2757 – Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Farisi narrated to us; he said: Ahmad ibn Saʿid al-Thaqafi narrated to us; he said: Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Dhuhli narrated to us; he said: ʿAbd al-Razzaq narrated to us; he said: Maʿmar related, from al-Zuhri, who said:
Saʿid ibn al-Musayyib, ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, ʿAlqamah ibn Waqqas al-Laythi, and ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUtbah ibn Masʿud each informed me of the report of ʿAʾishah, the Wife of the Prophet ﷺ, when the people of the slander said what they said about her and Allah declared her innocent. Every one of them conveyed a portion of her account; some preserved it more accurately than others and related it in greater detail, and from each of them I retained the part ⦗1515⦘ he transmitted to me, with portions of their reports confirming one another.
They told that ʿAʾishah, Wife of the Prophet ﷺ, said:
Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ intended to travel he would draw lots among his wives, and whichever of them had her lot drawn would accompany him. ʿAʾishah said: He drew lots among us for a campaign he was undertaking, and my name came out, so I went with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. This was after the veil had been revealed, and I was carried in my hawdaj and set down in it. We journeyed until the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had completed the expedition and we turned back; when we neared Madinah an order to set out again was given during the night. I rose when the call to depart was announced, walked until I had passed beyond the army, and when I had finished my business I returned toward the camp. I touched my chest and found my necklace of onyx beads had snapped, so I went back to look for it, and the search detained me. Meanwhile the men who carried my hawdaj returned, lifted it and set ⦗1516⦘ it on the camel I used to ride, supposing I was inside it. Women then were light of body—they had not grown heavy with flesh, for they ate only small amounts of food—so the men did not notice any weight when they hoisted the litter. They raised it, and I was a young girl of tender age. They then drove the camel onward and the army departed.
I found my necklace after the troops had moved on. I returned to their camp to find no one calling or answering, so I headed for the place where I had been, thinking that when they missed me they would come back. While I was sitting there, sleep overcame me. Safwan ibn Muʿattal al-Sulami, then adh-Dhakwani, had lagged behind the army and travelled by night; at dawn he reached my spot and saw the dark figure of a sleeper. He came to me and recognised me when he saw me, for he had seen me before the veil was prescribed. I awoke at his exclamation, “We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return,” upon his recognising me. I covered my face with my jilbab, and, by Allah, he did not speak a word to me, nor did I hear from him anything save that invocation. He brought his camel close, knelt it, set his foot on its foreleg for me to mount, and I mounted. He then set off leading the camel until we reached the army after they had halted in the heat of midday.
Those who were destined to perish over my affair then perished, and the one who assumed the greatest share of it was ʿAbd Allah ibn ⦗1516⦘ Ubayy ibn Salul. We entered Madinah, and on arrival I fell ill for a month while people were spreading the talk of the slanderers and I knew nothing of it, though I missed the kindness I used to receive from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when I was sick; he would simply enter, greet, and say, “How is that one of yours?” and that distressed me, though I was still unaware of the matter.
Once I felt better I went out with Umm Mistah to al-Manāsiʿ, our place of relieving ourselves; we would not go out except at night. This was before latrines were built close to our houses. Our custom was that of the early Arabs regarding privacy—we disliked building latrines near our dwellings. I set out with Umm Mistah—the daughter of Abu Ruhm ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib ibn ʿAbd Manāf; her mother was the daughter of Sakhr ibn ʿĀmir, the maternal aunt of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq; her son was Mistah ibn Uthathah ibn ʿAbbād ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib. When we had finished our business and were returning toward my house, Umm Mistah tripped over her cloak and said, “May Mistah be ruined!” I said, “What an evil thing you have said! Do you revile a man who fought at Badr?” She replied, “Cousin, have you not heard what he is saying?” I said, “What is he saying?” She then told me of what the slanderers had said, and my illness grew worse.
When I returned home the Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered and said, “How is that one of yours?” I asked, “Will you permit me to go to my parents?” He said, “Yes.” I wished then to confirm the report from them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave me leave, so I went to my parents and asked my mother, “Mother, what are the people talking about?” She said, “My daughter, take it easy; by Allah, a beautiful woman loved by her husband and who has co-wives is seldom spared their talk.” I said, “Glory be to Allah! Have the people really spoken of this?” I wept that night until morning without my tears ceasing and without tasting sleep, and I kept weeping into the next morning.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ had summoned ʿAli ibn Abi Talib and Usamah ibn Zayd when the revelation was delayed, seeking their counsel about separating from his wife. Usamah ibn Zayd pointed out what he knew of his family’s innocence and the affection he felt for them, saying, “O ⦗1517⦘ Messenger of Allah, they are your family and we know nothing about them but good.” ʿAli ibn Abi Talib said, “Allah has not constrained you; other women are many. If you question the maidservant she will tell you the truth.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then called Barirah and said, “O Barirah, have you seen anything that would make you suspicious about ʿAʾishah?” Barirah replied, “By the One Who sent you with the truth, I have never seen in her anything I would censure except that she is a young girl who falls asleep over her dough so that the household goat comes and eats it.”
