Abdullah bin Abbas reported,

I had long been eager to ask Umar bin Khattab about the two wives of the Prophet ﷺ concerning whom Allah Most High said, "If you both turn to Allah in repentance, your hearts have indeed inclined" [Tahrim 66:4]. Then Umar set out for Hajj and I went with him. Along the way, Umar turned aside, and I turned aside with him carrying the water vessel. He relieved himself, then came back to me, and I poured water over his hands as he performed his ablution.I said, "Commander of the Believers, who are the two wives of the Prophet ﷺ concerning whom Allah Most High said, 'If you both turn to Allah in repentance, your hearts have indeed inclined' [Tahrim 66:4]?"Umar replied, "How astonishing of you, Ibn Abbas!"Zuhri said, "By Allah, he disliked what he was being asked about, but he did not conceal it from him."Umar said, "They were Hafsah and Ayesha." Then he began to relate the full story.He said, "We Quraysh were a people who dominated our women. When we came to Medina, we found a people whose women dominated them, and our women began to learn from their women.My house was in the upper district of Medina among Banu Umaya bin Zayd. One day I became angry with my wife, and there she was answering me back. I objected to her answering me back, but she said, 'Why do you object that I answer you back? By Allah, the wives of the Prophet ﷺ do answer him back, and one of them may even avoid him from morning until night.'So I went out and visited Hafsah. I asked her, 'Do you answer back to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?'She said, 'Yes.'I asked, 'And does one of you avoid him from morning until night?'She said, 'Yes.'I said, 'Whoever among you does that has failed and is lost. Does any of you feel safe that Allah might be angry with her because of His Messenger's anger, so that she would be ruined? Do not answer the Messenger of Allah back, and do not ask him for anything. Ask me for whatever you wish. And do not be deceived if your neighbor is more beautiful and more beloved to the Messenger of Allah than you are,' meaning Ayesha.I had a neighbor from the Ansar, and we used to take turns coming down to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He would come down one day and I would come down another. He would bring me news of the revelation and other matters, and I would bring him the same.We had been talking about how Ghassan was shoeing their horses to attack us. One day my companion went down, then came to me in the evening. He knocked on my door and called me. I went out to him, and he said, 'A grave matter has happened.'I said, 'What is it? Has Ghassan come?'He said, 'No, something greater and more serious than that. The Messenger has divorced his wives.'I said, 'Hafsah has failed and is lost. I had been suspecting this would happen.'When I had prayed the dawn prayer, I gathered my clothes about me and went down. I entered upon Hafsah, and she was weeping. I said, 'Has the Messenger of Allah ﷺ divorced you all?'She said, 'I do not know. He is over there, secluded in this upper chamber.'So I went to a black servant of his and said, 'Ask permission for Umar.' The servant went in, then came out to me and said, 'I mentioned you to him, but he was silent.'I went off until I came to the pulpit, and there was a group of people sitting there, some of them weeping. I sat for a while, then what I was feeling overcame me, so I went to the servant and said, 'Ask permission for Umar.' He went in, then came out to me and said, 'I mentioned you to him, but he was silent.'I went out and sat by the pulpit, then again what I was feeling overcame me, so I came to the servant and said, 'Ask permission for Umar.' He went in, then came out to me and said, 'I mentioned you to him, but he was silent.'I had turned away to leave when the servant called me, saying, 'Come in, he has given you permission.'I entered and greeted the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and there he was reclining on a mat of woven palm fiber. (Yaqub in Salih's narration said, "the weave of the mat had left marks on his side.")I said, "Messenger of Allah, have you divorced your wives?"He raised his head toward me and said, "No."I said, "Allahu Akbar! Messenger of Allah, if you had only seen us. We Quraysh were a people who dominated our women, but when we came to Medina, we found a people whose women dominated them, and our women began to learn from their women. One day I became angry with my wife, and there she was answering me back. I objected to her answering me back, but she said, 'Why do you object that I answer you back? By Allah, the wives of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ answer him back, and one of them may even avoid him from morning until night.' So I said, 'Whoever among them does that has failed and is lost. Does any of them feel safe that Allah might be angry with her because of His Messenger's anger, so that she would be ruined?'"The Messenger of Allah ﷺ smiled.Then I said, "Messenger of Allah, I went in to Hafsah and said, 'Do not be deceived if your neighbor is more beautiful and more beloved to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ than you are.'"He smiled again.I said, "May I sit at ease, Messenger of Allah?"He said, "Yes."So I sat down and lifted my head to look around the room. By Allah, I saw nothing in it worth noticing except three hides. I said, "Messenger of Allah, pray that Allah grant abundance to your community, for He has granted abundance to Persia and Rome though they do not worship Allah."He sat up straight and said, "Are you in doubt, son of Khattab? Those are a people whose good things have been hastened to them in the life of this world."I said, "Ask forgiveness for me, Messenger of Allah."He had sworn that he would not enter upon his wives for a month, due to the severity of his displeasure with them, until Allah reproached him.

