Seerah (55): The Slander of AIsha In our last lesson we had begun the famous story of the slander

of Aisha and this slander occured after the battle of Muraysi' also known as Banu Mustalliq. It is important to understand that the hypocrites at this time were looking for revenge; Abdullah ibn Ubayy was exposed by Allah and he wanted vengeance and saw his opportunity here. He thus stooped down to the lowest levels possible in this incident in what he did. Two interesting things that we had mentioned before: firstly that out of respect for Aisha the slander itself is never ever verbalized and this is quite amazing. No book of Seerah even til today has explicitly mentioned what the slander itself is. This is because of the utmost respect that Muslims have for the honor of the Prophet (s), for insulting a wife of the Prophet (s) is insulting him. As Muslims we value this highly and it is human nature that every man would get angrier than his wife should she be insulted as this is his honor and manhood being insulted. This is why Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jam'aah take extra concern with the family of the Prophet (s) and this is a fundamental difference between us and the Shi'a groups. The Shi'a define the ahlul bayt (family of the Prophet (s)) as the blood relatives of the Prophet (s) while for us we include the wives as well as the blood relatives. Our view makes sense in every way; a cultural, racial, human nature, linguistic and Shari' sense. We thus love Ahlul bayt more than any other group because we love them as they deserve to be loved. The evidence for the wives being part of ahlul bayt is explicitly seen in Surah Ahzab. Here the Ahlul bayt is explicitly linked to the Mothers of the Believers. Thus the story of Aisha becomes even more sensitive for us because this was not only the wife of the Prophet (s) but his favourite and she was as young and naive as she was. To continue with the story, Aisha returned from Banu Mustallaq and she was found by Sufwaan ibn Mu'attal, who didn't even say a word except for, " La Howla Wala Quwatta Ila Billah" and this was all that was said between the two. Sufwaan made his camel sit, turned her back and let her sit and than led the camel as fast as he could, catching up to the caravan before it could enter Madinah. Abdullah ibn Ubayy, who was fresh from being humiliated by the ayaat of Surah Munafiqun where Allah testified that the hypocrites were lying through their oaths, was seeking a chance for revenge. So as the camel returns Abdullah gets the idea when he sees her returning with Sufwaan. Sufwaan was a chaste and noble Muslim who at the time was also young and unmarried. So Abdullah saw this opportune time and began this rumor. And Aisha narrates that she did not think this to be a large issue and returned home where she fell asleep with a fever for an entire month. Thus for an entire month she was bedridden. Aisha further narrates that no one told her of anything wrong and the rumors were spreading like wildifire during this month. The only thing that brought her some doubt was that the Prophet (s) was not as free with her as he was with her, he would simply visit, inquire about her health and than leave. The usual tenderness was not emanating from him. But again she shows her innocence in that she did not realize what was happening. This also shows us the humanity of the Prophet (s) and his own confusion in that he did not know the exact truth. It shows us that he was not a god but only a human being with emotions who was disturbed. He further did not want to confront Aisha while she was sick about this. At the same time his instincts were telling her that she was ofcourse innocent and he would defend eventually defend her but still human nature is such that doubt does creep in and thus he did not show her the usual tenderness. Aisha narrates that after she was cured after a month she exited the city with Umm Mistah to the area where they would relieve themselves. Aisha than clarifies that they would only have to go to the restroom every few nights and this was before the time that people would build restrooms inside the houses. The Arabs did not like to build restrooms in their houses because at the time there was no concept of sanitation and so this would be unhygienic. What Aisha is indicating here is that even in her own lifetime the customs began to change where the Arabs disdained building restrooms inside the house and non-Arabs would do such. But by the time Aisha passes away in 56 A.H. these customs have changed and restrooms had begun to be built in the houses. This shows us that the wealth that came into the Ummah was an immense amount of wealth. And the entire world had changed with the Arabs going from a backward civilization to world leaders. We also see that they would eat such little food that they would relieve themselves only once every few days. So Aisha was at the area where they would relieve themselves with Umm Mistah. Umm Mistah