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then stood and sought to excuse himself regarding ʿAbd Allah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul. While on the pulpit he said, “O gathering of Muslims, who will excuse me concerning a man whose hurt toward my household has reached me? By Allah, I know nothing of my family but good, and they have mentioned a man concerning whom I know only good, and he never entered upon my household except in my company.” Saʿd ibn Muʿadh al-Ansari rose and said, “I excuse you regarding him, O Messenger of Allah. If he is from the Aws we shall strike off his neck, and if he is from our brothers the Khazraj, command us and we shall carry out your order.” Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, the leader of the Khazraj—he was a righteous man but zeal overwhelmed him—stood and said to Saʿd ibn Muʿadh, “You have lied, by Allah! You will not kill him, nor are you able to kill him.” Usayd ibn Hudayr, the cousin of Saʿd ibn Muʿadh, then stood and said to Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, “You have lied! By Allah’s life, we will surely kill him; you are a hypocrite arguing on behalf of the hypocrites.” The two groups, the Aws and the Khazraj, rose until they were about to fight while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood on the pulpit; he kept calming them until they quieted and fell silent.
I wept that entire day without my tears stopping or any sleep, and I wept through the following night in the same way, while my parents feared that grief would burst my liver. As they sat with me, a woman of the Ansar asked permission to enter; I allowed her, and she sat beside me weeping.
While we were in that state the Messenger of ⦗1518⦘ Allah ﷺ entered and sat down. He had not sat with me since the talk began, and a month had passed without any revelation concerning me. When he sat he pronounced the testimony of faith and said, “To proceed: O ʿAʾishah, such-and-such has reached me concerning you. If you are innocent, Allah will declare you innocent; but if you have committed a sin, then seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him, for when a servant admits his sin and repents, Allah accepts his repentance.” When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ finished his words my tears dried entirely so that I did not feel a single drop. I said to my father, “Answer the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for me.” He said, “By Allah, I do not know what I should say to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” I said to my mother, “Answer the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for me.” She said, “By Allah, I do not know what I should say to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”
I was a young girl and did not know much of the Quran, so I said, “By Allah, I know that you have heard this talk until it has settled in your hearts and you have believed it. If I were to say to you that I am innocent—while Allah knows that I am innocent—you would not believe me; and if I were to admit something—while Allah knows that I am innocent—you would believe me. By Allah, I find no example for you except what the father of Joseph said: ‘So patience is beautiful, and Allah is the One sought for help against what you describe’ [12:18].” Then I turned over and lay down on my bed. By Allah, I knew I was innocent and that Allah would declare my innocence, yet I did not think revelation would be sent down concerning me to be recited, for I considered myself too insignificant for Allah to speak about me in verses to be recited; I had only hoped the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would see a dream in which Allah would declare me innocent.
By Allah, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had not left his place, nor had anyone from the household gone out, before Allah revealed to His Prophet; the state that would come upon him during revelation seized him so that beads like pearls of sweat fell from him on a cold day because of the weight of the words being revealed. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was relieved, and he was ⦗1519⦘ smiling, the first words he said were, “Rejoice, O ʿAʾishah! As for Allah, He has declared you innocent.” My mother said to me, “Rise to him.” I replied, “By Allah, I will not rise except to Allah, and I will praise none but Allah—He who sent down my innocence.” Then Allah revealed: “Indeed, those who brought forth the slander are a clique among you …” ten verses. Thus Allah the Exalted revealed these verses declaring my innocence.
Abu Bakr—who used to maintain Mistah because of their kinship and his poverty—said, “By Allah, I will never spend on him again after what he has said about ʿAʾishah.” Allah then revealed: “Let not those of virtue among you and affluence swear to withhold support … Do you not love that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is All-Forgiving, Merciful” [24:22]. Abu Bakr said, “By Allah, I do love that Allah forgive me,” and he resumed the allowance he used to give Mistah, saying, “I will never withhold it from him again.”
ʿAʾishah said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used often to ask Zaynab bint Jahsh, the Wife of the Prophet ﷺ, about my affair: “What do you know or have you seen?” She would reply, “O Messenger of Allah, I safeguard my hearing and my sight; by Allah, I know nothing but good.” ʿAʾishah said: She was the wife who used to vie with me, yet Allah protected her through piety, while her sister Hamnah bint Jahsh took up her cause and perished with those who perished.
Al-Zuhri said: This is what has reached us from those narrators.
Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim.