Slander against Hadrat 'A'ishah

Slander against Hadrat ‘A’ishah References

A slander was made on the honor of Hadrat ‘A’ishah, a wife of the Holy Prophet, in connection with an incident which occurred while he was returning from the Campaign against Bani al-Mustaliq. Abdullah bin Ubayy, who played the part of a villain in this attack, belonged to the clan of Khazraj and was one of the most important chiefs of Al-Madinah. The people had even intended to make him their king a little before the Holy Prophet's migration there, but the scheme had to be dropped because of the changed circumstances. Though he had embraced Islam, he remained at heart a hypocrite and his hypocrisy was so manifest that he was called the "Chief of the Hypocrites". He never lost any opportunity to slander Islam in order to take his revenge.

Expedition to Bani al-Mustaliq:

When in Sha'ban 6 A. H. the Holy Prophet learned that the people of Bani al-Mustaliq were making preparations for a war against the Muslims and were trying to muster other clans also for this purpose, he fore-stalled and took the enemy by surprise. After capturing the people of the clan and their belongings, the Holy Prophet made a halt near Muraisi, a spring in their territory. One day a dispute concerning taking water from the spring started between a servant of Hadrat Umar and an ally of the clan of Khazraj, and developed into a quarrel between the Muhajirs (immigrants) and the Ansar (Muslims of Madinah), but was soon settled. This, however, did not suit the strategy of Abdullah bin Ubayy, who also had joined the expedition with a large number of hypocrites. So he began to incite the Ansar, saying, "You yourselves brought these people of the quraish from Makkah and made them partners in your wealth and property. And now they have become your rivals and want domination over you. If even now you withdraw your support from them, they shall be forced to leave your city." Then he swore and declared, "As soon as we reach back Al-Madinah, the respectable people will turn out the degraded people from the city." When the Holy Prophet came to know of this, he ordered the people to set off immediately and march back to Al-Madinah. The forced march continued up to noon the next day without a halt on the way so that the people became exhausted and had no time for idle talk. Though this wise judgment and quick action by the Holy Prophet averted the undesirable consequences of the mischief, Abdullah bin Ubayy got another opportunity for doing a far more serious and greater mischief, i.e. by engineering a "Slander" against Hadrat ‘A’ishah, for that was a mischief which might well have involved the young Muslim Community in a civil war, if the Holy Prophet and his sincere and devoted followers had not shown wisdom, forbearance and marvelous discipline in dealing with it.

'A'ishah Explains about Events That Took Place:

She says: "Whenever the Holy Prophet went out on a journey, he decided by lots as to which of his wives should accompany him. Accordingly, it was decided that I should accompany him during the expedition to Bani al Mustaliq. On the return journey, the Holy Prophet halted for the night at a place which was the last stage on the way back to Al- Madinah. It was still night, when they began to make preparations for the march. So I went outside the camp to ease myself. When I returned and came near my halting place, I noticed that my necklace had fallen down somewhere. I went back in search for it but in the meantime the caravan moved off and I was left behind all alone. The four carriers of the litter had placed it on my camel without noticing that it was empty. This happened because of my light weight due to lack of food in those days. I wrapped myself in my sheet and lay down in the hope that when it would be found that I had been left behind, a search party would come back to pick me up. In the meantime I fell asleep. In the morning, when Safwan bin Mu'attal Sulami passed that way, he saw me and recognized me for he had seen me several times before the Commandment about purdah had been sent down. No sooner did he see me than he stopped his camel and cried out spontaneously: "How sad! The wife of the Holy Prophet has been left here!" At this I woke up all of a sudden and covered my face with my sheet. Without uttering another word, he made his camel kneel by me and stood aside, while I climbed on to the camel back. He led the camel by the nose-string and we overtook the caravan at about noon, when it had just halted and nobody had yet noticed that I had been left behind. I learnt afterwards that this incident had been used to slander me and Abdullah bin Ubayy was foremost among the slanderers.(According to other traditions, when Hadrat ‘A’ishah reached the camp on the camel, led by Safwan, and it was known that she had been left behind, Abdullah bin Ubayy cried out, 'By God, she could not have remained chaste. Look, there comes the wife of your Prophet openly on the camel led by the person with whom she passed the night.')

'A'ishah Became ill:

"When I reached Al-Madinah, I fell ill and stayed in bed for more than a month. Though I was quite unaware of it, the news of the "Slander" was spreading like a scandal in the city, and had also reached the Holy Prophet. Anyhow, I noticed that he did not seem as concerned about my illness he used to be. He would come but without addressing me directly, would inquire from others how I was and leave the house. Therefore it troubled my mind that something had gone wrong somewhere. So I took leave of him and went to my mother's house for better nursing.

"While I was there, one night I went out of the city to ease myself in the company of Mistah's mother, who was a first cousin of my mother. As she was walking along she stumbled over something and cried out spontaneously, 'May Mistah Perish!' To this I retorted, 'What a good mother you are that you curse your own son -- the son who took part in the Battle of Badr.' She replied, 'My dear daughter, are you not aware of his scandal mongering?' Then she told me everything about the campaign of the "Slander".(Besides the hypocrites, some true Muslims also had been involved in this campaign, and among them who took leading part in it, were Mistah, Hassan bin Thabit, the famous poet of Islam, and Hamnah, daughter of Jahsh and sister of Hadrat Zainab). Hearing this horrible story, my blood curdled, and I immediately returned home, and passed the rest of the night in crying over it. "

Prophet Muhammad Consults with Companions:

"During my absence the Holy Prophet took counsel with Ali and Usamah bin Zaid about this matter. Usamah said good words about me to this effect: 'O Messenger of Allah, we have found nothing but good in your wife. All that is being spread about her is a lie and calumny.' As regards Ali, he said, 'O Messenger of Allah, there is no dearth of women; you may, if you like, marry another wife. If, however, you would like to investigate into the matter, you may send for her maid servant and enquire into it through her.' Accordingly, the maid servant was sent for and questioned. She replied, 'I declare on an oath by Allah, Who has sent you with the Truth that I have never seen any evil thing in her, except that she falls asleep when I tell her to look after the kneaded dough in my absence and a goat comes and eats it.'

Prophet Muhammad Addresses The People:

"On that same day the Holy Prophet addressed the people from the pulpit, saying: 'O Muslims, who from among you will defend my honor against the attacker of the person who has transgressed all bounds in doing harm to me by slandering my wife. By God, I have made a thorough enquiry and found nothing wrong with her nor with the man, whose name has been linked with the "Slander". At this Usaid bin Hudair (or Sa'd bin Mauz) according to other traditions) stood up and said, 'O Messenger of Allah, if that person belongs to our clan, we will kill him by ourselves, but if he belongs to the Khazraj clan, we will kill him if you order us to do so.' Hearing this Sa'd bin 'Ubadah, chief of the Khazraj clan, stood up and said, 'You lie you can never kill him. You are saying this just because the person belongs to our clan of Khazraj. Had he belonged to your clan, you would never have said so.' Hadrat Usaid retorted, '”You are a hypocrite: that is why you are defending a hypocrite.” At this, there was a general turmoil in the mosque, which would have developed into a riot, even though the Holy Prophet was present there the whole time. But he cooled down their anger and came down from the pulpit."

Prophet Muhammad Visits Hadrat 'A'ishah:

At last one day the Holy Prophet visited us and he sat near me, which he had not done since the slander had started. Feeling that something decisive was going to happen that day, Hadrat Abu Bakr and Umm Ruman (Hadrat ‘A’ishah’s mother) also sat near us. They Holy Prophet started the conversation, saying: ‘’Ai’shah, I have heard this and this about you: if you are innocent, I expect that Allah will declare your innocence: But if you have committed a sin, you should offer repentance and ask for Allah’s forgiveness; when a servant (of Allah) confesses his guilt and repents, Allah forgives him.’ Hearing these words, tears dried in my eyes. I looked up to my father expecting that he would reply to the Holy Prophet, but he said, “Daughter, I do not know what I should say.’ Then I turned to my mother, but she also did not know what to say. At last I said, ‘You have all heard something about me and believed it. Now if I say that I am innocent – and Allah is my witness that I am innocent – you will not believe me; and if I confess something which I never did – And Allah knows that I never did it – you will believe me.’ At that time I tried to call to memory the name of Prophet Jacob but could not recall it. Therefore in view of the predicament that I was placed in, I said, ‘I cannot but repeat the words which the father of Prophet Joseph had spoken: fa-sabrun jamil: I will bear this patiently with good grace. Saying this I lay down and turned to the other side.

