Among the wives of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ there was none who rivaled me in his affection except her. Zaynab, however, was protected by her piety and spoke nothing but good, whereas Ḥamnah circulated whatever she circulated, seeking to harm me for her sister’s sake, and I suffered because of it. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ finished his address,

Usayd ibn Hudayr rose and said, “O Messenger of Allah, if those people are from the Aws, we shall deal with them for you; but if they are from our brothers the Khazraj, then command us—by Allah, they deserve that their necks be struck.”

She said: Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah—who until that day had been deemed a righteous man—stood up and said, “You have lied, by the life of Allah! Their necks will not be struck. By Allah, you uttered those words only because you know they are from the Khazraj; if they had been from your own clan you would not have said it.” Usayd retorted, “You have lied, by the life of Allah! Rather, you are a hypocrite defending the hypocrites.”

She said: The people flared up, and a clash was about to break out between the two tribes, the Aws and the Khazraj. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stepped down and came inside to me.

She said: He summoned ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Usāmah ibn Zayd to consult them. Usāmah spoke well of me and said, “O Messenger of Allah, she is your family and we know of them only good; this is sheer slander and falsehood.” ʿAlī, however, said, “O Messenger of Allah, women are many and you can easily divorce and replace her. Ask the maidservant; she will tell you the truth.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then called Barīrah to question her.

She said: ʿAlī stepped toward her and struck her hard, saying, “Tell the Messenger of Allah ﷺ the truth!”

She said: Barīrah answered, “By Allah, I know only good. The only fault I can mention about ʿĀ’ishah is that I knead my dough, tell her to watch it, she falls asleep, and a goat comes and eats it.”

She said: Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered while my parents and a woman of the Anṣār were with me. I was weeping and she was weeping. He sat down, praised Allah, and glorified Him, then said, “O ʿĀ’ishah, certain words of the people have reached me. If you are innocent, Allah will acquit you; but if you have committed a sin, seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent, for Allah accepts repentance from His servants.”

She said: By Allah, as soon as he had said that, my tears dried up so completely that I felt not a single drop. I waited for my parents to respond to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on my behalf, but they said nothing.

She said: By Allah, I considered myself too insignificant and of too little consequence for Allah to reveal Qur’an concerning me that would be recited and prayed with. I had only hoped that the Prophet ﷺ might see a dream in which Allah would declare my innocence, or that some report would reach him. As for Qur’anic revelation about me, by Allah, I thought myself far beneath that.

She said: When I saw that my parents remained silent, I said to them, “Will you not answer the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?” They replied, “By Allah, we do not know what to say to him.”

She said: By Allah, I do not know of any household that suffered what the household of Abū Bakr suffered in those days.

She said: When they remained silent, I broke down and cried, then declared, “By Allah, I shall never repent for the thing you mention. By Allah, I know that if I acknowledged what the people say—while Allah knows I am innocent—I would be confessing to something that never happened; and if I deny it, you will not believe me.”

She said: I searched for the name of Jacob but could not remember it, so I said, “Rather, I will say as the father of Joseph said: ‘So patience is beautiful, and Allah is the One sought for help against what you allege’ (Qur’an 12:18).”

She said: By Allah, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had not left his seat before the state that used to come upon him when revelation descended overtook him.