Mukhtasar Bukhari

‘Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) says that whenever the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) intended to go on a journey, he would draw lots among his noble wives, and whichever of them the lot fell upon, he would take her with him. So, in one of the battles that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) undertook, he drew lots among us, and the lot fell upon me, so I set out with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). This incident occurred after the revelation of the command of hijab. So, during this journey, I would be seated inside a howdah (a curtained litter), and I would be lifted and set down along with the howdah. So, we set out until, when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished his battle and we were near Madinah, he announced departure at night. When the call for departure was made among the people, I stood up and went (to relieve myself) until I had gone ahead of the army. When I finished my need and returned to the place of the camel’s saddle, I felt my chest and suddenly realized that the necklace of black beads from Dhafar that I was wearing had fallen off. So, I went back searching for my necklace, and it took me some time to find it. Meanwhile, the people who used to carry my howdah came, lifted my howdah, and placed it on the camel I used to ride. They thought I was inside it. (Because) in those days, women were generally light, not heavy, nor did they have much flesh on their bodies, and they ate very little food. So, when the people lifted the howdah, they lifted it as usual, thinking I was inside, for at that time I was a young (slender) girl. Then they set off with the camel. After the army had departed, I found my necklace and returned to the place where the caravan had camped, but there was no one there. So, I sat down at the place where I had been. I thought, when the people do not find me in the caravan, they will return to this place. While I was sitting there, my eyes became heavy with sleep, and sleep overcame me. Safwan bin Mu’attal Salami (may Allah be pleased with him), who later became Dhakwani, was behind the army. He reached my place in the morning and, seeing a sleeping person from afar, came to me. Since he had seen me before the command of hijab, he recognized me and recited: “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.” I woke up upon hearing his “Inna lillahi.” Then he made his camel kneel and bent its front legs (so that I could mount without anyone’s help). So, I mounted the camel. He led the camel on foot, and we reached the caravan when the people had stopped at noon to rest. So, those who were to be ruined were ruined, meaning they accused me of being with Safwan, and the person who stirred up this storm was Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul (the hypocrite). When we reached Madinah, I was ill for a month, and people continued to spread the storm, and during my illness, I often wondered why I did not see the kindness from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that I used to see during my illness. Now, he would only come, greet, and say: “How are you?” I had no knowledge that the real reason for his displeasure was this storm. I became very weak. (One night) I and the mother of Mistah went to Manasi’, where our place for relieving ourselves was, and we used to go there only at night for this purpose. This was before toilets were built near our houses, and like the old Arabs, we used to go out to the wilderness or far away to relieve ourselves. So, I and the mother of Mistah, who was the daughter of Abu Ruhm, were going when she tripped over her cloak and fell. She said, “May Mistah be ruined!” I said to her, “You have uttered a bad word. Do you curse a man who participated in the Battle of Badr?” She replied, “O lady! Have you not heard what people are saying?” Then she informed me of all the things the accusers were saying. Upon hearing this slander, my illness became more severe. When I returned home, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to me, greeted me, and said: “How are you?” I said, “Allow me to go to my parents.” Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) says that my intention was to go to my parents and verify this news. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) gave me permission, and I went to my parents. I told my mother all the things people were spreading. She said, “O daughter! Do not be hard on yourself. By Allah! There is hardly any beautiful woman who is loved by her husband and has co-wives, but her co-wives speak ill of her.” I said, “Subhan Allah! My co-wives have not done this; rather, people are spreading it.” Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) says, I spent that night until morning, my tears did not stop, nor did I sleep. When morning came, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called (the Commander of the Faithful) Ali bin Abi Talib and Usama bin Zaid (may Allah be pleased with them both), as the revelation regarding this matter was delayed, and he consulted them about separating from his wife, i.e., me. (Sayyiduna) Usama (may Allah be pleased with him) gave advice in accordance with what he felt in the Prophet’s heart (i.e., the love he had for his wife). So, Sayyiduna Usama (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “O Messenger of Allah! She is your wife, and by Allah! We know nothing but good about her.” But (the Commander of the Faithful) Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “O Messenger of Allah! Allah does not put any constraint upon you, and there are many women besides her. Ask the maidservant, she will tell you the truth about (the character of) Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her).” So, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called Barirah (may Allah be pleased with her) and said to her: “Have you seen anything in (the temperament of) Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that would make you suspicious?” She replied, “No, by Him Who sent you with the truth, I have never seen anything in her (the lady) that would make me doubt or find fault with her, except that she is a young girl (not fully aware of her household affairs, so much so that) she kneads dough (and leaves it as it is), then falls asleep, and the goat comes and eats it.” Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up and sought help against Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul (who had stirred up this storm), and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Who will help me against this man, because of whom I have been hurt regarding my family? By Allah, I have seen nothing but good in my family, and they have mentioned a man (in this accusation) about whom I have seen nothing but good, and whenever he entered my house, he entered with me.” Then Sayyiduna Sa’d bin Mu’adh (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and said, “O Messenger of Allah! By Allah, we will help you against this man. If he is from the tribe of Aws, we will immediately strike his neck, and if he is from the tribe of Khazraj, then command us as you wish, and we will comply.” Then Sayyiduna Sa’d bin Ubadah (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up, who was the chief of the Khazraj tribe, and before this, he was a good man, but tribal zeal overtook him, and he said (to Sayyiduna Sa’d bin Mu’adh, may Allah be pleased with him), “By Allah, you are lying! You will not be able to kill him, nor do you have the power to do so.” Then Sayyiduna Usayd bin Hudayr (may Allah be pleased with him), who was from the tribe of Aws, stood up and said (to Sayyiduna Sa’d bin Ubadah, may Allah be pleased with him), “By Allah, you are lying! We will surely kill him. You are a hypocrite, arguing on behalf of the hypocrites.” So, both the tribes of Aws and Khazraj became agitated to the point that they were about to fight, while the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was on the pulpit. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) descended from the pulpit and calmed them down until they became silent, and he too remained silent.

Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) says, “That day too, I kept weeping; my tears did not stop, nor did I sleep. In the morning, my parents came to me, and I had wept for two nights and a day (with tears continuously flowing), to the extent that I thought this weeping would split my chest. While they were sitting with me and I was weeping, suddenly an Ansari woman sought permission to enter. I allowed her, and she sat down and wept with me. We were weeping in this way when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came and sat down. Since the day this storm had arisen, he had not sat with me, and he waited for a month (for revelation), but no revelation came regarding me. Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) says, “Then he delivered a sermon and said: ‘O Aisha! I have received such-and-such news about you. If you are innocent, Allah will soon declare your innocence, and if you have committed a sin, then seek forgiveness from Allah and turn to Him in repentance, for when a servant confesses his sin and repents, Allah accepts his repentance.’” When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished his speech, my tears suddenly dried up; not a single drop remained. I said to my father (the Commander of the Faithful, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him), “Please answer the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on my behalf.” He said, “By Allah! I do not know what to say to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).” Then I said to my mother, “You answer the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on my behalf.” But she also said, “By Allah! I do not know what to say to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).” Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) says, “So I said, though I was young and had not memorized much of the Qur’an, ‘By Allah! I know that you have heard what people are saying, and it has settled in your hearts, and you have almost believed it. If I say I am innocent—and Allah knows I am innocent—you will not believe me. And if I confess to something—and Allah knows I am innocent—you will surely believe me. By Allah! I can only liken myself and you to the case of the father of Yusuf (and his brothers), when he said: “So patience is most fitting, and Allah is the one sought for help against that which you describe.” (Yusuf: 18)’ Then I turned my face to my bed, hoping that Allah would declare my innocence, but by Allah! I never thought that revelation would come regarding my matter, nor did I consider myself worthy that my case would be mentioned in the Qur’an. Rather, I hoped that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would see a dream in his sleep that would declare my innocence. By Allah! The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had not yet moved from his place, nor had any member of the household left, when revelation descended upon him right there, and the state that used to come upon him during revelation overtook him, so much so that in the coldest days, sweat would drip from his blessed forehead like pearls. When that state was lifted from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he was smiling, and the first words he said to me were: ‘O Aisha! Thank Allah, for Allah has declared your innocence.’ My mother said, ‘Stand up before the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) (to express gratitude).’ I said, ‘No, by Allah! I will not stand before him, nor will I thank anyone except Allah.’ Then Allah the Exalted revealed this verse: ‘Indeed, those who came with the great slander are a group among you...’ (Surah al-Nur, verse 11). When Allah revealed these verses regarding my innocence, the Commander of the Faithful, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), who used to give some aid to Mistah bin Athatha due to kinship, swore that after what Mistah had said about (Umm al-Mu’minin) Aisha al-Siddiqah al-Tayyibah al-Tahirah (may Allah be pleased with her), he would not give him anything. So Allah revealed this verse: ‘Let not those among you who are blessed and wealthy swear not to give to their relatives, the needy, and those who have emigrated for the sake of Allah. Rather, let them pardon and overlook. Do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.’ (Surah al-Nur, verse 22). Then he resumed giving Mistah what he used to give him. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked Umm al-Mu’minin Zaynab bint Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with her) about my matter: ‘O Zaynab! What do you know? What have you seen?’ She replied, ‘O Messenger of Allah! I protect my ears and eyes from falsehood. By Allah! I know nothing but good about her (i.e., Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha al-Siddiqah al-Tayyibah al-Tahirah, may Allah be pleased with her).’ Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha al-Siddiqah al-Tayyibah al-Tahirah (may Allah be pleased with her) says that Umm al-Mu’minin Zaynab (may Allah be pleased with her) was my equal, but Allah, due to her piety, protected her from speaking ill of me.”