Mu'jam Kabir Tabarani 19442 — When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ intended

Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to go on a journey, he would cast lots among his wives, and whichever of them drew the lot, he (peace and blessings be upon him) would travel with her. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) undertook a military expedition in which my lot came out. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had finished his expedition and we drew near Madinah, the departure was announced one night, and I went out until I had gone beyond the army. When I had finished my need and came back to my place, I felt for my necklace, which was of Zafar beads, and it had broken. So I went back, and searching for it held me back. Meanwhile, the people who used to lift my howdah came and loaded it onto my camel, thinking that I was in it, and in those days women were light; they did not put on flesh. So the army moved on, and I came to their camp, but there was neither anyone calling nor anyone answering. So I stayed in my same place, and I was sure that they would miss me and come back to look for me. While I was sitting, sleep overcame me. Safwan bin al-Mu'attal (may Allah be pleased with him) had stayed behind the army and was coming along, and he saw the dark shape of a sleeping person and came towards me. As soon as he saw me, he recognised me and recited the istirja', and he had seen me before the command of the veil was revealed. I was startled by his istirja' and covered my face. He said nothing other than that, nor did he speak to me, until he made his mount kneel and put his foot on its foreleg, and I mounted. Then, travelling fast in the intense heat of midday, we reached the army, and whoever was to be ruined had been ruined. Then I reached Madinah and was ill for a month. I knew nothing of what the slanderers were saying, and it troubled me that I was not finding from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) the gentleness I used to find during illness; he (peace and blessings be upon him) would stand and say: "How is she?" Until, when I recovered, Umm Mistah and I went out to relieve ourselves towards al-Manasi', which was our place for relieving ourselves. Our practice was like that of the early Arabs: we ate only a little food, and the women would go out to relieve themselves only at night. When we had finished our need, I turned back towards my house, and meanwhile Umm Mistah tripped in her wrap and stumbled, and she said: "May Mistah perish!" I said: "What an evil thing you have said! You have reviled a righteous man who was present at Badr!" She said: "O simple one! Do you not know what people have said?" I said: "What have they said?" So she told me the whole news. Then I waited for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to come, and I asked his (peace and blessings be upon him) permission to go to my parents so that I could confirm the news from them. I came to their house and found my father praying. I said: "Mother, what have people said?" She said: "My daughter, it has rarely happened that a beautiful woman is with a man who loves her, and she has co-wives, without their talking much about her." I said: "Have they really said this?" Then my father finished his prayer and turned round. By Allah, I wished that I were a (discarded) menstrual rag. My state was such that no sleep came to my eyes and my tears did not stop. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ascended the pulpit and said: "What is the matter with men whose harm has reached me concerning my family? They have mentioned a righteous man who was present at Badr; he never came to my family except when I was present, and on every journey I made, he was with me." At this, Sa'd bin Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and said: "O Messenger of Allah, I am at your service against him. If he is from al-Aws, we will strike his neck, and if he is from Banu al-Harith bin al-Khazraj, we will bring him to you bound." At this, Sa'd bin Ubadah (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and said: "You have lied! By Allah, you will not kill him, nor do you have the power to kill him." Then Usayd bin Hudayr bin Simak (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and said: "You have lied! By Allah, we will certainly kill him; you are a hypocrite arguing on behalf of the hypocrites." So both tribes, al-Aws and al-Khazraj, flared up against each other, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came down (from the pulpit) and kept quietening them and calming them until they fell silent. Ibn Jurayj said: The freed slave of Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) related: Some of them said to others: "Our meeting with you will be at al-Harrah." So they put on their weapons and went out there. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to them and kept reciting to them this verse: "And remember the favour of Allah upon you" (Al Imran: 103) to its end, repeating it to them again and again, until they began embracing one another and were choked with sobs. Then they went back, having made peace. When the revelation was delayed for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he (peace and blessings be upon him) called Ali and Usamah bin Zayd (may Allah be pleased with them) and consulted them about separating from his wife. Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Allah has not restricted you; there are many women, and if you ask the slave girl (he meant Barirah), she will tell you the truth." And Usamah (may Allah be pleased with him) advised according to the love he knew in his heart for his (peace and blessings be upon him) family and what he knew of their innocence. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) called Barirah and said: "Have you seen anything in this girl for which you would blame her?" She said: "No, by the One who sent you with the truth, except that she is a young girl who falls asleep until the household goat eats her kneaded dough or her leaven." Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: I remained for two days and two nights in such a state that no sleep came to my eyes and my tears did not stop. In the morning my parents were with me, and they thought that the weeping would split my liver. Then a woman of the Ansar asked permission; I gave her permission and she sat down. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came and sat with me in a way he had not sat since this thing had been said about me. He (peace and blessings be upon him) praised and extolled Allah and then said: "To proceed: O Aishah, if you are innocent, Allah will surely declare you innocent; and if you have committed a sin, then repent of it and confess it, for when a person repents of his sin and confesses it, he is forgiven." She said: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had finished speaking, my tears dried up so completely that I could not feel a single drop. I said: "Father, answer the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." He said: "I do not know what answer to give him (peace and blessings be upon him)." I said: "Mother, answer the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." She said: "I do not know what answer to give him (peace and blessings be upon him)." She said: And I was a young girl who did not read much of the Qur'an, so I said: "By Allah, you have heard something about this which has settled in your hearts. Now if I say that I am innocent of it, and Allah knows that I am innocent, you will not believe me; and if I confess to a sin of which I am innocent, you will believe me. Listen! My example and yours is like that of the father of Yusuf (peace be upon him) (his name has slipped from my mind), (who said): 'So patience is most fitting, and it is Allah whose help is sought' (Yusuf: 18)." Then I turned my face towards the wall, and in my own eyes I was far too insignificant for Qur'an to be sent down about me that would be recited, but I hoped that Allah would show His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) a dream in his sleep. The people of the gathering had not yet dispersed when the same intense state that used to come over him at the time of revelation came over the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), until sweat like pearls began to drip from him (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) covered himself with a cloth. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When I looked at the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), I feared that something might come from the heavens that could not be averted; and when I looked at Aishah's face, it was calm, and that gave me hope about her. So I kept looking now here, now there. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) removed the cloth from himself; he (peace and blessings be upon him) was wiping the sweat from his forehead and saying: "Rejoice, O Aish! As for Allah, He has declared you innocent." I said: "With the praise of Allah, and with blame for you." My mother said: "Get up and kiss the head of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." I said: "No, by Allah, I will not do it, and I will not praise anyone but Allah." And among the things for which she was criticised was that she said: "By Allah, I do not feel ashamed before that Ansari woman that she should say to me what she said."