حدثنا عبد الرزاق أنبأنا معمر عن الزهري عن عبيد الله بن عبد الله بن أبي ثور

عن ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما قال

لم أزل حريصا على أن أسأل عمر بن الخطاب رضي الله عنه عن المرأتين من أزواج النبي ﷺ اللتين قال الله تعالى {إن تتوبا إلى الله فقد صغت قلوبكما} حتى حج عمر رضي الله عنه وحججت معه فلما كنا ببعض الطريق عدل عمر رضي الله عنه وعدلت معه بالإداوة فتبرز ثم أتاني فسكبت على يديه فتوضأ فقلت يا أمير المؤمنين من المرأتان من أزواج النبي ﷺ اللتان قال الله تعالى {إن تتوبا إلى الله فقد صغت قلوبكما} فقال عمر رضي الله عنه واعجبا لك يا ابن عباس قال الزهري كره والله ما سأله عنه ولم يكتمه عنه قال هي حفصة وعائشة قال ثم أخذ يسوق الحديث قال كنا معشر قريش قوما نغلب النساء فلما قدمنا المدينة وجدنا قوما تغلبهم نساؤهم فطفق نساؤنا يتعلمن من نسائهم قال وكان منزلي في بني أمية بن زيد بالعوالي قال فتغضبت يوما على امرأتي فإذا هي تراجعني فأنكرت أن تراجعني فقالت ما تنكر أن أراجعك فوالله إن أزواج النبي ﷺ ليراجعنه وتهجره إحداهن اليوم إلى الليل قال فانطلقت فدخلت على حفصة فقلت أتراجعين رسول الله ﷺ قالت نعم قلت وتهجره إحداكن اليوم إلى الليل قالت نعم قلت قد خاب من فعل ذلك منكن وخسر أفتأمن إحداكن أن يغضب الله عليها لغضب رسوله فإذا هي قد هلكت لا تراجعي رسول الله ولا تسأليه شيئا وسليني ما بدا لك ولا يغرنك إن كانت جارتك هي أوسم وأحب إلى رسول الله منك يريد عائشة رضي الله عنها قال وكان لي جار من الأنصار وكنا نتناوب النزول إلى رسول الله ﷺ فينزل يوما وأنزل يوما فيأتيني بخبر الوحي وغيره وآتيه بمثل ذلك قال وكنا نتحدث أن غسان تنعل الخيل لتغزونا فنزل صاحبي يوما ثم أتاني عشاء فضرب بابي ثم ناداني فخرجت إليه فقال حدث أمر عظيم قلت وماذا أجاءت غسان قال لا بل أعظم من ذلك وأطول طلق الرسول نساءه فقلت قد خابت حفصة وخسرت قد كنت أظن هذا كائنا حتى إذا صليت الصبح شددت علي ثيابي ثم نزلت فدخلت على حفصة وهي تبكي فقلت أطلقكن رسول الله ﷺ فقالت لا أدري هو هذا معتزل في هذه المشربة فأتيت غلاما له أسود فقلت استأذن لعمر فدخل الغلام ثم خرج إلي فقال قد ذكرتك له فصمت فانطلقت حتى أتيت المنبر فإذا عنده رهط جلوس يبكي بعضهم فجلست قليلا ثم غلبني ما أجد فأتيت الغلام فقلت استأذن لعمر فدخل الغلام ثم خرج علي فقال قد ذكرتك له فصمت فخرجت فجلست إلى المنبر ثم غلبني ما أجد فأتيت الغلام فقلت استأذن لعمر فدخل ثم خرج إلي فقال قد ذكرتك له فصمت فوليت مدبرا فإذا الغلام يدعوني فقال ادخل فقد أذن لك فدخلت فسلمت على رسول الله ﷺ فإذا هو متكئ على رمل حصير ح و حدثناه يعقوب في حديث صالح قال رمال حصير قد أثر في جنبه فقلت أطلقت يا رسول الله نساءك فرفع رأسه إلي وقال لا فقلت الله أكبر لو رأيتنا يا رسول الله وكنا معشر قريش قوما نغلب النساء فلما قدمنا المدينة وجدنا قوما تغلبهم نساؤهم فطفق نساؤنا يتعلمن من نسائهم فتغضبت على امرأتي يوما فإذا هي تراجعني فأنكرت أن تراجعني فقالت ما تنكر أن أراجعك فوالله إن أزواج رسول الله ﷺ ليراجعنه وتهجره إحداهن اليوم إلى الليل فقلت قد خاب من فعل ذلك منهن وخسر أفتأمن إحداهن أن يغضب الله عليها لغضب رسوله فإذا هي قد هلكت فتبسم رسول الله ﷺ فقلت يا رسول الله فدخلت على حفصة فقلت لا يغرك إن كانت جارتك هي أوسم وأحب إلى رسول الله ﷺ منك فتبسم أخرى فقلت أستأنس يا رسول الله قال نعم فجلست فرفعت رأسي في البيت فوالله ما رأيت فيه شيئا يرد البصر إلا أهبة ثلاثة فقلت ادع يا رسول الله أن يوسع على أمتك فقد وسع على فارس والروم وهم لا يعبدون الله فاستوى جالسا ثم قال أفي شك أنت يا ابن الخطاب أولئك قوم عجلت لهم طيباتهم في الحياة الدنيا فقلت استغفر لي يا رسول الله وكان أقسم أن لا يدخل عليهن شهرا من شدة موجدته عليهن حتى عاتبه الله عز وجل