He then said, Most High: “You regard it as insignificant, while with Allah it is tremendous.” That is, you say what you say concerning the Mother of the Believers and regard it as something slight and easy. Even if she had not been the Prophet’s wife, peace and blessings be upon him, it would not have been insignificant; so how then, when she was the wife of the unlettered Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him—the Seal of the Prophets and Master of the Messengers? It is tremendous in the sight of Allah that what was said should be said about the wife of His Prophet and Messenger. For Allah is protectively jealous on account of this, and He, glorified be He, does not decree such a thing for the wife of any prophet—never and by no means. Since this did not occur, how could it occur in the case of the foremost lady among the wives of the Prophets, the wife of the master of all the children of Adam without exception, in this world and the Hereafter? Hence He, Most High, said: “You regard it as insignificant, while with Allah it is tremendous.”

I say: This does not conflict with what we have mentioned concerning its theoretical possibility, for the “divine protection” meant in his words, may Allah have mercy on him, and in similar expressions, is only the protection established by revelation. Were it not for revelation, it would have been necessary to remain with the original presumption: namely, the possibility referred to above. It is thus in the sense intended by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, when he said: “The protected one is he whom Allah protects,” in a hadith recorded by al-Bukhari and others. What is not meant is the infallibility exclusive to the Prophets, peace and blessings be upon them, which negates the possibility mentioned above. To claim this kind of infallibility for anyone other than the Prophets is to speak about Allah without knowledge.

This is what Abu Bakr al-Siddiq himself explicitly affirmed in this incident, contrary to his inclination as a father. Al-Bazzar narrated with an authentic chain from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, that when her exoneration was revealed, Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, kissed her head. She said, “Why did you not excuse me?” He replied, “What sky would shade me, and what earth would bear me, if I were to say what I do not know?!” (2)

This is the stance that every Muslim must take with regard to every matter in which the upright Sharia has not brought what accords with a person’s desire, and he must not take his own desire as his god.