was the daughter of Ruhum ibn Abdul-Muttalib ibn Abdu-Manaf and thus also a Qureshi. Her mother was the Khala of Abu Bakr and she was Abu Bakr's cousin, thus she was Aisha's aunt. Being a family friend they would usually go out together and this is what they did to relieve themselves. On the way back Umm Mistah tripped on her garment, fell, and blurted out an expression that in english translates as, "May Mistah (her son) be cursed" and this shows us that she had something else on her mind that she was hiding from Aisha - that she was angry at her son for a reason. And what happens is that a freudian slips occurs where as she slips she shows what is truly on her mind and her anger against her son. Aisha responds by condemning her for criticizing her own son, citing that Mistah had witnessed the battle of Badr (notice that even at the time they realized the high status of the people of the battle of Badr and this was only 3 years after Badr). And this shows us the fitrah of Aisha to defend a Muslim instantaneously without knowing any background she assumes the good of him. Even though this is a mother speaking about her own son. But this is what Islam teaches us about being good to others and that the basic character of the Muslim to not speak bad of others. Umm Mistah thought though that Aisha knew everything of what was going on and asked her with surprise that she did not know?, but Aisha was innocent and did not know so she asked Umm Mistah. And so Aisha narrates that this is when Umm Mistah told her of the slander that was being spread. According to some narrations Aisha fainted on the spot. This news made her emotionally and physically sick and she narrates that she felt more sick than she had been for the last month. She said that the the Prophet (s) came to her and asked her how she was now without knowing that she was completely cured before getting sick again. Wanting to verify the news, she asked the Prophet (s) for permission to live with her parents. And obviously at this sensitive time those she could trust most were her own parents. This shows us how emotionally affected and hurt Aisha was at this and that even though she was emotional and a young teenage girl she showed much maturity in calmly asking permission to go to her paernt's house to verify the truth. This also shows us a simple fiqh point that a woman does require permission to go to another house for the night even if it be her parent's. She after rushing home she asked her mother for the truth and why it was kept from her, and Umm Rumaan, her mother, said, "calm down and be easy, for by Allah never does a husband love his wife as much as he loves you except that the people talk about her." This is so true as well that successful marriages are always an object of jealousy, especially among women. In other words her mother asked her not to worry about it without telling her any details of what was happening, but this response did tell Aisha that everything that the slander was indeed being spread against her. And Aisha first responded, " SubhanAllah have the people really been saying this?" and we see here the reality of slander and gossip in society and how evil it can be. At the same time we also see Aisha's innocence and youth in that she really questioned whether anyone could ever believe such. And she narrates that she cried all night until the morning came and her tears did not stop and she did not taste any sleep whatsoever. This again shows the sensitivity and innocence of Aisha, that she could not imagine how anyone would speak in such a nifarious manner amongst her. And Aisha explains, "the one who took charge of this was Abdullah ibn Ubayy and some of his followers of the Khazraj." Recall that Abdullah ibn Ubayy was from the Khazraj and therefore the bulk of his hypocritical followers were from this tribe, not that we say that the Khazraj were bad in anyway but rather that because he was a part of their tribe it just so happened that the hypocrites were from the Khazraj. And she narrates that three others of the sahaba followed along in spreading the rumors; Mistah (Aisha's second cousin), Hamanah bint Abi Jahsh and Hassan ibn Thaabit. These three were not guilty of instigating the rumor or inventing the lie but became weak and fell pray to gossiping, unfortunately something that many of us fall into as well today. Their crime was that they spread something that they did not invent. But in our Shari'ah we know that such gossips and slanders are not tolerated let alone those against the mother of the believers and in such a sensitive issue as this. Aisha points out, "as for Hamanah, her sister was Zaynab bint Jahsh, and Zaynab was the only one of the wives of the Prophet (s) who rivalled me and therefore Hamanah wanted to put something for her sister. Allah protected Zaynab because of her religion (she didn't say anything but good and did not suffer because of it)." Aisha and Zaynab did not get along and both had a big rivalry - Zaynab was very righteous, a cousin of the Prophet (s) and had a noble lineage. Even if Aisha was jealous of her she knew that Zaynab was a righteous woman and she made her

