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Did Aisha hit herself?

  • Writer: Anonymous (S)
    Anonymous (S)
  • Apr 20, 2024
  • 6 min read

Updated: Jan 25

One of the most common criticisms leveled against the Shi'a concerns their conduct during mourning sessions for the Ahl al-Bayt (as). These gatherings often involve excessive displays of grief, including wailing, crying, and even self-flagellation to express their pain. From a jurisprudential perspective, there is no contradiction between self-flagellation out of grief and the shar'ia. However, opponents of the Shi'a argue otherwise, claiming that this form of grieving is not only irrational but also unacceptable in Islam. In this article, we aim to address this accusation by presenting evidence that the companions of the Prophet (saw) had engaged in similar practices.

Aisha after the death of the Prophet (saw)

After the Prophet (saw) had passed away, his wives and women would excessively mourn this loss through hitting themselves and wailing out-loudly. This has been extensively reported in many sources, such as in Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Vol. 18, pg. 199:

حَدَّثَنَا يَعْقُوبُ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا أَبِي، عَنِ ابْنِ إِسْحَاقَ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنِي يَحْيَى بْنُ عَبَّادِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللهِ بْنِ الزُّبَيْرِ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَبَّادٍ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ عَائِشَةَ، تَقُولُ: " مَاتَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بَيْنَ سَحْرِي، وَنَحْرِي وَفِي دَوْلَتِي، لَمْ أَظْلِمْ فِيهِ أَحَدًا، فَمِنْ سَفَهِي وَحَدَاثَةِ سِنِّي أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ قُبِضَ وَهُوَ فِي حِجْرِي، ثُمَّ وَضَعْتُ رَأْسَهُ عَلَى وِسَادَةٍ، وَقُمْتُ أَلْتَدِمُ مَعَ النِّسَاءِ، وَأَضْرِبُ وَجْهِي"

Yaqub Ibn Ibrahim narrated to us, saying: My father narrated to us from Ibn Ishaq, who said: Yahya b. Abbad narrated to me from his father, who said: I heard 'Aisha say:

"The Messenger of Allah (saw) passed away between my chest and neck during my turn. I did not wrong anyone in this regard. Out of my foolishness and youth, the Messenger of Allah (saw) died while resting in my lap. I then placed his head on a pillow, stood up, and began beating my face and wailing along with the women."

The examiner of this book, Ahmad Shakir, graded this report as Sahih (authentic) in the footnote, and Al-Albani also graded this report as Hasan (good) in his Irwa al-Ghalil, vol. 7, pg. 86. Thus, attesting to the reliability of this report. As we have mentioned earlier, the narration can be found in many books with many others examiners concluding with similar opinions, and just to cite a couple for demonstration, the report can also be found in the following sources:

What does latam mean?

In the report, Aisha uses the word “التدم” (Latam), which would commonly be translated as 'striking'. Should there be any doubt, one can refer back to famous grammarian and lexicographer, Murtada al-Zabidi's Arabic dictionary, Tajj al-'Arus, vol. 33, pg. 413 where he lists 'latam' as a synonym for the word 'dharab' (to strike). We can thus confidently conclude that there are authentic reports indicating that Aisha and the other women present at the Prophet's passing mourned his death by beating their chests.

Did Aisha regret her actions?

Upon reading this report, defenders of Aisha try to argue that Aisha had regretted her actions and did not believe in the permissibility of what she did. However, this is a false reading of the report itself, as we find nowhere indicating that Aisha believed her actions contradicted the shar'ia. If we read over the report, our opponents try to highlight on the following part to justify this viewpoint:

"Out of my foolishness and youth, the Messenger of Allah passed away while he was in my lap. Then I placed his head on a pillow, and I went out to join the women, striking my face."

As we see however, this report is not implying Aisha is regretful over striking herself, but rather that she is regretful over the Prophet's passing. Her mention of striking herself, is on entirely different sentence to the one where she express remorse, where in the same sentence she explains why she felt foolish. It was regarding the death of the Prophet (saw) and his passing away in her lap that she felt the way she did, and not about her conduct of mourning. It is however a noteworthy point to mention that Aisha seems to be blaming herself for the Prophet's death.

