Now as we mentioned before, the hpyocrites wanted revenge after Allah exposed th

em in Surah Munafiqun. And the head of them, Abdullah ibn Ubay saw his opportuni
ty to get revenge and get 'even' with Aisha RAs story. It was a truly evil and f
ilthy fact. As we mentioned out of respect for Aisha RA none of the books of see
rah ever explicity state what the 'slander' was. Its truly amazing. This is beca
use of the utmost respect muslims have for the honour of the prophet PBUH. Indee
d insulting the wives of the prophet PBUH IS insulting the prophet PBUH. Any man
will get angry if someone insults their wife. Its your honour and your reputati
on! This is why especially as sunni we take extra concern with the prophet PBUH.
This is a fundamental difference between us and shias. We define the ahlul bayt
as the wives and the blood relatives of the prophet PBUH. This is human nature,
shari, linguistic etc. We love ahlul bayt more than any other group because we
love them properly. Surah Ahzab explicitly links the ahlul bayt to the mothers o
f the believers. We have our beliefs and we view them to be definately true in a
ccordance to the Quran. Therefore attacking the most famous, young, innocent and
beloved wife of the prophet PBUH is something we take very serious.
We discussed that Aisha RA returned from the Banu al Mustalik and she was found
by Safwan ibn Muattal. He did not even say one word to her other than 'la howla
wa la quita illah billah'. Aisha RA said herself "walahi I never heard one word
other than that". And he led Aisha RA to catch up with the caravan and he caught
up before they reached Madinah. At the same time Abdullah ibn Ubay is fuming wi
th anger. He has been exposed in the Quran by the testimony of Allah that "they
swear to you they are telling the truth but Allah knows they are lying". Because
of this, Abdullah ibn Ubay gets that idea, that here is Aisha RA coming with a
young upright, virtious and unmarried man, and so he begins the rumours.
Aisha RA says she returned home and thought nothing of it, no big deal - she was
late for the caravan and then she caught up. She felt sick with fever and spent
an entire month bed-ridden. And she says no one informed her of anything wrong.
"No one told me the rumours were spreading like wildfire - I was completely una
ware. The only thing that brought me some doubt is that the prophet PBUH was not
as open with me as he normally was". This shows us the innocence of Aisha RA, a
nd the also the humanity of the prophet PBUH. He is after a human being, and he
was disturbed by the rumours but he didn't want to confront Aisha RA. And his in
stinct is telling us Aisha RA is free of the rumours, and he wants to defend her
and he will defend her, but still he isn't showing her the usual tenderness he
does. Aisha RA knew something was a little bit off but had no clue of the evil t
hat were spreading.
After Aisha RA got well, she mentions an incident went she went to relieve herse
lf with Umme Mistah, her aunty (Abu Bukrs sister). "We exited towards an area wh
ere we would relieve ourselves. And we would only go to this area once every few
nights because we were of the arabs. This was before the time people built rest
rooms inside the houses". Note the arabs at the time only went to relieve themse
lves every few days. Why? Because there was no toilets within the house - the ar
abs distained this. There was no running water or cleaning system so of course h
aving a toilet would not be suitable. Only later did toilets began being built i
nside houses and subhanAllah this shows in her own lifetime the entire customs c
hanged. The wealth that came into the ummah was unimaginable. The arabs went fro
m being a backward nation to a people who ruled the world.
So as Aisha RA and Umme Mistah were coming back, Umme Mistah falls over her own
dress and just blurts out "curse my son". It shows she is angry at her son, and
when she trips automatically the anger she has against her son Mistah comes out.
Now Aisha RA is shocked at hearing this and defends him: she says "Woe to you!
How can you say this about your own son and he has attended Badr?" SubhanAllah t
his shows the status of the people of Badr. Any badri has such a status. And aga
in this shows the innocence of Aisha RA. Look at her fitrah - instantly to defen
d a muslim. Its the mannerisms the prophet PBUH has taught her - she dosen't kno

w why he is being cursed etc, and this is the mother doing it to her own son, sh
e has a right but Aisha RA still defends him. Umme Mistah says "my dear child do
n't you know what is going on? Don't you know what is being said?" And then Aish
a RA says that is when she was told the slander being spread. According to some
book she fainted on the stop.
