and ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah—regarding the account of ʿĀʾishah on the day when the people of the slander made their allegations and Allah cleared her of it. Each of them conveyed to me a portion of the report; their narrations corroborate one another, even though some retained more of it than others.

She said: Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ intended to set out on a journey, he would draw lots among his wives, and whichever of us the lot fell to would go with him. For one expedition he drew lots among us, my name was drawn, and I accompanied him. This was after the verse of the veil had been revealed, and I would be carried in my howdah and set down in it.

We travelled until, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had completed that campaign and we were on our way back, drawing close to Madinah, he announced one night that we would move on at once. I rose when the announcement was made, walked beyond the ranks of the army, and, after relieving myself, returned to my quarters. There I found that a necklace of mine—strung with onyx beads from Dhafar—had snapped. I searched for it, and the search delayed me.

Meanwhile the men who used to lift my howdah came and hoisted it, then set it on the camel I always rode, assuming I was inside. In those days women were light; their bodies were not heavy with flesh, for they ate but little. Thus they were not surprised at the lightness of the howdah when they raised it. I was a young girl then. They sent the camel ahead and the column moved on.

I eventually found my necklace, but by that time the army had gone. I returned to the camp, found no one there, and so went back to the spot where I had been, thinking that when they missed me they would return. As I sat there, sleep overcame me and I dozed off.

Safwān ibn al-Muʿaṭṭal al-Sulamī, later called al-Dhakwānī, was travelling behind the army. He had ridden through the night and reached my location at dawn. Seeing the shadow of a sleeping figure, he came up, recognized me—he had seen me before the veil was prescribed—and exclaimed, “To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return!” I woke up at his invocation; when I recognized him, I drew my cloak over my face. By Allah, he did not speak a single word to me, nor did I hear from him anything except that invocation.

He made his camel kneel, placed his foot to steady it for me, and I mounted. Then he set off, leading the camel, until we reached the army while they were halting in the burning heat of midday. At that moment those who would be ruined fell into ruin. The one who took the lead in the slander was ʿAbd Allah ibn Ubayy ibn