Nasai

(1) The proposal of marriage from Abu Bakr and Umar (radi Allahu anhuma) to Fatimah (radi Allahu anha) was in order to attain the honor of being the son-in-law of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

(2) “She is young”: In reality, she was of age (balighah), not a child, but compared to the ages of Abu Bakr and Umar (radi Allahu anhuma), she was much younger. At that time, Fatimah’s (radi Allahu anha) age was twenty or twenty-one years, whereas Abu Bakr had surpassed fifty years and Umar (radi Allahu anhu) had exceeded forty years. However, Ali’s (radi Allahu anhu) age was approximately twenty-five years, which was almost equal to that of Fatimah (radi Allahu anha). In marriage, such a difference in age between man and woman is not significant.

(3) A question arises: How was it appropriate for the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) to marry Aishah (radi Allahu anha) at the age of fifty, while she was very young, in fact, not yet of age (non-balighah), and only attained puberty three years later at the time of consummation? The answer is that for a great purpose, such an age difference is tolerable. The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) actually wished to establish a special relationship with the family of al-Siddiq (radi Allahu anhu), because after his (the Prophet’s) passing, he (Abu Bakr) was to be chosen as the caliph. Due to this relationship, they attained a special sanctity. It is not mere coincidence that the first two caliphs were your fathers-in-law, and the next two caliphs were your sons-in-law. And the Banu Umayyah, who ruled for nearly a hundred years, were the in-laws of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). As for the Banu Abbas, they were your blood relatives. The aforementioned relationships of these caliphs with you played an important role in strengthening their rule.