jealousy personal but religious. But Hamanah suffered because she wanted to defend her sister. Aisha's report shows us that Abdullah ibn Ubayy began the slander and all the scholars agree on this. We also see the problems of tribalism in that the only reason the majority of hypocrites were from Khazraj is because Abdullah, but one man, was from them and he caused so many problems amongst their tribe. And he was their elder leader from the ignorance days while the Aws did not have an equivalent elder leader as both tribes' leaders had been wiped out in the wars of Bu'ath (civil wars that occured for decades between the 'Aws and Khazraj before the arrival of the Prophet (s) to Madinah). Aisha goes on, "the Prophet (s) had already called for testimony from within the family; he had called Ali ibn Talib (his son in law and cousin) and Usama ibn Zaid (his father was Zaid ibn Haritha the "adopted" son of the Prophet (s) and his mother Umm Ayman was the slave of Aminah who took care of the Prophet (s) and thus Usamah's nic name was 'the beloved and the son of the beloved')" Aisha at the time was in Abu Bakr's house and did not know this. As for Usama he testified what he knew of the Prophet's family and that they were free of this guilt. As for Ali he said, "oh Prophet, Allah has not restricted the matters upon you and there are plenty of women to choose from." We do know that Ali and Aisha had minor tensions and after all they were but humans. That being said the both of them never went beyond the bounds, Ali was speaking the truth here as Allah had allowed any woman for the Prophet (s). But Ali added, " if you want to know her character, why don't you call her maid servant Bareera who will know her best." Aisha was thus unhappy with Ali's response but he was speaking the truth in what he saying, as vague as it was. But again both Ali and Aisha dealt with each other Islamically and honorably, even after the death of the Prophet (s). Bareera was a slave of another family who was freed by Aisha but Bareera liked Aisha so much and to repay her loyalty she decided as a free person to stay and help Aisha. Bareera was also not that old either and so the two had a good friendship. Bareera was called to testimony and she was very scared about this as she was not being put on the spot. The Prophet (s) asked her, "Ya Bareera, have you seen anything in Aisha that would cause you to have doubts?" and in her full honesty and having the responsibility of standing as a witness she replied, "nothing such ya Rasool ullah (s) except that sometimes she is suppose to knead the dough and she falls asleep and the goat comes and eats the dough while she is suppose to be kneading it." Bareera is terrified and wants to be as honest as she can here so we understand her testimony but this demonstrates the innocence of Aisha as well. We learn from here as well that it is a part of human nature to turn to close friends and relatives for advice. Here the Prophet (s) went to Ali and Usamah even though both were extremely young, Usama being only about 13 years old at the time. Men have an issue today taking advice from anyone else for any issues that they have but here the Prophet (s) brought in people who he trusted and than listened to their advices. The Prophet (s) felt comfort when Aisha left to be at her mother's and Abu Bakr's house. And their house was outside the city in a place called Awari which was about a 40 minute walk from Madinah. So for one month while Aisha next to the masjid the Prophet (s) really could do nothing public but now that she was gone the Prophet (s) called a general assembly in the masjid without Aisha being there or knowing about it. No one had said the rumor to the Prophet (s) though they all knew this. The Prophet (s) addressed the gathering, " oh people of believers, who will excuse me from a person who has hurt me even with regards to my family (meaning 'will you blame me for being angry with Abdullah ibn Ubayy and if I punished him' even though a specific punishment wasn't mentioned, but he did not mention names as this was his character) and by Allah I know nothing but good from my wives and even this man that they mention (Sufwaan bin Muattal), I know nothing but good about him (this is a high praise for Sufwaan here!)." This a very tense situation where the Prophet (s) addresses the people of Madinah directly. When the Prophet (s) said this than Sa'ad bin Mua'adh stood up (we had mentioned in our previous lesson that in this narration seen in both Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bokhari that both Zaynab bint Jahsh and Sa'ad bin Mua'adh are mentioned but both of them could not have been present at the same time, so we assume that an honest mistake was made somewhere. We thus say that it was likely not Sa'ad but a young leader of the Aws such as Usayl bin Hudayl or another that stood up) and it just so happened Sa'ad (or another young leader) was from the Aws (remember that the hypocrites and Abdullah were from the Khazraj). He said, 'Ya Rasoolullah I excuse you as to whatever you want to do to this man and if he be from the Aws I will cut his head off myself but if

