Mu'jam Kabir Tabarani 19455 — Whenever the Prophet ﷺ intended to go

Whenever the Prophet (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 would take her with him. In the expedition of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) against Banu al-Mustaliq (of Khuza'ah), the lot of Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) came out. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) set off back and drew near Madinah (and Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) was at that time a young girl, slight and light, who kept to her screened quarters), whenever the people intended to depart, she would go and perform ablution, come back and sit in her litter; then her camel would be saddled, and the litter would be lifted and placed on the camel. So the first thing said by the hypocrites and others who spread this talk about Sayyidah Aishah was that, when they drew near Madinah, she went out to perform ablution, and a necklace of shell beads slipped from her neck. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the people departed while she was searching for the necklace, and she did not know of their departure. The people tied the litter onto her camel, for they thought she was in it as before. Sayyidah Aishah came back to her place and found no one in the camp, and sleep came over her. Safwan bin al-Mu'attal al-Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him), a Companion of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), had stayed behind the army that night until morning. She said: He passed by me, saw me and recited the istirja', and when he saw me alone, my situation weighed heavily on him; he used to know me and I used to know him before the veil was imposed upon us. She said: He asked me about my situation, and I covered my face from him with my outer sheet and told him what had happened. So he brought his camel near and put his foot on its foreleg, and turned his back to me until I had mounted and set my clothes in order. Then he set it off and began travelling with me until we entered Madinah at midday or close to it. On that occasion, whoever of the people of the slander was to speak said (the slanderous) words about me and about Safwan, while I knew nothing of it, nor of what people were saying about me. I was ill during those nights, and the first thing that troubled me regarding the Prophet (peace be upon him) was that before this, whenever I fell ill, he (peace and blessings be upon him) would visit me, but during those nights he (peace and blessings be upon him) neither came in nor visited me; he would only say in passing: "How is she?" and ask some of the household about me. When the news reached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that people were talking a great deal about me, it grieved him (peace and blessings be upon him). Before that I had complained to my mother of the coldness I felt from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and she said to me: "My daughter, be patient. By Allah, it rarely happens that a beautiful woman, whose husband loves her and who also has co-wives, is not accused by them (the co-wives)." (Sayyidah Aishah said:) That night I sensed something, the night after which, in the morning, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent for Ali bin Abi Talib and Usamah bin Zayd and consulted them about my affair. In those days we had no toilets; we would simply go out as the Arabs used to go, at night. I said to the mother of Mistah bin Uthathah: "Take the water skin, fill it with water and come to al-Manasi'." She and her son Mistah were related to Abu Bakr, and Abu Bakr used to spend on them both; they lived with him and his family. I took the water skin and we went out towards al-Manasi'. The mother of Mistah fell and said: "May Mistah perish!" I said to her: "What an evil thing you have said!" Then we walked on and she fell again and said the same: "May Mistah perish!" I said to her: "What an evil thing you have said about a Companion of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and one who took part in Badr!" She said: "You really are unaware of what people are saying about you." I said: "Yes; what is it?" She said: "Mistah, and so-and-so, and such-and-such a woman, among the hypocrites whom Satan has caused to slip, gather in the house of Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul, the brother of Banu al-Harith bin al-Khazraj, and talk about you and Safwan bin al-Mu'attal, and accuse you with him." (Sayyidah Aishah said:) The urge to relieve myself left me altogether, and I returned home by the same way. When morning came, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent for Ali bin Abi Talib and Usamah bin Zayd, told them what had been said about me, and consulted them about my affair. Usamah said: "By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, we have known no evil about your wife." Ali said to him (peace and blessings be upon him): "O Messenger of Allah, how many women there are! And if you want to know the real news, question the servant girl (meaning Barirah) sternly." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Ali: "You go to the servant girl yourself." Ali asked her about me, and she told him nothing (praise be to Allah) except good. (Barirah) said: "By Allah, I know no evil about Aishah, except that she is a young girl who falls asleep, neglecting her family's dough, and the goat comes and eats the dough." Then, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) heard what Barirah had said to Ali about me, he (peace and blessings be upon him) went out to the people. When the people had gathered, he said: "O Muslims, who will help me against men who hurt me concerning my wife, though I have known no evil about my wife, and who also blame one of my Companions about whom too I have known no evil, and I never went out on any journey except that he went out with me?" At this, Sa'd bin Mu'adh al-Ansari, then al-Ashhali, of the tribe of al-Aws, stood up and said: "O Messenger of Allah, if this was done by anyone of al-Aws, we will suffice you against him, and if by anyone of al-Khazraj, give us your command." At this, Sa'd bin Ubadah al-Ansari, then al-Khazraji, stood up and said to Sa'd bin Mu'adh: "You have lied! By Allah, this is falsehood." At this, Usayd bin Hudayr al-Ansari, then al-Ashhali, stood up, and some men of both sides reviled one another and began quarrelling, until the matter was about to become grave. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) entered my house and sent for my parents. They both came to him (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) praised and extolled Allah as befits Him, and then said to me: "O Aishah, you are only one of the daughters of Adam; if you have made a mistake, then repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness." I said to my father: "Answer the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on my behalf." My father said: "I will not do so; he is the Prophet of Allah and revelation comes to him." I said to my mother: "Answer the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on my behalf." She too said the same as my father had said. I said: "By Allah, if I confess to something false against myself, you will believe me; and if I declare myself innocent (while Allah knows that I am innocent), you will call me a liar. So I find no example for me and for you except this saying of the father of Yusuf." (Because of grief, sorrow and the burning in my heart, I had forgotten the name of Ya'qub.) "'So beautiful patience is best, and it is Allah whose help is sought against what you describe' [Surah Yusuf: 18]." Then the state that used to come over him at the time of revelation came over the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Then it passed, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) passed his hand over his face and said: "Rejoice, O Aishah! Allah has sent down your vindication." Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: By Allah, I did not think that Qur'an would be sent down about my affair; rather, I hoped (as Allah knows my innocence) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would see a dream about my affair through which Allah would declare me innocent before His Prophet (peace be upon him). At that time my parents said to me: "Get up and kiss the head of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." I said: "By Allah, I will not do it; this came about through the praise of Allah, not through your praise." Abu Bakr used to spend on Mistah and his mother. When he accused me, Abu Bakr swore that he would never benefit him with anything. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) recited this saying of Allah, the Blessed and Exalted: "And let them pardon and overlook. Do you not love that Allah should forgive you?" [Surah al-Nur: 22], Abu Bakr wept and said: "Yes indeed, O my Lord!" and he resumed spending on Mistah and his mother. And Safwan bin al-Mu'attal lay in wait for Hassan bin Thabit with a sword, and then struck him a blow. At the time of that blow, Safwan said this verse about Hassan:
(In the metre al-Tawil)
"Beware the edge of my sword, for I am a young man who, when lampooned, does not answer as a poet;
rather, I guard what is sacred to me and take revenge on the one who slanders chaste and pure women."