Allah Reveals the Truth:

I was thinking that Allah was aware of my innocence, and He would certainly reveal the truth, but I could never imagine that Divine Revelation would come down in my defense, which the people will read and recite till the Last Day. What I thought probable was that the Holy Prophet would see a dream in which Allah would indicate my innocence. But in the meantime suddenly, the state of receiving Revelation appeared on the Holy Prophet, when pearl-like drops of perspiration used to gather on his face even in severe winter. We all held our breath and sat silent. As for me I was fearless, but my parents seemed to struck with fear; they did not know what the Divine Revelation would be. When the Revelation was over, the Holy Prophet seemed to be very pleased. Overjoyed with happiness the first words he spoke were: ‘Congratulations, ‘A’ishah, Allah has sent down proof of your innocence’ and then he recited these ten verses (11-20). At this my mother said to me, “Get up and thank the Holy Prophet.” I said, “I shall neither thank him nor you two, but thank Allah Who has sent down my absolution. You did not even so much so contradict the charge against me”.

God informed that the accusation was not worth any consideration; the Muslims should have rejected it there and then as a lie and a falsehood. A question might be asked: Why did not the Holy Prophet and Hadrat Abu Bakr reject it on the very first day, and why did they give it all that importance? The answer is that the position of the husband and the father is different from that of the common people. Though none else can know a woman better than her husband and a righteous husband cannot doubt the character of a virtuous and pious wife only on account of the people’s accusations, but when the wife is accused, the husband is placed in a difficult situation. Even if he rejects it outright as a calumny, the accusers will not listen. They will rather say that the woman is clever and has beguiled the husband into believing that she is virtuous and pious whereas she is not. A similar situation is faced by the parents. They also cannot remove the accuser’s slander regarding their daughter’s chastity even after they know that the accusation is manifestly false. The same thing had afflicted the Holy Prophet, Hadrat Abu Bakr and Umm Ruman, otherwise they did not entertain any doubt about Hadrat ‘A’ishah’s character. That is why the Holy Prophet had declared in his sermon that he had neither seen any evil in his wife nor in the man who was being mentioned in the slander.

Who were responsible for slander

Only a few persons have been mentioned in traditions, who were spreading the rumors. They were: ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy, Zaid bin Rita’ah, Mistah bin Uthathah, Hassan bin Thabit, and Hamnah bint Jahsh. The first two were hypocrites, and the other three Muslims, who had been involved in the mischief due to misunderstanding and weakness.

A Plan to Defeat Muslims on Moral Front:

God advised Prophet Muhammad not to lose heart. Though the hypocrites, according to their own presumptions, have made the worst attack on him, it would eventually bring misfortune on them, and would prove to be a blessing in disguise for him. The hypocrites had planned to inflict a defeat on the Muslims on the moral front, which was their real field of superiority and responsible for their victory on every other front against the opponents. But Allah turned this mischief into a means of strength for the Muslims. On this occasion, the conduct and the attitude adopted by the Holy Prophet, Hadrat Abu Bakr and his family, and the Muslims at large proved beyond any doubt that they were the purest people morally, tolerant and just in nature, noble and forbearing in character. If the Holy Prophet had wished he could have got the people responsible for the attack on his honor beheaded immediately. But he bore everything with patience for a whole month.

