Abū Sa‘īd al-Ashajj also said:

‘Abd Allāh ibn Khirāsh narrated to us from al-‘Awwām, from Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr, that Ibn ‘Abbās said:

“The verse, ‘Indeed, those who falsely accuse chaste, unsuspecting women,’ was revealed specifically concerning ‘Ā’ishah, while the curse applies to the hypocrites generally.”

Ibn ‘Abbās thus explained that this verse was revealed specifically concerning those who accuse ‘Ā’ishah and the Mothers of the Believers of unchastity, because accusing them impugns and disparages the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Accusing a woman of unchastity harms her husband, just as it harms her son, for it imputes to him tolerance of sexual immorality in his household and portrays his marital bed as defiled. His wife’s adultery causes him immense harm. For this reason, the Lawgiver permitted him to accuse her if she commits adultery and allowed him to avert the prescribed punishment through mutual imprecatory oaths, while granting no one else permission to accuse a woman of unchastity under any circumstances. Indeed, the shame and disgrace some people suffer when their families are accused may be greater than what they would suffer if they themselves were accused.

For this reason, according to one of the two expressly transmitted positions from him, Imām Ahmad held that anyone who accuses a chaste woman—such as a slave woman or a non-Muslim woman under Muslim protection—whose husband or child is legally protected against accusations of unchastity is subject to the prescribed punishment for accusing her, because of the disgrace he brings upon her child and husband, who enjoy that protection. The other position transmitted from him, which is also the view of the majority, is that no prescribed punishment is due: the accusation harms them, but does not constitute an accusation of unchastity against them, and the full prescribed punishment is incurred only by such an accusation.

In the Prophet’s case, however, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, such harm is equivalent to accusing him of unchastity. Whoever intends to disparage the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, by disparaging his wives is a hypocrite. This is what Ibn ‘Abbās meant when he said, “The curse applies to the hypocrites generally.”

A number of scholars agreed with Ibn ‘Abbās. Imām Ahmad and al-Ashajj narrated from Khasīf