This claim originates from the Athar of Abd al Rahman ibn Abi al Zinad saying that Asma was older than Aisha by ten years.
Abu al Hasan Ali ibn Ahmad al Maliki informed us, and from him Ahmad ibn Abd al Wahid al Sulami informed us, and from him my grandfather Abu Bakr informed us, and from him Abu Muhammad ibn Zabr informed us, and from him Ahmad ibn Saad ibn Ibrahi al Zuhri informed us, and from him Muhammad ibn Abi Safwan informed us, and from him Al Asmai informed us, fromIbn Abi al Zinad who said that Asma the daughter of Abi Bakr was ten years older than Aishah. (Tarikh Dimashaq 69/10)
If this is assumed to be correct, Asma would have been twenty seven at the time of the hijra. On that basis, Aisha would have been seventeen at the hijra. It is known that Aisha’s marriage took place two or three years before the hijra, which would put her at about fourteen or fifteen at the time of marriage, and around 17/18 when the marriage was consummated.
A simple response to this matter is that, Abd al Rahman ibn Abi al Zinaad is a weak narrator.
Ibn Mahdi said he is weak,
and Al Fallas said there is weakness in him.
Abdullah ibn Ahmad narrated from his father that he said about him he is such and such which means he made him soft.
Ibn Hibban said that Abdurrahman was someone who would be alone in narrating reversed reports from reliable narrators, and that came from his poor memory and many mistakes, so it is not allowed to use him as proof except in what agrees with the trustworthy narrators, and he is truthful. (This is not the case with this narration since it is not backed up by trustworthy narrators)
Abu Ahmad al Hakim said he is not considered a hafidh according to them. (Siyar A’lam Nubala 8/167-170)
Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al Qasim ibn Mahraz narrated from Yahya ibn Maeen that he said he is not from those whose narrations the people of hadith use as proof and he is nothing when it comes to narrating hadiths.
Muhammad ibn Uthman ibn Abi Shaybah narrated from Ali ibn al Madini that he was considered weak according to our companions.
Abu Hatim said his hadith is written down but he is not used as proof and he is more beloved to me than Abdurrahman ibn Abi al Rijal and Abdurrahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam.
Imam Al Nasaai said his hadith is not used as proof.
Abu Hatim said that his hadith are written down, but not used as proof. Many other scholars also viewed him as weak. Tahdhib al-Kamal fi Asma al-Rijal by Al-Hafidh al-Mizzi (742. AH) (17/95-101)
Some people also appeal to Ibn Kathir to support this argument, because he too mentions that Asma was ten years older than Aisha. Yet the same Ibn Kathir also affirms that there is no disagreement that Aisha married at the age of six.
Ibn Kathir said: The Prophet married her when she was 6 years old, and consummated with her when she was 9 years old] there is no difference of opinion between the people about it. (Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah by Ibn Kathir 2/141)
To quickly address the rebuttal of Aisha’s age, on Hisham Bin Urwa being in all the chains for Aisha’s age yet his narrations became confused later on in his life. Ad Dhahabi addresses this and says:
Hisham ibn Urwah is one of the well known imams. He is a proof and an imam, but when he became old his memory became less, although he never mixed up and he was never someone whose narration became confused, and there is no weight to what Abu al Hasan ibn al Qattan said that he and Suhayl ibn Abi Salih mixed up and changed. Yes the man changed a little and his memory did not remain as it was when he was young, so he forgot some of what he had memorised or he made a mistake, so what is the problem in that, is he protected from forgetting. (Mizan Al I’tidaal by Ad Dhahabi 4/301)
