then fast Ramadan." So they went back and they told Abu Hurairah. Then Abu Hurairah said, "She knows better than me," and he stopped saying that fatwa. So so many times we have Aisha radi Allahu anha, basically correcting or changing or teaching the Sahaba. So much so that one of the famous medieval scholars of Islam, Ibn Kathir, who dies in the seventh or eighth century of the Hijra, he wrote a 200-page treatise entitled, "Al-Jabba," famous, famous, "The famous, the rocket ruler to Al-Sahaba," "The comprehensive response regarding where and how Aisha corrected the Sahaba." Okay? This is a 200-page book about all of the narrations about Aisha teaching the Sahaba, correcting the Sahaba, rectifying the Sahaba. And the knowledge of Aisha was well known and well admired in this regard. And many are the narrations. If I wanted to, I could spend ten minutes talking about what the Tabi'un, and I decided to just go over all of that and just tell you obviously the Sahaba themselves and the Tabi'un, they praised the knowledge of Aisha. We have so many quotes from her students, from the other Sahaba about the knowledge of Aisha. And you can understand that that Aisha was the Fatiha, the most knowledgeable lady, really, of the Ummah of the Prophet SAW. No lady will ever come that had more knowledge of and a leader than her, obviously, because she is the mother of the believers, and she is the one who interacted with the Prophet SAW for so long. And one of the unique things about Aisha, in contrast to many of those others who narrated so many a hadith, her a hadith, almost all of them are directly from the Prophet SAW. Abu Hurairah narrated double her quantity, but many of them came from the other Sahaba. Ibn Abbas narrated roughly the same or a little bit more than her, but Ibn Abbas, the bulk of his a hadith are through other Sahaba because he's a young child. But Aisha radi Allahu anha, her a hadith are directly from the Prophet SAW.

Also, along with her knowledge of Fiqh and Tafsir and Hadith, there were issues as well. There were issues that I didn't want to go into them because time is limited, but they were actual back and forths about theological issues, about the dead hearing about the dead being punished for the actions of the living, about did the Prophet SAW see Allah or not. These are theological issues. Aisha plays a central role, or her narration plays a central role. And if I go into that, I have to spend 15-20 minutes about each one of these issues. So like I said, unfortunately, time is limited. We need to just zoom over them. But along with her knowledge of Islam, she was actually also known for her eloquence and her poetry. Believe it or not, there are lines of poetry that she composed. That she would give lectures, and some of the lectures that she gave, especially, for example, the one that she gave in the Battle of the Camel, she gave a sermon or Khutbah at the end that is considered to be one of the height of eloquence. And it is in Arabic, obviously, very advanced Arabic. So her knowledge of Arabic as well was something that was admired. And one of the things that many of you probably didn't know, Aisha was also considered to be what we would call an herbal doctor. So people would bring their children, especially their sick children, to her. And she was asked, "How did she learn this?" And she said, "That in the years of the Prophet SAW's life, the delegations would come, and so she would obviously be with the women's side of the delegation. And so she would learn from them about the different cures and whatnot from other parts of Arabia." And so she then absorbed this, and then she would then be treating, you know, the kids and children, especially kids and children that would be brought to her. Along with that, she was a Ruqyah expert. And it is well known, Bukhari and Muslim, others, they have that she would do Ruqyah over the children. And it was her position, and Madhab, that you could write Quran and put it on the child as well. And that's the famous controversy between Ibn Mas'ud and Aisha, whether this. And so Aisha would actually do this, that she would write special Du'as and Quran and she would put it on the child for Ruqyah, and she would recite Ruqyah herself over the children. And sick children would be brought to her, and she would treat them both from a medical point of view, by medical, I mean, herbal medicine, the way that it was back then, and also from the point of view.

