As for that statement so often bandied about by many jurists and scholars of legal methodology who cite the ḥadīth,

“Take one half of your religion from this ḥumayrāʾ (the rosy-cheeked lady),”

it has no basis whatsoever; it is not authenticated in any of the foundational sources of Islam. I asked our teacher Abū al-Ḥajjāj al-Mizzī about it and he said, “It has no foundation.” (1)

Among all women none were more learned than her female pupils: ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Ḥafṣah bint Sīrīn, and ʿĀʾishah bint Ṭalḥah. The Mother of the Believers ʿĀʾishah also transmitted legal issues from the Companions that are found only in her narrations, and she held a number of independent juristic opinions; reports that outwardly differ from them have reached us but can be reconciled through interpretation. More than one of the leading imams has collected these cases.

Al-Shaʿbī said: “Whenever Masrūq related something from ʿĀʾishah he would say, ‘The truthful one, daughter of the truthful one, the beloved of the Messenger of Allah, the one vindicated from above the seven heavens, has informed me.’”

In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī it is established—through Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, from ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ—that he said:

“I asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, who is the most beloved of people to you?’ He replied, ‘ʿĀʾishah.’ I asked, ‘And from among the men?’ He said, ‘Her father.’” (2)

Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī likewise records, on the authority of Abū Mūsā, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“Many men have attained perfection, but of women only Mary daughter of ʿImrān, Khadījah bint Khuwaylid, and Āsiyah the wife of Pharaoh attained it; and the superiority of ʿĀʾishah over other women is like the superiority of tharīd over all other dishes.” (3)

Many scholars who consider ʿĀʾishah superior to Khadījah have taken this ḥadīth as evidence, arguing that it includes the three women mentioned—and others besides them.

This view is further supported by another report also related by al-Bukhārī: Ismāʿīl ibn Khalīl told us—ʿAlī ibn Mus-hir told us—from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from ʿĀʾishah, who said:

“Hālah bint Khuwaylid, Khadījah’s sister, sought permission to enter upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Her manner of asking permission reminded him of Khadījah, so he was startled and said, ‘O Allah, it is Hālah!’ ʿĀʾishah continued: ‘I became jealous and said, “Why do you keep mentioning that old woman of Quraysh with red gums who died long ago? Allah has given you someone better than her!”’” Thus has al-Bukhārī transmitted it. (4)

As for the additional wording sometimes narrated—“By Allah, He has not given me someone better than her”—its chain of transmission is not sound. We have already discussed this at length in the section on Khadījah’s death and have presented the evidence of those who regard her as superior to ʿĀʾishah, so there is no need to repeat it here.