Ayesha reported,

The people of the slander said about her what they said, and Allah cleared her of it.Zuhri said, "All of them narrated to me a portion of her story, some of them being more retentive and more precise in recounting it than others. I memorized from each one of them the report he transmitted to me about Ayesha, and parts of their narrations confirm one another. They claimed that Ayesha said:Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ intended to set out on a journey, he would draw lots among his wives, and whichever of them the lot fell upon would go with him. He drew lots between us before one of the campaigns he undertook, and my lot came out, so I went with him after the verse of the veil had been revealed. I would be carried in a litter and set down in it.We traveled until, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had finished that campaign and was returning, and we drew near Medina, he announced one night that we would move on. I got up when they made the announcement and walked until I had gone past the army. After I had relieved myself, I returned to the caravan, and when I touched my chest I realized that a necklace of mine made of Zafar beads had broken off. So I went back and searched for my necklace, and the search delayed me.Meanwhile the men who used to load my litter came and lifted it, placing it upon the camel I usually rode, supposing that I was inside it. Women in those days were light, not heavy or fleshy, for they only ate small amounts of food. So the men noticed nothing unusual in the lightness of the litter when they lifted it. I was also a young girl at the time. They drove the camel on and set off.I found my necklace after the army had moved on. When I came to their camp, no one was there, so I made for the place where I had been, thinking they would miss me and come back for me. While I was sitting there, my eyes overcame me and I fell asleep.Safwan bin Muattal al-Sulami, then al-Zakwani, was behind the army and reached my place by morning. He saw the dark figure of someone sleeping and came over to me, having seen me before the verse of the veil. I awoke at his utterance of "Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun" when he made his camel kneel. He pressed its foreleg, and I mounted it, then he set off leading the camel by hand until we came upon the army after they had stopped to rest in the heat of midday. Then those who were to perish perished, and the one who took up the slander was Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul.We arrived in Medina, and I fell ill there for a month while the people were spreading the talk of the slanderers. What troubled me during my illness was that I did not see from the Prophet ﷺ the kindness I used to see from him whenever I fell sick. He would only come in, greet, and then ask, "How is that one of yours?" I knew nothing of what was being said.When I had recovered somewhat, I went out with Umm Mistah toward al-Manasi, where we used to relieve ourselves, going out only at night. This was before we built lavatories near our houses, our practice in this matter being that of the early Arabs in the open country. Umm Mistah bint Abu Ruhm and I were walking when she stumbled on her cloak and exclaimed, "May Mistah perish!"I said to her, "What an evil thing to say! Do you curse a man who fought at Badr?"She said, "My dear, have you not heard what they have been saying?"Then she told me what the people of the slander were saying, and my illness grew worse upon my illness.When I returned home, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came in to me, greeted me, and said, "How is that one of yours?"I said, "Will you give me leave to go to my parents?" At that point I wanted to verify the report through them.The Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave me permission, and I went to my parents. I asked my mother, "What are people talking about?"She said, "My daughter, take it lightly. By Allah, rarely is there a beautiful woman married to a man who loves her, with co-wives, but they multiply talk against her."I said, "Glory be to Allah! Are people really talking about this?"I spent that whole night until morning weeping, my tears never ceasing and no sleep coming to my eyes. Then I rose in the morning, still weeping.The Messenger of Allah ﷺ called Ali bin Abu Talib and Usama bin Zayd, since the revelation had been delayed, to consult them about parting from his wife. Usama advised him according to what he knew of his affection for them. Usama said, "She is your wife, Messenger of Allah, and by Allah we know nothing but good of her."As for Ali bin Abu Talib, he said, "Messenger of Allah, Allah has not constrained you, and there are many women besides her. Ask the slave girl, she will tell you the truth."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ called Barirah and said, "Barirah, have you ever seen anything in her that aroused suspicion?"Barirah said, "No, by the One who sent you with the truth, I have never seen anything in her to find fault with except that she is a young girl who falls asleep over the dough, so the household sheep comes and eats it."