12:26Yusuf

`Urwa bin Az-Zubair, Sa`id bin Al-Musaiyab, 'Al-Qama bin Waqqas and 'Ubaidullah bin `Abdullah related the narration of `Aisha, the wife the Prophet, when the slanderers had said about her what they had said and Allah later declared her innocence. Each of them related a part of the narration (wherein) the Prophet (ﷺ) said (to `Aisha). "If you are innocent, then Allah will declare your innocence: but if you have committed a sin, then ask for Allah's Forgiveness and repent to him." `Aisha said, "By Allah, I find no example for my case except that of Joseph's father (when he said), 'So (for me) patience is most fitting.' " Then Allah revealed the ten Verses:-- "Verily those who spread the slander are a gang amongst you.." (24.11)

I witnessed the case of Lian (the case of a man who charged his wife for committing illegal sexual intercourse when I was fifteen years old. The Prophet (ﷺ) ordered that they be divorced, and the husband said, "If I kept her, I would be a liar." I remember that Az-Zubair also said, "(It was said) that if that woman brought forth the child with such-and-such description, her husband would prove truthful, but if she brought it with such-and-such description looking like a Wahra (a red insect), he would prove untruthful." I heard Az-Zubair also saying, "Finally she gave birth to a child of description which her husband disliked .

Hilal bin Umaiya accused his wife of committing illegal sexual intercourse with Sharik bin Sahma' and filed the case before the Prophet. The Prophet (ﷺ) said (to Hilal), "Either you bring forth a proof (four witnesses) or you will receive the legal punishment (lashes) on your back." Hilal said, "O Allah's Apostle! If anyone of us saw a man over his wife, would he go to seek after witnesses?" The Prophet (ﷺ) kept on saying, "Either you bring forth the witnesses or you will receive the legal punishment (lashes) on your back." Hilal then said, "By Him Who sent you with the Truth, I am telling the truth and Allah will reveal to you what will save my back from legal punishment." Then Gabriel came down and revealed to him:-- 'As for those who accuse their wives...' (24.6-9) The Prophet (ﷺ) recited it till he reached: '... (her accuser) is telling the truth.' Then the Prophet (ﷺ) left and sent for the woman, and Hilal went (and brought) her and then took the oaths (confirming the claim). The Prophet (ﷺ) was saying, "Allah knows that one of you is a liar, so will any of you repent?" Then the woman got up and took the oaths and when she was going to take the fifth one, the people stopped her and said, "It (the fifth oath) will definitely bring Allah's curse on you (if you are guilty)." So she hesitated and recoiled (from taking the oath) so much that we thought that she would withdraw her denial. But then she said, "I will not dishonor my family all through these days," and carried on (the process of taking oaths). The Prophet (ﷺ) then said, "Watch her; if she delivers a black-eyed child with big hips and fat shins then it is Sharik bin Sahma's child." Later she delivered a child of that description. So the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "If the case was not settled by Allah's Law, I would punish her severely."

When I came under discussion what the people had to say about me, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) stood up for delivering an address and he recited tashahhud (I bear witness to the fact that iheie is no god but Allah) and praised Allah, lauded Him what He rightly deserves and then said: Coming to the point. Give me an advice about them who have brought false charge about my family. By Allah, I know no evil in the members of my family and the person in connection with whom the false charge is being levelled, I know no evil in him too. And he never entered my house but in my presence and when I was away on a journey, he remained with me even in that. The rest of the hadith is the same but with this change that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came to my house and asked my maidservant and she said: By Allah, I know no fault in her but this that she sleeps, and goat comes and eats the kneaded flour. Some of the Companions (of the Holy Prophet) scolded her and said: State the fact before Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and they even made a pointed reference (to this incident). She said: gallowed be Allah. By Allah, I know about her as does the jeweller know about the pure piece of gold. And when this news reached the person in connection with whom the allegation was made he said: Hallowed be Allah. By Allah, I have never unveiled any woman. 'A'isha said: He fell as a martyr in the cause of Allah, and there is this addition in this hadith that the people who had brought false allegation amongst them were Mistah and Hamna and Hassan. And so far as the hypocrite 'Abdullah b. Ubayy is concerned, he was one who tried his best to gather the false news and then gave them the wind. And he was in fact a fabricator and there was Hamna, daughter of Jahsh with him.

"I heard Sa'eed bin Jubair say: 'I asked Ibn 'Umar about the two who engage in Li'an. He said: 'The Messenger of Allah said to the two who engaged in Li'an: Your reckoning will be with Allah. One of you is lying, and you cannot stay with her. He said: O Messenger of Allah, my wealth! He said: You are not entitled to any wealth. If you are telling the truth about her, then it is in return for having been allowed intimacy with her, and if you are lying then you are even less entitled to it.'"