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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
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Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
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Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
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Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
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Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
147
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Aisha bint Abu Bakr (ra): Slander and Death of the Prophet ﷺ | The Firsts
Our mother, Aisha (ra) was known for how beloved she was to the Prophet ﷺ which made her an easy target of the hypocrites. In her defense, Allah revealed verses of the Quran in the wake of the great slander known as hadithatul ifk. And in her lap, the Messenger ﷺ would breathe his last breath.
In this lecture, Dr. Omar Suleiman discusses how Aisha (ra) navigated slander and the death of the Prophet ﷺ.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu, a'udhu billahi min ash-shaytani r-rajim, bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim, alhamdulillahi rabbil-alameen, wal-'udwana illa a'la al-dhalimeen, wal-'aqeebatu lil-muttaqeen. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka ala abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alaihi wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim tasliman kathira. Welcome back to another episode of the first. Bi-idhnillahi ta'ala we continue tonight with our mother A'ishah radiyallahu ta'ala anha. And inshallah ta'ala we will cover tonight the tragedies in the life of our mother A'ishah radiyallahu anha. All the way until the greatest tragedy of her life which was the death of our beloved messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam. So today we're going to focus on tragedy in her life radiyallahu ta'ala anha. And also extract the blessing of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala upon her through every one of those tragedies. Next week inshallah ta'ala we'll talk about her legacy and her life after the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam. So we have two more halaqas with our mother A'ishah radiyallahu ta'ala anha. And really what I wanted to do was bring these all together so that we could try to identify the common themes in these different tragedies that happened in her life. Because subhanallah what you find is that while Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chose her for tests and trials that no other wife of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam was chosen with, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also blessed her with blessings that no other person was blessed with. And that's something that really stood out to me as I was preparing for tonight. That every single one of these has absolute devastation and then a recognition of the absolute unique blessing that has come to her radiyallahu ta'ala anha. So we're going to talk about hadithat al-ifk. We're going to talk about the slander of our mother A'ishah radiyallahu anha. We're going to talk about the death of her mother which is not often spoken about.
We're going to talk about then the death of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam in her life. But before that you know we started off this part of the series on A'ishah radiyallahu anha with talking about the idea of sacrifice. Being married to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam is a very difficult thing not in terms of his personality and his character. Rather the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam had the most pleasant personality of all and it is the greatest blessing to be with him salallahu alaihi wa sallam in this dunya and in the akhirah. But the challenges that come with that, the poverty that comes with that, the oppression that comes with that, all of the challenges, even privacy subhanallah which A'ishah radiyallahu anha will speak about. All of these things are compromised because you are in the household of the Messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam. And so there is an ayah in Surah Al-Ahzab and I want to go through these ayat before we get to Hadithatul Ifk which is the slander of A'ishah radiyallahu anha where you have the strongest mention of A'ishah in the Quran. Surah Al-Ahzab, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alludes to a situation in the household of the Messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam that's stunning, which is that the wives of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam found life very difficult by the standard of the Messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam. The poverty was becoming severe, the difficulty was severe. I mean the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam did not have proper furniture, he did not have proper food, no matter how powerful he was salallahu alaihi wa sallam. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reveals to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam to essentially go to his wives and give them a choice, a choice to stay married to him salallahu alaihi wa sallam and bear the difficulty of being married to him in terms of worldly deprivation or to basically be let go and there would be no blame on them.