After the death of the Prophet SAW, Aisha continued to live, obviously, in the house, in her house. And during the reign of Abu Bakr, not much is narrated. She's also still very young at this age. She did take care of Abu Bakr in the final days of his life. And then it was probably in the time of Umar where her knowledge began to be known to the people, and obviously, she's becoming mature as well at this age. And in fact, Muawiyah radi Allahu anhu, he sent somebody to ask you a question, and you know, acted upon that. And in the time of Umar and Uthman, she performed Hajj probably two or three times. And in fact, whenever she did perform Hajj, a special caravan was made for her and the other mothers who wanted to attend Hajj. And that caravan would have a special place of camping, special timings to do tawaf. Nobody else could do so. It was a very protected caravan because obviously of the status of the mothers of the believers. And in the time of her maternal uncle, Abu Bakr as well, as you all know, the very final incident of Umar, of him gifting, of her gifting his Janazah, of her gifting the place of the burial, her Janazah place was in her house. And as you know, there was one, you know, famous spot left, and she said, "I will give it to you, Omar, and I would not have given it to anybody else." And because of this generosity, the Prophet SAW, Abu Bakr, and Umar, buried in one place. And she then is buried in the Baqi al-Gharqad. And during the Fitna of Uthman, Aisha was one of his most ardent supporters. She definitely was an admirer of Uthman radi Allahu anhu. And when the, when the death of Uthman took place, she was in Hajj. And if you remember the story, we went over this, that she did not return because of that. So when she heard that Uthman radi Allahu anhu had been killed, so from Makkah, she made her way to Iraq. She did not go back to Medina. And along the way, she began, she was the first one to call for the executioners of Uthman to be dealt with. And she was very angry at the fact that the act, that the murderers were simply not rounded up and whatnot. And we went over this issue when we went over it. And of course, then that caused the Battle of the Camel, which we will gloss over as is our methodology. And when the Battle of the Camel finished, and she was obviously on the, the camel, it is also said that she was wounded. As some, some arrow accidentally, no one would dare shoot the whole edge, but accidentally an arrow came and maybe grazed her hand or something happened. Her hand was, in fact, um, bloodied, and the camel was injured, and the camel had sat down. And when the battle finished, then who is going to check on Aisha? What's going to be happening? Because obviously her side loses, many people died. And so Ali radi Allahu anhu, he sent her brother, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr. And I went over Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr very briefly. Muhammad is not a Sahabi. He was born after the death of the Prophet SAW. He's the youngest of Abu Bakr's children. And his mother, Asma, was married then to Ali ibn Abi Talib radi Allahu anhu. And and before that, she was married to Ja'far. So she's the famous lady married to Ja'far, and then Abu Bakr, and then Ali ibn Abi Talib radi Allahu anhu. That lady that had children from all three as well, right? So all three of them gave birth, all three of them had children from her. So they, they have half-siblings. And so Abu Bakr and Ali, they have children that are half-brothers, right, through Asma. And so Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was then raised by Ali radi Allahu anhu, and he looked at him as a father figure. So Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was on the side of Ali against Aisha on the other side. Okay? One of those things of ancient history. And so one, what happened happened. Ali radi Allahu anhu sent Muhammad to check on Aisha and to find out, is she okay? And then when it was too far, you know, found out that she is okay, then Asma, the Prophet SAW said that he treated her with the utmost dignity. And he sent his own sons back with her all the way to Medina. And in fact, to protect her honor and dignity, he chose forty of the noble ladies of Basra to be the entourage of Aisha. Right? So she's going to be surrounded by 40 ladies, and then there's going to be the caravan of men protecting them, headed by Hassan and her saying. Okay? After the Battle of the Gemmel. And so this shows that whatever happened between the two of them, there was, there was not a level of crossing over into that which is un-Islamic. They were treated with dignity and respect. And it is authentically narrated that Aisha forever regretted what had happened. Whenever she came across the verse in the Quran, "Wa qarna fi buyutikunna," "Stay in your houses," she would cry and she would say, "How I wish I had stayed in my house and not gone out." And she would say, "I wish I had been born or created as a tree or as a stone," meaning, "I wish I didn't have to answer to this issue that had happened." Because she never wanted blood, she never wanted war. I went over the story, she didn't want that. She was, it's like when you, when we anytime have protests, sometimes the protests get violent. The goal is not the violence, but sometimes it happens. When you have, and especially in this case, you had, you know, people armed on both sides, and then the neohart a gesture there. So it was a very tricky situation. She had never intended for actual blood to be spilled, actual war to take place, but it turned out to be a massacre, as you know. And she felt that she shouldn't have done that. And Allah knows best. And and again, and you have heard me very frankly mentioned this, that some people, they try to sugarcoat this issue. The fact of the matter is, Ali and Aisha radi Allahu anhu, there was not the best level between the two of them, but it didn't go un-Islamic. That's what we have to be clear about. Right? You have both sides exaggerating. An exaggeration doesn't help. You have the one side trying to smooth it over, saying there was nothing. And let's get real here, there was bloodshed. There were two armies on each side. There's going to be something. And remember, I mean, again, to be brutally honest, and I'm not sugarcoating this. Look, in the end of the day, any time you have an in-law situation, I mean, Ali is an in-law of Aisha radi Allahu anha. Right? Anytime, I mean, we are all, those of us that are married, it's human nature. You side with your bloods over the spouse, over the other one. You know, this is human nature. The jokes of in-laws and whatnot, this is a reality. And there right, and extended family, brothers and sisters, they're always going to take the side of their blood over the other. And even in the incident of the slander, remember what Ali said, radi Allahu anhu, "Look, I know nothing but good about her. But ya Rasulullah, there are plenty of women. If there's any doubt, then choose another one." Right? I mean, he's the one saying that because he doesn't have that level of loyalty. His loyalty is towards the Prophet SAW more. It's like, "Look, there's plenty of ladies out there. If there's any doubt, then do that." And of course, any, this is human nature. Nothing wrong with what he said as well. So the point being that Ali and Aisha radi Allahu anhu, they kept within the boundary of Islam. But it is also clear that, you know, there wasn't the type of relationship between those two that might have been, let's say, with Aisha and Muawiyah and others of that level. And it is not watch it to get along with with everybody and to be friendly with everybody. They just didn't get along in their own way. Yet, still, when push came to shove, they remained within the boundaries of Islam. Aisha never once said anything bad about Ali, and Ali never once said anything bad about her. And they maintained their Islamic dignity as is to be expected.

