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The occasion for the revelation of the verse concerning mutual imprecation, according to a report from Ibn Abbās—may Allah be pleased with them both—was as follows:
“When Allah—Glorified and Exalted—said:
‘Those who accuse chaste women and then fail to produce four witnesses, flog them eighty lashes and never accept their testimony. It is they who are the defiantly disobedient’ [al-Nūr: 4],
Saʿd ibn Ubādah said, ‘Was it revealed in these terms, O Messenger of Allah? If I saw a vile woman with a man lying between her thighs, would I not be allowed to disturb or move him until I brought four witnesses? By Allah, I could not bring four witnesses before he had satisfied his desire!’
The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, ‘O company of the Ansār, do you not hear what your leader is saying?’ They replied, ‘Do not forsake him, O Messenger of Allah. He is a man of intense protective jealousy. He has never married anyone among us except a virgin, and whenever he divorced a woman, none of us dared to marry her.’
Saʿd said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you! By Allah, I certainly know that this is from Allah and that it is true. But I was astonished: if I found a vile woman with a man lying between her thighs, would I not be allowed to disturb or move him until I brought four witnesses? By the time I brought them, he would have satisfied his desire.’
Only a short time passed before Hilāl ibn Umayyah returned from a garden of his, having seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears. He held back until morning. When morning came, he went to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—who was sitting with his Companions, and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I came home to my wife in the evening and found a man with her. I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears.’
The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was distressed by what he had reported. It weighed so heavily upon him that it showed on his face. Hilāl said, ‘By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I can see your distress at what I have told you. Allah knows that I am telling the truth and have said nothing but the truth. I hope that Allah will grant me a way out.’
The narrator continued: The Ansār gathered and said, ‘We have been put to the test by the very situation Saʿd described! Hilāl will be flogged, and his testimony will no longer be accepted among the Muslims.’ The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was about to have him flogged. While he was with his Companions, intending to order the flogging, revelation descended upon him. His Companions refrained from speaking to him when they realized that revelation was descending upon him, until it was complete. Allah, Almighty and Majestic, revealed:
‘Those who accuse their wives and have no witnesses except themselves’ [al-Nūr: 6],
through to His words:
‘If he is telling the truth’ [al-Nūr: 9].
The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, ‘Rejoice, Hilāl, for Allah has granted you a way out!’ He replied, ‘That is what I had hoped for from Allah.’ The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, ‘Send for her.’ She came, and when they had both gathered before