So this is an offer that comes down in the Quran to the wives of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam. يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيِّ قُلْ لِأَزْوَاجِكَ إِن كُنْتُنَّ تُرِدْنَا الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتَهَا فَتَعَالَيْنُ أُمَتِّعْكُنَّ وَأُسَرِّحْكُنَّ صَرَاحًا جَمِيْرًا Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, O Prophet, say to your wives, if you desire the life of this world and its luxury, then come forward and you will be given a suitable compensation and you will be let go gracefully. You're not going to be let go in a harsh way. You're not going to be mocked. It's understandable that this is a very difficult task to live in this level of poverty and hardship. وَإِن كُنْتُنَّ تُرِدْنَا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهَ وَالدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ And if you want Allah and the Messenger and the Hereafter, فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ أَعَدَّ لِلْمُحْسِنَاتِ مِنْ كُنَّ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has prepared for those of you who are good doers a great reward. So you have an amazing reward that awaits you in the Hereafter. So the Prophet ﷺ is essentially given an order to go to each one of his wives and to tell them Allah is giving you an offer here. And you're not going to be blamed if you choose to go back to your homes and to be given some worldly compensation because it's understandable that this is a difficult life to bear. فَبَدَأَ بِعَائِشَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا The Prophet ﷺ started with Aisha r.a. And he loves Aisha r.a. So of course the Prophet ﷺ is hoping she doesn't take the other option but he has to be just and give her the option that you can go back to your parents' home and you won't be blamed. So he goes to Aisha r.a. and he says, يَا عَائِشَةٌ إِنِّي أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَعْرِضَ عَلَيْكِ أَمْرًا أُحِبُّ أَنْ لَا تَعْجَلِ فِيهِ حَتَّى تَسْتَشِيرِ أَبَوَيْكِ
It's a mouthful. He says, listen Aisha, Allah has given me an order to give you a choice and I would hope that you're not hasty in answering until you go and you talk to your parents. Meaning what? You know, the Prophet ﷺ and Aisha r.a. and his relationship is very quick, it's very fun, it's open, subhanAllah. She might say something in haste to prove a point or something that's going to end up being against her. So the Prophet ﷺ said, listen, be slow in answering, know how you're going to answer me and then it's probably a good idea for you to go talk to Abu Bakr and to your parents in the process. قَالَتْ وَمَا هُوَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ What is it, O Messenger of Allah? So the Prophet ﷺ recited the ayat to her. So she responded, she said, أَفِيكَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَسْتَشِيرُ أَبَوَيَّ So you want me to go consult my parents in regards to you, O Messenger of Allah? She said, بَلْ أَخْتَارُ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَالدَّارُ الْآخِرَةُ She said, all I want is Allah and the Messenger and Al-Dar Al-Akhirah and the Hereafter. I don't need to go talk to my parents. So I'm going to give you a quick answer. And the quick answer is, I want to stay. I know it's a difficult life. I know what I signed up for. I know that there will be poverty here and hardship. But I don't want to go talk to my parents, O Messenger of Allah. I want to stay. And the Prophet ﷺ was so happy. Like he breathes a sigh of relief. As Aisha, رضي الله عنها, says, الحمد لله She didn't choose the other option. But then Aisha رضي الله عنها, our mother, says to the Prophet ﷺ, But don't tell the other wives what I said. لا تخبر امرأة من نسائك بالذي قلت Don't tell them what I said. And there are reasons that the ulema mention. Either she doesn't want to give the answer to them that the Prophet ﷺ loves,
that they use the same answer. Like this is my original answer. I responded to the ayah as it came down and it clearly made you happy. So don't give it away to the other ones. Let them figure out how to answer. Or she doesn't want them to know because if they know then maybe they'll stay too. And maybe she's hoping that one of them takes the other option. So the ulema of hadith, they disputed over the meaning of this. But she said, listen, don't tell the other wives what I said. And the Prophet ﷺ said, Look, no woman is going to ask me about what you said except that I have to tell her. I have to tell her. Why? He said, إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمْ يَبْعَثْنِي مُعَنِّثًا وَلَا مُتَعَنِّثًا وَلَكِنْ بَعَثَنِي مُعَلِّمًا مُيَسِّرًا He said, Allah has sent me or Allah did not send me to be harsh or to irritate people. Like I'm not here to play games with people or to irritate or to poke. Allah sent me as a teacher and Allah sent me to make things easy for people. So if the other wives say, Well, what did Aisha say? I'm going to have to tell them because I'm not going to pit anyone against each other. I'm abiding by the ayah as it came down to me. So the Prophet ﷺ goes out very happy from Aisha رضي الله عنها and every single one of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ said, Well, what did Aisha say? And the Prophet ﷺ said what Aisha said and they all responded with the exact same thing. So none of them took the other offer which was to abandon the household of the Prophet ﷺ because they knew that the reward of being with the Prophet ﷺ despite any difficulty that came with it was a reward that was unmatched, was a reward that was completely unmatched. So that's one set of ayat in Surah Al-Ahzab. And then you have the famous incident of Surah Tahrim which is relevant to Hadithatul Ifk where Allah ﷻ says يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ لِمَا تُحَرِّمُ مَا أَحَلَّ اللَّهُ لَكَ O Prophet of Allah, why do you make forbidden for yourself what Allah has made permissible for you? Now I'll go into some more detail in the story of Hafsa رضي الله عنها
