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

When I noticed that he was distant from me, I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, do you give me permission to go to my mother so that she may nurse me?’ He replied, ‘No problem’. Thus I moved in with my mother, without having any knowledge of what was happening. I then recovered from my illness after twenty odd nights. One night I decided to go out to fulfil some of my needs, along with Umm Mistah, the daughter of Abu Bakr’s aunt, and as we were walking, she stumbled over her robe and fell, or was Make it easy to rectify a fault about to. She said, ‘Let Mistah be ruined!’ I said, ‘How bad is what you have said! You are cursing a man who witnessed the battle of Badr!’ She said, ‘O you! Did you not hear what he has said? Hasn’t the news reached you, O daughter of Abu Bakr?’ ‘What news?’ I asked. She then informed me what the slanderous people had been saying. ‘Is this really the case?’ I remarked. ‘Yes, by Allah, it is!’ she replied. By Allah, I was not able to fulfil my need so I returned and became more ill. By Allah, I would not cease to cry until I thought that my weeping would split open my liver. I said to my mother, ‘May Allah forgive you! People are talking about all this, and you do not mention any of this to me.’ She said in reply, ‘O my daughter! Do not worry about it. Very rarely do we find a beautiful woman married to a man who loves her, and that she has other co-wives, except that they all find faults with her, as do the people.’ I said, ‘SubhanAllah! Have the people been speaking about this?’ That night I cried until the morning. My tears did not stop, nor did I manage to sleep, until the morning broke whilst I was still weeping.” This was the situation with ‘A’ishah. She was accused, whilst she was young and had not exceeded fifteen years of age. She Make it easy to rectify a fault was being accused of fornication. Yet, she was a noble and chaste woman, a wife to the purest of all people, who never lifted her veil of dignity and never defiled her honour. But here she was, crying in her parents’ house. As for the Messenger of Allah , he too was full of grief and agony over ‘A’ishah, for neither Jibril was sent, nor the Qur’an revealed to clarify the issue. He remained perplexed on this issue. The accusations coming from the hypocrites were too much to bear, as was the people’s talk concerning his honour and that of his wife. When the agony prolonged, the Prophet  stood up to address the people. He thanked and praised Allah, and then said, “O people! What is wrong with some people that they are hurting me with respect to my family? They are speaking falsehood about my family. By Allah, I have not known of them except good. They are talking similarly about a man, and by Allah, I have not known of him except good. He never entered any of my houses except that he was with me.” When the Prophet  said that, the leader of al-Aws tribe, Sa’d bin Mu’adh stood up and said, “O Messenger of Allah, if they are from al-Aws we will prevent them from harming you. And if they are from our brothers, al-Khazraj, then order us, for they are worthy of having their necks struck!” When the leader of al-Khazraj tribe, Sa’d bin ‘Ubadah heard this, he stood up. Even though he was a righteous man, he was overcome by zeal. He stood up and said, “I swear you have lied! Their necks would not be struck! By Allah, you only said this knowing that they are from al-Khazraj. If they were from your Make it easy to rectify a fault tribe, you would not have said this!” Usayd bin Khudayr said upon hearing this, “I swear you have lied! By Allah we will kill him! But you are a hypocrite, arguing on behalf of the hypocrites!” The people then leapt towards each other and they were about to fight, whilst the Messenger of Allah  was still standing on his pulpit. He continued to calm them down until they finally became silent. The Prophet , upon witnessing this, descended from the pulpit and entered his house. When he realised that the situation could not be diffused by addressing the public, he turned to his family, and the most special people to him, to find a solution.Thus, he called ‘Ali and Usamah bin Zayd to seek their advice. Usamah praised ‘A’ishah and said, “O Messenger of Allah! We do not know about your family except good. All of this is lies and falsehood.” ‘Ali said, “O Messenger of Allah, there are many women you can marry. You are always able to replace her.