her children while withholding those of other women.”
There it was: Not only was Khadija the only one
beyond all criticism, but the Prophet himself held Aisha’s
childlessness against her. A virgin bride she may have
been, but in a society where women gained status
through motherhood, mother she was not and would
never be.
Is that where her determination began, or had it been
there all along? For determination was what it would
take for Aisha to remake herself as she did. This childless
teenager would establish herself after the Prophet’s death
as the leader of the Mothers of the Faithful, the term by
which his widows were known. She would be the one
who spoke for them all, who would transform herself
into the Mother of the Faithful, a power behind the
throne whose approval was sought by every ruler and
whose inɻuence was underestimated by none. Mother of
none, she would become—at least as she saw it—the
mother of all Muslims.
Daring, headstrong, outspoken even when it reɻected
badly on herself, Aisha stands squarely at the center of
this story, able to run verbal rings around every man in
it. Every man, that is, but one, and that was the man to
whom Muhammad now turned for advice in the Aʃair
of the Necklace.