I'll just give the brief here inshallah because we're going to touch it in the story of Aisha, Hafsa and Zaynab. May Allah be pleased with them all. In Al-Bukhari, in brief, the interpretation of this is that Aisha and Hafsa may Allah be pleased with them were jealous of Zaynab رضي الله عنها because she had a particular type of honey that the Prophet ﷺ liked and the Prophet ﷺ would spend time there and the Prophet ﷺ clearly was enjoying the honey that Zaynab رضي الله عنها was making. So they told each other, they said when the Prophet ﷺ comes to you, tell the Prophet ﷺ his breath is bad and that will discourage him from eating the honey of Zaynab رضي الله عنها. So they both decided to tell the Prophet ﷺ when he comes to them that what's that smell in your breath and they would say that it smells like maghafir, it smells bad, doesn't smell good and the Prophet ﷺ as Aisha رضي الله عنها says used to love to smell good. He always smelled good ﷺ. His sweat was a good scent ﷺ. His breath was always good ﷺ. He wore the best of scents ﷺ. So when they told the Prophet ﷺ, when they both said to the Prophet ﷺ that his breath didn't smell pleasant knowing that he just came from the house of Zaynab رضي الله عنها he said ﷺ that بَلْ شَرِبْتُ عَسَلًا عِندَ زَيْنَبٍ وَلَنْ أَعُودَ لَهُمْ that I ate some honey at the house of Zaynab رضي الله عنها but you know what, since clearly both of you think that it makes my breath not good I'm never going to eat that honey again. And that's when Allah ﷻ revealed يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ بِمَا تُحَرِّمُ مَا أَحَلَّ اللَّهُ لَكُ O Prophet of Allah, why would you make forbidden for yourself what Allah has made permitted for you? So why is this important? Because again it speaks to the idea of Zaynab رضي الله عنها leading one group Aisha رضي الله عنها leading one group and the way that that played out sometimes. Now let's get to حديثة الإفك
the great slander of Aisha رضي الله عنها and subhanAllah there are hopefully inshallah ta'ala certain things that will now connect for you that maybe did not in the past. Remember that incident we spoke about of the necklace of Aisha رضي الله عنها being lost and the sahaba being held up in a long journey and they couldn't find the necklace and the revelation of tayammum حديثة الإفك the slander happens in that journey. So this was one of those journeys subhanAllah where things are all over the place where Aisha رضي الله عنها loses her necklace and now Aisha رضي الله عنها says that on this journey and this was the campaign of Bani al-Mustaliq six years after hijrah on this journey after I found my necklace and the army was to proceed Aisha رضي الله عنها went to relieve herself so she went far away from the army to relieve herself to use the restroom or to find something and when she came back she found that the army had proceeded without her. Now it was night time which gives you an idea as to why that could have happened and she describes, she says that they assumed that I was in the hawdaj in the, remember the caravan that's on the back of the camels and she said I wasn't too heavy so it was easy for them to just make the assumption that I was still there so they just continued forward it was in the middle of the night and they continued their journey towards Medina and I came back and I found the army is gone so first she lost her necklace on this journey and now she got lost on this journey and you can imagine this is actually a pretty scary circumstance now the Arabs used to plan for this stuff the ways of traveling during the journey which is why the prophet would appoint someone to stay behind and to make sure that no one forgot anything or no one was forgotten
Ibn Hajar says Safwan Ibn Mu'atil was this person and he says Safwan used to be ordered to wait 8 to 10 hours sometime after the army would proceed and then he would go and he would see if anything or anyone was left behind so Aisha knows the procedure she says that I went back to the place that we last were and I just sat in the same place and I waited for someone to come I figured they'll come back once they realize they've forgotten me they'll come back to the place that they last remembered seeing me so she said then while I was sitting there I got tired and I fell asleep so she's sleeping and she wakes up to Safwan saying like what a disaster out of all people to be forgotten and she says that he saw me before hijab so he recognized him because he saw me before hijab Aisha would cover her face so she's saying that he recognized me because this was after the ayat of hijab and when he knew that I was there he said and he didn't say another word to me that's it Aisha quickly got up, she covered herself all together and she says that Safwan put the camel down and he walked away he made the camel kneel and then he walked away not even looking at me right, like no salamu alaykum what happened ya ummul mu'mineen nothing, not a single conversation he's doing everything he needs to do, he's a noble man that's why the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam appoints him for such a task so Aisha says
