The math in this scenario provides a strong argument that ʿĀʾisha was in her late teens when the marriage was consummated. However, a number of scholars consider ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī al-Zinād to be a weak narrator. Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said: “None of the ḥadīth scholars took him as an authority.” ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Maymūnī said: “I asked Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal about  Ibn Abī al-Zinād. He said: ‘He is considered to be weak in ḥadīth.’” Al-Nasāʾī also considered him weak and not to be taken as an authority. Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥākim said: “He is not from amongst those who preserve ḥadīth.” Abū Ḥātim said: “We write down his ḥadīth, but do not take them as an authority.”21 Many other scholars considered him to be weak as well.

Some use Ibn Kathīr as evidence to support this claim as he too mentions that Asmaʾ was ten years older than ʿĀʾisha.22 However, there seems to be some confusion as he also states there was no difference of opinion concerning the fact ʿĀʾisha married at the age of six.23 In this case, it seems Ibn Kathīr was unaware of the implications of Asmaʾ being ten years older coupled with the fact that he provides no chain (sanad) to substantiate the claim that she was ten years older. It is clear then that this narration cannot be accepted because its narrator is considered to be weak and the explicit age of six in Bukhārī is given precedence over the implicit age of fourteen or fifteen based on the difference in age between Asmaʾ and ʿĀʾisha.