Now, after the death of Ali, Muawiyah comes to power. And of course, Muawiyah, there is much more tension. In fact, again, these are things that if you realize, by the way, I didn't give a biography of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr on purpose. And I probably will not do that because if I wanted to be fair academically, then I would get into trouble in other ways. And Ali ibn Abi Talib, he is a Sahabi, we say nothing but good. So it's best, therefore, to not say too much. Anyway, but the point being that during the time of Ali, there was indeed tension, not just between Aisha and him, but between many of the major Sahaba that was still alive. And Muawiyah, remember, Muawiyah is a Sahabi, we respect him. But there is no comparison between Muawiyah and any of the senior companions. He was a teenager when he saw the Prophet SAW. So there is no comparison between him and any of the senior Sahaba. But still, radi Allahu anhum, and we, you know, and we don't say anything but good. Nonetheless, Muawiyah tried his best to win over Aisha's support. He gave many gifts to her. He sent a hundred thousand dirhams to her one time, she didn't touch a penny, and within an hour, she gave everything to other people. And he gave her multiple gifts, and he visited her in Medina as well. And, you know, she allowed him to come inside there, obviously, behind the curtain. But the conversation was tense, let's just put it that way. There's no, you know, there. And why is that the case? For many reasons. Of them is that Muawiyah radi Allahu anhu, so again, we have two things happen in his lifetime that are problematic. And how much is he guilty or involved or what not is history, and is now, Hollis, this generation gone, let's just say, of the things that happen is that the same Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr that we talked about, he was killed. And he was appointed by Ali as the governor of Egypt. Okay? And Muawiyah comes to power, and obviously the governor of Egypt is not going to give his loyalty to Muawiyah. So he refuses. And so an army is sent, and he is captured, and whatnot, and then he is executed. So obviously, how do you think Aisha was going to feel about that? And obviously, has her, not just him, there's a long list of incidents that we just gloss over. And it's best not to go down and unearth all of that ancient history. But it, I have said this many times, that those who are the whole issue of Islamic uniquely Dawa, the whole issue of having a political system, I am not against it, I'm not for it. It requires a longer discussion. It requires a deeper discussion. And people have misinterpreted phrases I've said. I saw somebody misinterpret my statement and send some very nasty messages on the Facebook and whatnot. All I am saying, when you actually read Islamic history, the romanticized picture of our Halawa is simply not true. There was good, there was bad, there was beautiful, there was ugly. That's all it is. Is it better to have a kunafa than not? Definitely. In classical lists, on that is the case. I'm not arguing against that. But I'm saying in our times, it's a whole different scenario and issue. All I'm saying is those people that are talking about the falafel, the most, and wanting of Halawa, generally speaking, they haven't read history in detail, and they're utopic understanding. Here we have in the time of the Sahaba, in the time of Muawiyah radi Allahu anhu, who was the best Khalifa after the Khulafa Rashidun, because he was the only Khalifa who saw Sahabi, right? And still so much happened in his lifetime, and there was tension, and there was bloodshed, and and and and. So really, it's just best to basically, any, you know, gloss over this for, because it does, for those of us who have, you know, it raises issues that are more problematic to solve than to bring us not. There's no point bringing them up. So this gloss over point is Aisha and Muawiyah radi Allahu anhu. And again, they kept their dignity, but there wasn't much any respect between the two, or one way from Aisha to him. A famous hadith in Tirmidhi says that Muawiyah wrote Aisha, "Give me some advice, and make it short." And so Aisha wrote back to Muawiyah, "I heard the Prophet SAW say, and this is a famous hadith, 'Assented Tirmidhi, mine emissary law, law he be so haughtiness cavolo monotonous woman, woman in temperament emissary, one nasty beasts aho Tila, what kind of Allah who eat an ass, what's a demonic one?'" Simple phrase: "Whoever seeks the pleasure of Allah and displeases the people, Allah will protect him from the people. And whoever seeks the pleasure of the people by earning the displeasure of Allah, then Allah will leave him to the people." Now, there is a political message here to Muawiyah as well, okay? It's a very clear, veiled threat to Muawiyah as well, okay? That what exactly are you doing? But the point is, Aisha wrote back and gave them. And they'll see how you want. Now, see ya. Here's no see ya. And it is true. The same Muawiyah actually gave wanted no see ya. That's also a big deal. Most rulers in our times are jailing the scholars. They give them, they'll see ya. Here we have Muawiyah wanting no see ya. So we have this as well.