I mounted the camel and once he knew that I mounted the camel, he ordered the camel to stand and he started to take me towards Al-Madinah and she says he didn't say a single word to me after that like that was it no conversation he's doing what he's supposed to be doing bringing Aisha back to the army of the messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam and subhanallah to make it even more obvious that there was nothing wrong happening here, he enters into Madinah in broad daylight I'm not trying to hide anything here clearly the mother of the believers was left behind and he's entering into Madinah to make it very clear Safwan is known as the person that cleans up afterwards that retrieves anything that's been left over it's only been a few hours, it was last night and now it's broad daylight and that's when Aisha says fahalaka man halak fahalaka man halak then those who were meant to be destroyed were meant to be destroyed, meaning what the slander starts from that moment wakana alladhi tawalla kibra alifki abdullah ibn obey ibn salool and the one who got the biggest share of the slander, who started the slander was abdullah ibn obey ibn salool, the chief of the hypocrites now, a lot is happening to abdullah ibn obey ibn salool right now, the ayah subhanallah you can see how much is happening in this particular journey, the ayah la in raja'na ila almadinati la in raja'na ila almadinati that they say, the hypocrites say that if we get back to Medina we're going to remove the humiliated one and replace him with the honoured one, meaning what abdullah ibn obey ibn salool said during this campaign, we're going to get back to Medina and we're going to remove the humiliated one, and he means by that Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
and replace him with me, the honoured one so he's playing his card now because he thinks he has an opening in this particular campaign he thinks he has a moment to launch a coup against the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and Allah reveals surat al munafiqun, meaning what, he really needs a diversion tactic right now, he needs a way to change the conversation in Medina you know, these people are shayateen they know exactly how to divert attention and to cause a fitna that will get people talking about something other than them, so he needs to find something to change the subject because right now the discourse in Medina is what's the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam going to do to him when he gets back to Medina I mean he officially announced that he's trying to launch a coup against the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and of course the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam had told his son that he wasn't going to kill him, that he was going to let him go he was going to forgive him, but to him this is still, you know, a very uncertain moment for him, so he sees Aisha radiallahu anha and he sees Safwan and he simply says to the people around, he says something happened between those two that's it just suggest he was not free from her nor was she free from him I bet you something happened between those two see how subhanallah this ifk happens the slander happens now Aisha radiallahu anha has no idea any of this is happening by the way but as soon as he does that people then start to talk did you hear what Abdullah bin Obay bin Salul said? forward, retweet, share pass the news most people are not malicious they're curious, and that's actually the problem as Allah azawajal mentions, they meet it with al-sinatahum with their tongues, they're not thinking about it they're not actually understanding the gravity of what they're entertaining with their tongues, they're just having conversations, it's the gossip of the day, it's a tabloid, hey did you hear
that Aisha radiallahu anha came after the army and Safwan was bringing her in on the camel and I wonder what happened between them, and the conversation starts to happen, subhanallah a major, major slander and the fitna is about to happen and the tabloids are out and most people are being reckless, so the majority of people are just reckless and this is something subhanallah to keep in mind, we talked about the difficulties that you're going to face being the wife of the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, everyone in Medina knew that the most beloved person to the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was who? Aisha, everyone knew that, the sahaba and the hypocrites, so you want to get to the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, mess with his wife, right, slander his wife, so the hypocrites know that by going after her they can really, you know, mess with the household of the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam because they know what she means to the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the gossip happens and imagine now the hypocrites are pretending to be Muslims, right, so they're scattered amongst the Muslims, so you got this person here who's instigating a little bit more over here, instigating a little bit more over here, and it becomes the nightly discussion in Medina, people talking about what might have happened between Aisha radiallahu anha and Safwan radiallahu ta'ala anhum, now there's this scope of responses, the best response to hadithatul ifk was the response of who, does anyone remember? We spoke about him already, not Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu, particularly here, Abu Bakr actually heard it late, they don't talk to Abu Bakr about it, there's one companion who gave the best response of them all, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, remember Abu Ayyub radiallahu anhu, his wife Um Ayyub radiallahu anha, she says, did you hear what they're saying about Aisha radiallahu anha? What is it? So she says what they're saying, and she says what do you think, and
