In her youth, already known for her striking beauty and her formidable memory, she came
under the loving care and attention of the Prophet himself. As his wife and close
companion she acquired from him knowledge and insight such as no woman has ever acquired.
A'ishah became the Prophet's wife in Makkah when she was most likely in the tenth year of
her life but her wedding did not take place until the second year after the Hijrah when
she was about fourteen or fifteen years old. Before and after her wedding she maintained a
natural jollity and innocence and did not seem at all overawed by the thought of being
wedded to him who was the Messenger of God whom all his companions, including her own
mother and father, treated with such love and reverence as they gave to no one else.
About her wedding, she related that shortly before she was to leave her parent's house,
she slipped out into the courtyard to play with a passing friend:
"I was playing on a see-saw and my long streaming hair was dishevelled," she
said. "They came and took me from my play and made me ready."
They dressed her in a wedding-dress made from fine red-striped cloth from Bahrain and then
her mother took her to the newly-built house where some women of the Ansar were waiting
outside the door. They greeted her with the words "For good and for happiness may all
be well!" Then, in the presence of the smiling Prophet, a bowl of milk was brought.
The Prophet drank from it himself and offered it to A'ishah. She shyly declined it but
when he insisted she did so and then offered the bowl to her sister Asma who was sitting
beside her. Others also drank of it and that was as much as there was of the simple and
solemn occasion of their wedding. There was no wedding feast.