Enforcement of the Punishment:

After when Divine injunction came down from Allah, he enforced the punishment for qazf only on those three Muslims whose guilt was established, and even spared the hypocrites. Hadrat Abu Bakr’s own relative, whose whole family he had been supporting all along, continued heaping disgrace on him publicly, but that noble man neither severed his family relations with him nor stopped monetary help to him and his family. None of the wives of the Holy Prophet took the least part in the slander nor even expressed the slightest approval of it. So much so that Hadrat zainab (a wife of the Holy Prophet), for whose sake her real sister, Hamnah bint Jahsh, was taking part in the slander, did not utter anything about her rival (Hadrat ‘A’ishah) except good words. According to Hadrat ‘A’ishah, herself: “Zainab among the wives of the holy Prophet was my strongest rival, but when in connection with the incident of the slander, the Holy Prophet asked her opinion of me, she said, ‘O Messenegr of Allah, I swear by God that I have perceived nothing in her except piety’.” Hadrat ‘A’ishah’s own nobility of character can be judged by this that though Hassan bin Thabit had played a prominent role in the campaign of slander against her, she continued to treat him with due honor and esteem. When the people reminded her that he was the man who had slandered her, she retorted, ‘No, he it was who used to rebut the anti-Islamic poets on behalf of the Holy Prophet and Islam.’ Such was the conduct and attitude of those people who were directly affected by the slander.

One subtle point to be understood here is that before mentioning the absolution of Hadrat ‘A’ishah, a full section of the verses has been devoted to the Commandments pertaining to zina, qazf, and li’an by which Allah means to admonish that zina is not a slight matter which may be used as a means of entertaining the people in a gathering. It is very serious. If the accuser is right in his accusation he should produce witnesses, and get a most horrible punishment upon the adulterer and the adulteress. If the accuser is false, he deserves to be given 80 stripes, so that no body may dare to bring a false charge against the other person. And if the accuser is a husband, he will have to exercise li’an in a court of law to settle the matter. So, none who utters such an accusation will have peace. The Islamic society which has been brought about for the purpose of establishing goodness and piety in the world, can neither tolerate zina as a means of entertainment nor endure loose talk about it as diversion and amusement.

Additions to the Social Law and Inunctions of Islam:

Then there was more goodness to come from this. The incident became the cause of some very important additions to the social law and injunctions of Islam. Through these Muslims received such Commandments from Allah by which the Muslim society can be kept clean and protected against the creation and propagation of moral evils, and if at all they arise, they can be corrected promptly.

Prophet Muhammad had no Knowledge of Unseen:

Furthermore, there was another aspect of goodness in it also. The Muslims came to understand that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) had no knowledge of the unseen. He knew only that which Allah taught him. Beside that his knowledge was the same as that of a common man. For one full month he remained in great anxiety with regard to Hadrat ‘A’ishah. He would sometimes make enquiries from the maid-servant, sometimes from his other wives, and sometimes from Hadrat ‘Ali and Hadrat Usamah. At last when he spoke to Hadrat ‘A’ishah, he spoke only this: “If you have committed the sin, you should offer repentance, and if you are innocent, I expect that Allah will declare your innocence.” Had he possessed any knowledge of the unseen, he would not have felt so upset, nor would have made enquiries, nor counseled repentance. However, when Divine Message revealed the truth, he received that knowledge which he had not possessed for more than a month. Thus Allah arranged to safeguard the Muslims, through direct experience and observation, against exaggerated notions in which people generally get involved in regard to their religious leaders on account of excessive blind faith. Perhaps this was the reason why Allah withheld Revelation for a month, for if Revelation had been sent down on the very first day, it could not have had any beneficial effect.

References An-Nur 24:11-20

An-Nur 24:11-20

Those who have invented the slander,^EN24:8are some of your own people.^EN24:9 You should not however, regard this matter as evil for it has good in it for you.^EN24:10 Whoso took any part in this, he earned his share of the sin accordingly, and the one who had the greatest share of responsibility in it,^EN24:11 shall have a terrible punishment. 24:11

EN24:8 This is an allusion to the slander against Hadrat ‘A’ishah. Allah has Himself described it as Ifk (false accusation, calumny) which implies its total refutation.

From here begins the mention of the incident which provided the occasion of this Surah’s revelation. The initial part of it is given in the Introduction of this Surah as follows:

The second slander was made on the honor of Hadrat ‘A’ishah, a wife of the Holy Prophet, in connection with an incident which occurred while he was returning from the Campaign against Bani al-Mustaliq. As this attack was even severer than the first one and was the main background of this Surah, we shall deal with it in greater detail. Let us say a few words about Abdullah bin Ubayy, who played the part of a villain in this attack. He belonged to the clan of Khazraj and was one of the most important chiefs of Al-Madinah. The people had even intended to make him their king a little before the Holy Prophet's migration there, but the scheme had to be dropped because of the changed circumstances. Though he had embraced Islam, he remained at heart a hypocrite and his hypocrisy was so manifest that he was called the "Chief of the Hypocrites". He never lost any opportunity to slander Islam in order to take his revenge.

