He was covered with his cloak and a leather cushion was put beneath his head. As for me, when I saw what I saw of his state, by Allah I neither panicked nor cared, for I knew I was innocent and that Allah would never wrong me. My parents, however—by the One in whose hand is the soul of ʿĀʾishah—were so distressed while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ remained in that condition that I feared their very souls would depart, dreading that Allah might verify what the people had alleged.

She continued: Then relief came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He sat up, and beads of sweat, like pearls on a cold day, rolled down his face. Wiping the perspiration from his brow he said, “Rejoice, O ʿĀʾishah! Allah—glorified and exalted—has revealed your vindication.” I responded, “Praise be to Allah.”

He then went out to the people, delivered a sermon, and recited to them the Qur’ānic verses that Allah had sent down regarding the affair. He ordered that Mistah ibn Uthāthah, Ḥassān ibn Thābit, and Ḥamnah bint Jahsh—those who had spoken openly of the slander—receive the prescribed punishment, and they were flogged.

This ḥadīth is recorded in both Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim on the authority of al-Zuhrī. This version contains numerous points of benefit, and the mention of the hadd for slander administered to Ḥassān and the others is related by Abū Dāwūd in his Sunan.

Ibn Isḥāq said: A Muslim poet composed the following lines when Ḥassān and his companions were lashed:

“Hassān has now tasted what befell his own household,
and Ḥamnah as well when they uttered their idle talk, and Mistah.
They hurled unseen stones at the Prophet’s wife
and earned the wrath of the Lord of the Glorious Throne, so they were cast away.
They wounded the Messenger of Allah with their slander, and were cloaked
in lasting shame—they spread it themselves and were disgraced.
On them there poured cutting lashes, as though
torrents of rain descending from the laden clouds.”

Ibn Isḥāq also reports that Ḥassān ibn Thābit later composed verses satirizing Ṣafwān ibn al-Muʿaṭṭal and a group of Quraysh who had quarreled over water with the men of Jahjah, as mentioned earlier. He began:

“The cloak-wearers have grown strong and many,
and Ibn al-Furayʿah has become the pride of the town.
May his mother be bereaved of the one who sides with him,
or who is caught in the lion’s claws!
For the man I strike down no blood-money will be sought,
nor will retaliation be demanded for him.
What is the sea, when the north wind blows and it foams,
compared with me when you behold me,
Fierce with rage, slicing with the keen-edged blade
as I hew through the thick of the fray.”