he be from the Khazraj you command so and than I will cut his head off" . Sa'ad is not from the Khazraj and so he must be respectful as some tribalism still exists between the sahabah. As soon as he said this Sa'ad bin Ubadah of the Khazraj stood up angry and said, "You are lying, by Allah you can not kill him and you would not kill him and would not be able to kill him and if he was from your tribe you would not." It is amazing that Aisha who is narrating the story makes an excuse for Sa'ad bin Ubadah; saying that he was overall a very righteous man but his small urge of Jahiliyyah came out here. This is absolutely amazing that in narrating this story she makes an excuse for Zaynab and Mistah before and Sa'ad bin Ubadah now. Indeed Sa'ad was a good man but this is the unfortunately reality of tribalism. When this happened immediately someone from the Aws stood up and said to Sa'ad bin Ubadah, "rather you are the liar and we will kill him (Abdullah ibn Ubayy's name was not mentioned but everyone knew that he was being spoken about) and you are just a hypocrite fighting on behalf of the other hypocrites!" The sad point here is that the entire purpose of the gathering was being lost and this is the problem when people fight for egos without caring for the broader scope of society. The Prophet (s) had called people together for a painful issue, was this the time to bring up tribalism and politics? This was not intended but the sahaba were humans and shaytaan got the better of the situation. The Prophet (s) had to calm the two sides down thus and the conversation was distracted. This shows us that the sahaba were human and also we know that tribalism will remain in the Ummah til the day of Judgement. The Prophet (s) said, "4 things from Jahiliyyah will remain in the Ummah and never go away" and the first that he mentioned was tribalism. Even the sahaba slipped into it and the Prophet (s) had to bring them out of it and this generation the best of us so what about us? This also shows us the ease with which tensions can be raised, how shaytaan is ever aware for opportunities and also shows us the problems of defending your group instead of taking perspective of the broader situation. This is true of all scenarios whether that be American politics or masajid boards. Aisha than continues, "..so I continued to cry that day and my tears would not stop flowing until I thought that my liver would burst upon (she was young and that her liver would crack from this many tears, and we can assume that it was hurting in this area)" and while in this state (with her parents) "..one of the ladies of the Ansar asked permission to enter and than started crying with me." This is ultimate sisterhood in that the lady wanted to sympathize and share in the emotions and sometimes the best way to show grief is to show sadness with a person's sadness. Thus this is part of our sunnah that when someone is in a traumatic situation we visit them and share in their sympathy to make it easier for them. All this woman wanted was to ease the pain and so she began crying with Aisha. And Aisha continued, "..while we were in this state the Prophet (s) asked permission and entered into our house.." This was only the 2nd day after Aisha left things and so we see how things went fast - the Prophet (s) had called Ali, Usama, Bareera and had conducted his meeting with the sahaba. We see that the Prophet (s) wanted to protect Aisha but because time was left to go on the gossip spread a lot further than it should have and the rumors really became inflamed. The Prophet (s) was granted this permission to enter. He sat down and praised Allah. SubhanAllah, even at this traumatic time he praised Allah. The Prophet (s) would always begin an important statement with praising Allah and than saying, "Umma Ba'ad" meaning "as to what follows." Many scholars say that this is a Sunnah. He than said, 'I have heard about you such and such (without being explicit he now confronts Aisha) so if you are innocent than Allah will clear you of this charge and if you have slipped into a sin than seek Allah's forgiveness and repent to him for indeed when a servant sins and repents than Allah forgives him' " We learn many lessons here, first and foremost that we feel for the Prophet (s) in that he is confused about what is to be done and he asks Aisha directly without any accusation. This shows us the status of repentance as well, that had she done so this sin would not be an ordinary sin and that in the Shari'ah brings about death if confirmed as a punishment. Still the Prophet (s) encourages her to repent and tells her that Allah would forgive her. This shows us that repentance is a key to salvation! Any sin can be forgiven by repentance. This story confirms to us that the Prophet (s) is a true Prophet and that the Qur'an is revelation from Allah. For one entire month no Qur'an had been revealed from Allah on this issue. Had the