Of the most dramatic incidents in the time of Muawiyah, we didn't directly involve Aisha, indirectly involved in vulture is the famous incidence. Actually reported in Bukhari. Actually, the basic story is in Bukhari, but the longer stories are in other books. And that is, when Muawiyah, as governor in Medina, the famous Marwan ibn al-Hakam. You all remember him. I wanted to become the cousin of Uthman, the secretary of Uthman, the one, there's a lot of question marks around. And by and large, we defended him from the biggest accusations, and I was quiet about the more smaller ones because again, there's no need to go there. Even though Marwan is not a Sahabi, so we can be a little bit more clear with him. Also, Marwan really is the true founder of the Umayyad dynasty because it was first and foremost Muawiyah, and then Yazid, and then his grandson, Marwan, Marwan ibn Yazid, Marwan III. Then that lineage finishes. Then Marwan, who is the cousin of Muawiyah, then comes into power. Also from the Umayyad dynasty, the same Marwan. And Marwan then becomes the father of every single Khalifa for the next 350 years, all the way to the next, like 14 Khalifas are from the descendants of Marwan. All of the other Umayyads until the Abbasids, and then the Umayyads of Andalus are coming from Marwan. And they're not the descendants of Muawiyah. So in reality, Marwan is the real founder of the Umayyad clan and dynasty, even though they're from the Umayyad clan. But as you said, we're always different because anyway, so his line finished off. And then Marwan, who is the most powerful person who basically took over. But at this stage, he's a small governor. At this stage, he's a young, younger man. This is after the death of Uthman and Ali. He was quiet for a while. Now here comes, and Marwan becomes the governor of Medina. Okay? This is at that stage. But Marwan is the governor, not the Khalifa. And Muawiyah ascends the message to Marwan that I have appointed Yazid to be the Khalifa after me. You know, he did this in his lifetime. Okay? After I die, Yazid will be the Khalifa. So every governor has to get the bay'ah for Yazid while I am still alive. Which was a new concept, right? This is changing Islamic history forever. This is converting, you know, the Khulafa Rashidun into a Mulukiyah. Okay? And that's not how, by the way, that's another point. A lot of these groups, they say it is Haram. No, it is not Haram. If you say it is Haram, then tell us, all of Islamic history becomes Haram. It's not Haram. It is against the ideal. There's no question about that. But the ideal is impossible. And there's, anyway, so let's not get into all that because I get into trouble when I open these political issues. How the people are so certain about their views, they're not even willing to listen to other ideas and engage back and forth. And it becomes problematic. If I, unless I go into a whole lecture, maybe one day I will. But in the meantime, let's just say I don't think it is Haram. None of the scholars that I know, classical dilemma, ever said that it is Haram to have a dynasty. It's definitely not the state that you choose the best. But that's how the world functions. The world functions for most of its history of Umayyad dynasty. And frankly, you can understand from Muawiyah's perspective, all of this bloodshed, two major civil wars from the time of Uthman, so many years. Let's just get this done with. Let's just start a dynasty. And there's got not gonna be any Fitna. There was Fitna, but that's a separate point. He thought he would eliminate the Fitna. Volume. So he says to Marwan, and all the governors, you have to take the bay'ah from the people while they're alive. Sorry, not while they're alive, is while I'm alive. You will take the bay'ah for my son. This is bizarre. It's never happened before. You understand? You don't take the bay'ah for the next guy. You don't take the bay'ah for the guy that's gonna come after. In the end, the king is still though. You take the bay'ah for the prince. But that's what Muawiyah wanted. And so Marwan gave a whole Khutbah in Medina that, "Amir al-Mu'minin has issued the verdict that all of us are gonna give bay'ah for his son, Yazid, is his next door." In the, you know, because she's in the Prophet SAW's house, right? And the Sahaba start, and he, they didn't like it, you know, obviously. Well, like it is a sign of Iman, they didn't like it. "What are you talking about? You're gonna start a dynasty now? What?" And so Marwan fights back and goes, "This is the Sunnah of