wife is a prostitute, and they insult and shame him for it. How, then, can permission for this be attributed to Islamic law? No prophet could bring such a ruling, let alone the finest of all revealed laws.

Rather, the revealed law must be cleared of such a claim. When a believer considers this claim and its implications, he finds it outrageous to attribute anything of the sort to the revealed law. He sees that clearing it of this attribution is even more important than clearing ‘Ā’ishah of what those who spread the slander said about her. Allah commanded the believers to say:

“Glory be to You! This is a monstrous slander!”

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not part with ‘Ā’ishah because he initially did not believe what was said. When doubts arose in his mind, he consulted ‘Alī and Zayd ibn Hārithah and questioned the maidservant to ascertain whether it was true, in which case he would part with her. Then Allah sent down her exoneration from heaven, and this secured the continuation of her marriage. No Muslim has ever said that it is permissible to retain a prostitute as a wife.

By speaking against her, the hypocrites intended to impugn the Messenger. Had marrying a prostitute been permissible, he would have said, “There is no blame upon me for this.” His wives would sometimes distress him to the point that he stayed apart from them; a woman’s sins do not impugn her husband. Her prostitution, however, does impugn him in the eyes of everyone. No one shields from reproach a man who marries a woman whom he knows to be a prostitute persisting in prostitution. Thus the hypocrites used this as a means of attacking him, until Allah sent down her exoneration from heaven.

When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Who will support me in dealing with a man whose abuse of my family has reached me? By Allah, I have known nothing but good of my family. They have also mentioned a man of whom I have known nothing but good,” Sa‘d ibn Mu‘ādh stood up—Sa‘d ibn Mu‘ādh, at whose death the Throne of the Most Merciful shook—and said:

“I will support you against him. If he is one of our brothers from al-Aws, I will strike off his head; and if he is from among