5. Would you like to meet him outside the institution? (cont.)

The man had come with good intentions, and thought that what he was doing was best. The Prophet  made him realise that it is easy to rectify a mistake, thus he said to him in simple words, “Go back to them and make them laugh the way you made them weep”, and that was the end of the matter. The Prophet  would deal with people in a manner that would encourage them to do good and make it easier for them, even if they were to make mistakes. Here I present to you a painful incident. Although, the point behind this incident exists towards the end, I would still like to present the story from the beginning for our benefit.Whenever the Prophet  wanted to travel he would draw lots between his wives. Whoever won would accompany him in his travels. When he wanted to go on an expedition against Banu al-Mustaliq, he drew lots between his wives, which A’ishah won. Hence, she left with the Messenger of Allah  and this was after the verses of Hijaab were revealed. She used to be carried in a howdaj. Whenever they stopped, she would leave the howdaj to fulfil her needs. Whenever they wanted to set off, she would return to the howdaj. When the Prophet  was finished with his expedition, he began his return journey to Madinah. When he arrived closer to Madinah, he stopped at a place to spend some of the night, and then ordered the men to set off, once again. The people then began to gather their belongings before they set off. Meanwhile, ‘A’ishah −may Allah be pleased with her− Make it easy to rectify a fault went away to fulfil some of her needs. She was wearing a necklace with Zafar beads, while she fulfilled her need,it slipped from her neck without her knowledge. When she went back to the camel and decided to enter the howdaj, she felt her neck but did not find the necklace, and the people were about to head out. She quickly went back to the place where she had relieved herself and began to look for her necklace, and got delayed. The people came and carried her howdaj thinking that she was in it, and placed it on the camel. They then took the camel by the head and went off, as did the army. As for ‘A’ishah, after a long, tiring search she eventually found the necklace and came back to the place where the army had stopped. ‘A’ishah said, “I came back to the place to find no one to call or to respond. The people had left. I then stayed where I was and thought that perhaps the people would miss me and come back to collect me. I then wrapped myself with my Jilbab. As I was sitting, I was overcome by sleep, thus I slept. By Allah, I was lying down when Safwan bin al-Mu’attal passed by me. He was also left behind due to some of his needs, and so he did not spend the night with the people. He noticed a human form, thus he came over to me and recognised me upon seeing me. He had seen me before the Hijaab was ordained for us. When he saw me he said, ‘To Allah we belong and to Him we return! The wife of the Messenger of Allah – may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him!’ I woke up by hearing the words he uttered upon recognising me, so I covered my face with my Jilbab. By Allah, he did not speak Make it easy to rectify a fault a word to me. I did not hear from him anything except those words he spoke at first. He came and his camel knelt down, trod upon its forelegs and I mounted it. He took the camel by its head and headed off to catch up with the people. By Allah, we did not reach the people, nor did they discover that I was missing, until we reached the morning and we found them resting. Whilst they were at it, they saw a man, leading me on a camel. Thereupon, the slanderous people said what they said. The entire army was shaking by the news. By Allah, I had no knowledge of any of that. We then reached Madinah and I became severely ill. Nothing had reached me still from what the people were saying. It did reach the Messenger of Allah  and my parents, but they would never even mention it to me in passing, except that I noticed that the Messenger of Allah  was not showing me kindness. Usually, whenever I fell ill, he would have mercy on me and show me kindness. But this time he did not. Rather, if he visited me whilst I was in my mother’s company who was looking after me, he would say, ‘How is that lady?’ and say no more. I felt this in my heart.