𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 (16)

The most knowledgeable woman in this Ummah Marriage to the Prophet ﷺ gave the Prophet's wives a number of exclusive privileges; it meant that they were exposed to aspects of the Prophet's daily life, dealings and acts of worship which may not have been accessible to others. And because they realised and understood this clearly, they undertook the burden of relaying their knowledge to the rest of the Ummah; especially 'Ā'ishah bint Aṣ-Ṣiddīq -raḍhiyallāhu 'anhumā- who was the most knowledgeable of them all. Muḥammad Ibn Muslim Az-Zuhrī said: «لو جُمع علم عائشة إلى علم جميع أزواجه، وعلمِ جميع النساء، لكان علمُ عائشة أفضل» "If Ā'ishah's knowledge was gathered alongside the knowledge of all of his wives and the rest of the women, the knowledge of Ā'ishah would come out on top." [Muwaṭṭa' Mālik (1/45)] Similarly, Adh-Dhahabi said: «لا أعلم في أمةِ محمد ﷺ - بل ولا في النساء مطلقًا - امرأةً أعلمَ منها» I don't know any woman from the Ummah of Muḥammad - rather any woman in general - more knowledgeable than her (i.e. Ā'ishah)." [Siyar A'lām An-Nubalā' (2/135)] ___ An example of an act of worship which the Prophet ﷺ performed mostly at home is the night prayer. This is why -as some of the scholars mentioned- Ibn Abbās spent a night with his maternal aunt Maymūnah (the Prophet's wife) in order to witness and learn about the Prophet's night prayer; as reported by Bukhāri and Muslim. But despite that, he himself attests to Ā'ishah's unparalleled knowledge when it comes to the Prophet's night prayer; this is why when Sa'd ibn Hishām ibn 'Āmir came to him to enquire about the Prophet's night prayer (Witr), he told him: «أَلَا أَدُلُّكَ عَلَى أَعْلَمِ أَهْلِ الْأَرْضِ بِوِتْرِ رَسُولِ اللهِ ﷺ؟ قَالَ : مَنْ؟ قَالَ: عَائِشَةُ، فَأْتِهَا فَاسْأَلْهَا، ثُمَّ ائْتِنِي فَأَخْبِرْنِي بِرَدِّهَا عَلَيْكَ» Shall I not direct you to the most knowledgeable person on earth with regards to the Prophet's night prayer (Witr)? He (Hishām) asked, Who? So he said, 'Ā'ishah. Go to her and ask her, then return back to me and inform me of her answer. [Muslim (746)] And in the wording of Abū Dāwūd (1344), he -raḍhiyallāhu 'anhumā- said: أَدُلُّكَ عَلَى أَعْلَمِ النَّاسِ بِوِتْرِ رَسُولِ اللهِ ﷺ "I will direct you to the most knowledgeable person with regards to the Prophet's night prayer (Witr)." Therefore, it should come as no surprise if we find that most of the narrations pertaining to the Prophet's night prayer have been relayed to us by way of Ā'ishah -raḍhiyallāhu 'anhā-. ➡️@womensbenefits