THE SLANDER AGAINST AYESHA (RA) (MOTHER OF THE
BELIEVERS) AND HER VINDICATION BY ALLAH
This post summarizes the slander that the hypocrites during
Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) levied against mother of
the believers, Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). This was an important
event in Islamic history that also led the revelation of important verses in
Surah Nour in which Allah vindicated her.
Ayesha (May Allah be pleased with her –
RadiaAllahu Anha (RA)) once accompanied the Messenger of Allah, Prophet
Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) on a campaign and was travelling
with a caravan. She accidentally got separated from the caravan during the
journey and was stranded in the desert. Safwan bin Mu`attal, who was travelling
separately happened to get to the same place where she was and seeing her
stranded, brought his camel and made it kneel so that she could ride upon it.
Then he set out leading the camel until they caught up with the army. This gave
rise not just to suspicion, but allegations against them, with Abdullah bin
Ubayy bin Salul, the leader of the hypocrites, being the foremost in spreading
them. He fabricated the lie and whispered it to others, until some of the
Muslims started to believe it, and began to talk about their suspicions. As for
Ayesha (RA), as she was ill during those days, she did not know about the
slander that the people were indulging in. What upset her when she was ill was
that she observed the Prophet’s behavior to have changed toward her. On inquiry,
when she finally came to know about the slander from another lady, she sought
the Prophet’s permission and went to her parents’ home.
She said: “Rumours about this
slander went on spreading in the city for about a month, which caused a great
distress and anguish to the Holy Prophet. I cried due to helplessness and my
parents were sick with mental agony.”
The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam) remained in great anxiety with regard to Aisha (RA) for one whole
month. At last one day he (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) visited her and
her parents. He sat near her (which she says he had not done since the slander
had started). Feeling that something decisive was going to happen that day, Abu
Bakr and Umm Ruman (Ayesha (RA)’s parents) also sat near them. The Holy Prophet
gently said: “Ayesha, I have heard this about you. If you are innocent, I
expect that Allah will declare your innocence. But if you have committed the
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 her
eyes, as Ayesha (RA) reported. She looked up to her father expecting that he
would say something in her defense, but he said, `Daughter, I do not know
what I should say.’ Then she turned to her mother, but she also did not
know what to say. At last Ayesha (RA) replied, “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. I cannot but repeat the words which the father of Prophet Yousuf
(Joseph) had spoken: ‘fa-sabrun jamil’: I will bear this patiently with good
grace.”
(Holy Quran Chapter,
Sura An-Noor:11-21).: Those who brought forward the lie are a body
among yourselves: think it not to be an evil to you: on the contrary it is good
for you: to every man among them (will come the punishment) of the sin that he
earned and to him who took on himself the lead among them will be a Penalty
grievous. (11) Why did not Believers, men and women when ye heard of the
affair― put the best construction on it in their own minds and say "This
(charge) is an obvious lie"? (12) Why did they not bring four witnesses,
to prove it? When they have not brought the witnesses such men in the sight of
Allah, (stand forth) themselves as liars! (13) Were it not for the grace and
mercy of Allah on you, in this world and the Hereafter, a grievous penalty
would have seized you in that ye rushed glibly into this affair. (14) Behold ye
received it on your tongues and said out of your mouths things of which ye had
no knowledge; and ye thought it to be a light matter, while it was most serious
in the sight of Allah. (15) And why did ye not when ye heard it say? "It
is not right of us to speak of this: Glory to Thee (our Lord)! this is a most
serious slander!" (16) Allah doth admonish you, that ye may never repeat
such (conduct) if ye are (true) Believers. (17) And Allah makes the Signs plain
to you: for Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom. (18) Those who love (to see)
scandal published broadcast among the Believers, will have a grievous Penalty
in this life and in the Hereafter: Allah knows and ye know not. (19) Were it
not for the grace and mercy of Allah on you, and that Allah is full of kindness
and mercy, (ye would be ruined indeed). (20) O ye who believe! follow not
Satan's footsteps: if any will follow the footsteps of Satan he will (but) command
what is indecent and wrong: and were it not for the grace and mercy of Allah on
you not one of you would ever have been pure: but Allah doth purify whom He
pleases: and Allah is One Who hears and knows (all things). (21)
LESSONS
THAT WE CAN LEARN
This event provided many key lessons.
Let’s review some of them below.
THE
PROPHET’S ORDEAL AND CHALLENGE UNTIL THE VERSES WERE REVEALED
The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam)’s conduct and attitude proved beyond any doubt his moral purity,
nobility, fairness, tolerance and forbearance. If he had wished, he could have
punished the people responsible for the attack severely. But he bore everything
with patience until the Divine injunction came down from Allah. Later, he
enforced the punishment only on those three Muslims whose guilt was
established, and spared the hypocrites who were responsible for spreading the
mischief.
PERSEVERANCE
OF AYESHA (RA) AND HER REACTION AFTER THE FACT WAS KNOWN
The incident also highlights Ayesha
(RA)’s magnanimity. She did not allow the slander against her to color her
judgment of the people circulating it. Hassan bin Thabit had played a prominent
role in the campaign of slander against her, yet she continued to treat him
with due honor and esteem. When people reminded her that he was the man who had
slandered her, she replied, `…he it was who used to rebut the anti-Islamic
poets on behalf of the Holy Prophet and Islam’, and thus she acknowledged
his service to Islam more than his role in her slander. Thus, she didn’t allow
the dictates of her ego to supersede her objective judgment.
AYESHA
(RA)’S FAMILY’S RESPONSE
Abu Bakr and his family responded to
the slander against their daughter with dignified silence in spite of being
convinced of their daughter’s moral character and the falsity of the
accusation. Abu Bakr’s own relative, Mistah bin Uthatha, whose whole family he
had supported all along, continued heaping disgrace on Abu Bakr (RA) publicly,
yet Abu Bakr (RA) neither severed his family relations with him nor stopped
monetary help to him and his family.
After the revelation of verses 11-21 of
Surah Nour absolving her from the accusation, Abu Bakr swore that he would no
longer support Mistah bin Uthatha. This was because the man had shown no regard
for the relationship nor for the favors that Abu Bakr had all along been
showing him and his family. At this verse 22 of Surah Noor was 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. (22)
On hearing this verse, Abu Bakr
immediately said: “By God! We do want that Allah should forgive us.” And
he again started helping Mistah in a more liberal manner than before. His
example was followed by some other companions who had also sworn that they
would discontinue helping those who had taken an active part in the slander.
All of them revoked their oaths, wiping out the ill-will that had been created
by the mischief.
THE
RESPONSE OF THE OTHER WIVES OF THE PROPHET (SALLALLAHU ALAIHI WA SALLAM)
Despite the jealousy that existed in
the hearts of some of the other wives of the prophet, none of them took
the least part in the slander nor even expressed the slightest approval of it.
Even Zainab, for whose sake her real sister, Hamnah bint Jahsh, was taking part
in the slander, did not utter anything about her rival (Ayesha (RA)) except good
words. According to Ayesha (RA) 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 Messenger of
Allah, I swear by God that I have perceived nothing in her except piety’.”
Zainab (RA) depicted an admirable
quality in adhering to the truth about Ayesha (RA), refuting the false charge
by declaring that she’d seen nothing except good in Ayesha (RA). She did not
allow any feelings of jealousy to cloud the truth. By declaring the truth and
not staying silent, she prevented any doubts to surface about Ayesha (RA).
THE
EVILS OF SLANDERING
The incident became the cause of some
very important additions to the social law and injunctions of Islam. Through
these, the Muslims received Commandments from Allah which ensured that the
Muslim society could be kept clean and protected against the creation and
propagation of moral evils.
“Why did they not
produce four witnesses? Since they (the slanderers) have not produced
witnesses! Then with Allah they are the liars.” (Quran, Sura An-Noor:13).
This verse draws our attention to the
fact that none of the accusers had actually witnessed what they were accusing
the innocent about. The only basis of the accusation was that Ayesha (RA) had
been left behind and Safwan bin Mu`attal had brought her to the camp on his
camel.
The general principle laid down was
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 definite and concrete
basis for it. Every person should, as a matter of principle, be considered
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 unreliable.
And why did you not,
when you heard it, say: “It is not right for us to speak of this. Glory be to
You (O Allah)! This is a great lie.” (24:16).
Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala)
admonishes people regarding their response to the slander. The lady being
accused was no other than the wife of the Holy Prophet of Allah, whom every
Muslim esteemed higher than his own mother, and whom Allah Himself had
forbidden for every Muslim just like his own mother. The man being accused was
not only a follower of the same caravan, 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. He had
even followed him and fought in the most dangerous battle at Badr. As such, the
slander was an even greater sin.
THE
PROPHET (SALLALLAHU ALAIHI WA SALLAM) HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE UNSEEN
The Muslims came to understand that the
Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) had no absolute knowledge of
the unseen. He knew from the unseen and other knowledge only that which Allah
had taught him. For a month he was upset and would make inquiries from the
maid-servant, from his other wives, and sometimes from Ali and Usamah. Had he
possessed any knowledge of the unseen, he wouldn’t have felt so upset, or made
inquiries, nor counseled repentance. However, when the Divine Message revealed
the truth, he happily received that knowledge and made it known to all. Thus
Allah arranged to safeguard the Muslims, through direct experience and
observation, against exaggerated notions which people tend to entertain
regarding their religious leaders. Perhaps this was the reason why Allah
withheld revelation for a month and Allah knows best.
TRUST
IN ALLAH AND OBEDIENCE LEADS TO RECEIVING BLESSINGS FROM ALLAH
The hypocrites had planned to inflict a
defeat on the Muslims on the moral front. But Allah turned this mischief into a
means of strength for the Muslims. The incident brought out the best in the
conduct and attitude of the Holy Prophet, Abu Bakr and his family, and even
other Muslims. Nobility and forbearance stood out as their forte. For example,
when Abu Ayyub Ansari’s wife mentioned before him the rumors of the slander, he
said, “Mother of Ayyub, if you had been there in place of Aayesha (RA),
would you have done that?” She replied, “By God, I would never have done it.”
Ayyub then said, “Well, Aayesha (RA) is a much better woman than you. As for
myself if I had been in place of Safwan, I could never have entertained such an
evil thought and Safwan is a better Muslim than I.”
Thus, the result of the mischief
engineered by the hypocrites was contrary to what they had planned to achieve,
and the Muslims emerged out of this test morally stronger than before.
Eventually we should never forget that
truth always prevails and shows itself when Allah’s Help is sought and His way
is adopted. Anger and vindictiveness rarely leads to any good, which can only
be achieved through patience and adherence to the straight path.
References: (1) Quran interpretation (Tafsir) by Sayyid Abul A’la
Mawdudi, (2) Tafsir Ibn Kathir
— End
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