Qur'an been from his own as people claim, why torture his family and drag society through this episode for an entire month? And nothing had happened and Jibreel did not come for an entire month as Allah did not command so. The Prophet (s) could not just demand Jibreel to come whenever he felt like it, this was only done by the command of Allah. As Allah says:

19:64 (The angels say:) "We descend not but by command of thy Lord: to Him belongeth what is before us and what is behind us, and what is between: and thy Lord never doth forget,And this shows the truth of his Prophethood. To resume with Aisha's story, she narrates, ".. when the Prophet (s) finished speaking I stopped tearing completely" and she was feeling an anger now that the Prophet (s) would even believe this rumors. Her young heart was now feeling some positive rage and she responds back to her mother Umm Rumaan, "oh mother, answer the Prophet (s) on behalf of myself." And her mother replied, "by Allah I do not know what to say" so Aisha turned to Abu Bakr and said, "oh father, respond to him!" and Abu Bakr is stuck between the Prophet (s) and his own daughter while Aisha was expecting her to take sides. We feel sorrow for every person in this story, even Abu Bakr and Umm Rumaan - how can we expect them to side with their own daughter against the Prophet of Allah? - and everyone has lost something here in this story because of the evil hypocrite Abdullah ibn Ubayy. And Abu Bakr responds, "Oh my dear daughter, I don't know what to say." So when she realized that neither her mother or father would speak for her or take sides for her against the Prophet of Allah (s), Aisha realized that she must speak up and had to muster whatever courage she had so she narrates, "..and I was still a young girl at the time who had not memorized much of the Qur'an so I tried to think of the name of Yaqub but I could not think of his name (And we even cry at her innocence in that she could not remember!), so I said, 'all I can say to you is what Abu Yusuf said that I will turn to Allah with beautiful patience and these rumors are not true and He will help me' and saying this I turned around on the bed and faced the wall." As the ayah in Surah Yusuf says:

12:18 They stained his shirt with false blood. He said: "Nay, but your minds have made up a tale (that may pass) with you, (for me) patience is most fitting: Against that which ye assert, it is Allah (alone) Whose help can be sought".. Imagine how alone she must have felt with not even her own parents supporting her. And she said that, "I knew that Allah would eventually reveal my chastity but I never imagined that Allah would reveal Qur'an about me (she instead thought that maybe the Prophet (s) may see a dream instead)." Notice that when every single source of help was cut from her, including her own father, mother and husband who was none other than the Prophet of Allah, she turned to Allah for help. This shows us the reality of Tauheed. Not even the Prophet of Allah (s) can help you, we only seek Allah's Help and His Aid. Aisha turned away from all of her close ones, even the Prophet (s). And right at this time, than and there the Prophet's head lowered (and they knew revelation was coming as the sahaba would narrate that his forehead would sweat and his eyes would change and they would see a physical weight on him) and after he received the revelation the Prophet (s) broke out laughing in joy and the first word he said was, "oh Aisha, Allah has revealed your innocence." Allah had revealed the first section of Surah Nur at this particular time. In this Allah explicitly mentions the punishments for slander and criticizes those that spread the slander. The punishment of spreading slander is 80 lashes. Allah says:


24:11 Those who brought forward the lie are a body among yourselves: think it not to be an evil to you; On the contrary it is good for you: to every man among them (will come the punishment) of the sin that he earned, and to him who took on himself the lead among them, will be a penalty grievous. The one that took charge of this (i.e. Abdullah ibn Ubayy) shall get the worst of all punishments (on the day of Judgement). At this Umm Rumaan asked Aisha to stand up to the Prophet (s) for clearing her name but Aisha was still hurting and denied this, rather saying that she would thank Allah for this. We also see from this the joy of the Prophet (s) in that the one month long incident was finally over. Surah Nur, specifically the first 10 ayaat, were revealed thus for Aisha. And Aisha narrates, ."..and Abu Bakr would give sadaqah to Mistah who was a Badri and a poor cousin. After the rumors were spread Abu Bakr said, 'By Allah I will never give him a penny anymore" but Allah revealed Surah Nur, ayah 22