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood up that very day and asked for support against Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Who will support me against a man whose harm has reached my family? By Allah, I know nothing but good of my family, and they have mentioned a man of whom I know nothing but good, and he never used to enter upon my family except with me."Saad bin Muaz stood up and said, "Messenger of Allah, by Allah, I will support you against him. If he is from the Aws, we will strike off his neck, and if he is from our brothers of the Khazraj, command us and we will carry out your order regarding him."Then Saad bin Ubada stood up, and he was the chief of the Khazraj, and before that he had been a righteous man, but tribal zeal carried him away. He said, "You have lied, by the eternal life of Allah, you shall not kill him, nor are you able to do so."Usayd bin Hudayr stood up and said, "You have lied, by the eternal life of Allah! By Allah, we shall kill him. You are a hypocrite arguing on behalf of the hypocrites."The two tribes, the Aws and the Khazraj, became aroused until they were on the verge of fighting, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was on the pulpit. He came down and quieted them until they fell silent, and he too remained silent.I wept all that day, my tears never ceasing and no sleep coming to my eyes, and my parents stayed with me. I had wept two nights and a day until I thought weeping would split my liver.While the two of them were sitting with me and I was weeping, a woman of the Ansar asked permission to enter, and I gave her leave. She sat down weeping with me. While we were like that, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came in and sat down. He had not sat with me since what had been said about me, and a month had passed without anything being revealed to him concerning my affair.He pronounced the testimony of faith, then said, "Ayesha, such and such has reached me concerning you. If you are innocent, Allah will declare your innocence. But if you have committed a sin, then seek Allah's forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance, for when a servant confesses his sin and then repents, Allah accepts his repentance."When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had finished speaking, my tears dried up so that I felt not a drop. I said to my father, "Reply to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on my behalf."He said, "By Allah, I do not know what to say to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ."I said to my mother, "Reply to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on my behalf regarding what he has said."She said, "By Allah, I do not know what to say to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ."I was a young girl who did not recite much of the Quran. I said, "By Allah, I know that you have heard what people are saying, and it has settled in your hearts and you have believed it. If I tell you I am innocent, and Allah knows I am innocent, you will not believe me. And if I confess to something, while Allah knows I am innocent, you will believe me. By Allah, I find no example for myself and you except the father of Yusuf, when he said, "So patience is most fitting, and Allah is the One whose help is sought against what you describe" [Yusuf 12:18]."Then I turned away on my bed, hoping that Allah would clear me. But by Allah, I did not think He would send down revelation about my affair, for I considered myself too insignificant for the Quran to speak about my matter. I only hoped that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would see in his sleep a vision by which Allah would clear me.By Allah, he had not left his seat, nor had any member of the household gone out, when revelation came down upon him. He was overcome by what used to overtake him, until drops like pearls fell from him in perspiration on a winter's day. When the state passed from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he was smiling, and the first words he spoke were, "Ayesha, praise Allah, for Allah has cleared you."My mother said to me, "Get up to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ."I said, "No, by Allah, I will not rise to him, nor will I praise anyone but Allah."Allah Most High then revealed, "Indeed, those who came with the slander are a group among you..." [Nur 24:11], and the verses that follow.When Allah revealed this declaring my innocence, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq , who used to provide for Mistah bin Uthatha because of his kinship with him, said, "By Allah, I will never spend anything on Mistah after what he has said about Ayesha."Then Allah Most High revealed, "And let not those of virtue and abundance among you swear not to give to..." until His statement "Forgiving and Merciful" [Nur 24:22].Abu Bakr said, "Yes, by Allah, I would love for Allah to forgive me," and he resumed providing for Mistah what he had been giving him before.The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to ask Zaynab bint Jahsh about my affair. He said, "Zaynab, what do you know? What did you see?"She said, "Messenger of Allah, I guard my hearing and my sight. By Allah, I know nothing of her but good." She was the one who used to vie with me among the wives, but Allah protected her through her piety.He said, "And Fulayh narrated to us from Hisham bin Urwa, from Urwa, from Ayesha and Abdullah bin Zubayr, the like of it."He said, "And Fulayh narrated to us from Rabia bin Abu Abdul-Rahman and Yahya bin Saeed, from Qasim bin Muhammad bin Abu Bakr, the like of it."