Now the main theme: When in Sha'ban 6 A. H. the Holy Prophet learned that the people of Bani al-Mustaliq were making preparations for a war against the Muslims and were trying to muster other clans also for this purpose, he fore-stalled and took the enemy by surprise. After capturing the people of the clan and their belongings, the Holy Prophet made a halt near Muraisi, a spring in their territory. One day a dispute concerning taking water from the spring started between a servant of Hadrat Umar and an ally of the clan of Khazraj, and developed into a quarrel between the Muhajirs (immigrants) and the Ansar (Muslims of Madinah), but was soon settled. This, however, did not suit the strategy of Abdullah bin Ubayy, who also had joined the expedition with a large number of hypocrites. So he began to incite the Ansar, saying, "You yourselves brought these people of the quraish from Makkah and made them partners in your wealth and property. And now they have become your rivals and want domination over you. If even now you withdraw your support from them, they shall be forced to leave your city." Then he swore and declared, "As soon as we reach back Al-Madinah, the respectable people will turn out the degraded people from the city."

When the Holy Prophet came to know of this, he ordered the people to set off immediately and march back to Al-Madinah. The forced march continued up to noon the next day without a halt on the way so that the people became exhausted and had no time for idle talk.

Though this wise judgment and quick action by the Holy Prophet averted the undesirable consequences of the mischief, Abdullah bin Ubayy got another opportunity for doing a far more serious and greater mischief, i.e. by engineering a "Slander" against Hadrat ‘A’ishah, for that was a mischief which might well have involved the young Muslim Community in a civil war, if the Holy Prophet and his sincere and devoted followers had not shown wisdom, forbearance and marvelous discipline in dealing with it. In order to understand the events that led to the incident of the "Slander", we cite the story in Hadrat '‘A’ishah's own words. She says: "Whenever the Holy Prophet went out on a journey, he decided by lots as to which of his wives should accompany him. Accordingly, it was decided that I should accompany him during the expedition to Bani al Mustaliq. On the return journey, the Holy Prophet halted for the night at a place which was the last stage on the way back to Al- Madinah. It was still night, when they began to make preparations for the march. So I went outside the camp to ease myself. When I returned and came near my halting place, I noticed that my necklace had fallen down somewhere. I went back in search for it but in the meantime the caravan moved off and I was left behind all alone. The four carriers of the litter had placed it on my camel without noticing that it was empty. This happened because of my light weight due to lack of food in those days. I wrapped myself in my sheet and lay down in the hope that when it would be found that I had been left behind, a search party would come back to pick me up. In the meantime I fell asleep. In the morning, when Safwan bin Mu'attal Sulami passed that way, he saw me and recognized me for he had seen me several times before the Commandment about purdah had been sent down. No sooner did he see me than he stopped his camel and cried out spontaneously: "How sad! The wife of the Holy Prophet has been left here!" At this I woke up all of a sudden and covered my face with my sheet. Without uttering another word, he made his camel kneel by me and stood aside, while I climbed on to the camel back. He led the camel by the nose-string and we overtook the caravan at about noon, when it had just halted and nobody had yet noticed that I had been left behind. I learnt afterwards that this incident had been used to slander me and Abdullah bin Ubayy was foremost among the slanderers.(According to other traditions, when Hadrat ‘A’ishah reached the camp on the camel, led by Safwan, and it was known that she had been left behind, Abdullah bin Ubayy cried out, 'By God, she could not have remained chaste. Look, there comes the wife of your Prophet openly on the camel led by the person with whom she passed the night.')

