Aishah Bint Abu Bakr (RA)-II

To read the previous part: Click Here

The Affair of the Slander

Aishah (RA) lived in the house of the Prophet (SAW), where she was respected and honored and nothing disturbed the tranquility of her life apart from the incident of the slander, an incident in which the hypocrites falsely accused the pure and noble Aishah (RA) of having committed adultery. The hypocrites did not intend by this wicked accusation to harm Aishah (RA); rather their intention was to harm the Messenger of Allah (SAW) and to attack Islam and its Messenger, for Aishah (RA) was the most beloved of his wives to him and her father was the most beloved of men to him, so whatever harmed Aishah (RA) would hurt him also- this was the intention of the hypocrites who spread this slander- and the Muslims unintentionally became involved in it.

In brief, the story was that when the Messenger of Allah (SAW) heard that Banu Al-Mustaliq were preparing to attack him, he decided to launch a surprise attack against them before they could attack Al-Madinah. So he set out with his army, but before doing so, he drew lots among his wives-as was his custom when he set out for a battle- in order to decide which of them he would take with him. The lot fell to Aishah (RA) and so she climbed into her howdah (A seat, usually fitted with a canopy and railing, placed on the back of an elephant or a camel)
and set out with him.

The two armies met at a well belonging to Banu Mustaliq, known as Al-Muraisee and the battle ended in defeat for them and victory for the Muslim army.

Following their victory, the Muslim army headed for Al-Madinah and when they were only a short distance from it, they stopped to rest and while they were resting, Aishah (RA) left the camp in order to answer the call of nature and walked on until she passed the Muslim army and went far from it. When she finished attending to her business, she decided to return to the place where she had left the army, but upon touching her hand to her chest, she found that she had lost the necklace she had been wearing, so she retraced her steps in order to find it and while she was absent, the Messenger of Allah (SAW) decided to go on and the men responsible for raising and lowering her howdah came and lifted it onto the camel, thinking that she was inside it. The army moved off and when Aishah (RA) returned, having found the necklace, she discovered that the army had left and that she was now alone in that empty place. She decided to remain where she was, thinking that when the Messenger of Allah (SAW) and his Companions found that she was missing, they would come back to look for her in the place where they had lost her, so she wrapped herself in her cloack and lay down to sleep where she was.

Fortunately she did not have long to wait, for a young Muslim man named Safwan ibn al-Mu’attal, who had fallen behind the army after taking a rest, reached the camp during the night and found her lying fast asleep. Safwan immediately recognizing her, because he had seen her in the early days before Allah had commanded Muslim women to wear the hijab.

“Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un!” – “Surely we come from Allah and surely to Him we return!” he exclaimed in surprise, waking ‘A’isha up with the loudness of his voice. He did not say anything else, and ‘A’isha put the scarf that had fallen off her head while she was asleep back on, Safwan made his camel kneel down close to her so that she could climb up on to it; and then, leading the camel with his hand, he set off on foot after the army, hoping that they would soon catch up with it which they eventually did later the next morning, since the army had halted for a rest during the hottest part of the day. Unfortunately, some hypocrites who had seen Safwan and ‘A’isha arrive alone together began to gossip and spread slanderous lies about them. Eventually the story reached the Prophet himself (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and by then the whole community was talking about what might or might now have happened before the two young Muslims. Naturally the muminun were certain that noting bad had happened, but the munafiqun thought otherwise and were not afraid to insinuate that was the case.

As a result of all this gossip, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his household came under a great strain, and in fact ‘A’isha herself fell ill, not because she was aware of what the hypocrites were saying about her, but because the Prophet did not seem to care for her as much as he had done before the campaign against the Banu al Mustaliq. Finally, someone told her what some people were saying. This made ‘A’isha even more ill, so with the Prophet’s permission, she went to stay at the house of her parents. When she arrived, she said to her mother, Umm Ruman, “Mother! What are the people saying?” She replied “O my daughter! Do not make too much of the business. By Allah, seldom has there been a woman of beauty with a husband who loves her and who has co wives but that people say a lot against her.” A’isha said, “Glory be to Allah! The people have really been saying this?” ‘A’isha said, “I have spent the entire night until morning unable to stop weeping and could not sleep at all. Morning found me still weeping.” In the meantime, when Safwan was confronted with the allegations that had been made, he replied, “Glory be to Allah! By Allah, I have never removed the veil of any woman!” Since there had been no revelation to clarify the matter, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked Barira, who was ‘A’isha ‘s maid servant, if she had seen anything in ‘A’isha’ s behavior that was at all doubtful. “By Him who sent you with the truth,” she replied, “I have not seen nothing wrong with her, other than that she is a young girl and sometimes she falls asleep while she is kneading the dough and a lamb comes along and eats it!” Some of the companions who were present scolded Barira and told her to come to the point. “Glory be to Allah!” she replied. “I know as much about her as a jeweler knows about a piece of pure gold!”

