English translation
[7020] 56 - (2770) It was narrated from Az-Zuhri: "Sa'eed bin Al-Musayyab, 'Urwah bin Az-Zubair, 'Alqamah bin Waqqas and 'Ubaidullah bin 'Abdullah bin 'Utbah bin Mas'ud narrated the Hadith of 'Aishah, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, when the people of the slander said what they said about her, then Allāh declared her innocent of what they said. Each of them told me part of her story, and some of them had better memories than others and reported more details. I tried to memorize what each of them told me of the story, and their reports confirmed one another. They said that 'Aishah, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ said: 'When the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ wanted to go out on a journey, he would cast lots between his wives and the one whose name was drawn, the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ would take her with him.' "'Aishah said: 'He (ﷺ) cast lots between us for a campaign he was going on, and my name was drawn, so I went out with the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ. This was after the command of Hijab had been revealed, so I would be lifted up in my Howdah, and I would be set down in it. That was the case throughout the journey, until the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ had finished his campaign, then we headed back. “When we were close to Al-Madinah, he gave the command to move on one night. When he gave the command to move on, I got up and walked until I had passed beyond the army, and when I had relieved myself I came back to the camp. I put my hand to my chest and found that my necklace of Zafâr beads (a kind of Yemeni beads) had broken and fell off. I went back, looking for my necklace, and that distracted me. The men who used to prepare the camel for me and lift up my Howdah came and lifted it onto my camel that I used to ride, and they thought that I was in it. “The women at that time were lean and did not carry much flesh, as they did not eat much food. The people did not notice the weight of the Howdah when they lifted it up, as I was a young girl. They drove the camel and set out. I found my necklace after the army had moved on, and I came back to their camp and there was no one to call and no one to answer. I waited in the place where I had stayed, thinking that the people would notice I was missing and would come back for me. While I was sitting in that place, tiredness overwhelmed me and I fell asleep. Šafwân bin Al-Mu'attal As-Sulamî Adh-Dhakwânî had stopped to rest towards the end of the night, and he was behind the army, and had set out at the end of night. In the morning he reached the place where I was, and he saw the shape of a person sleeping. He came to me, and he recognized me when he saw me, as he used to see me before the Hijâb was enjoined upon me. I woke up when I heard his Istirjâ'ah[1] when he recognized me, and I covered my face with my Jilbâb. By Allâh, he did not say a word to me and I did not hear any word from him apart from his Istirjâ'ah. “He made his camel kneel down and put his foot on its foreleg (to keep it steady), then I mounted it, and he set off, leading me on the mount, until we came to the army, which had stopped to rest in the noonday heat. Then some were doomed because of my situation, foremost among whom was ‘Abdullâh bin Ubayy bin Salûl. We arrived in Al-Madînah, and I fell sick for a month after we arrived in Al-Madînah. The people were spreading what the people of the slander were saying, and I was not aware of any of that. What gave me cause for alarm was that I did not see the kindness that I usually saw from the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ when I was sick; rather the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ would just come and greet me with Salâm, and say: “How are you?” So that made me worried, but I was unaware of the evil, until I went out after I had begun to recover, and Umm Mistaḥ went out with me, to Al-Manāṣī, which is where we used to relieve ourselves. We only used to go out at night, and that was before we had latrines close to our houses. We were like the early Arabs in our efforts to keep clean; we did not like to have latrines close to our houses. “Umm Mistaḥ and I set out. She was the daughter of Abū Ruhm bin Al-Muṭṭalib bin ‘Abd Manāf, and her mother was the daughter of Ṣakhr bin ‘Āmir, the maternal aunt of Abū Bakr Aṣ-Ṣiddīq. Her son was Mistaḥ bin Uthâthah bin ‘Abbâd bin Al-Muṭṭalib. The daughter of Abū Ruhm and I set out for my house when we had finished our business, and Umm Mistaḥ stumbled on her apron and said: “Woe to Mistaḥ!” I said to her: “What a bad thing you have said; are you berating a man who was present at (the battle of) Badr?” She said: “O you! Have you not heard what he said?” I said: “What did he say?” She told me what the people of the slander were saying, and my sickness became worse. When I came back to my house, the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ entered upon me and greeted me with Salâm, then he said: “How are you?” I said: “Will you give me permission to go to my parents?” “At that time I wanted to get confirmation of the news from them. The Messenger of Allâh ﷺ gave me permission, so I went to my parents and said to my mother: 'O my mother, what are the people talking about?' She said: 'O my daughter, do not worry, for by Allâh there was never a good looking woman who was loved by her husband and she had co-wives, but they tried to find fault with her.' I said: 'Subhân Allâh, are the people talking about that?' I wept that night until morning came, and my tears never stopped, and I did not get a wink of sleep. When morning came I was still weeping. The Messenger of Allâh ﷺ called 'Alî bin Abî Tâlib and Usâmah bin Zaid, when the Revelation was delayed, and asked their advice about leaving his wife. "As for Usâmah bin Zaid, he told the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ what he knew about his wife's innocence, and what he knew of his (the Prophet's) love for her. He said: 'O Messenger of Allâh, she is your wife, and we know nothing but good about her.' As for 'Alî bin Abî Tâlib, he said: 'Allâh has not imposed any restrictions on you, and there are many other women besides her. If you ask the slave woman she will tell you the truth.' The Messenger of Allâh ﷺ called Barîrah and said: 'O Barîrah, have you seen anything to make you doubt about 'Aishah?' Barîrah said to him: 'By the One Who sent you with the truth, I have never seen anything objectionable from her, except that she is a young girl who falls asleep when making dough for her family, then the domestic sheep comes and eats it.' "The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ stood on the Minbar and sought support against 'Abdullāh bin Ubayy bin Salūl. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said when he was on the Minbar: 'O Muslims, who will support me against a man who has offended me with regard to my family? By Allāh, I know nothing but good about my family, and they have mentioned a man (Saṣwān) about whom I know nothing but good, and he has never entered upon my family except with me.' Sa'd bin Mu'ādḥ Al-Anṣārī stood up and said: 'I will support you against him, O Messenger of Allāh. If he is from Aws, I will strike his neck, and if he is from our brothers of Al-Khazraj, tell us what to do and we will do as you command.' Sa'd bin 'Ubādah, who was the chief of Al-Khazraj, stood up. He was a righteous man but tribalism overtook him, and he said to Sa'd bin Mu'ādḥ: 'You are lying, by Allāh. You will not kill him and you will not be able to kill him.' Usaid bin Ḥudair, who was the cousin of Sa'd bin Mu'ādḥ, stood up and said to Sa'd bin 'Ubādah: 'You are lying, by Allāh. We will certainly kill him, and you are a hypocrite, defending the hypocrites.' “They began to argue while the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ was standing on the Minbar, and the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ kept trying to calm them down, until they finally calmed down and fell silent. I wept that day, and my tears never stopped and I did not get a wink of sleep. Then I wept the following night, and my tears never stopped and I did not get a wink of sleep, and my parents thought that my weeping would be the end of me. While they were sitting with me and I was weeping, an Anṣārī woman asked permission to come in and I gave her permission. She sat down and wept. While we were like that, the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ came in and greeted us with Salām, then he sat down. He had not sat with me since the rumour began, and for a month, no Revelation had come to him concerning me. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ recited the Tashah-hud when he sat down, then he said ‘O Āishah, I have heard such and such about you. If you are innocent then Allāh will declare your innocence, and if you have committed a sin, then ask Allāh to forgive you, and repent to Him, for when a person admits his sin and repents, Allāh will accept his repentance.’ When the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ finished what he was saying, my tears dried up and not another drop fell. I said to my father: ‘Answer the Messenger of Allâh ﷻ on my behalf.' He said: 'By Allâh, I do not know what I should say to the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ.' I said to my mother: 'Answer the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ on my behalf.' She said: 'By Allâh, I do not know what I should say to the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ.' I was a young girl who did not know much of the Qur'ân, but I said: 'By Allâh, I know that you (all) have been listening to this (rumour) until it settled in your minds and you believed it. If I say to you that I am innocent, and Allâh knows that I am innocent, you will not believe me, but if I admit something to you, and Allâh knows that I am innocent, you will believe me. By Allâh, I can find no likeness for me and you except that which the father of Yûsuf said: 'So (for me) patience is most fitting. And it is Allâh (Alone) Whose Help can be sought against that (lie) which you describe.'[1] "Then I turned away and lay down on my bed. By Allâh, at that time I knew I was innocent, and that Allâh would prove my innocence, but by Allâh, I did not think that He would reveal Revelation concerning me that would be recited. I did not think that I was so important that Allâh, Glorified and Exalted is He, would speak of me in words that would be recited. Rather I hoped that the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ would be shown something in a dream through which Allâh would prove that I was innocent. By Allâh, the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ did not move from where he was sitting, and no one in the house left before Allâh sent Revelation to His Prophet ﷺ, and he was overcome by the burden that overcame him when he received Revelation, when he perspired with drops of sweat like pearls on a winter day because of the weight of the words that were being revealed to him. “When it was over, the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ smiled and the first thing he said was: ‘Be of good cheer, O ‘Aishah, for Allâh has declared you innocent.’ My mother said to me: ‘Get up and go to him.’ I said: ‘By Allâh, I will not get up and go to him, and I will not praise anyone but Allâh, for He is the One Who has revealed that I am innocent.’ Allâh revealed the words; ‘Verily, those who brought forth the slander are a group among you. Consider it not a bad thing for you. Nay, it is good for you...’,[1] ten Verses. Allâh revealed these Verses declaring that I was innocent. “Abû Bakr, who used to spend on Mîstâh, because he was a relative of his and was poor, said: ‘By Allâh, I will never spend anything on him again after what he said about ‘Aishah.’ Then Allâh revealed the words: 'And let not those among you who are blessed with graces and wealth swear not to give (any sort of help) to their kinsmen, Al-Masâkin (the needy), and those who left their homes for Allâh's Cause. Let them pardon and forgive. Do you not love that Allâh should forgive you?..."[1] Ĥibbân bin Mûsâ said: "Abdullâh bin Al-Mubârak said: 'This is the Verse in the Book of Allâh which gives the most hope.'" Abû Bakr said: "By Allâh, I love that Allâh should forgive me," so he continued to spend on Mîşah as he used to, and said: "I will never stop it." Âishah said: "The Messenger of Allâh ﷺ asked Zainab bint Jahsh about me: "What do you know?" Or: "What do you think?" She said: "O Messenger of Allâh, by Allâh I have never heard or seen, and by Allâh, I do not know, anything but good." Âishah said: "She was the one among the wives of the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ who used to compete with me, but Allâh protected her by means of her piety, but her sister Ĥamnah bint Jahsh opposed her, and was one of those who were doomed." Az-Zuhrî said: "This is what we have heard about this group."