she says what do you think, and he says, would you do that? And she goes, of course not, he says Aisha's better than you, don't you dare, like don't even entertain that, that is the best response, subhanallah, like this is our mom, Aisha radiallahu anha, zawjat an-nabi salallahu alayhi wa sallam, habibatu habibillah, the beloved one of the beloved one, right? So don't even entertain that, she's a better woman than you, she's our mother, don't you dare even entertain it, there is no way, and she's free from that, that's the best response that was given to hadithat al-ifk, and Aisha radiallahu anha would praise it later on, and this is something to remember, right, someone who said the right thing in the heat of the moment. Then you have a bunch in between, then you have the three people that carried it from amongst the companions, and this was again a very hard lesson, because the three people that were most active in repeating it were actually noble companions, and it hurts, but it shows you a learning, you know, opportunity for the companions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, the hypocrites are in a category, they're condemned to the worst punishment, there's a higher standard for the sahaba, a higher standard for the companions, and so of the three that carried it, most prominently from amongst the companions, the first one was Hamna bint Jahsh radiallahu anha, who is Hamna? Hamna is the widow of Musab ibn Umayr radiallahu anhu, subhanallah, the widow of Musab, the sister of Abdullah ibn Jahsh, and the sister of Zainab, so she's the sister in law of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, she's the widow of Musab, she's the sister of Abdullah ibn Jahsh, who was the first Amir in Islam, an amazing companion, Musab, the one who brought Islam to Medina, and she fell, she repeated it. Now shaitan plays with people,
what does she think she's doing by saying that something might be true about Aisha, she thinks she's doing a favor to who? Zainab, it's my sister, so if Aisha radiallahu anha goes down, then perhaps Zainab radiallahu anha is elevated, right, in rank, elevated in her position. Now subhanallah, Aisha radiallahu anha, she praises Zainab radiallahu anha, why? Because Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam went to Zainab, and this was Zainab's opportunity, if Zainab did not have the fear of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam says to Zainab, what do you think? Zainab could have said, well, I don't know, I'm just saying, she could have given an ambiguous answer, she said ya Rasulullah ahmi sam'i wa basari wallahi ma alimtu illa khayra, she said, oh messenger of Allah, I'm going to protect my eyes and my ears from this filth, I don't know of Aisha except for good things, that's Zainab herself radiallahu anha, our mother Zainab, she said, this is Aisha we're talking about, radiallahu anha, of course she would never do something like that, this is disgusting and it should not be repeated, and Aisha radiallahu anha actually says in the hadith, she says that Zainab radiallahu anha was held back by her taqwa, by her war'a, by her fear of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, her God consciousness, and unfortunately Hamna radiallahu anha, and we say radiallahu anha, she's a companion that fell, she made a mistake, a grievous mistake here, she thought she was doing her sister a favor by putting down Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha, the second one was, and we spoke about him in detail, Hassan ibn Thabit radiallahu ta'ala anhu, and that hurt because Hassan was the poet of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he used his tongue to defend the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam against the enemies of Rasulullah, and some of the scholars say, look pay attention to something here, there is, and I'm not going to go into the detail of these three categories of people, but the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam used to talk about people who talk too much, people who rhyme too much, people who comment
too much, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the furthest people from me on the day of judgment are these people, people that have an opinion on everything, and people that are excessive and, you know, that love to hear themselves speaking, that's what those three categories encompass, and some of the scholars commented, they said the problem with a poet is that a poet is so eloquent and is looked to to offer an opinion on everything to become a commentator, so Hassan radiallahu anhu had nothing but love for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, but he offers his comments, and his tongue slips, and our mother Aisha radiallahu anha hated that anyone would speak bad of him, Aisha radiallahu anha hated that anyone would speak bad of him, why? Because she said he used to defend the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, meaning his defense of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is more beloved to me, or weighs heavier for me than his using his tongue against me for those moments, subhanallah, because she loves the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam more than she loves herself, so when people would say bad things about Hassan in her presence, she would stop them, and she would say, that was a man that used to respond on behalf of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, don't say anything bad about Hassan, and she used to say that I remember him saying, she said I remember the powerful words of Hassan when he used to say that my mother, my father, and my honour are all for the honour of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, so don't curse Hassan, so it was Hamna and Hassan, and then the third one was Mishtah, who happens to be her cousin, and Mishtah, it's not clear why he fell into it, but he was very poor, Allah knows best what happened, how he got himself into it, but Mishtah radiallahu ta'ala anhu fell into it as well, and he was a companion of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
