Musnad Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili 150:427

Hawthara ibn Ashras narrated to us, Hammad ibn Salama narrated to us, from Hisham ibn Urwah, from Urwah, from Aisha, who said: People spoke about this matter and it spread among them, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stood up to deliver a sermon, and I was not aware of it. She said: I went out one night with the mother of Mistah to relieve myself, and she stumbled. She said: "May Mistah be ruined." I said: "Subhan Allah! Why do you curse your son, when he is one of the first Muhajirun and he witnessed Badr?" She said: "By Allah, I do not curse him except because of you." I said: "What is my matter?" So she informed me of the affair. My need vanished, and I did not find any of it left, and I became feverish. I came to the house, and my mother was downstairs, and my father was above the house praying. He embraced me, and she wept, and I wept. Abu Bakr heard our weeping and said: "What is the matter with my daughter?" My mother said: "She heard that news." He said: "Stay where you are until we go with you to the Messenger of Allah." We went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and there was a woman from the Ansar with him. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not prevent her from speaking because of her presence. He said: "O Aisha, if you have done wrong or erred, then seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to Him." I said to my father: "Speak." He said: "What should I speak about?" I said to my mother: "Speak." She said: "What should I speak about?" I praised Allah and lauded Him, then I said: "By Allah, if I were to say that I have done it—and Allah knows that I have not done it—you would say that I have confessed. And if I were to say that I have not done it—and Allah knows that I have not done it—you would say that I have lied. I find no example for myself and for you except what the righteous servant said—and I forgot his name—so I said: 'Abu Yusuf, patient endurance is fitting, and Allah is the one sought for help against that which you describe.'" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) entered upon a Nubian slave girl and said: "O so-and-so, what do you know of Aisha?" She said: "By Allah, I do not know any fault in Aisha except that she sleeps and the domestic animal enters and eats her dough and her mat." When she realized what he wanted, she said: "By Allah, I do not know of Aisha anything except what the goldsmith knows of red gold." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) ascended the pulpit and said: "Advise me, O assembly of Muslims, regarding a people who have slandered my family. By Allah, I have never known anything but good from my family, and they have slandered them with someone about whom, by Allah, I have never known anything but good. He never entered my house except while I was present, and I never traveled except that he was with me." Sa'd ibn Mu'adh said: "I see, O Messenger of Allah, that you should strike their necks." Men from the Khazraj stood up and said: "By Allah, if they were from your tribe, the Aws, you would not have ordered their necks to be struck." It almost led to a conflict between the Aws and the Khazraj. Then the revelation descended upon the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Aisha said: He was not relieved of it until I saw the joy between his eyes. He said: "Rejoice, O Aisha, for Allah has sent down your exoneration." My parents said: "Stand up and kiss the head of the Messenger of Allah." I said: "I praise Allah, not you two." He recited the Quran to them: "Indeed, those who brought forth the lie are a group among you. Do not think it is bad for you; rather, it is good for you. For every person among them is what he has earned from the sin, and he who bore the greater part thereof among them will have a great punishment." (An-Nur: 11). "Why, when you heard it, did you not say: 'It is not for us to speak of this. Exalted are You, this is a great slander'?" (An-Nur: 16). Among those who bore the greater part of it were Hassan ibn Thabit, Mistah ibn Uthatha, and Hamna bint Jahsh. It was being spoken of in the presence of Abdullah ibn Ubayy, and he would hear it, seek it out, and spread it. When Hassan ibn Thabit was cursed in the presence of Aisha, she would say: "Do not curse Hassan, for he used to defend the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)." Then she would say: "What punishment is greater than the loss of his eyesight?" And he said, regarding what was said to him: "By Allah, I have never uncovered the private parts of a woman," and he was killed as a martyr in the way of Allah. Hassan ibn Thabit said: "A chaste, dignified woman who is not accused of any suspicion, And she wakes up hungry from the flesh of the heedless. If I have said what you have claimed, Then may my fingers not carry my whip. How could I, while my love as long as I live, And my support for the family of the Messenger of Allah, adorns the gatherings? Shall I insult the best of people as a husband, a father, and a person? I have indeed descended to the worst of positions."