When she went back home this news made her physically, emotionally sick. And she
said she felt even more sick than ever. And she narrates "the prophet PBUH ente
red upon me and asked how I was". He didn't know what happened - so she says "I
asked permission to go to my parents house". This shows us the emotion of Aisha
RA - how affected she was about what has happened, that she wants to go to her p
arents house and verify the information. SubhanAllah her maturity is amazing her
e - she is calm, composed and just asked to go to her parents house. It also sho
ws a simply fiqh point: a women requires permission from the husband to spend th
e night to another house. The prophet PBUH gave her permission and she rushed ba
ck home to her parents house.
When she reached she said "my mother my mother what are the people talking about
? What is this slander and why didn't you tell me?" Her mother Umme Ruman calms
her down and says "Be easy on yourself for walahi never does a good man loves he
r wife as much as yours except that people talk about her". And she also brings
in the issue of co-wives. Note she isn't even saying 'yes' or 'no' - she is just
saying "don't worry about it". But this response tells Aisha RA everything bein
g said is true. And her first response is "subhanAllah have the people actually
said this?" Again she cannot fathom this - she is just an innocent young girl an
d she cannot believe people can be this evil and cruel. And she said "I cried an
d I cried until the morning came and my tears would not stop, and I did not tase
the sweetness of sleep." So this is non stop crying all night. This shows us th
e sensitivity and innocence of Aisha RA.
Aisha RA then explains, that "the one who took charge of this" and this phrase i
s in the Quran, was Abdullah ibn Ubay ibn Salool. She mentions him by name and t
herefore this is tafseer of that verse in the Quran. Note ibn Salool was from th
e Khazraj, therefore the bulk of the munafiqs were from the Khazraj aswell. And
then she says "and three others of the sahabah followed along: Mistah (Aishas se
cond cousin), Hamala bint Jahsh, Hasani bint Thabit. These were the only three o
f the non-munafiqun who were guilt of gossip. They didn't invent the lie but the
y felt prey to gossiping and spreading the news: "have you heard what happened?
Do you know whats said?!" This was wrong. We know in our shariah you cannot goss
ip in this way, especially when it involves something as sensitive and zina and
honour. So these were the three that spread it and we will discuss what happened
to them. She says "As for Hamana, her sister was Zainab bint Jahsh, and she was
the only one of the wives of the prophet PBUH who rivalled me - therefore, she
wanted to help her sister for this rivalvry but she suffered because of this.".
Of course Aisha RA and Zainab RA had the most rivalvry - Zainab was of the most
noble lineage, she was the cousin of the prophet PBUH etc. Therefore Aisha RA he
rself said "the only wife who genuinely rivalled me was Zainab". But she says "A
s for Zainab, her deen protected her".
Regarding ibn Salool, Aishas report is explicit that he was the one who began it
. Also we find the problem of triabilism. Most of the munafiqs were from the Kha
zraj only because he was of their tribe, and in paticular he was the leader in t
he days of Jaheleya. All other leaders had died in the wars of Bu'ath, therefore
they looked up to him the most. This shows the true danger of tribalism.
Aisha RA continues that the prophet PBUH had already called testiomy to Ali RA a
nd Usama bin Zaid. Ali was his son in law, his cousin, someone whose grown up in
the house of Khadija etc. Usama was literally born in the house of the prophet
PBUH. And his father was the 'adopted son' Zaid ibn Harithah. And his mother Umm
e Ayman was someone who took care of the prophet PBUH at a young age. She was no

t a foster mother, but a caretaker. Therefore no one is closer to the prophet PB

UH amongst the older women than Umme Ayman. And she married Zaid, and they had U
sama ibn Zaid. Thats why Usama was 'the beloved the son of the beloved'. And at
the time Usama was 13/14 so he is becoming a young man. Therefore the prophet PB
UH is calling these two to find out if they've seen anything strange. As for Usa
ma he testified what he knew that the prophet PBUHs family is free of this charg
e. That "its not possible". As for Ali RA, he said "Allah has not restricted the
matter from you and you can marry again. But if you want to know her character,
call her maid servant Bareera - she will know more than us". Of course Aisha RA
s testimony is not as good as Usama's. Usama clearly defended her but Ali RA is
saying "if you have doubt you can marry again - and in any case call Bareera". S
o the prophet PBUH called Bareera who was a freed slave. Aisha RA had freed her,
but she was so overjoyed she became a maid servant to her. So she lived with Ai
sha and took care of her.