24:22 Let not those among you who are endued with grace and amplitude of means resolve by oath against helping their kinsmen, those in want, and those who have left their homes in Allah's cause: let them forgive and overlook, do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? For Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. Allah says that let not the people of grace and money make promises that they are not going to support the poor, the relatives etc, rather let them forgive and forget, don't they want that Allah forgives them as well? SubhanAllah what a beautiful religion and revelation! That Abu Bakr is told to not make promises of not doing good toward his own relative, his own Muhajir brother and with how poor Mistah was. Rather Allah encourages him to not turn his back but rather to forgive for what if Allah were to turn His back on His slaves? At this Abu Bakr responded, "by Allah I will give him for as long as I live" just because of this one verse. And Abu Bakr continued to give Mistah a better stipend than he did before. What a beautiful religion that his daugther is hurt yet he continued to give Mistah for as long as he lived. And Aisha mentions about Zaynab, "The Prophet (s) also asked Zaynab about me and her religion protected her, she said, 'oh Messenger of Allah (s), I will not cause my ears and eyes to fall into sin, by Allah I only know good of Aisha'." Even though Aisha and Zaynab had a rivalry Zaynab defended Aisha as she knew best. As for Hassan, Urwah (Aisha's main student) says about him, "Aisha would never accept anyone to speak ill of Hassan ibn Thabit" Allah revealed that those who spread the slander were to be lashed 80 times and thus Mistah, Hamanah bint Jahsh and Hassan ibn Thabit were whipped for this punishment. This punishment was done to them for spreading the gossip. As for the hypocrites and the one instigating it, they were let off. The scholars say that this is the case because Allah did not want to diminish their punishment in the next life. Had they been punished in this world they would not have been punished in the next and with this same logic the three Muslims were punished. Because these Muslims they paid due for this mistake we praise them as Sahaba who have achieved the pleasure of Allah (and we say that they are humans that fell into a small mistake and paid recompense for this). The sin that they fell into is something we must be very careful of in our daily life, especially at timees when we want to be the life of a gathering by spreading a rumor such-and-such. Towards the end of this long narration, Aisha says, "...as for the man they accused of, Sufwaan ibn Muattal, he himself swore by Allah that he never even raised the veil of a woman (let alone do anything more)." It is debated if he ever got married and some say he did not but he was not married at this point. Sufwaan died a shaheed in Armenia in 18 A.H.

Another interesting incident worth discussing is that when Sufwaan heard that Hassan ibn Thabit was spreading the gossip, Sufwaan took his sword in anger and smacked Hassan with the blunt edge of his sword. When Hassan was bloodied and fell unconscious his tribe and family members gathered around Sufwaan to take some vengeance for this. Sufwaan had a famous saying here as Hassan was the one who was the poet but Sufwaan wasn't. Sufwaan said, "I am a man who when my blood becomes raged I don't know how to give poetry I know how to give this (and he showed his fist).." As Hassan was hurt and fell unconscious the case was brought in front of the Prophet (s). This is an amazing case. While Sufwaan was angry for a legitimate reason and this was the wife of the Prophet (s) and the mother of the believers that he did this for, in the Shari'ah we are not allowed to take the law into our own hands. So the Prophet (s) ruled for Hassan that he was indeed harmed incorrectly and than he asked Hassan to forgive Sufwaan. Hassan did forgive Sufwaan this for sake of the Prophet (s) and Hassan was gifted a garden by Sufwaan for his recompense. The fairness of Islam shown here is absolutely mind-boggling! Hassan indeed committed a massive wrong but when Sufwaan took the law into his own hands the law did not side with him. Hassan was in fact awarded a garden for damages from Sufwaan. It is narrated in our books a story of Khalid ibn Zaid or Abu Ayub Al-Ansari in this incident, that when his wife heard of the slander she came home and said to him, "Have you heard?... " And before she could continue Abu Ayub became extremely angry at her, saying, "We should not be saying these type of things! This is an evil lie!" And Allah honored him by revealing in Surah Nur an ayah quoting Abu Ayub exactly! Even those what he said was in the privacy of his house between him and his wife. Allah says:

24:16 And why did ye not, when ye heard it, say? - "It is not right of us to speak of this: Glory to Allah. this is a most serious slander!" What a praise for Abu Ayub's actions! We see from this that even husband and wives are not allowed to backbite against other couples or people. Just because one is in the privacy of their house with their spouse does not mean it is ok, the Shari'ah does not have different rules for spouses in such situations. And Allah quotes Abu Ayyub and asks others why didn't follow his example, rather they had done the opposite. Later in Surah Nur, Allah uses a beautiful analogy in that He compares those spreading the lie to passing a ball between people in that as soon as it came to them they couldn't hold it for even a second, rather spreading the lie just like the ball to others as soon as they received it. And this is exactly what tattle-tailing is. The Prophet (s) said that one of the sins one would be punished for in the grave is the gossiper (not necessarily that they were lying just that they were sperading a harmful truth). This is something that our shari'ah has forbidden explicitly from the beginning to the end. Of the benefits that we can derive from the entire story are: 1. The evils of lying, backbiting, spreading tales and slander. Each is a separate sin and most are a major sin, becoming even worse of a sin when they involve the honor of a woman. And the Shari'ah prescribes punishment for these actions even though in the Shari'ah there are very ery few sins, about 5-6, that warrant physical punishment. This shows us the profundity of such sins. 2. We also learn that Allah will test the believers by various means. Even Aisha was tested. If she was tested what about the rest of us? And the more Allah loves someone the more He shall test them. We also learn that every time of ease is followed by a time of difficulty and every time of difficulty is followed by a time of ease. Aisha had both. 3. We learn that the level that the hypocrites would go down to is simply beyond that which is reasonable. For them to speak of the wife of the Prophet (s) in this manner shows their lack of character and morality. Allah says (in the same ayah that mentions the punishment of Abdullah ibn Ubayy at the end):


24:11 Those who brought forward the lie are a body among yourselves: think it not to be an evil to you; On the contrary it is good for you: to every man among them (will come the punishment) of the sin that he earned, and to him who took on himself the lead among them, will be a penalty grievous. Allah further encourages the believers to not think this incident was bad rather it was for their good. This is a very important verse. This shows us that if something as painful as the slander of Aisha was for the good of society, every single hardship that we undergo will have good even if we do not see it. 4. The fruits of patience will always be sweet. Being patient and turning to Allah is the best method; even if no one will help you - your mother, your father, even the Prophet of Allah who happens also to be your husband - turn to Allah and with patience He will always help you. 5. This establishes beyond a shadow of a doubt the high honor and status of Aisha, the one whom Allah revealed over 25 verses of the Qur'an about her and whom He freed from the 7th heavens literally when no one would help her. She is thus pure and innocent and therefore anyone who accuses her of immorality is beyond the scope of Islam regardless of who they are. It does not matter who they are or what they call themselves, if they accuse her chastity they are not Muslim. To be very explicit regarding the group that is typically accused of this, it is not true for us to say that they all of this group makes this accusation so we should be fair. And Allah encourages us to be fair in Surah Mai'dah when He says:

5:8 O ye who believe! stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do. Allah encourages the believers to not let the hatred of a group of people cause one to be unjust, rather be just, it is close to Taqwa. And to be clear there is a controversy within that group on this issue and these days the main group amongst them do not have this belief that they question the chastity of Aisha. Only a small group amongst them have this belief and they are a very evil and dirty group which is unfortunately also very vocal about this. The bulk of the group do not like what Aisha did with Ali but at the same time they do not accuse her of this specific crime and as long as this is the case they do not reach the point of having reached kufr or disbelief. Thus we can not and should not say that the entire group of them accuses Aisha of immorality, this only causes more problems. Yes they may not like Aisha for other reasons and this is valid, but we can not say that we accuse Aisha of what Abdullah ibn Ubayy accused her of.