Abu Bakr and Umar." What did he mean? Who can tell me? Who can tell me quickly? We don't have time for too much quizzes. Establishing some type of person after. Very good. Establishing some type of person. But it's not because Abu Bakr didn't say when he's still alive, many years before he's on his deathbed, right? Haram ibn al-Aas on his deathbed. And they didn't put their son. In fact, Umar said to his son, "You are not a part of the Shura." So Marwan says, "This is the Sunnah of Abu Bakr and Umar." Abdul Rahman ibn Abi Bakr, the brother of Aisha, and he is a Sahabi. This is the older brother of Muhammad, the younger brother, and he is the full brother of Aisha, right? And Aisha and Ali, the only two full brothers. Okay? Aisha from a different mother. Muhammad's from a different mother. So Abdul Rahman and Aisha are very close, and they were full brother and sister. He stands up and he says, "No, this is the Sunnah of Heraclius and Chosroes." Now, what do you think? What Marwan is gonna do? He has been insulted, and he is the governor, right? He tells the cops, "Go arrest." And again, these are things we don't like to think about. We don't like this. This is in the Prophet SAW's Masjid. The Sahaba are still alive. Aisha is in the next room. We like to gloss over it, and we should gloss over it. You know, think too deeply about it. But this is reality. This is politics. This is power, right? You have publicly insulted the ruler, via me. I can't allow this civil strife. He is thinking, right? So he tells the cops, "Go arrest him." Okay? So the guards stand up in the Masjid, the Khutbah was going on, and they go to arrest Abdul Rahman ibn Abi Bakr. Where do you think Abdul Rahman will find refuge? In the house of Aisha, obviously. So he rushes into the house of Aisha, right? And subhanAllah, whatever you want to say, at least those people had Iman and Taqwa. These days, they'll take the Imams with the Haram, or governors and ambassadors, and cut them up into pieces. But those days, they had some Iman, and they refused to enter the house of Aisha. At least we can say some Iman is there, right? So the cops cannot enter the house of Aisha. What do they do? Marwan goes outside the house and starts yelling to hand over Abdul Rahman. He's not gonna go into. SubhanAllah, but he's saying, "Hand over." And Aisha starts yelling back and saying, "No, I'm not going to hand him over. Okay? Go away from here." Whatever that, we don't know all the details. You can understand it's a tense situation and scenario between Abdul Rahman and Marwan, and it is happening in the house of Aisha, and Aisha is participating in this. So Marwan has to save face somehow. So he says, "No, this portion is in Bukhari. He said, 'I don't worry. This man, Abdul Rahman, he is the one whom Allah revealed the verse in the Quran.'" Now, this is Surah Al-Kahf, "Will the deep already worried, he'll feel Akuma at Eridani knee." And so it's a long verse. It's basically a verse that except at a very evil man, a man who says to his father, "Rot to you." So he excoriates, saying, "Who was this verse revealed for?" He is saying, "Abdul Rahman." Okay? Why? Because he wants to save face. He needs to save dignity. You know, when somebody is humiliated, they have to do something to bring their ego back. This is human nature. Now he's been humiliated. Aisha's basically not allowed him to hand over. He's not gonna send the cops. And as I said, there is some Iman, at least. Okay? So what is he gonna do? Go, "Ah, don't worry. Even if I don't get him, Allah Azza wa Jal, and he said something about him in the Quran." So from behind the curtain, Aisha says, "You are lying. I know this verse, who it was revealed for, and if I want to, to, I could mention his name, but I'm not going to. I want to cover him up. But I know who it was revealed for, and it wasn't for my brother Abdul Rahman. And as for you, oh, you shouldn't have done this, Marwan." Okay? And as for you, then I know exactly what the Prophet SAW said about your father. For he cursed him. So you are a part of that curse. But Marwan ibn al-Hakam is a long story there as well. The Prophet SAW said, "I might have come with Nebraska. I might have been. I have come, excuse me. But why didn't it happen? Having a better house? Well, how come he never houses?" A long story. And again, these are things that we rather gloss over because problematically, in this case, al-Hakam did embrace Islam at the very end of his life, after the conquest of Hunayn, at the very end. And certain things happened.