so anyway, the conversations happening in Medina, and Aisha radiallahu anha says, that I actually got sick on this journey, so for one month I was in bed, I had no idea that people were talking about me, imagine subhanallah, the whole of Medina is having this conversation about Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha, and she said I had no clue that any of this was happening to me, she said, except one thing that got me curious, she said, laa a'rifu min rasool illahi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, al-lutf allathi kuntu araa minhu heena ashtaki, she said the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was not as loving, and gentle, and compassionate with me in this sickness as he would have been in the past, so she said, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would enter upon me, yusallimu alayya, and he would give salam, and he would say, kayfateekum, how are you, how are you, so he was inquiring sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he was still showing care and concern, but Aisha radiallahu anha knows the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, she knows something is wrong, that he's acting a little removed sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, subhanallah, that shows you by the way, how amazing the character of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was already, that she could sense a little bit of removal, because he was so loving, so attentive sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in normal times, that it was as if something was going on, so she said, something started to happen inside of me, I was wondering, what's going on here, and then she said, a whole month later, Ummi Mistah, the mother of Mistah, comes to me, and basically they used to go to a far out place, al-manasir, they used to go far away from their homes to use the restroom, so subhanallah, you think about the ni'mah of our times, the blessing
of our times, she actually goes into quite some detail, where she explains that we held our bowel movements, and then once every two nights or so, we'd go out to the outskirts, and there was a place that was allocated, dedicated, especially for the women, to be able to relieve themselves, so she said, I went with Ummi Mistah, to relieve myself, and as we were there, and she explains the relationship, she says that Ummi Mistah was the daughter of Sakhar ibn Amir, who was the maternal aunt of Abu Bakr, so Ummi Mistah is Abu Bakr's first cousin, alright, so she's my second cousin, she said, I'm with Ummi Mistah, and then as we are out, she trips, and she says, may Mistah be destroyed, Aisha's like, why are you making dua against your son? And on top of that, she says, I said to her, not knowing that Mistah had said things about me, I said to her, what a horrible thing you've said, are you saying something bad about a man who attended Badr? Not your son, how dare you say something about a man who attended Badr? And then, she says to me, young woman, you don't know what he said about you? She said, no, I have no idea. So she responded, what he said, and that's when she learned of the ifk, that's when she learned about the slander, so a whole month after it had started in Medina, Aisha said, those are the moments that I learned about what the discussion was, I knew what the tabloids were saying, I knew what the gossip was in Medina, and she said, that just made me sicker than I'd been before, I mean, I felt sick to my stomach, how could they say these things
about me? So she said, I went home, and I cried, and the Prophet ﷺ entered, and he did what he was doing every day ﷺ, he gave me salam, and he asked me how I was doing, and I said to him, do you give me permission to go see my parents, can I go to my parents' house? The Prophet ﷺ said, of course. So she said, I went to my parents' house, and I said to my mother, what are the people saying about me? What's happening in Medina right now? So she says to me, listen, my daughter, take it easy, no one is going to be that beloved to the Prophet ﷺ and have the position that you have, except that people are going to talk. Other women are going to talk about you. So you should have expected, it comes with the territory to some extent, that your position with the Messenger ﷺ puts this big target on your back, and people are going to talk about you. Unfortunately, that's the way society is. So she tried to calm her down, and I said, SubhanAllah, I said, SubhanAllah, is this what the people are saying about me? So she said, بكيت تلك الليلة حتى أصبحت لا يرقأ لي دمع ولا أتحل بنوم. She said, I cried so much, when my mom confirmed what was being spoken about, what was being said about me, that I ran out of tears. I reached the point in my crying that I no longer had any tears left, and she said, and I could not sleep a single moment, I didn't get a blink of an eye of sleep, and the morning came and I was still crying even though my tears had dried up. She said, while this is happening, Rasulullah ﷺ was waiting for a wahi.
SubhanAllah, this is a test to the Prophet ﷺ as well, and Allah is going to explain in Surah An-Nur that don't think this was bad for you, بَلْ وَخَيْرٌ لَكُمْ This was good for all of you, it teaches the community a lesson, Rasulullah ﷺ is looking to the skies and waiting for Jibreel ﷺ, and suddenly the revelation has stopped, it's not coming to the Prophet ﷺ for a month. Not just about Aisha, no Surahs of the Qur'an are coming to the Prophet ﷺ, Jibreel ﷺ is not coming to the Prophet ﷺ, so Rasulullah ﷺ does istishara, he consults with his family, so first he brings in Usama ibn Zaid, Usama ibn Zaid is the son of his son, Zaid ibn Harifa, so it was once his adopted son, so Usama is like a grandson to the Prophet ﷺ. And the Prophet ﷺ asks Usama about the situation, and Usama says, Ya Rasulullah, she's your wife, we only know good things about her, this will pass inshallah, just stay the course. And then he goes to Ali ibn Abi Tarib, his son-in-law, his cousin, his beloved one, and Ali says what Usama said, but Ali added two things, he said listen, at the end of the day, if you need to move on, Allah ﷻ has not restricted you, but before you do something like that, you need to go, why don't you go and consult Barira, the freed slave of Aisha ﷺ. Why? Because Barira is close to Aisha ﷺ, so go ask her about this, Ya Rasulullah. So the Prophet ﷺ goes to Barira and says, Ya Barira, what do you think, have you seen anything that gives you any type of suspicion? And Barira says, Ya Rasulullah, I've never seen anything blameworthy from Aisha, except that she's a young woman, so sometimes she falls asleep and she leaves the dough unprotected, and the goats come and eat the dough.
