he informed Hafsah of what Allah had disclosed to him. Hafsah said, “Who told you this?”—that is, who informed you that I had divulged the secret? He said, “The All-Knowing, the All-Aware informed me.”

“If you both repent to Allah, then your hearts have certainly deviated. But if you support one another against him, then Allah is his Protector, as are Gabriel, the righteous among the believers, and, moreover, the angels are his supporters.” (4)

“If you both repent to Allah”: that is, repent from joining together in causing the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, distress. This addresses Aisha and Hafsah. “Then your hearts have certainly deviated”: that is, they have strayed and inclined away from the truth, and you have thereby become deserving of repentance. Ibn Zayd said: “Their hearts inclined because they were pleased by what displeased the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him—namely, his abstaining from his bondwoman.”

Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Na'imi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma'il narrated to us; Abu al-Yaman narrated to us; Shu'ayb informed us from al-Zuhri; Ubayd Allah ibn Abd Allah ibn Abi Thawr informed me from Abd Allah ibn Abbas, who said:

“I had long been eager to ask Umar ibn al-Khattab about the two wives of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, concerning whom Allah, exalted is He, said: ‘If you both repent to Allah, then your hearts have certainly deviated,’ until he performed Hajj and I performed Hajj with him. He turned aside, and I turned aside with him, carrying a water-skin. He relieved himself, then came back, and I poured water from it over his hands as he performed ablution. I said to him, ‘Commander of the Believers, who were the two wives of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, concerning whom Allah, exalted is He, said: “If you both repent to Allah, then your hearts have certainly deviated”?’ He replied, ‘How remarkable, Ibn Abbas! They were Aisha and Hafsah.’

Then Umar resumed the account and continued: ‘I and a neighbor of mine from the Ansar lived among Banu Umayyah ibn Zayd, in the upper part of Medina. We took turns going down to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: he would go down one day, and I would go down another. When I went down, I would bring him news of what had occurred that day, whether revelation or anything else; and when he went down, he did the same.

We Quraysh were a people who prevailed over our women. But when we came among the Ansar, we found a people whose women prevailed over them. Our women then began adopting the ways of the women of the Ansar. One day my wife raised her voice at me and answered me back, and I disapproved of her answering me back. She said, “Why do you object to my answering you back? By Allah, the wives of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, answer him back, and one of them may shun him for the entire day until nightfall.” This alarmed me, and I said, “Any one of them who does that has failed and lost.”

Then I gathered my clothes around myself and went down (1). I entered upon Hafsah and said to her, “Hafsah, does one of you become angry with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, for the whole day until nightfall?” She replied, “Yes.” I said, “You have failed and lost! Do you feel secure from Allah, exalted is He, becoming angry because His Messenger is angry, so that you perish? Do not make excessive demands of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him; do not answer him back in anything; do not shun him; and ask me”