حدثنا أبو الربيع سليمان بن داود وأفهمني بعضه أحمد حدثنا فليح بن سليمان عن ابن شهاب الزهري عن عروة بن الزبير وسعيد بن المسيب وعلقمة بن وقاص الليثي وعبيد الله بن عبد الله بن عتبة

عن عائشة رضي الله عنها زوج النبي ﷺ حين قال

لها أهل الإفك ما قالوا فبرأها الله منه قال الزهري وكلهم حدثني طائفة من حديثها وبعضهم أوعى من بعض وأثبت له اقتصاصا وقد وعيت عن كل واحد منهم الحديث الذي حدثني عن عائشة وبعض حديثهم يصدق بعضا زعموا أن عائشة قالت كان رسول الله ﷺ إذا أراد أن يخرج سفرا أقرع بين أزواجه فأيتهن خرج سهمها خرج بها معه فأقرع بيننا في غزاة غزاها فخرج سهمي فخرجت معه بعد ما أنزل الحجاب فأنا أحمل في هودج وأنزل فيه فسرنا حتى إذا فرغ رسول الله ﷺ من غزوته تلك وقفل ودنونا من المدينة آذن ليلة بالرحيل فقمت حين آذنوا بالرحيل فمشيت حتى جاوزت الجيش فلما قضيت شأني أقبلت إلى الرحل فلمست صدري فإذا عقد لي من جزع أظفار قد انقطع فرجعت فالتمست عقدي فحبسني ابتغاؤه فأقبل الذين يرحلون لي فاحتملوا هودجي فرحلوه على بعيري الذي كنت أركب وهم يحسبون أني فيه وكان النساء إذ ذاك خفافا لم يثقلن ولم يغشهن اللحم وإنما يأكلن العلقة من الطعام فلم يستنكر القوم حين رفعوه ثقل الهودج فاحتملوه وكنت جارية حديثة السن فبعثوا الجمل وساروا فوجدت عقدي بعد ما استمر الجيش فجئت منزلهم وليس فيه أحد فأممت منزلي الذي كنت به فظننت أنهم سيفقدونني فيرجعون إلي فبينا أنا جالسة غلبتني عيناي فنمت وكان صفوان بن المعطل السلمي ثم الذكواني من وراء الجيش فأصبح عند منزلي فرأى سواد إنسان نائم فأتاني وكان يراني قبل الحجاب فاستيقظت باسترجاعه حين أناخ راحلته فوطئ يدها فركبتها فانطلق يقود بي الراحلة حتى أتينا الجيش بعد ما نزلوا معرسين في نحر الظهيرة فهلك من هلك وكان الذي تولى الإفك عبد الله بن أبي ابن سلول فقدمنا المدينة فاشتكيت بها شهرا والناس يفيضون من قول أصحاب الإفك ويريبني في وجعي أني لا أرى من النبي ﷺ اللطف الذي كنت أرى منه حين أمرض إنما يدخل فيسلم ثم يقول كيف تيكم لا أشعر بشيء من ذلك حتى نقهت فخرجت أنا وأم مسطح قبل المناصع متبرزنا لا نخرج إلا ليلا إلى ليل وذلك قبل أن نتخذ الكنف قريبا من بيوتنا وأمرنا أمر العرب الأول في البرية أو في التنزه فأقبلت أنا وأم مسطح بنت أبي رهم نمشي فعثرت في مرطها فقالت تعس مسطح فقلت لها بئس ما قلت أتسبين رجلا شهد بدرا فقالت يا هنتاه ألم تسمعي ما قالوا فأخبرتني بقول أهل الإفك فازددت مرضا على مرضي فلما رجعت إلى بيتي دخل علي رسول الله ﷺ فسلم فقال كيف تيكم فقلت ائذن لي إلى أبوي قالت وأنا حينئذ أريد أن أستيقن الخبر من قبلهما فأذن لي رسول الله ﷺ فأتيت أبوي فقلت لأمي ما يتحدث به الناس فقالت يا بنية هوني على نفسك الشأن فوالله لقلما كانت امرأة قط وضيئة عند رجل يحبها ولها ضرائر إلا أكثرن عليها فقلت سبحان الله ولقد يتحدث الناس بهذا قالت فبت تلك الليلة حتى أصبحت لا يرقأ لي دمع ولا أكتحل بنوم ثم أصبحت فدعا رسول الله ﷺ علي بن أبي طالب وأسامة بن زيد حين استلبث الوحي يستشيرهما في فراق أهله فأما أسامة فأشار عليه بالذي يعلم في نفسه من الود لهم فقال أسامة أهلك يا رسول الله ولا نعلم والله إلا خيرا وأما علي بن أبي طالب فقال يا رسول الله لم يضيق الله عليك والنساء سواها كثير وسل الجارية تصدقك فدعا رسول الله ﷺ بريرة فقال يا بريرة هل رأيت فيها شيئا يريبك فقالت بريرة لا والذي بعثك بالحق إن رأيت منها أمرا أغمصه عليها قط أكثر من أنها جارية حديثة السن