Which are best to gloss over? And the process him exiled him to life. And I issues saying that your father was cursed by the prophets, Allah send him. And you are therefore the son of that curse. Okay. And so she is saying a factual statement that the father was cursed. But when the father was cursed, Marwan was not the object of that. So we can also say, well, if it was a rotten, was a Tokra, we should also say this. But still, Aisha has a point. Like, you are me, you are saying something. Man, I can say something about your father. And since you are the son of your, then you know you two are, yeah, apart of that. So she also responded back in, in, in that regard.

And she passed away in the reign of Mu'awiyah, either in the year 57 or most likely in the year 58. He died on the 17th of Ramadan. So she passed away on the nights, on the day, and the evening of Ramadan. And because it was our mother, so they decided to bury her at night, so that it is more concealing. And so her janazah was done after Taraweeh, after the night prayer, on the 17th of Ramadan. And it was led by the senior-most Sahabi that was still alive in Medina. And that was Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him. Abu Huraira led her janazah. And then her nephews and grandnephews, Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr, and Urwah ibn az-Zubayr, the grandsons of Abu Bakr, and others, they all led the janazah and carried it. And they're the ones who went into the Kaaba. And they then buried Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, in Baqi al-Gharqad.

Now we get to the quote/unquote controversial issue over the age of Aisha. I've been referencing this throughout the entire lectures, and now it is time to dive into the deep end. So, as age has been narrated by herself in the first person, by multiple chains reported in Bukhari and Muslim, and every single book of Hadith, that's the problem. It's pretty explicit and clear. Her own nephew, Hisham ibn Urwah, from his father Al-Walid, from Aisha, his mother, from Aisha, others from Aisha, they all report the exact same thing in the most authentic books of Hadith with the chains that are like the sun. They are as bright as the sun. These are called the golden chains. They are the most authentic chains of all of Islam. And they're found in Bukhari and Muslim. And these are Hadith that are found in Bukhari and Muslim that Aisha said that the Prophet married me when I was six, and he began living with me, i.e., consummated marriage, when I was nine, and he passed away when I was 18. First person narrated by multiple Tabi'in, who heard it directly from her. And therefore, pretty straightforward, right?

On top of this, many Sahaba also reported the same thing. Even Muslim, the reports and reported in Tirmidhi, that the Prophet married Aisha when she was six and consummating when she was nine and passed away and she was 18. This is even Muslim saying the exact same thing as Aisha. Al-Bara' narrates that the Prophet married Aisha when she was seven, six, seven, okay, similar enough, and consummated when she was nine, okay, basically the same thing. Okay. And on and on and on. In fact, the age of Aisha was something that was of no concern for the entirety of Islamic history. So much so that Ijma has been narrated on this. Even though generally speaking, there's never Ijma on historical ages and issues, yet on this case, for some reason, multiple authors have given Ijma. Even Ibn Kathir says, I don't know of any difference of opinion over her age. And even Ibn Kathir says there is a Jama'ah that the Prophet married her when she is 6 and then consummated 9. Even Al-Hafiz says the same. And I can quote you many more as well.

Now, to be clear, Ijma about historical facts is not the same as Ijma about theology and law. And history is not Aqeedah. And hence, somebody who disagrees and somebody who insists that Aisha was, say, 18 or what not, and he, we don't say this is Bid'ah. We don't say this is wrong. We don't say you've gone against Sunni theology. History is not theology for us. At least for other groups, it is. But for us, it's not theology. And so, from our perspective, if somebody insists and they want to prove it in their way, we say, "Allahu A'lam." This is your opinion. But, and the reason why I'm so interested in going otherwise, it would really, it really doesn't matter that much. Remember, we talked about the age of Khadijah, right? Was she 65? You know, sorry, was she 40 or was she 28? Right? It's not a big deal. And it's like, okay, what? And nobody really cares about that. And I just preferred one that it makes sense, she was 20. But if somebody insists she was 40, I say, "Allahu A'lam." Okay. Yeah, no big deal.

In this case, we will say, even if there's no precedence, if you want to insist that Aisha was 18, and what can I say? Well, that's good for you. It's not something that you're gonna make somebody, you know, a heretic over or something like that. But here is my personal problem with this issue. And that is that wanting to change the age of Aisha represents a frame of mind, a methodology, a paradigm. That once we open this door, once we go down this path, then we will be forced to use the same path or the same paradigm for other issues as well. And for me personally, that paradigm is really one. I'm trying to be respectful because some of my own colleagues and friends are arguing, that some of the people I know are writing papers about this. With my utmost respect, from my opinion, this represents a somewhat defeatist methodology. Because obviously, understandably, let's be brutally honest here, the age of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, is something that modern sensibilities are going to find problematic. Six years old. And even if you say your consummation occurs at nine, and our Prophet, peace be upon him, is in his early 50s, okay, it's something that it is atypical in our times. In fact, it would be illegal in most countries in our times. And it is this issue that has caused those who hate Islam to use very derogatory language. And I don't like to even mention this term or whatnot. But because we are talking about this, and I hope you forgive me, I'm simply narrating what they say. Accusations that pedophilia are made. And as Muslims, we are now forced to then respond. What do we do to this response? Understandably, I want to defend. You want to defend. We all want to defend. One of the ways that one groups of scholars have attempted to defend it is simply to reinvent the age. Go back and say, tell us, snap our fingers, and bismillah, magically she becomes 18. We don't have to worry about this charge. Okay. And this is overall, this is something that is called historical revisionism. And what this is, is you go back and you revise history. Something that was well known, something that is almost agreed upon. And some later researcher comes and says, "Oh, everybody was wrong. This was the real way it was done." And many times historical revisionism is correct. Many times it's interesting. Many times it's give-and-take. And many times it's complete, you know, baloney or whatever you want to call it. Okay. Just because it's revisionist doesn't make it right. Just because it's exciting and different doesn't make it right. But it is a theme that people, especially in our times, they love to do. They want to do historical revisionism. But in doing so, we have to be careful because sometimes when we find something problematic, it shows more about us than about the text. It shows about our prejudices more than it does about the text itself.