So the prophet PBUH calls Bareera and she is terrified. She is stammering, stutt
ering - the prophet PBUH is interrogating her directly. So the prophet PBUH said
"Ya Bareera have you seen anything from Aisha RA that would suggest the rumours
are tree?" She says "Walahi I have not seen anything from her except that somet
imes she is supposed to kneed the dough, and she falls asleep and the goat comes
and eats the dough when she sleeps". SubhanAllah. Bareera is so terrified she i
s telling this 'SIN' of Aisha RA. This is the SIN of Aisha RA. This really shows
us not only the honesty of Bareera, but the true innocence of Aisha RA. We also
learn its apart of human nature that one goes to his closest friends and relati
ves for advice. Even the prophet PBUH: he went to Ali and Usama and they were bo
th very young. Usama is just 13/14 - but the prophet PBUH is gaining advice from
him. When all the testimony is done, the prophet PBUH feels comfort.
At this time Aisha RA is still at her parents house, which is slightly outside M
adinah. So the prophet PBUH called a general assembly in the masjid, and everyon
e knows the rumour. So he said "Oh gathering of believers, who will excuse me fr
om a person that has hurt me even my own family?" In other words he is saying "I
s there any blame from a man who protects his own family?" That is, he is refere
ncing to Abullah ibn Ubay, and that fact that he has simply taken it too low. An
d he said "Walahi I know nothing but good from my wives. And even this man they
mention, I know nothing but good from him." We see here the tense situation - th
e people of Madinah are being asked directly. Immediately Sa'ad ibn Mu'ad stood
up (or someone else - someone from the Aws, one of the young leaders) "Ya RasulA
llah as for me, I excuse you whatever you want to do to this man. If this man is
from the Aws, I will cut his head off. If he is from the Khazraj, command us an
d then I will do it". SubhanAllah he knows that Jaheleya is still around. And of
course Abdullah ibn Ubay is from the Khazraj. As soon as this is said, Sa'ad ib
n Ubada of the Khazraj stood up and said "You are not telling the truth! Walahi
you cannot kill him and you will not dare to kill him. Had he been from your tri
be you would not kill him". This is tribalism for you. Aisha RA who is narrating
makes an excuse for Sa'ad ibn Ubada: she said "before this statement he was a r
ighteous man, but Jaheleya took over him i.e. he fell into a mistake". SubhanAll
ah she is making excuses for everyone in the story. And so when this happened, s
omeone from the Aws stood up and said "You are the liar and WE WILL kill him, yo
u are just a munafiq fighting on behalf of the other munfaiqun". SubhanAllah the
whole point of the gathering is being lost. This is the problem of not caring o
f the broader picture. Its a very painful issue - is this the time to being up j
aheleya politics? Aws vs Khazraj etc? The passions were raised, anger is flared,
and the prophet PBUH had to calm the two sides down. Again it shows the humanit
y of the sahabah, and not only this - it shows tribalism will remain forever in
the ummah. The prophet PBUH said "four things from Jaheleya will remain in the u
mmah: the first is tribalism (i.e. nationalism)".
So Aisha RA says "I continued to cry that day and my tears would not stop until
I thought my liver would burst open". She thinks her liver will crack - of cours

e when you cry that much you do get a pain. "And while I was like this, one of t
he ladies of the Ansar asked to enter, and she sat with me and cried with me". S
he is showing sympathy and care. All she does is just cry with Aisha RA - and sh
e said "while I was in this state, now the prophet PBUH came and visited". This
is the 2nd day after Aisha RA left. After she left things have gone very fast: h
e called the meeting of Ali, Usama, Bareera then the general meeting etc. Notice
the prophet PBUH wanted to protect Aisha RA - when she was next to the masjid f
or a whole month he didn't do anything. But by not doing anything the rumours be
came inflamed. Now finally the prophet PBUH came with Abu Bukr and Umar to talk
about the issue. He sat down and praised Allah and the he said "as to what follo
ws". Even in this time, some praise and then the phrase "Am'aa b'ad" - this is t
he sunnah. The prophet PBUH said "I have heard such and such about you, so if yo
u are innocent then Allah will clear you of this charge. If you have slipped int
o a sin, then seek Allahs forgiveness and repent to him, for indeed when a serva
nt sins and asks for forgiveness Allah will forgive". Very simple and clear. We
feel for the confusion of the prophet PBUH - he wants to ask her directly; note
even in this direct talk there is no accusation. This shows us the status of taw
bah: repentance is the key to salvation.