The rest of incident is reproduced below. She says:

“Rumors about this slander went on spreading in the city for a month, which caused great stress and anguish to the Holy Prophet. I cried due to helplessness and my parents were sick with mental agony. At last one day the Holy Prophet visited us and he sat near me, which he had not done since the slander had started. Feeling that something decisive was going to happen that day, Hadrat Abu Bakr and Umm Ruman (Hadrat ‘A’ishah’s mother) also sat near us. They Holy Prophet started the conversation, saying: ‘’Ai’shah, I have heard this and this about you: if you are innocent, I expect that Allah will declare your innocence: But if you have committed a sin, you should offer repentance and ask for Allah’s forgiveness; when a servant (of Allah) confesses his guilt and repents, Allah forgives him.’ Hearing these words, tears dried in my eyes. I looked up to my father expecting that he would reply to the Holy Prophet, but he said, “Daughter, I do not know what I should say.’ Then I turned to my mother, but she also did not know what to say. At last I said, ‘You have all heard something about me and believed it. Now if I say that I am innocent – and Allah is my witness that I am innocent – you will not believe me; and if I confess something which I never did – And Allah knows that I never did it – you will believe me.’ At that time I tried to call to memory the name of Prophet Jacob but could not recall it. Therefore in view of the predicament that I was placed in, I said, ‘I cannot but repeat the words which the father of Prophet Joseph had spoken: fa-sabrun jamil: I will bear this patiently with good grace. Saying this I lay down and turned to the other side. I was thinking that Allah was aware of my innocence, and He would certainly reveal the truth, but I could never imagine that Divine Revelation would come down in my defense, which the people will read and recite till the Last Day. What I thought probable was that the Holy Prophet would see a dream in which Allah would indicate my innocence. But in the meantime suddenly, the state of receiving Revelation appeared on the Holy Prophet, when pearl-like drops of perspiration used to gather on his face even in severe winter. We all held our breath and sat silent. As for me I was fearless, but my parents seemed to struck with fear; they did not know what the Divine Revelation would be. When the Revelation was over, the Holy Prophet seemed to be very pleased. Overjoyed with happiness the first words he spoke were: ‘Congratulations, ‘A’ishah, Allah has sent down proof of your innocence’ and then he recited these ten verses (11-21). At this my mother said to me, “Get up and thank the Holy Prophet.” I said, “I shall neither thank him nor you two, but thank Allah Who has sent down my absolution. You did not even so much so contradict the charge against me”.

EN24:9 Only a few persons have been mentioned in traditions, who were spreading the rumors. They were: ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy, Zaid bin Rita’ah, Mistah bin Uthathah, Hassan bin Thabit, and Hamnah bint Jahsh. The first two were hypocrites, and the other three Muslims, who had been involved in the mischief due to misunderstanding and weakness.

EN24:10 That is, “You should not lose heart. Though the hypocrites, according to their own presumptions, have made the worst attack on you, it will eventually bring misfortune on them, and will prove to be a blessing in disguise for you.”

The hypocrites had planned to inflict a defeat on the Muslims on the moral front, which was their real field of superiority and responsible for their victory on every other front against the opponents. But Allah turned this mischief into a means of strength for the Muslims. On this occasion, the conduct and the attitude adopted by the Holy Prophet, Hadrat Abu Bakr and his family, and the Muslims at large proved beyond any doubt that they were the purest people morally, tolerant and just in nature, noble and forbearing in character. If the Holy Prophet had wished he could have got the people responsible for the attack on his honor beheaded immediately. But he bore everything with patience for a whole month. After when Divine injunction came down from Allah, he enforced the punishment for qazf only on those three Muslims whose guilt was established, and even spared the hypocrites. Hadrat Abu Bakr’s own relative, whose whole family he had been supporting all along, continued heaping disgrace on him publicly, but that noble man neither severed his family relations with him nor stopped monetary help to him and his family. None of the wives of the Holy Prophet took the least part in the slander nor even expressed the slightest approval of it. So much so that Hadrat zainab (a wife of the Holy Prophet), for whose sake her real sister, Hamnah bint Jahsh, was taking part in the slander, did not utter anything about her rival (Hadrat ‘A’ishah) except good words. According to Hadrat ‘A’ishah, herself: “Zainab among the wives of the holy Prophet was my strongest rival, but when in connection with the incident of the slander, the Holy Prophet asked her opinion of me, she said, ‘O Messenegr of Allah, I swear by God that I have perceived nothing in her except piety’.” Hadrat ‘A’ishah’s own nobility of character can be judged by this that though Hassan bin Thabit had played a prominent role in the campaign of slander against her, she continued to treat him with due honor and esteem. When the people reminded her that he was the man who had slandered her, she retorted, ‘No, he it was who used to rebut the anti-Islamic poets on behalf of the Holy Prophet and Islam.’ Such was the conduct and attitude of those people who were directly affected by the slander.

