Did Prophet Muhammad beat his wife, Aisha?

The wording used:
Consider the second highlight in the narration. This is the wording they seek evidence with. Now the Arabic wording for this is;

فَلَهَدَنِي فِي صَدْرِي لَهْدَةً أَوْجَعَتْنِي

“He struck (lahad) me on the chest which caused me pain.”
Now for the meaning of the word, ‘lahad’, let’s refer to Lane’s lexicon. He writes;

Edward William Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon p. 2676
So it simply means, ‘to push.’ Therefore the most appropriate translation ought to be, ““He pushed me [hard] on the chest which caused me pain.”

The context:
Although the narration is self explanatory but usually people miss the parts which explain the thing.
1- The Prophet, may Allah bless him, was with ‘Aisha, may Allah bless her that night. Archangel Gabriel came to him and asked to him to move to Baqi’ graveyard.
2- The Prophet, may Allah bless him, went out of the bed and moved to Baqi’.
3- ‘Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, curious as to where he had done, followed him and once he turned back she hastened before him and thus was out of breath.
4- When ‘Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, on being questioned told the Prophet, may Allah bless him, the whole story, he pushed her hard on her chest.
5- Although this pressing of the chest caused ‘Aisha, may Allah bless her, some pain but it was not intended as beating rather, it was only to ward off the wrong thought that had come to her heart. This is clear from the words of the Prophet, may Allah bless him; “Did you think that Allah and His Apostle would deal unjustly with you?” i.e. Allah will ask his Messenger to spend the night of Aisha’, may Allah bless turn, with some other wife.

Holy Prophet used to do it to ward off wrong thoughts:
There are more reports showing that Holy Prophet, may Allah bless him, used to do the same pushing and striking on chest to ward off wrong thoughts.
See the following two examples;

فَسَقَطَ فِي نَفْسِي مِنْ التَّكْذِيبِ وَلَا إِذْ كُنْتُ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ فَلَمَّا رَأَى رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مَا قَدْ غَشِيَنِي ضَرَبَ فِي صَدْرِي فَفِضْتُ عَرَقًا وَكَأَنَّمَا أَنْظُرُ إِلَى اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ فَرَقًا

“Ubbay said: There occurred in my mind a sort of denial which did not occur even during the Days of Ignorance. When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him, saw how I was affected, was affected (by a wrong idea), he struck my chest. I broke into a sweat and felt as if I were looking at Allah in fear.” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1356)
Clearly the Prophet, may Allah bless him, did it to ward off the evil thoughts that occurred in the mind of Ubayy, may Allah be pleased with him.
Another narration goes as;

أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ضرب صدر عمر بن الخطاب بيده حين أسلم ثلاث مرات وهو يقول : « اللهم أخرج ما في صدره من غل وأبدله إيمانا

“The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him, hit the chest of Umar bin Khattab with his hand three times when he embraced Islam and he said, ‘O Allah remove the malice from his heart and replace it with faith.’” (Mustadrak al-Hakim, Hadith 4492. Hakim authenticated it)
Now obviously, his reversion to Islam was a great event and it is inconceivable that Prophet, may Allah bless him, would ‘beat’ him then. Even though the narration uses the word ‘dharab’ meaning ‘hit/strike’ no reasonable person that Holy Prophet, may Allah bless him, beat him. And clearly the context proves the Prophet did it to for the same reason as in the example above and in the Hadith in question.

Did Sayyidah Aisha think she was beaten?
If someone is still obstinate on his erroneous and dishonest assertion or is still confused, let us read as to what ‘Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, herself think. In the same compendium of Hadith, Sahih Muslim, there is a narration;

عَنْ عَائِشَةَ قَالَتْ مَا ضَرَبَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ شَيْئًا قَطُّ بِيَدِهِ وَلَا امْرَأَةً وَلَا خَادِمًا إِلَّا أَنْ يُجَاهِدَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ

“Aisha reported that Allah's Messenger, may Allah bless him, never beat anyone with his hand, neither a woman nor a servant, but only, in the case when he had been fighting in the cause of Allah …” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 4296)
One can see, Sayyidah Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, is saying that Prophet, may Allah bless him, never beat any woman or a servant. After such a clear testimony from her, is it anything but intellectual dishonesty to assert to the contrary?

A look at the article about so-called wife-beating in Islam will be helpful too.
Indeed Allah knows the best!
Did Prophet Muhammad beat his wife, Aisha?
http://sunnah.com/muslim/11/132