Imam Zuhri said: Sa'id bin Musayyib, 'Urwah bin Zubair, 'Alqamah bin Waqqas, and 'Ubaydullah bin 'Abdullah bin 'Utbah bin Mas'ud narrated to me the incident of the wife of the Prophet, Lady 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), when the people of Ifk accused her and Allah Almighty revealed her exoneration. Zuhri said: All my teachers narrated a part of this hadith; some of them remembered and narrated the incident better than others. From each of these teachers, I memorized what they narrated, and some of their narrations confirmed others. These gentlemen narrated that the wife of the Prophet, the Mother of the Believers, Lady 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), narrated that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) set out on a journey, he would draw lots among his wives, and the one whose name was drawn, he would take her with him on the journey. He was about to go on a campaign, so he drew lots among us. My name was drawn, so I set out on the journey with the Messenger of Allah. This incident happened after the revelation of the command of hijab. I used to be in a howdah. During the journey, I would be made to dismount and mounted in the same way. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished the campaign and set out to return, and we approached Madinah, he ordered departure at night after a stopover. When the people announced departure, I got up and went a little away from the army to relieve myself. When I finished and came near my mount, I touched my chest and realized that my necklace made of shells from the region of Dhafar in Yemen had broken and fallen somewhere. I went back to look for the necklace. I was delayed in searching for the necklace. The people assigned to carry my howdah came and lifted it onto the camel on which I used to travel and ride. They thought I was inside the howdah. In those days, women were light and not heavy with flesh; they ate little. When they lifted the howdah onto the camel, they did not notice any difference in weight. I was also young at that time. They set the camel off and moved on. After the army had departed, I found the necklace. I came to the place where the army had been, but there was no one to call or answer. So I went to the place where I had been staying. I was sure that when they did not find me in the howdah, they would come looking for me. While I was sitting there, sleep overcame me and I fell asleep. Safwan bin Mu'attal al-Sulami al-Dhakwani, who had stayed behind the army, came at the end of the night after resting. In the morning, he reached the place where I was. He saw the figure of a sleeping person. When he came near, he recognized me as soon as he saw me, because he had seen me before the command of hijab was revealed. As soon as he recognized me, he exclaimed loudly, "Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un" as an expression of distress. His voice woke me up. I quickly covered my face with my cloak. By Allah, he did not say a single word to me, nor did I hear anything from him except "Inna lillahi." He made his camel kneel and placed his foot on its foreleg so it would not stand up. I mounted it. He led the camel, and we continued until we reached the army at midday, when they had stopped to rest. That was all that happened, but those who were to be destroyed by talking about me were destroyed. Their leader was 'Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul. When we reached Madinah, I fell ill for a month, and people continued to gossip under the influence of the people of Ifk. I was unaware of any of this. The only thing I noticed was that when I used to fall ill before, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would show me much attention, but this time I did not feel the same attention. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would come, greet me, and only ask, "How are you?" This made me somewhat suspicious, but I had no idea of the turmoil that had occurred. I had become very weak, and one day I went out. Umm Mistah (may Allah be pleased with her) accompanied me towards Manasi', which was our place for relieving ourselves. We used to go out only at night for this purpose. This was before toilets were built near the houses. Our practice regarding relieving ourselves was the same as the earlier Arabs; we disliked building toilets near our homes. Umm Mistah (may Allah be pleased with her) was the daughter of Abu Ruhm bin al-Muttalib bin 'Abd Manaf, and her mother was the daughter of Sakhr bin 'Amir and the maternal aunt of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him). Her son was Mistah bin Athathah bin 'Ubad bin al-Muttalib. After relieving ourselves, I and Umm Mistah bint Abi Ruhm were returning to my house when Umm Mistah tripped over her cloak and fell, and said, "Mistah is ruined!" I said to her, "You have said a very bad thing. You are speaking ill of a man who participated in Badr." She said, "Oh! Have you not heard what he has said?" I asked, "What has he said?" Then she told me the whole story of the people of Ifk. Hearing this, my illness increased. I came home, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to me, greeted me, and asked, "How are you?" I said, "Do you permit me to go to my parents?" I wanted to confirm these things from my parents. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) allowed me to go to my parents. I went to my parents and said, "Mother! What are these people saying?" She said, "Daughter! Be patient. By Allah, whenever a woman is beautiful and her husband loves her, and she has co-wives, they make up many things about her." Lady 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: I said, "Subhan Allah! Have people started saying such things?" She said: I cried all night until morning. My tears did not stop, nor did sleep come to my eyes. I kept crying until morning. For a long time, no revelation came down, so the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called 'Ali bin Abi Talib and Usamah bin Zayd (may Allah be pleased with them). He wanted to consult them about divorcing his wife. Usamah bin Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him) expressed, according to his knowledge, the innocence of the wife of the Prophet, but 'Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "Allah has not put any restriction on you. There are many other women besides her. If you ask the slave-girl, she will tell you the truth." So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called Barirah (may Allah be pleased with her) and said, "O Barirah! Have you ever seen anything in 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that you disliked?" Barirah (may Allah be pleased with her) replied, "By Him Who sent you with the truth, I have never seen anything in her that I could mention. The most is that she is a young girl, sometimes she is heedless of the dough and the goat comes and eats it." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up and addressed the people about 'Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul, saying, "O Muslims! Who will excuse me regarding this man whose harm has reached my household? By Allah, I know nothing but good about my family. The accusers have mentioned a man about whom I know nothing but good. He never entered my house except with me." Hearing this, Sa'd bin Mu'adh al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and said, "O Messenger of Allah! I excuse you regarding this matter. If he is from the tribe of Aws, we will strike his neck, and if he is from our brothers, the tribe of Khazraj, command us and we will obey you." Hearing this, Sa'd bin 'Ubadah (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up, who was a righteous man but was overcome by tribal zeal, and said to Sa'd bin Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him), "By Allah, you will not kill him, nor will you be able to kill him." Hearing this, Usayd bin Hudayr (may Allah be pleased with him), the cousin of Sa'd bin Mu'adh, stood up and said to Sa'd bin 'Ubadah, "You are wrong. By Allah, we will surely kill such a man. You are a hypocrite, defending the hypocrites." The tribes of Aws and Khazraj got involved with each other, to the point that they were ready to fight. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was on the pulpit, calming them down until they became quiet, and he too became quiet. I kept crying that day as well; my tears did not stop, nor did sleep come. I cried the next night as well; neither did my tears stop nor did sleep come. My parents were convinced that my crying would break my heart. I was crying, and my parents were sitting with me. In this state, an Ansari woman asked permission to come to me. I allowed her, and she sat and cried with me. We were in this state when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came, greeted us, and sat down. Since these rumors had spread about me, he had not sat with me. A month had passed, and no revelation had come to him about me. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sat and delivered a sermon, then said, "As for what follows, 'Aisha! Such and such has reached me about you. If you are innocent, Allah will declare your innocence. But if you have committed a sin, seek forgiveness from Allah and repent, for when a servant confesses his sin and repents, Allah accepts his repentance." Lady 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished his speech, my tears stopped, and I did not feel a single drop in my eyes. I said to my father, "Reply to 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, "Reply to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on my behalf." She said, "By Allah, I do not know what to say to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." Lady 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: I was a young girl at that time and had not read much of the Qur'an. I said, "By Allah, I know that these things have settled in your hearts and you have begun to believe them. If I say I am innocent, and Allah knows I am innocent, you will not believe me. And if I admit to something, while Allah knows I am innocent, you will believe me. By Allah! I find for myself and you the example of the father of Yusuf (peace be upon him), as he said: {فَصَبْرٌ جَمِیلٌ وَاللّٰہُ الْمُسْتَعَانُ عَلٰی مَا تَصِفُونَ} ... So patience is best, and Allah is the One whose help is sought against what you describe. (Surah Yusuf: 18)" Lady 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: After saying this, I turned my face and lay down on my bed. By Allah, I knew I was innocent of this accusation, and Allah would declare my innocence. But by Allah, I did not think that any revelation would be sent down about me that would be recited. I considered myself too insignificant for Allah to reveal something about me that would be recited. I only hoped that Allah would show the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) a dream in which my innocence would be declared. Lady 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: By Allah, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had not yet left his place nor gone out of the house when Allah revealed to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) the revelation. He began to sweat as he would during revelation, until drops of sweat like pearls would fall from him even on a cold day due to the intensity of the revelation. Lady 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: When this state of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ended, he was smiling. The first thing he said was, "Aisha! Rejoice, for Allah has declared your innocence." My mother said to me, "Get up and go to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." I said, "By Allah, I will not get up and go to him." In another narration, it is said: "Nor will I praise the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) nor you two (my parents), for you did not deny or try to change these things when you heard them. I will only praise Allah, Who has revealed my innocence." So Allah revealed: {إِنَّ الَّذِینَ جَائُ وْا بِالْإِفْکِ عُصْبَۃٌ مِنْکُمْ} ten verses. Allah revealed these verses as a declaration of my innocence. Lady 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) used to provide for Mistah (may Allah be pleased with him) due to kinship and his poverty. He said, "By Allah, now that he has accused 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), I will never provide for him again." So Allah revealed: {وَلَا یَأْتَلِ أُولُو الْفَضْلِ مِنْکُمْ وَالسَّعَۃِ إِلٰی قَوْلِہِ اَ لَا تُحِبُّونَ أَنْ یَغْفِرَ اللّٰہُ لَکُمْ وَاللّٰہُ غَفُوْرٌ رَّحِیْمٌ } ... And let not those among you who are blessed with grace and wealth swear not to give to their relatives, the needy, and those who migrated in the way of Allah. Rather, let them pardon and forgive. Do you not love that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surah al-Nur: 22)" After this, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "By Allah, I want Allah to forgive me." So he resumed providing for Mistah (may Allah be pleased with him) as he used to before, and said, "I will never stop it again." Lady 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also asked his wife, the Mother of the Believers, Lady Zaynab bint Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with her), about me: "What do you know about her? How did you find her? What has reached you about her?" She said, "O Messenger of Allah! I protect my ears and eyes. By Allah, I know nothing but good about her." Lady 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: Among the wives of the Prophet, she was the only one who could compete with me, but Allah protected her from saying anything bad because of her piety. However, her sister Hamnah bint Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with her) jumped into the fray for her sister's sake and was destroyed along with those who were destroyed. Ibn Shihab Zuhri said: This is what we have learned about these people.