EN24:11 That is, ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy, who was the real author of the false accusation and mischief. Hadrat Hassan bin Thabit’s only weakness was the he became involved in the mischief engineered by the hypocrites. When Hadrat’ Ali saw the Holy Prophet in a perturbed state of mind and the Holy Prophet asked for his counsel, he said: “Allah in this matter has not laid any restriction on you: suitable women are plenty: you may if you like divorce ‘A’ishah and marry another woman.” But this did not at all mean that Hadrat ‘Ali had support the accusation against Hadrat ‘A’ishah. His object was only to allay the Holy Prophet’s mental anguish.

When you heard of it, why didn’t the Believing men and the Believing women have a good opinion of themselves,^EN24:12 and why did they not say, “This is a manifest slander?”^EN24:13 24:12

EN24:12 This may also be translated as: “Why did they not have a good opinion of the people of their own community and society?” The words in the Text are comprehensive and contain a subtle meaning which should be understood well. What happened concerning Hadrat ‘A’ishah and Safwan bin Mu’attal as only this: A woman belonging to the caravan (apart from the fact that she was the Holy Prohet’s wife) was left behind, and a man belonging to the same caravan, who was also left behind, chanced to see her and brought her on his camel to the camp. Now if a person alleges that when they two found themselves alone, they became involved in a sin, the accusation would imply two other hypotheses: First, if the accuser himself (whether man or woman) had been there, he would certainly have availed of the rare opportunity and committed the sinful act, for he had never been before chanced upon a person of the opposite sex in a situation like this. Second, the accuser’s assessment of the moral condition of the society he belongs to is that in that society there is no man or woman who could possibly have abstained from sin in similar circumstances. This will be the case when it involves any one man and any one woman. But supposing if the man and woman happened to belong to the same place, and the woman who was left behind by chance was the wife, or sister, or daughter of a friend, or a relative, or a neighbor, or an acquaintance of the man, the matter would become much more serious and grave. Then it would mean that the one who utters such an accusation has a very poor and degraded opinion of himself as well as of his society, which has nothing to do with morality and good sense. No gentleman could imagine that if he finds a woman belonging to the family of a friend, or a neighbor or an acquaintance, stranded on the way, the first thing he would do would be to molest and dishonor her, and then would think of escorting her home. But here the matter was a thousand times more serious. The lady was no other than the wife of the Holy Prophet of Allah, whom every Muslim esteemed higher than his mother, and whom Allah Himself has forbidden for every Muslim just like his own mother. The man was not only a follower of the same caravan and a soldier of the same army, and an inhabitant of the same city, but also a Muslim, who believed in the lady’s husband to be the Messenger of Allah and his religious leader and guide, and had even followed him and fought in the most dangerous battle at Badr. Viewed against this background, it would seem that the person who uttered such an accusation and those who considered the accusation as probable, formed a very poor opinion not only of their moral values but also the whole society.

EN24:13 That is, “The accusation was not worth any consideration; the Muslims should have rejected it there and then as a lie and a falsehood.” A question might be asked: Why did not the Holy Prophet and Hadrat Abu Bakr reject it on the very first day, and why did they give it all that importance? The answer is that the position of the husband and the father is different from that of the common people. Though none else can know a woman better than her husband and a righteous husband cannot doubt the character of a virtuous and pious wife only on account of the people’s accusations, but when the wife is accused, the husband is placed in a difficult situation. Even if he rejects it outright as a calumny, the accusers will not listen. They will rather say that the woman is clever and has beguiled the husband into believing that she is virtuous and pious whereas she is not. A similar situation is faced by the parents. They also cannot remove the accuser’s slander regarding their daughter’s chastity even after they know that the accusation is manifestly false. The same thing had afflicted the Holy Prophet, Hadrat Abu Bakr and Umm Ruman, otherwise they did not entertain any doubt about Hadrat ‘A’ishah’s character. That is why the Holy Prophet had declared in his sermon that he had neither seen any evil in his wife nor in the man who was being mentioned in the slander.

