Musnad Ahmad 1153:1605

'Abd al-Razzaq narrated to us, saying: Ma'mar narrated to us, from al-Zuhri, who said: Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, 'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, 'Alqamah ibn Waqqas, and 'Ubayd Allah ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Utbah ibn Mas'ud informed me regarding the hadith of 'Aishah, the wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), when the people of the slander said what they said, and Allah the Almighty declared her innocent. Each of them narrated to me a portion of her hadith, and some of them were more attentive to her hadith than others and more precise in their narration. I have memorized from each of them the hadith they narrated to me, and some of their narrations confirm others. They mentioned that 'Aishah, the wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), said: "When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) intended to go on a journey, he would cast lots among his wives, and whichever of them her lot came out for, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would take her with him." 'Aishah said: "He cast lots among us during a military expedition he undertook, and my lot came out, so I went out with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). This was after the hijab (veil) had been revealed. I was carried in my howdah and would descend in it during our journey. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) finished his expedition and returned, and we drew near to Medina, he announced the departure one night. When they announced the departure, I stood up and walked until I passed the army. When I had finished my need, I came to my baggage and touched my chest, and found that a necklace of onyx beads had broken. I returned and searched for my necklace, and searching for it detained me. The group of men who used to prepare my howdah came and carried it, and they loaded it onto my camel that I used to ride, thinking that I was inside it." She said: "Women at that time were light; they were not heavy, and flesh had not covered them, as they only ate a little food. So, the people did not find the weight of the howdah unusual when they loaded it and lifted it, and I was a young girl." "They sent the camel away and set off. I found my necklace after the army had moved on. I came to their camping grounds, but there was no caller and no responder. I headed toward my place where I had been, thinking that the people would miss me and return for me. While I was sitting in my place, my eyes overcame me and I slept. Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal al-Sulami, then al-Dhakwani, had stayed behind the army and traveled through the night, reaching my place in the morning. He saw the shadow of a sleeping person and came to me. He recognized me when he saw me, as he had seen me before the hijab was imposed upon me. I woke up at his saying 'Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un' (Indeed we belong to Allah and indeed to Him we shall return) when he recognized me. I covered my face with my jilbab. By Allah, he did not speak a word to me, nor did I hear a word from him other than his saying 'Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un' until he made his riding beast kneel and stepped on its foreleg. I mounted it, and he set off leading the riding beast with me until we reached the army after they had descended in the heat of the midday. Then, those who perished in my affair perished, and the one who took the lead in it was 'Abd Allah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul." "I arrived in Medina and fell ill for a month when we arrived, while the people were spreading the talk of the people of the slander. I was not aware of any of that, but it troubled me during my illness that I did not recognize from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) the kindness I used to see from him when I was ill. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would only enter, greet, and then say, 'How is she?' That troubled me, and I was not aware of the evil until I went out after I had recovered. I went out with Umm Mistah toward al-Manasi', which was our place for relieving ourselves, and we would not go out except at night to night. This was before we had latrines built near our houses, and our custom was like the custom of the early Arabs in the open country. We were bothered by having latrines near our houses. I went out with Umm Mistah—she was the daughter of Abu Ruhm ibn al-Muttalib ibn 'Abd Manaf, and her mother was the daughter of Sakhr ibn 'Amir, the maternal aunt of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, and her son was Mistah ibn Uthathah ibn 'Abbad ibn al-Muttalib." "I and the daughter of Abu Ruhm came toward my house when we had finished our business. Umm Mistah stumbled on her garment and said, 'May Mistah be ruined.' I said to her, 'What a bad thing you have said! You are cursing a man who witnessed Badr?' She said, 'O you simpleton, have you not heard what he said?' I said, 'And what did he say?' She informed me of the talk of the people of the slander, and I added illness to my illness. When I returned to my house, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) entered upon me and said, 'How is she?' I said, 'Do you permit me to go to my parents?'" She said: "At that time, I wanted to verify the news from them. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) permitted me, so I came to my parents and said to my mother, 'O mother, what are the people talking about?' She said, 'O my daughter, be easy on yourself. By Allah, rarely has there been a beautiful woman with a man who loves her and who has co-wives, but they would talk against her.'" She said: "I said, 'Subhan Allah! Have the people really talked about this?'" She said: "I wept that night until morning; my tears did not dry, and I did not get any sleep. Then I woke up weeping. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) called 'Ali ibn Abi Talib and Usamah ibn Zayd when the revelation was delayed, to consult them about separating from his wife." She said: "As for Usamah ibn Zayd, he pointed out to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) what he knew of the innocence of his wife and what he knew in his own heart of the affection for them. He said, 'O Messenger of Allah, they are your family, and we know nothing but good.' As for 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, he said, 'Allah the Almighty has not made it difficult for you, and there are many women besides her. If you ask the servant girl, she will tell you the truth.'" She said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) called Barirah and said, 'O Barirah, have you seen anything that troubles you regarding 'Aishah?' Barirah said to him, 'By the One who sent you with the truth, I have never seen anything against her that I could criticize, other than that she is a young girl who sleeps and leaves her family's dough, and the domestic animal comes and eats it.'" "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stood up and sought excuse from 'Abd Allah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul." She said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said while he was on the pulpit, 'O assembly of Muslims, who will excuse me from a man whose harm has reached me regarding my family? By Allah, I have known nothing but good about my family, and they have mentioned a man about whom I have known nothing but good, and he would not enter upon my family except with me.'" "Sa'd ibn Mu'adh al-Ansari stood up and said, 'I will excuse you from him, O Messenger of Allah. If he is from the Aws, we will strike his neck, and if he is from our brothers, the Khazraj, you command us and we will do your command.'" She said: "Sa'd ibn 'Ubadah, who was the leader of the Khazraj and a righteous man, but tribal zeal had overcome him, stood up and said to Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, 'By the life of Allah, you shall not kill him, and you are not able to kill him.' Usayd ibn Hudayr, who was the cousin of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, stood up and said to Sa'd ibn 'Ubadah, 'You lied, by the life of Allah! We will surely kill him, for you are a hypocrite arguing on behalf of the hypocrites.' The two tribes, the Aws and the Khazraj, rose up until they were about to fight, while the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was standing on the pulpit. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) kept calming them down until they fell silent, and he fell silent." She said: "I wept that day; my tears did not dry, and I did not get any sleep. Then I wept the following night; my tears did not dry, and I did not get any sleep. My parents thought that the weeping would split my liver." She said: "While they were sitting with me and I was weeping, a woman from the Ansar asked permission to see me, and I permitted her. She sat and wept with me. While we were in that state, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) entered upon us, greeted us, and then sat down." She said: "He had not sat with me since what was said to me was said, and a month had passed without any revelation coming to him regarding my affair." She said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) testified when he sat, then said, 'As for what follows, O 'Aishah, it has reached me such and such about you. If you are innocent, Allah the Almighty will declare you innocent, and if you have committed a sin, then seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to Him, for when a servant confesses a sin and then repents, Allah accepts his repentance.'" She said: "When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) finished his speech, my tears ceased until I did not feel a single drop of them. I said to my father, 'Answer the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) regarding what he said.' He said, 'By Allah, I do not know what to say to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).' I said to my mother, 'Answer the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).' She said, 'By Allah, I do not know what to say to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).'" She said: "I said, and I was a young girl who did not read much of the Qur'an, 'By Allah, I know that you have heard this until it has settled in your hearts and you have believed it. If I tell you that I am innocent—and Allah the Almighty knows that I am innocent—you will not believe me. And if I confess to you a matter—and Allah the Almighty knows that I am innocent—you will believe me. By Allah, I find no example for me and you except as the father of Yusuf said: "So patience is beautiful, and Allah is the one sought for help against that which you describe."'" She said: "Then I turned away and lay on my bed." She said: "By Allah, at that time I knew that I was innocent and that Allah the Almighty would declare me innocent because of my innocence. But, by Allah, I did not think that a revelation would be sent down regarding my affair to be recited. My affair was too insignificant in my own eyes for Allah the Almighty to speak about me in a matter to be recited. But I hoped that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would see a dream in his sleep in which Allah the Almighty would declare me innocent." She said: "By Allah, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had not left his seat, nor had anyone from the household gone out, until Allah the Almighty sent down upon His Prophet. He was seized by what used to seize him of the intensity during the revelation, until drops of sweat like pearls were dripping from him on a cold day, due to the weight of the words that were sent down upon him." She said: "When the state was relieved from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), he was smiling. The first word he spoke was, 'Rejoice, O 'Aishah! As for Allah the Almighty, He has declared you innocent.' My mother said to me, 'Stand up to him.' I said, 'By Allah, I will not stand up to him, and I will not praise anyone but Allah the Almighty; He is the One who sent down my innocence.'" "Then Allah the Almighty sent down: 'Indeed, those who came with falsehood are a group among you' (Surah An-Nur: 11) for ten verses. Allah the Almighty sent down these verses declaring my innocence." She said: "Abu Bakr, who used to spend on Mistah because of his kinship to him and his poverty, said, 'By Allah, I will never spend anything on him ever again after what he said about 'Aishah.' Then Allah the Almighty sent down: 'And let not those of virtue among you and wealth swear not to give [aid] to their relatives...' until His saying: 'Do you not like that Allah should forgive you?' (Surah An-Nur: 22). Abu Bakr said, 'By Allah, I do like that Allah should forgive me.' So he returned the spending to Mistah that he used to spend on him and said, 'I will never cut it off from him ever.'" 'Aishah said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had asked Zaynab bint Jahsh, the wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), about my affair, 'What do you know or what have you seen or what has reached you?' She said, 'O Messenger of Allah, I protect my hearing and my sight. By Allah, I have known nothing but good.'" 'Aishah said: "She was the one who used to compete with me among the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), but Allah the Almighty protected her with piety. Her sister, Hamnah bint Jahsh, began to fight on her behalf, so she perished among those who perished." Ibn Shihab said: "This is what has reached us regarding the affair of these people."