Extracts from Chronology of Prophetic Events - Fazlur Rehman Shaikh (Age of Aisha ra)

View 1)

A'ishah (r.a.) started sharing the bed with the Prophet (s.a.a.s) in Shawwal 2H eighteen months after the Emigration [hijra] (Mishkat, vol 3, p390).  l-Bukhari recorded on the authority of 'Urwah that she was 9 years old then (Bukhari, vol 7, p65).  If we accept Bukhari's report, A'ishah (r.a.) must have been born in 46AF. 

View 2)

Contrary to this, Khatib al-Baghdadi wrote in Akmal fi Asma at-Rijal that A'ishah (r.a.) was at least 18/19 years old when she started living with the Prophet (s.a.a.s) - thereby placing her birth somewhere around 36-37 AF. 

Analysis)

It calls us to examine which of these two views is more acceptable.

• A'ishah (r.a.) herself reports that she was already a playful girl when Suratu l-Qamar (54) descended (Bukhari, vol 6, p370). This was an early Meccan Surah revealed sometime around the end of the early Meccan / beginning of the middle Meccan period.  If we follow 'Urwah, she was not yet born.
• When Khawlah bt. Hakim suggested that the Prophet (s.a.a.s) remarry (52AF), she mentioned two women - A'ishah (r.a.) as a virgin and Sawdah as a widow (l-Tabari: l-Tarikh, Vol 1, p492).  It is evident that Khawlah could not have suggested the name of A'ishah (r.a.) if she was not of marriageable age by then, inasmuch as the immediate need of the Prophet's (s.a.a.s) household was for a woman who could fill the vacuum created by the loss of Khadijah (r.a.)
• There is also a report that when the Prophet (s.a.a.s) asked for the hand of A'ishah (r.a.) (52 AF) she was already engaged to a son of one Mu'tim b. 'Adi.  Abu Bakr (r.a.) broke this engagement and married her to the Prophet (s.a.a.s.) (l-Tabari: l-Tarikh, Vol 1, p492).  If A'ishah (r.a.) had not reached puberty by then, there could not have been an engagement. 
• The fact that she had already attained puberty in her Meccan days is also evident from the following report of A'ishah (r.a.) herself: "I had seen my parents following Islam since I attained the age of puberty. Not a single day passed but that the Prophet (s.a.a.s.) visited us, both in the morning and evening. My father Abu Bakr (r.a.) thought of building a mosque in the courtyard of his house and he did so. He used to pray and recite The Recitation (of God) [l-Qur'an] in it. The polytheist women and their children used to stand by him and look at him with surprise. Abu Bakr (r.a.) was a soft-hearted person and could not help weeping while reciting the Recitation (of God) [l-Qur'an]. The chiefs of the Qur'aysh polytheists became afraid of that" (Bukhari, vol 1, p276).
• In the battle of Uhud which was fought in Shawwal 3H, A'ishah (r.a.) was seen running in the battlefield carrying heavy water-skins on her back and emptying them into the mouths of the wounded and dying Muslim soldiers (Bukhari, vol 5, p98) which was definitely not possible for the girl of 10 years that A'ishah (r.a.) would have been according to 'Urwah.
• On the other hand we are informed, in complete dismissal of 'Urwah's view, that all four children of Abu Bakr (r.a.)  - 'Abdullah and Asma' from his first wife Qutaylah, and 'Abdu l-Rahman and A'ishah from his second wige Umm Ruman - had been born in the days of Ignorance [jahiliah] (l-Tabari: l-Tarikh, Vol 2, p250). Tabrizi recorded that Asma', who was 10 years older than A'ishah (r.a.), died in 73 AH at the age of 100 years (Mishkat, vol 3, p300-301) - thereby placing the birth of Asma' in 26AF and that of A'ishah (r.a.) in 36AF (March 27th, 605 - April 15th, 606).  If this is so, A'ishah (r.a.) would have been 8 around the end of the early Meccan period when Suratu l-Qamar was revealed, 17 at the time of her betrothal, 19 at the time of cohabitation with the Prophet (s.a.a.s) and 20 when joining the battle of Uhud.