Why did the slanderers not bring four witnesses (to prove their charge)? Now that they have not brought witnesses, they themselves are liars in the sight of Allah.^En24:14 24:13

EN24:14 “…in the sight of Allah”: in the Law of Allah, or according to the Law of Allah. Obviously, in Allah’s knowledge, the accusation was by itself false and its falsehood was in no way dependent on the production of witnesses by the accusers.

Here nobody should have the misunderstanding that failure to bring witnesses is being regarded as the basis and argument to prove that the accusation was false, and that the Muslims are also being told to regard it as a manifest calumny only because the accusers did not bring four witnesses. This misunderstanding can arise of one does not keep in view the background of the actual incident. As a matter of fact, none of the accusers had actually witnessed the thing which they were uttering with their tongues. The only basis of their accusation was that Hadrat ‘A’ishah had been left behind from the caravan and afterwards Safwan had brought her to the camp on his camel. From this nobody with little common sense could conclude that the Hadrat ‘A’ishah’s being left behind was intentional. These were not the ways of those who do these things. It cannot happen that the wife of the army commander quietly stays back with a man, and then the same man makes her ride on his camel and makes haste to catch up with the army at the next halting place in the open day light at noon. The situation itself warranted that they were innocent. There could, however, be some justification in the charge if the accusers had seen something with their own eyes, otherwise the circumstances on which the accusers had based their accusation did not contain any ground for doubt and suspicion.

Were it not for Allah’s grace and mercy towards you in this world and in the Hereafter, a painful scourge would have visited you because of the things in which you were involved. 24:14 (Just think how erroneous you were,) when you passed this lie on from one tongue to the other and uttered with your mouths that of which you had no knowledge. You took as a trifling matter whereas it was a grave offence in the sight of Allah. 24:15 Why did you not, as soon as you heard of it, say, “It is nor proper for us to utter such a thing? Glory be to Allah! This is a great slander.” 24:16 Allah admonishes you that in future you should never repeat a thing like this, if you are true Believers. 24:17 All makes His Revelations clear to you, and He is All-Knowing, All-Wise.^EN24:15 24:18

EN24:15 These verses, especially verse 12, wherein Allah says: “Why did not the Believing man and Believing women have a good opinion of themselves?” provide the general principle that all dealings in the Islamic society must be based on ‘good faith’. The question of a bad opinion should arise only when there is a definite and concrete basis for it. Every person should, as a matter of principle, be considered as innocent unless there are sound reasons to hold him guilty or suspect. Every person should be considered as truthful unless there are strong grounds for holding him as unreliable.

As for those, who like that indecency should spread among the Believers, they deserve a painful punishment in this world and in the Hereafter,^EN24:16for Allah knows and you do not know (its consequence).^EN24:17 24:19

EN24:16 The direct interpretation of the verse, in the context in which it occurs, is this: “Those who cast aspersions, propagate evil, publicize it and bring Islamic morality into disrepute, deserve punishment.” The words in the Text, however, comprehend all the various forms that can be employed for the propagation of evil. These include actual setting up of brothels, production of erotic stories, songs, paintings, plays and dramas as well as all kinds of mixed gatherings at clubs and hotels, which induce the people to immoralities. The ..\quran holds all those who resort to such things as criminals, who deserve punishment not only in the Hereafter but in this world as well. Accordingly it is the duty of an Islamic government to put an end to all such means of propagating immorality. Its penal law must hold all those acts as cognizable offences which the ..\quran mentions as crimes against public morality and declares the offenders punishable.

EN24:17 “You do not know…”: “You do not visualize the full impact of individual acts on society as a whole: Allah knows best the number of people who are affected by these acts and their cumulative effect on the collective life of the community. You should accordingly trust in Him and do all you can to eradicate and suppress the evils pointed out by Him. These are not trivial matters to be treated lightly; these have very serious repercussions and the offenders must be dealt with severely.”

If Allah had not shown His grace and mercy to you, (this scandal would have produced very evil results): Allah is indeed very Kind and Merciful. 24:20