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) then tried to vindicate A’isha’s honor by calling everyone to the mosque and publicly defending her reputation, but the hypocrites who had started the trouble in the first place only made matter worse, so that arguments broke out all over the mosque, and people had almost come to blows over the matter before the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) calmed them down and silenced them.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) then came to Abu Bakr’s house, where A’isha had been crying her heart out, and in the presence of her parents said the shahada, and then continued, “If you are innocent, then Allah Himself will protect your honor, and if by accident there has been a lapse on your part, then seek the forgiveness of Allah and He will pardon you, for when a slave admits a fault and turns to Him in repentance, then Allah also turns and accepts that repentance.”

A’isha said, “When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) finished what he was saying, my tears stopped so that I was not aware of a single tear. I said to my father, ‘Answer the Messenger of Allah for me regarding what he has said.’ He said, ‘By Allah, I do not know what to say to the Messenger of Allah,’ I said to my mother, ‘Answer the Messenger of Allah for me regarding what he has said.’ She said, ‘By Allah, I do not know what to say to the Messenger of Allah.'”

A’isha said, “I am a young girl who does not yet recite much of the Qur’an. By Allah, I know that you have heard this story that people are saying and it has become fixed in yourself and you have believed it. If I were to say to you that I am innocent, you would not believe me. If I were to confess to something to you and Allah knows that I am innocent you would believe me. By Allah, I can only say what the father of Yusuf said,

“Patience is beautiful, and Allah is my protection against what you describe.” (Quran 12:18)

 Then I turned over on my bed, Allah knowing that I was innocent and hoping that Allah would proclaim me innocent. However, by Allah, I did not think that any revelation would be sent down regarding me. I thought too little of myself that something would be said in the Qur’an regarding me, however I hoped that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would have a dream in which Allah would exonerate me. She had hardly finished speaking when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) received a direct revelation of some more ayahs of the Qur’an, and when it was over, he smiled and said, “Do not worry, ‘A’isha, for Allah has revealed proof of your innocence.” (Bukhari)

A’isha’s mother, who had been standing next to her, said, “Get up and thank him.”(Bukhari)

“By Allah,” exclaimed A’isha, whose title, ‘Siddiqa’, means ‘the truthful one’, “I will not thank him and praise him but rather Allah Who has given the revelation that has protected my honor!” Then the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) went to the mosque and recited what had just been sent down:

Surely those who fabricate the lie are a group from among you. Do not think it is bad thing for you; no it is good for you. Every man will receive what he has earned for this sin, and whoever had the greater part in it will have a great punishment. Why did the men and women believers, when they heard it, not think good in their selves and say: ‘This is clearly a lie?’ Why did they not produce four witnesses? Since they did not produce witnesses, they are certainly liars in the sight of Allah. If it were not for the grace of Allah, and His mercy on you in this world and in the next world, an awful doom would have overtaken you for what you repeated. Since you received it with your tongues, and repeated what you did not know anything about with your mouths, you thought it was a trifle, but in the sight of Allah it is serious. Why, when you heard it, did you not say: ‘It is not for us to repeat this, Glory be to You (O Allah), this is a serious rumor.’ Allah warns you to never repeat anything like this again, if you are indeed believers and Allah makes the signs clear to you; and Allah is Knowing, Wise. Surely those who love to spread around slander about those who believe will have a painful punishment in this world and in the next world; and Allah knows and you do not know. (Quran 24:11-19).

When this Qur’anic verse was revealed regarding Aishah (RA) and those who had accused her, Abu Bakr (RA) who had previously supported Mistah ( Mistah was the cousin of As-Siddiq, the son of his maternal aunt, and he was a poor man with no wealth except whatever Abu Bakr spent on him. He was one of those who had migrated for the sake of Allah. He had invented the lies and the slander, but then Allah accepted his repentance from that and the prescribed punishment was carried out on him. As-Siddiq was known for his generosity and he did favors to his relatives and strangers alike) financially, due to him being a relative and being in need-said: “By Allah, I will never provide anything for Mistah because of what he has said about Aishah.” Then Allah, The Most High revealed:

“Let not those among you who are endued with grace and amplitude of means resolve by oath against helping their kinsmen those in want, and those who have left their homes in Allah’s cause: let them forgive and overlook: do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? For Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.” (24:22)

Upon hearing this Verse, Abu Bakr (RA) said: “Yes, by Allah, I love that Allah should forgive me,” and he began once again to provide for Mistah as he had done before and he said: “I will not take it away from him again.”

A’isha forgave those who had let themselves be caught in the slander and in later years would not hear anything bad said about them. The fact that A’isha’ s honor and reputation had been protected by a revelation from Allah could not be ignored by anyone, and from then on everyone was more aware of her high station with Allah. It was also during the course of A’isha’s marriage with the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that the Muslim commexpanded so rapidly that Mecca was eventually conquered by the Muslim army, and preparations were made for the first of the many battles that were successfully fought against the Greeks and the Persians after the letters from Muhammad inviting Heraclius and Choroes to embrace Islam and worship Allah alone had been contemptuously ignored.

To read the last part: Click Here