So again, a knock on her cooking. It keeps happening with Aisha ﷺ, that, you know, the one a'ib in her, the one fault that I see with Aisha ﷺ is that she sleeps and she leaves the dough out, she wakes up and the animals ate the dough, right? But I've never seen anything with her character. So the Prophet ﷺ, he goes to the minbar, he goes to the pulpit, and he says, Ya ma'ashar al-muslimin, O Muslims, man ya'adhiruni min rajulin qad balaghani anhu adhaahu fee ahli, who's going to relieve me of a man that has hurt my family, that hurt me in regards to my family? Meaning what? It's Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Sulul. We all know as a collective that it was Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Sulul, and the Prophet ﷺ has given him amnesty after amnesty after amnesty, but at this point now, subhanAllah, this has reached the point, the Prophet ﷺ says, who's going to relieve me of this man? And then the Prophet ﷺ, what does he say? He says, wallahi ma'alimtu ala ahli illa khairah. He defends his wife. He says, I've never known anything but good from Aisha radhiAllahu anha. So he says, who's going to relieve me of this person that's spreading this evil slander that has hurt me and my family, and wallahi, I do not know of anything but good things when it comes to Aisha radhiAllahu ta'ala anha, and subhanAllah, the Prophet ﷺ and his noble character, who else does he need to defend? He defends Safwan radhiAllahu anhu. You know, he could have taken his anger out on Safwan, he could have roughed him up, you know, been unjust to him, right, because that's what a jealous husband would do. Instead, the Prophet ﷺ knows that Aisha radhiAllahu anha is the more high-profile victim of this slander, but Safwan is also a victim. So the Prophet ﷺ says, walaqad dhakaru rajulan ma'alimtu alaihi illa khairah. And they've been mentioning a man, and wallahi, I don't know except good things about him. So I know only good things about my wife Aisha, and I know only good things about the man
that they are making this claim about, and he never used to come to visit me except, or he never visited my family except that I was there. At that point, that's when Sa'ad ibn Mu'adh radhiAllahu anhu stands up, and Sa'ad was the chief of al-Aws, and he said, ya Rasulullah, if he is from us, then we'll take care of him, we'll kill him, and if he's from the Khazraj, give us the order and we'll take care of him as well. Meaning what? We'll take him out if he's one of us, and we'll take him out if he's one of them. Now this was unfortunately, unfortunately, the first time you started to hear the hint of that pre-Islamic ignorance, Aws versus Khazraj, right? So if he's one of us, if he's one of Aws, we'll handle it, and if he's one of Khazraj, we'll handle it. Then, unfortunately, Sa'ad ibn Ubadah got up, and he was from Khazraj. And Aisha radhiAllahu anhu makes an excuse for him. She says that he was before that rajul in Sariha. He was a righteous man, but he got overcome by the moment. Ignorance overcame him in that moment, and he says, kadhabt, he said, you've told a lie. If he's from your people, you can take care of him, but if he's from one of us, you're not touching him. We'll take care of him. And then Usaid ibn Hudair got up, and Usaid said to Sa'ad, you're a munafiq, you're a hypocrite, how could you say that, Sa'ad ibn Mu'adh, right? And they start fighting once again, Aus and Khazraj, and this is exactly what Abdullah ibn Ubaid ibn Sarul wants. Divide the community, distract, deflect. And the Prophet ﷺ is so disappointed in that moment. So disappointed. You know, when Ali radhiAllahu anhu used to say, ya'amru an-namamu an-sa'atin fitnata ashhur, that a slanderer in one hour causes a fitna that lasts for months, right? Some of the scholars said, bal-sineen, even years, sometimes in one hour, a person will
do more destruction with this tongue than years of destruction. And what Abdullah ibn Ubaid has been trying to do for six years, to pit these people against each other, he now found an opening, and that shows you that fitna is a climate, like it takes over a community. Everyone's emotions get high, and when everyone's emotions get high, shaitan's probability of entering with all sorts of delusions gets high too. He's going to turn this person against, I mean, people just stop thinking right. They stop thinking right. These people put their lives on the line for the Prophet ﷺ. But in a moment, they lost it. And the Prophet ﷺ was so disappointed, trying to quiet them, and then the Prophet ﷺ eventually, he left it, right? So Abdullah ibn Ubaid bin Sulul escapes anything at that moment. Now Aisha radhiAllahu anhu is still narrating the hadith. She says that, I kept on crying, and I could not sleep, and my parents were with me, and there were two nights in which I had not slept a single moment. And she says, inni la'adhunnu anna al-buka'a thaliqun kabidi. She said that, I thought that the crying was going to tear my liver, meaning I thought I was going to die from crying. This was very difficult on our mother radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu. I mean, she's really struggling. SubhanAllah, this shows you the human side. She's saying, I was struggling. So it wasn't easy for me. I wasn't sitting there saying, it's all going to be okay. I'm struggling here. I can't believe this is happening. I never did anything to deserve this, and people are saying this and this and this about me. So she said, the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam entered into the house, and he said salam, and then he sat down, and she mentions that the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam said the tashahud. He said, ashhadu an la ilaha illAllah, wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasulullah. So he basically starts off like a formal address.
And I'm sitting, and Abu Bakr is there, and Um Roman is there with my parents, and the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam says, ya Aisha, oh Aisha, innahu balaghani anki katha wa katha. Look, this is what's been said. This is the first conversation they're having about it. Look, Aisha, this is what has come to me in regards to you. If you're innocent, Allah is going to declare your innocence. So that's the first thing the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam starts off with. And if you made a mistake, if you committed a sin, then seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to Him. If a servant makes a mistake, commits a sin, and then they sincerely repent to Allah, Allah will forgive them. Now Aisha radiAllahu anha is upset that the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam even said it. And Ibn Hajar rahimAllah mentions this regard, the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam was speaking in his capacity as a messenger of Allah, not as her husband here. He has to say this. He has to say this. That look, if you're not guilty, which is the presumption, which is why he started with that, and he's not blaming her, he doesn't have that in his voice, then don't worry, soon enough your innocence will be proclaimed. But look, in the possibility that you did actually commit this sin, then return back to Allah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and Allah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam will forgive you. There's also something very beautiful about this in a subtle way, which is the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam did not say to her, like a narcissist, do you know what the people are saying about me? Do you know what this has done to me? Do you know how hurt I am? Do you know what's happening in my life? Can you believe, look at this, if you wouldn't have got lost that day, none of this would have happened. See, it's all an invitation to hurt, like this is about you and I understand. And I'm not going to make this about me, even though the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam is hurting, she was hurt to get to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam.
