That night, I wept until morning; my tears would not cease, nor could I sleep. Then, when morning came, I continued weeping.

She said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, summoned Ali ibn Abi Talib and Usamah ibn Zayd when the revelation was delayed, seeking their counsel concerning separation from his wife. Usamah advised the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, in accordance with what he knew of his wife’s innocence and with the affection he knew the Messenger of Allah had for her. Usamah said, “She is your wife, and we know nothing but good of her.”

As for Ali, he said, “O Messenger of Allah, Allah has not constrained you, and there are many women besides her. Ask the maidservant, and she will tell you the truth.” She said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, then summoned Barirah and said, “O Barirah, have you ever seen anything about her that gives you cause for suspicion?” Barirah replied, “By Him who sent you with the truth, I have never seen anything in her that I could fault, apart from the fact that she is a young girl who falls asleep beside her family’s dough, so that the domestic animal comes and eats it.”

She said: That very day, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, stood upon the pulpit and called for support against Abd Allah ibn Ubayy. He said, “O Muslims, who will vindicate me against a man whose abuse of my family has reached me? By Allah, I have known nothing but good of my wife. They have also mentioned a man of whom I have known nothing but good, and who never entered upon my family except in my company.”

She said: Sa’d ibn Mu’adh, of the Banu Abd al-Ashhal, stood and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I will vindicate you. If he is from the Aws, I will strike off his neck; and if he is from our brethren of the Khazraj, command us, and we shall carry out your command.”

She said: Then a man from the Khazraj stood up. His paternal cousin was the mother of Hassan, and he was Sa’d ibn Ubadah, the chief of the Khazraj. She said: Before this, he had been a righteous man, but tribal zeal overtook him, and he said to Sa’d, “You are lying! By Allah, you will not kill him, nor are you able to kill him. Had he been from your own clan, you would not have wished for him to be killed.”

Then Usayd ibn Hudayr, Sa’d’s cousin, stood up and said to Sa’d ibn Ubadah, “You are lying! By Allah, we shall kill him. You are a hypocrite, defending the hypocrites.” She said: The two tribes, the Aws and the Khazraj, rose up against one another and were about to fight, while the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, was standing upon the pulpit. He continued calming them down until they fell silent, and he too fell silent.

She said: I wept throughout that entire day; my tears would not cease, nor could I sleep. She said: My parents were with me, and I had wept for two nights and a day without being able to sleep, and my tears would not cease, until I thought that weeping would split my liver. While my parents were sitting with me as I wept, a woman from the Ansar asked permission to enter. I permitted her, and she sat down and wept with me.

She said: While we were in that state, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, entered upon us. He greeted us and then sat down. She said: He had not sat with me since what had been said was said, and a month had passed without any revelation concerning my case being sent down to him. She said: When he sat down, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, recited the testimony of faith and then said, “To proceed: O Aishah, such-and-such has reached me concerning you. If you are innocent, Allah will declare your innocence; but if you have committed a sin, then seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him. For when a servant confesses and then repents, Allah accepts his repentance.”