THE ROLE OF AISHA BINT ABU BAKR IN THE HISTORY OF ISLAMIC JURISPRUDENCE

Abstract

This article analyzes the jurisprudential views, ijtihad methodology, and 
scholarly status of ʿAisha bint Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with her), Mother of the 
Believers, on the basis of Islamic history, the history of jurisprudence, and classical 
sources on the Companion jurists. ʿAisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was not only 
a preeminent hadith scholar but also an independent mujtahid, a scholar possessing the 
capacity to issue fatwas, and a teacher who guided the Companions in jurisprudential 
matters. Her jurisprudential legacy exercised a decisive influence on the formation of the 
later Hijazi school and especially the school of Imam Malik. The article systematically 
examines her biographical background, her jurisprudential methodology (Qurʼan-first 
reasoning, analysis of the purposes of rulings, use of analogy), her most significant 
jurisprudential contributions to the fields of worship, family law, and women’s rights, her 
role in correcting the jurisprudential conclusions of other Companions, her principal 
students and their transmission of her legacy, and the assessment of modern scholars 
including Muhammad Abu Zahra.