2 of 5 · The Madinah years · Madinah
'A'ishah bint Abi Bakr رضي الله عنها
The Most Beloved
Their home was small and poor, but full of tenderness. When she drank from a cup, the Prophet ﷺ would take it and put his mouth where hers had been (Sahih Muslim 300). On an Eid, when Abyssinians were displaying their skill with spears in the mosque, he stood screening her so she could watch over his shoulder, until she herself had had enough (Sahih al-Bukhari 950).
When 'Amr ibn al-'As, newly honoured with a command, asked him who was the most beloved of people to him, he answered, "'A'ishah." "And among men?" "Her father" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3662).
She is also reported to have said that on a journey he raced her and she won; years later, when she had put on weight, he raced her again and won, and said with a smile, "This is for that one."
The best of creation showed his love openly and playfully; tenderness at home is part of the Sunnah, not a distraction from it.
When did you last show love to someone at home in a way they could plainly see?
- Sahih Muslim 300 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 950 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3662 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sunan Abi Dawud 2578Graded by Al-Albani: Sahih · Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid: Sahih · Shuaib Al Arnaut: Sahih · Zubair Ali Zai: Isnaad SahihSahih
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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