A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Ayesha
AYESHA,
The Second, and most beloved of all Mahomet's wives, was the daughter of Abubeker, the first caliph, and the successor of Mahomet. She was the only one of all his wives who had never been married to any other man; but she was only nine when she was espoused by him. She had no children; but his affection for her continued till death, and he expired in her arms. After his death she was regarded with great veneration by the Mussulmen, as being filled with an extraordinary portion of Mahomet's spirit. They gave her the title of "Mother of the Faithful," and consulted her on important occasions. Ayesha entertained a strong aversion for the caliph Othman; and she had actually formed a plot to dethrone him, with the intention of placing in his stead her favourite Telha, when Othman was assassinated, by another enemy in a sedition.
The succession of All was strongly opposed by Ayesha. Joined by Telha and Zobier at Mecca, she raised a revolt, under pretence of avenging the murder of Othman; an army was levied, which marched towards Bassora, while Ayesha, at its head, was borne in a litter on a camel of great strength. On arriving at a village called Jowab, she was saluted with the loud barking of the dogs of the place, which reminding her of a prediction of the prophet, in which the dogs of Jowab were mentioned, so intimidated her that she declared her resolution not to advance a step; and it was not till a number of persons had been suborned to swear that the village had been wrongly named to her, and till the artifice had been employed of terrifying her with a report of Ali's being in the rear, that she was prevailed on to proceed.
When the revolters reached Bassora, they were refused admittance into the city. In the end, however, they gained possession. All assembled an army, and marched against Ayesha, who violently opposed all pacific counsels, and resolved to proceed to the utmost extremity. A fierce battle ensued, In which Telha and Zobier were slain. The combat raged about Ayesha's camel, and an Arabian writer says, that the hands of seventy men, who successively held its bridle, were cut off, and that her litter was stuck so full of darts, as to resemble a porcupine. The camel, from which this day's fight takes its name, was at length hamstrung, and Ayesha became a captive. Ali treated her with great respect, and sent her to Medina, on condition that she should live peaceably at home, and not intermeddle with state affairs.
Her resentment afterwards appeared In her refusal to suffer Hassan, the unfortunate son of Ali, to be buried near the tomb of the prophet, which was her property. She seems to have regained her influence in the reign of the caliph Moawiyah. She died in the fifty-eighth year of the Hegira, A. D. 677, aged sixty-seven; having constantly experienced a high degree of respect from the followers of Mahomet, except at the time of her imprudent expedition against Ali,