Another point we learn is the fact that the prophet PBUH is a true prophet. And
the Quran is wahi from Allah. Why? For one whole month no Quran came down for Ai
sha RA. He himself is in dire pain and anguish. He had no wahi from Allah. Had t
he Quran been his own wahi and recitation, why go through toture for a month? Wh
y drag the entire ummah through this? The prophet PBUH is waiting for wahi from
Allah, but Jibreel AS had not come down! And as we know Allah Himself says that
Jibreel would "only come down when Allah tells to come down". This shows beyond
a shadow of a doubt that the prophet PBUH is a true prophet.
Aisha RA resumes: "when the prophet PBUH finished speaking, I stopped crying com
pletely" and now she is feeling angry. Why? Because she is saying "you actually
believe these rumours?!" She says to her mother "Answer the prophet PBUH on beha
lf of myself". And Umme Raman says "By Allah I don't know what to say". So she s
ay "Oh my father say something". SubhanAllah Abu Bukr said "My dear daughter wha
t do you want me to say?" Everyone in this story is a loser: you are crying for
Aisha, Abu Bukr, the prophet PBUH etc. And so when she realised neither her fath
er or mother will speak for her, and indeed what can they say?! This is the prop
het PBUH in front of them. So Aisha RA musters whatever strength she can and say
s "I was still a young girl and had not memorised much of the Quran so I tried t
o remember the name of Yaqub AS so she told the prophet PBUH: 'I can only say wh
at Abu Yusuf said 'Allah will help me against what has been said'". So she is sa
ying the rumours are not true and Allah will help me. She said "after saying thi
s, I turned around in my bed and faced the wall". SubhanAllah she feels alone an
d desolte: and she says "I knew Allah would eventually reveal my honesty. But I
never in my wildest dreams Allah would reveal Quran about me".
Notice when every single source of help from mankind was cut off: her own mother
, father and husband, she turns to Allah. What happens? Allah answers her right
then and there. Not even the prophet PBUH will help you against Allah. Only Alla
h we seek His aid. She literally and figuratively turns from all of them. She sa
id "I was hoping the prophet PBUH would see a dream however right then and there
his head lowered". Whenever wahi would come, he would lower his head, he would
close his eyes, sweat would start coming out and they would see a physical weigh
t on him. The Quran says "we will send you a heavy revalation". And when the wah
i was lifted the prophet PBUH broke out laughing, and the first word he said wer
e "Oh Aisha RA verily Allah has revealed your innocence". And Allah had revealed
the entire first section of Surah Nur. In this Allah very explicitly mentions t
he punishments of slander, and criticises those who spread the slander, and comm
anded the punishment of 80 lashes for those spreading it. And that "the one who
took charge of it shall get the worst of all punishments". And her mother said t
o Aisha RA to stand up and thank the prophet PBUH but she said "no walahi I will

stand up for him, I will thank Allah for revealing this Quran".
Abu Bukr RA used to give sadaqah to Mistah, but after he began spreading these r
umours he said "walahi I will never give him a penny". SubhanAllah Allah reveale
d in surah Nur "Let not the people of money and grace make promises that they ar
e not going to support the fuqara, muhajiroon and masaqeen, let them forgive and
forget - don't they want that Allah forgives them". What type of Quran is this?
That Abu Bukr is told "don't make these promises" and so Abu Bukr did kifaara o
f the previous oath, and as long as lived he continued to support Mistah. His da
ughter is accused and still he continues to pay Mistah for as long as he lived.
