شانِ سیدہ عائشہ صدیقہ رضی اللہ عنہا

'Aisha (RA) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to her (one day): "You were shown to me in my dream for three consecutive nights: an angel would bring your image to me on a piece of magnificent silk cloth and say, 'This is your (future) wife.' When I lifted the covering [of the image], it was exactly your face. Then I would say, 'If this dream is from Allah, He will bring it to pass Himself (that is, He will carry this matter through to completion and create the means for my marriage to this woman).'" (Bukhari and Muslim)

After the passing of Khadijah al-Kubra (RA), when the married life of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was afflicted with loneliness and he became sorrowful, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (RA), seeing his sorrow, gave his beloved daughter 'Aisha (RA) in marriage to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. 'Aisha (RA) alone has the distinction of entering the house of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as a virgin; otherwise all the other Mothers of the Believers were either widowed or divorced.

'Aisha (RA) held a unique position with regard to knowledge, wisdom, and her personal virtues and perfections. She was a formidable scholar, learned, and a jurist, and she was the first person in history to memorise the Noble Qur'an. 'Aisha (RA) is the narrator of two thousand two hundred and ten (2,210) ahadith. Whenever in that era a difficult and complex problem arose for the Ummah, the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all) would turn to her, and the relevant knowledge would surely be found with her. Just as Umm al-Mu'minin 'Aisha (RA) nurtured the children of the Shari'ah with knowledge, so too with her generosity she nurtured the poor and the needy. On one occasion 'Aisha (RA) gave one hundred thousand dirhams in charity in the way of Allah in a single day.

'Aisha's (RA) role belongs to the days of the rise of Islam: the deep understanding of the religion that she attained, the propagation she carried out for the Ummah, the efforts she made in spreading the knowledge of prophethood, and the scholarly benefits she conveyed to the children of the Ummah, are a rank attained by none other among the Mothers of the Believers.

'Aisha (RA) used to say: Allah granted me this honour too, recorded in my destiny, that many a time the Qur'an was revealed while I was upon my bed and the rains of divine revelation poured down; and I was granted this honour too, that many a time I beheld Jibril al-Amin and saw the Trustworthy Spirit with my own eyes in his true form; and Allah bestowed upon me this honour too, that greetings of peace came to me repeatedly from Allah the Real; and I was granted this dignity too, that when the hypocrites pointed the finger at my character, the Qur'an testified in my favour in the tribunal of revelation, and Allah Himself became my defending advocate, and the earth and the heavens resounded with the proclamation of my purity and chastity — a revelation came down which will be recited until the Day of Resurrection in the mosques, the prayer-niches, and the homes:

"Corrupt women are for corrupt men, and corrupt men are for corrupt women; and pure women are for pure men, and pure men are for pure women. These [pure ones] are innocent of what [the slanderers] say; for them is forgiveness and a noble provision." (An-Nur 24:26)

That is, when any believer recites this, he must gauge the purity and chastity of 'Aisha (RA) by the purity and chastity of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

In the historic battle of Badr the banner of prophethood was the shawl of 'Aisha (RA); that is, the standard under which the angels rendered their service to Islam, and the standard upon which Allah's first help and victory descended, was made from the veil of 'Aisha (RA). This fact manifests a great excellence of 'Aisha (RA), and this banner was raised aloft by the hands of 'Ali (RA), so that it might become clear until the Day of Resurrection that there is no difference between the two of them.

The very voice of nature bore witness to your purity; He granted you greatness, bestowed wellbeing upon you, and gave you excellence. Your veil attained this honour in the Battle of Badr — that the Mercy to the Worlds ﷺ made it into a banner and raised it aloft.