Musnad Abu Ya'la al-Mawsili 150:431

Ahmad ibn Ayyub narrated to us, Ibrahim ibn Sa’d narrated to us, Salih ibn Kaysan narrated to me, from Ibn Shihab, who said: ‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, Sa’id ibn al-Musayyib, ‘Alqamah ibn Waqqas, and ‘Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Utbah narrated to me, from ‘Aishah, the wife of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), when the people of the slander said what they said about her, and Allah declared her innocent. He said: Each of them narrated to me a portion of her hadith, and some of them were more attentive to it than others and more established in narrating it. I have memorized from each man among them the hadith which he narrated to me from ‘Aishah, and some of their hadith confirms others, even if some of them were more attentive to it than others. They said: ‘Aishah said: When the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) intended to go on a journey, he would cast lots among his wives. Whichever of them her lot came out for, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would take her with him. When it was the expedition of Banu al-Mustaliq, he cast lots among his wives as he used to do, and my lot came out among them, so the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) took me with him. She said: The women at that time only ate light food; they did not become heavy with meat so as to become burdened. When my camel was saddled and I sat in my howdah, the people who used to saddle it for me would come and carry me. They would take hold of the bottom of the howdah, lift it, place it on the back of the camel, tie it with its ropes, then take hold of the camel’s head and set off. She said: When the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) finished that journey of his, he turned back. When he came near to Medina, he stopped at a place and spent part of the night there. Then he gave permission to the people to depart, so the people departed. I went out for some of my needs, and around my neck was a necklace of mine made of Zafar beads. When I finished, it slipped from my neck, and I did not know. When I returned to the camp, I went to look for it on my neck, but I did not find it, and the people had already begun to depart. I returned to the place where I had gone, and I searched for it until I found it. The people who used to saddle my camel came to me, and they had finished saddling it. They took the howdah, thinking that I was in it as I used to do, and they carried it and tied it onto the camel, not doubting that I was in it. Then they took the camel’s head and set off with it. I returned to the camp, and there was no caller and no responder; the people had departed. She said: I wrapped myself in my outer garment and lay down in my place, knowing that if I were missed, they would return to me. She said: By Allah, I was lying down when Safwan ibn al-Mu’attal al-Sulami passed by me. He had stayed behind the army for some of his needs and did not follow the people. He saw my silhouette and came until he stood over me. He had seen me before the hijab was imposed. When he saw me, he said: "To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return; the wife of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)." I was wrapped in my clothes. He said: "What kept you behind, may Allah have mercy on you?" She said: I did not speak to him. Then he brought the camel near and said: "Mount," and he moved away from me. She said: I mounted, and he took the camel’s head and set off quickly, seeking the people. By Allah, we did not catch up with the people, and I was not missed until morning came and the people stopped. When they were settled, the man appeared, leading me. The people of the slander said what they said, and the army was shaken. By Allah, I knew nothing of that. Then we arrived in Medina, and I did not tarry before I fell severely ill. Nothing of that reached me, and the talk had reached the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and my parents, and they did not mention any of it, little or much, except that I denied that from him. When he would enter upon me and my mother was with me, nursing me, he would say: "How is she?" and he would not add to that. She said: Until I felt hurt in my soul and said: "O Messenger of Allah, when you saw what you saw of his coldness, if you would permit me, I would move to my mother, so she could nurse me." He said: "There is no harm upon you." She said: So I moved to my mother, and I knew nothing of what had happened until I recovered from my illness after twenty-some nights. We were an Arab people, and we did not have in our houses these latrines that the non-Arabs have; we disliked them and hated them. We used to go out into the open spaces of Medina. The women used to go out every night for their needs. I went out one night for some of my needs with Umm Mistah, the daughter of Abu Ruhm ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib ibn ‘Abd Manaf, and her mother was the daughter of Sakhr ibn ‘Amir ibn Ka’b ibn Sa’d ibn Taym, the maternal aunt of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq. She said: By Allah, as she was walking with me, she stumbled on her garment and said: "May Mistah be ruined." I said: "What a bad thing you have said to a man from the Emigrants who witnessed Badr!" She said: "Has the news not reached you, O daughter of Abu Bakr?" She said: I said: "What is the news?" She informed me of what the people of the slander had said. She said: I said: "Has this really happened?" She said: "Yes, by Allah, it has happened." She said: By Allah, I was not able to finish my need, and I returned. By Allah, I did not cease weeping until I thought that weeping would crack my liver. She said: I said to my mother: "May Allah forgive you; the people are talking about what they are talking about, and you do not mention anything of that." She said: "O my daughter, lighten the matter for yourself, for by Allah, rarely has a beautiful woman been with a man who loves her, and she has co-wives, but they increase [the talk] and the people increase [the talk] against her." Then he mentioned the rest of the hadith of Salih ibn Kaysan in full, similar to what Muhammad ibn Khalid narrated to us from Ibrahim ibn Sa’d.