And even those who are finding this problematic, some of them are mature enough to recognize this. And I'll quote somebody who is a very famous figure of both progressive Islam and Islamic feminism, or Islam feminism, Dr. Kecia Ali. She writes in her book, Sexual Ethics in Islam. And she is one of the main leaders of both the progressive movement and of Islamic feminism in our times. She writes, "Muslim discussions of the Prophet's personal conduct in general, and his marriage to Aisha in particular, provide a lens through which to view changed attitudes toward sex and marriage, and unresolved concerns about the appropriateness of applying medieval standards in modern life. There are dangers in both historical anachronism and unchecked moral relativism." As all academics, they love fancy words. She's saying it's a two-way street. That in the one hand, it is dangerous to say that whatever the Prophet, peace be upon him, did is always correct and can be done throughout all history. That's what she's saying. On the other hand, it is also dangerous to read in our prejudices back into history. Okay. So from her perspective, both are dangerous. I will disagree with the first issue and I'll explain why. And then we'll get to that.

So the point is, she is saying that several questions emerge about this whole incident. That she goes on her way. And we need to be very clear here that before we criticize anything from the past, let us context the past itself. And let us contextualize the present and our own prejudices. Young marriages were the norm around the globe, not just in Arabia. This was the way it was throughout human history up until recent times. Especially, especially marriages of famous people, daughters of kings, daughters of nobility were regularly married off at a very young age. Their marriages were decided without their consent. Absolutely. This is well known. And they were married off at a very young age for political reasons, not for love, not for anything. It was for political reasons. And most of the time, these marriages were meant to actually ratify treaties between two entities or two families or whatnot. Sometimes to build peace between two warring countries. The most famous perhaps marriage in all of human history was the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. Aragon and Castile were two warring kingdoms of Spain, and they were fighting each other. And that's why the Muslims managed to live hundreds of years, right? Well, Ferdinand and Isabella got married. What happened? Those two kingdoms merged. Because now they're both rulers are there. Now that they merged, they then turned their attention to Abdullah, the last Emir of Granada, and onslaught began until finally. So that's a political marriage, right? Who cares about love? Who cares about anything? Nothing to do with that. It's a matter of getting the two together. Now, these two, the concept of political marriages, the concept of young marriages, this was the norm in that timeframe. And life expectancy as well was much smaller. Puberty began at an earlier age. Norms were different. And that is why in the lifetime of the Prophet, peace be upon him, even the worst enemies of Islam did not find this issue problematic. This is a modern issue. Only 30 years ago, 40 years ago, at the latest, the first time this was found problematic. Ironically, even authors that writing about the Prophet 200 years ago in Western worlds didn't really find this that problematic. Because even 200 years ago, young girls were married regularly at that age. And that is why generally speaking, those who accuse the Prophet, peace be upon him, of this heinous crime, those who use this type of slur, generally speaking, they are not educated. Meaning academically, that's what I mean. They might have a high school degree. They haven't studied history. They haven't read. Because anybody who does understands that the age of marriage is very, very fluid. It's very, you know, changing throughout history. And if you look at any things, and again, I could have gone much more detailed, this can easily be given a whole lecture. But I just wanted to clarify that this is the only time I will probably be speaking about this in so much detail. But I just wanted to mention some facts here.