Aisha after the death of Abu Bakr

Aisha's conduct after the death of the Prophet (saw), would extend in the same way after the death of her father, Abu Bakr. This also attests further to the fact that she did not see any jurisprudential problems in her actions, as again she never criticised it and in fact repeated it. This was recorded in numerous sources as well such as in Tabaqat Ibn Sa’ad, vol. 3, pg. 156 and Tarikh al-Tabari, vol. 11, pg. 137 - 138 [Arabic]:

قال: أخبرنا عثمان بن عمر قال: أخبرنا يونس بن يزيد عن الزهري عن سعيد بن المسيب قال: لما توفي أبو بكر أقامت عليه عائشة النوح فبلغ عمر فجاء فنهاهن عن النوح على أبي بكر. فأبين أن ينتهين. فقال لهشام بن الوليد: أخرج إلي ابنة أبي قحافة. فعلاها بالدرة ضربات فتفرق النوائح حين سمعن ذلك. وقال: تردن أن يعذب أبو بكر ببكائكن؟ إن رسول الله -صلى الله عليه وسلم- قال إن الميت يعذب ببكاء اهله عليه.

He said: 'Uthman bin 'Umar informed us, saying: Yunus bin Yazid narrated from al-Zuhri, from Sa'id bin al-Musayyib, who said:

"When Abu Bakr passed away, Aisha lamented over him. This reached 'Umar, who came and forbade them from wailing over Abu Bakr, but they refused to stop. He then said to Hisham bin al-Walid: 'Bring out the daughter of Abu Quhafah to me.' He struck her with his stick several times, and the mourners dispersed when they heard that. 'Umar said: 'Do you want Abu Bakr to be punished because of your weeping? Indeed, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "The deceased is punished by the weeping of his family over him."'"

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in his Fath al-Bari, vol. 7, pg. 550 authenticates the chain of this report, marking it as authentic.

Other wives of the Prophet (saw)

The reports narrated by Aisha state that she was not the only one to engage in such practice, and this is true as in other situations we find similar conduct being held by other wives of the Prophet (saw), who saw the permissibility of this practice. For example, Maymuna bt. al-Harith is reported to hold a weeping session over the passing of one of the companions of the Prophet (saw). This was recorded in Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq, Vol. 4, pg. 272-273:

[عَبْدُ الرَّزَّاقِ، عَنْ ابْنِ عُيَيْنَةَ، عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ دِينَارٍ قَالَ: لَمَّا مَاتَ خَالِدُ بْنُ الْوَلِيدِ، اجْتَمَعَ فِي بَيْتِ مَيْمُونَةَ نِسَاءٌ يَبْكِينَ، فَجَاءَ عُمَرُ، وَمَعَهُ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ، وَمَعَهُ الدُّرَّةُ، فَقَالَ: يَا عَبْدَ اللَّهِ، ادْخُلْ عَلَى أُمِّ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، فَأْمُرْهَا فَلْتَحْتَجِبْ، وَأَخْرِجْهُن عَلَيَّ، قَالَ: فَجَعَلَ يُخْرِجُهُنَّ عَلَيْه، وهوَ يَضْرِبُهُنَّ بِالدُّرَّةِ، فَسَقَطَ خمارُ امرَأَةٍ مِنْهُنَّ، فَقَالُوا: يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ، خِمَارُهَا، فَقَالَ: دَعُوهَا، وَلَا حُرْمَةَ لَهَا. كَانَ مَعْمَرٌ يَعْجَبُ مِنْ قَوْلهِ: لَا حُرْمَةَ لَهَا.

'Abd al-Razzaq reported from Ibn 'Uyaynah, from 'Amr ibn Dinar, who said:

When Khalid ibn al-Walid died, women gathered in the house of Maymunah, weeping. Then 'Umar came with Ibn 'Abbas and his whip. He said, "O 'Abdullah, enter upon the Mother of the Believers and command her to veil herself, and bring them out to me." So he began to bring them out to 'Umar, who was striking them with the whip. The veil of one of the women fell off, and they said, "O Commander of the Believers, her veil!" He replied, "Leave her be; she has no sanctity." Ma'mar used to marvel at his statement: "She has no sanctity."

Just in the previous report of Aisha during the mourning of Abu Bakr, we find again here Umar cutting away the dignity of the muslim women by violently abusing them and unveiling them in public, and this was an act he would repeatedly do before Islam, during its advent and after its completetion despite the numerous number of times the Prophet (saw) had scolded him for such behaviour.

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