Then Hassan cried out and called on the people for help against Safwan. When the people came, Safwan fled. Hassan came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and sought redress from Safwan for that blow. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked him to forgive Safwan's blow, so he gifted this right to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and in exchange he (peace and blessings be upon him) gave him a large garden of date palms and a Roman (or, it is said, Coptic) slave girl named Sirin, who bore Hassan his son, the poet Abd al-Rahman. Abu Uways said: Husayn bin Abdullah bin Ubaydullah bin Abbas informed me of this, through Ikrimah, from Ibn Abbas. Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Later Hassan sold that garden to Mu'awiyah bin Abi Sufyan during his rule for a great sum of money. Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: It has reached me (and Allah knows best) that the one about whom Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, said: "And the one among them who took upon himself the greater part of it, for him is a great punishment" [Surah al-Nur: 11], was Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul, one of Banu al-Harith bin al-Khazraj. Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Poems were composed about the people of the slander, and Abu Bakr said these verses to Mistah, whose name was Awf, about his accusing Aishah:
(In the metre al-Basit)
"O Awf, woe to you! Why did you not say words that are known and good, without seeking any gain by them?
The zeal of a proud people seized you; so, O Awf, no blame was upon you from the one who cut off ties.
Why did you not keep away from those people when they envied, so that even if you were hostile to them, you would not speak foully?
When you accused a chaste woman of no blemished lineage, trustworthy and pure of bosom, in whom no crookedness was known,
along with those who accused her, and you were all a band openly immersed in evil talk and the language of indecency,
then Allah sent down an excuse in her vindication, and between Awf and Allah is whatever he has done.
If I live, I will repay Awf for this saying of his with an evil reward, for what he did in following others."
And the mother of Sa'd bin Mu'adh composed these verses about those who accused Aishah:
(In the metre al-Madid)
"All the people of al-Aws and their descendants bear witness, those of five generations and others too,
and the women of al-Khazraj also bear witness truthfully, and this is known to all,
that the daughter of al-Siddiq was most chaste, pure of bosom, and upright in religion.
She feared Allah even in absence, and the favour of Allah remained over her protection.
She was the best of women in state and nature, and her father of lofty lineage was of exalted rank.
As for those who attacked her with slander, instruments of punishment and Hellfire have seized them.
Would that the one who accused her of evil were afflicted with such ruin that the base one wets himself,
and like a war, a flame that blazes up, its force sharp and cutting.
Would that Sa'd (bin Ubadah) and whoever accused her of evil were in severe distress until the wrongdoer repents."
And Hassan composed these verses when he declared Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) innocent of that accusation and apologised to her:
(In the metre al-Tawil)
"She is chaste and dignified; no charge of suspicion attaches to her, and she remains hungry from the flesh of heedless women (backbiting).
She is the beloved of the best of men in religion and rank, the Prophet of guidance and of lofty character.
She is the chosen one of a noble tribe of Lu'ayy bin Ghalib, whose glory of noble striving will never fade.
She is of refined qualities, whose nature Allah has made pure, and He has cleansed her of every evil and falsehood.
If I said what has been attributed to me, then may my fingers never raise my whip to me.
And what has been said is not something that will cling to you through the ages; rather, it is the word of a lying man.
And how could that be, when as long as I live my love and my support are for the family of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the adornment of every gathering?
For them are lofty ranks whose excellence is above all people, which no arrogant one can ever reach."
Abu Uways said: My father told me that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) gave the command regarding those who had accused Aishah, and all of them were given eighty lashes each. And when they were lashed, Hassan bin Thabit composed these verses:
(In the metre al-Tawil)
"Abdullah (bin Ubayy) and his family were what they were, and Hamnah and Mistah, when they spoke obscene words,
attacked the wife of their Prophet with words of stoning (slander), and earned the displeasure of the Lord of the Noble Throne, so they came to grief.
They hurt the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in this matter and spread evil disgraces, treating them as lawful, and brought shame."