تنام عن العجين فتأتي الداجن فتأكله فقام رسول الله ﷺ من يومه فاستعذر من عبد الله بن أبي ابن سلول فقال رسول الله ﷺ من يعذرني من رجل بلغني أذاه في أهلي فوالله ما علمت على أهلي إلا خيرا وقد ذكروا رجلا ما علمت عليه إلا خيرا وما كان يدخل على أهلي إلا معي فقام سعد بن معاذ فقال يا رسول الله أنا والله أعذرك منه إن كان من الأوس ضربنا عنقه وإن كان من إخواننا من الخزرج أمرتنا ففعلنا فيه أمرك فقام سعد بن عبادة وهو سيد الخزرج وكان قبل ذلك رجلا صالحا ولكن احتملته الحمية فقال كذبت لعمر الله لا تقتله ولا تقدر على ذلك فقام أسيد بن حضير فقال كذبت لعمر الله والله لنقتلنه فإنك منافق تجادل عن المنافقين فثار الحيان الأوس والخزرج حتى هموا ورسول الله ﷺ على المنبر فنزل فخفضهم حتى سكتوا وسكت وبكيت يومي لا يرقأ لي دمع ولا أكتحل بنوم فأصبح عندي أبواي وقد بكيت ليلتين ويوما حتى أظن أن البكاء فالق كبدي قالت فبينا هما جالسان عندي وأنا أبكي إذ استأذنت امرأة من الأنصار فأذنت لها فجلست تبكي معي فبينا نحن كذلك إذ دخل رسول الله ﷺ فجلس ولم يجلس عندي من يوم قيل في ما قيل قبلها وقد مكث شهرا لا يوحى إليه في شأني شيء قالت فتشهد ثم قال يا عائشة فإنه بلغني عنك كذا وكذا فإن كنت بريئة فسيبرئك الله وإن كنت ألممت بذنب فاستغفري الله وتوبي إليه فإن العبد إذا اعترف بذنبه ثم تاب تاب الله عليه فلما قضى رسول الله ﷺ مقالته قلص دمعي حتى ما أحس منه قطرة وقلت لأبي أجب عني رسول الله ﷺ قال والله ما أدري ما أقول لرسول الله ﷺ فقلت لأمي أجيبي عني رسول الله ﷺ فيما قال قالت والله ما أدري ما أقول لرسول الله ﷺ قالت وأنا جارية حديثة السن لا أقرأ كثيرا من القرآن فقلت إني والله لقد علمت أنكم سمعتم ما يتحدث به الناس ووقر في أنفسكم وصدقتم به ولئن قلت لكم إني بريئة والله يعلم إني لبريئة لا تصدقوني بذلك ولئن اعترفت لكم بأمر والله يعلم أني بريئة لتصدقني والله ما أجد لي ولكم مثلا إلا أبا يوسف إذ قال {فصبر جميل والله المستعان على ما تصفون} ثم تحولت على فراشي وأنا أرجو أن يبرئني الله ولكن والله ما ظننت أن ينزل في شأني وحيا ولأنا أحقر في نفسي من أن يتكلم بالقرآن في أمري ولكني كنت أرجو أن يرى رسول الله ﷺ في النوم رؤيا يبرئني الله فوالله ما رام مجلسه ولا خرج أحد من أهل البيت حتى أنزل عليه الوحي فأخذه ما كان يأخذه من البرحاء حتى إنه ليتحدر منه مثل الجمان من العرق في يوم شات فلما سري عن رسول الله ﷺ وهو يضحك فكان أول كلمة تكلم بها أن قال لي يا عائشة احمدي الله فقد برأك الله فقالت لي أمي قومي إلى رسول الله ﷺ فقلت لا والله لا أقوم إليه ولا أحمد إلا الله فأنزل الله تعالى {إن الذين جاءوا بالإفك عصبة منكم} الآيات فلما أنزل الله هذا في براءتي قال أبو بكر الصديق رضي الله عنه وكان ينفق على مسطح بن أثاثة لقرابته منه والله لا أنفق على مسطح شيئا أبدا بعد ما قال لعائشة فأنزل الله تعالى {ولا يأتل أولو الفضل منكم والسعة أن يؤتوا} إلى قوله {غفور رحيم} فقال أبو بكر بلى والله إني لأحب أن يغفر الله لي فرجع إلى مسطح الذي كان يجري عليه وكان رسول الله ﷺ يسأل زينب بنت جحش عن أمري فقال يا زينب ما علمت ما رأيت فقالت يا رسول الله أحمي سمعي وبصري والله ما علمت عليها إلا خيرا قالت وهي التي كانت تساميني فعصمها الله بالورع قال وحدثنا فليح عن هشام بن عروة عن عروة عن عائشة وعبد الله بن الزبير مثله قال وحدثنا فليح عن ربيعة بن أبي عبد الرحمن ويحيى بن سعيد عن القاسم بن محمد بن أبي بكر مثله