And Aisha RA mentioned the story of Zainab bint Jahsh, and she said "I will not
cause my eyes and ears to fall into sin, walahi I only know good of Aisha". Even
though there were not friendly - there was alot of rivalvry between them. Uruwa
RA said that "Aisha would never accept anyone to speak ill of Hasan ibn Thabit"
. Hamana, Hasan and Mistah were whipped 80 times for this punishment of spreadin
g the rumour. As for the munafiqun, and the one who started it, they were let of
f. Why? Because Allah did not want to dimish the punishment in the next life, so
he let them off in this life. Had they been punished in this world, Allah would
not have punished in this world. Therefore Hasan, Hamana and Mistah just made a
mistake and they paid for it. And its a mistake that we all make: gossiping and
spreading news.
Aisha RA says "as for the man they accused, he himself sweared by Allah 'I have
never raised the veil of a women in my life'". The majority say he never got mar
ried. When Safwan ibn Muattal heard Hasan is saying this, he took his sword and
hit Hasan with the blunt edge of it. Hasans relatives and tribes tried to attack
Safwan, but Safwan said "I am a man who when my blood become raged, I don't kno
w how to give poetry, I only know how to give beatings". So the case was brought
in front of the prophet PBUH - its amazing. Safwan is angry for a legitimate re
ason, but he has bloodied and wounded Hasan and in the shariah you cannot take t
he law into your own hands. And this is the prophet PBUHs wife the issue is happ
ening over. So the prophet PBUH ruled in favour of Hasan, but the prophet PBUH s
aid to Hasan "forgive him" and he did. So Hasan was gifted a garden as recompanc
e. Look at the fairness of Islam: Hasan was guilty, but when Safwan took the law
into his own hands, the law did not side with him. Its an amazing fact of Islam
ic justice. Hasan could have demanded the same hitting back but he instead forga
ve and got a garden.
Its mentioned Abu Ayyub al Ansari's wife came home and said to him "have you hea
rd?" And Abu Ayyub became angry and said "We should not be saying these things.
Its an evil lie". And Allah quoted Abu Ayyub al Ansari even though he said this
in the privacy of his hose. That Allah says "why didn't you say like this person
said". What a praise for this man - that Allah quotes him directly in the Quran
. Abu Ayyub chastised his own wife. Therefore just because you are married to so
meone does not mean you can backbite about others. You are not supposed to backb
ite about other people and couples behind their back! The prophet PBUH said "one
of the sins a person will be punished for in the grave is gossiping". Therefore
spreading news and rumours is forbidden in our shariah. Of the benefits we can
derive:
1. Evils of slander, lying and gossiping. These are all major sins, and they bec
ome more major they involve punishment by lashes.
2. Allah will test the believers by various means. Even Aisha RA has to go throu
gh her trails. The more Allah loves someone the more he shall test them.
3. Every time of ease is followed by difficulty, and vice versa. Aisha RA has go
od times, and she has difficult times.

4. The level the munafiqun go down to is simply beyond that which is reasonable.
It shows they have no morals and dignity. And there was wisdom: that Allah says
"don't think this was bad for you - rather it was good for you". This shows us
if something so painful as the slander of Aisha RA was good, every single calami
ty we go through there is some good in it.
5. The fruits of patience will always be sweet. Being patient and turning to All
ah will always vindicate you. If you are truthful and sincere Allah will help yo
u when no one else will.
6. This establishes beyond any doubt the high honour and status of Aisha RA. The
refore she is the pure, the daugther of the pure, and she is the wife of the pro
phet PBUH. Therefore anyone who accuses her of immorality, such a person is not
in the fold of Islam. Allah has freed her from above the seven heavens. Anyone w
ho accuses her of this accusation, we do not consider them to be muslims. And th
e shias don't all say this - we need to be fair. There is a contraversy within S
hia, and these days the mainstream among them do not hold this view. And walahi
the fringe element who makes these claims are filthy and loud speaking. The bulk
of the group don't like Aisha RA, but don't accuse of her this crime. As long a
s they don't get to that level, then it dosen't reach kufr. The minute they accu
se her of what Allah freed her, we don't consider them to be muslims.