One of the first times the Western world tried to regulate the age of marriage occurred during the time of Caesar Augustus. And he ruled, but he never enforced that girls should be 10 years old when they were betrothed. 10 years old. That was the law, you know, a thousand, whatever years ago, to whatever, 2000, whatever it was. Just 10 years old. Aisha, she was nine. Okay. This is due to, and this is before that time, and a generation away, and a continent away as well. In medieval Europe, Gratian, the cleric, is one of the famous founders of what is called the canon law. The Catholics had their Sharia, is called canon law, by the way. And this canon law was solidified in the 12th century. And he writes in his canon law that the traditional age of puberty, between 12 and 14, he writes, should be the meaningful age of consent for marriage. But he acknowledged that consent can occur even before this age. So he's essentially saying that the norm is around 12 to 14. And he's writing 900 years ago. Okay. That is the norm. When Shakespeare wrote his Romeo and Juliet, this is 500 years ago, the actress that played Juliet was 13 or at times 14 years old. Okay. 13-year-old. That was the norm. And Shakespeare is only 500 years. It's not like 2,000 years or 1005. She experienced the actor is that is playing Juliet is 13. Why? Because biologically and intellectually, a 13-year-old 500 years ago is like a 17-year-old of our time, let's say. Okay. Like, you know, the age where in our culture, you know, there's passionate love is like 18, 17, right? The first love in our culture. 500 years ago, Romeo is 14 and Juliet is 13. What does that show you? This is just 500. That things change from time to time. And France as well, it has a code called the Napoleonic Code. The Napoleonic Code, it considered, and this is only 200 years old, it considered 13 as the age of consent. Consent, not to marriage. Can you understand? Consent. What they have their law for consent, right? At the age of 13, a girl can consent. You understand? I don't want to be too explicit. Consent is not marriage. You can get married earlier than that. But 13 is the age of consent in that in that code. And we have hundreds of court records from England, 15th, 16th, 17th century, and even in colonial America, 16th, 17th, pre-colonial America century, where because of the court records, we have the age of the bride. And the bride is very commonly 10, 11, 12. There's a famous case in Massachusetts where a 10-year-old girl is suing her husband for divorce. She wants a divorce at the age of 10. And it's a famous case because of abuse and whatnot, her physical abuse. So she won the case. She's suing for divorce at the age of 10. What a she got married? Won't even know this is in Massachusetts in pre-colonial America, 300 years ago. The point being that for us to find that age problematic, it shows more about our culture than it does about theirs. Okay. And it's really a sign of our own ignorance when we say, "Oh my God, she was nine." Well, so what? Yes, she was. How is that problematic? It was the norm back then. And nobody found it problematic back then. And I've mentioned many times in my own lectures, just to be personal here, that when I was a teenager, I found out my grandmother got married at the age of 13, 14. And I was shocked at that. My own grandmother. I know many of you, your mothers and grandmothers were the exact same, right? That's the reality back then. And I couldn't believe my own grandmother, who I'm talking to in front of me, and she's at that stage, 75, 80 years old, she got married at 13. I was like, "How could you get married at 13?" When I, I was 17 at the time. I was like, "Are you getting married at 13?" Now, is that possible? And she's like, "Betty, and all of us got married at that." You know, back then, you know, that was the norm. This is literally two generations ago, my grandmother's age. And that was the norm back there at the age of 13.

So, given the cultural changes, puberty, historically proven, that the age of puberty is going up in the last documented years. It's already gone up six years or five years. Okay. So puberty is going up. Intellectual maturity, we all know that our kids of our age are being put in this bubble of adolescence. We all know this. That they're being, you know, cushioned from the real world much longer than they need to. So biologically, intellectually, every factor. She talks about early marriage. And so what if the Prophet, peace be upon him, married at the age of nine? I don't see any problem with this whatsoever. It's not a moral issue. And I want to be clear here, I am not against historical revisionism. I don't mind if there is a reason to do that. If there's strong compelling evidence on the one side that just doesn't make sense, and we have to go back to our tradition and rethink through things, then no big deal. If it is, it is. But in this case, I really am, with my utmost respect, dismissive of the entire procedure. Because in my humble opinion, it simply shows that there's a lack of understanding of culture, of human mores, of sex and sexuality. And because of this, there's this feeling and we need to defend in an incorrect manner. And if you're gonna cast doubt on the most authentic Hadith with the most authentic chains, you had better have a very strong reason than just to say it's politically incorrect in 2019 America. Had some much more stronger reason than that. And I'm sorry, I don't buy it.

Nonetheless, with all of that big disclaimer, now we jump in. What are some of the evidences that is used by the other side? And perhaps the most authoritative article that has been written on this issue is by a modern scholar. Again, all of this is modern. Nobody before our generation found this problematic. Nobody. Not a single human being in 14 centuries of Islam found this age problematic until our generation, literally our generation, one generation that we are in now. And one of the most academic authors, because most of those who reject, they're not academic, they're just emotional. "Oh, how could he have done this? He's not my dad." I mean, it's not possible. Any, whatever your version of Islam is, it has to come from the text. But so, one of the most academic articles that I found was by a modern Syrian scholar, graduate of Sharia. He is a Sheikh Adam, I will not at all diminish his knowledge from this. And his name is Sher Saleh Hadidi. He is a little bit. He has a very detailed article that has been translated to English as well, and you can find this online, the English translation. And he has used what is called source criticism, what is called contextual historical methods, which is valid. I don't have any problem with his, the way that he does this. So I don't fault him for his methodology. And I appreciate his academic, you know, insight. I just respectfully disagree. And I'll summarize some of his points over here, and then I'll refute them. So, and I was in my own words. So he has his, you can read that. But I'm going to summarize them for the sake of time in my own words. In order.