But this is our Messenger sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he's not making this about himself, and he's not blaming her for the trial in any way. But the fact that he even said that to her, she said that when he finished his speech, she said, my eyes dried up, I stopped crying, and I looked at my father, and I said, I said to Abu Bakr, my father, respond to the Messenger sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam on my behalf. Abu Bakr said, Ya Aisha, I don't know what to say. So she said, I looked at my mom, Umr Man, I said, Answer the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam on behalf of me. And Umr Man says, Ya Aisha, I don't know what to say. It's not like he said anything except the truth here. Right? And so she then says, I said to all three of them, now I feel alone in this room. The Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and Abu Bakr, and Umr Man. She said, I said to all three of them, if I admit to something I didn't do, then you'll leave me alone. But even if I don't admit to it, then still, the shaytan has planted some seeds, and maybe you're going to start thinking still that there's a possibility that I did it, and Allah knows I'm innocent. So she said, the only thing, She said, the only thing I see befitting to this moment then, is to say to you what the father of Yusuf sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, A beautiful patience, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the keeper, Allah azza wa jal is most fitting in dealing with the plot of those who plot. So she said, I turned away from them, and I laid on my bed, and she said, I knew that I was innocent. And she said,
I knew Allah was going to reveal my innocence. Listen to what she says, She said, I never thought Allah would reveal Quran about me. I never thought Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would reveal Quran about me. She says, She said, I never thought that I am of a position that Allah azza wa jal would speak about me with revelation. She says, I was hoping the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam would see a dream that would reveal my innocence. So I never thought Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was going to reveal Quran in my defense. But she said, that the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam did not leave his seat, and she said, suddenly, what was known of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam with revelation started to happen to him. We heard the descent of revelation on the Messenger sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And we knew that Quran was coming to him. It's been a whole month, and the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam was waiting for Allah azza wa jal to reveal something about this. And it's coming to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam in the house of Abu Bakr, Umar and Aisha. And she said, when the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam received revelation, he smiled. And he, you know, had this breath of relief. And he said, Ya Aisha, O Aisha, Allah has declared your innocence. Now here's the thing. When he said that, sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, Aisha radiAllahu anha says, that Umar said to me, to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, like now this is over, go give him a hug, go embrace him.
And she said, She said, no, no, not now, I'm not going to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Right now I'm going to praise only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. For Allah was the one who declared my innocence in this regard. And then she said, until the end of it. The ten ayat of Surah An-Nur, in which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala declared the innocence of Aisha radiAllahu anha. Meaning she's saying that I was so emotional in those moments, that I only wanted to praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because Allah revealed Quran in my defense. I never thought that was going to happen. I never thought I had a position with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for him to reveal ten ayat of Quran. And it wasn't just ten ayat for her innocence. It was ten ayat in which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala admonishes the community. Ten ayat in which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about those who brought forth the ifk. And as Zamakhshari says, if you read the whole Quran, the anger of the ayat towards those who slandered Aisha radiAllahu anha is unlike the anger that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala used in regards to any other group of people. Ibn Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala used to say, من أذنب ذنبا ثم تاب إلى الله whoever commits a sin and then repents to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala it will be accepted from them إلا من خاض في أمر عائشة For those that would talk about Aisha radiAllahu anha that's a severe sin. It requires another level of tawbah for them. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was so severe in defending our mother Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha and القرطب رحمه الله he comments, he says that the flogging was carried out on Mistah and on Hamnah and on Hassan. But Abdullah ibn Ubay bin Salul was actually ordered to be left. Why? وإنما لم يحد عدو الله لأن الله تعالى قد أعد له
في الآخرة عذابا عظيما فلو حد في الدنيا لكان نقصا من عذابه الأخروي. He said that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, spare his entire punishment for the hereafter. Because any punishment that comes to him here might be a decrease of that which he has done, the severity of what he has done and that's what he meant when he said وَالَّذِي تَوَلَّى كِبْرَهُ مِنْهُمْ لَهُ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ that the one who started it has a particular عذاب, a particular punishment in the hereafter that awaits him for the way that he dealt with our mother Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And Imam al-Qurtubi rahim Allah also says something very beautiful about this. He says Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala exonerated Musa alayhi salam through the stone. What does that mean? Remember they slandered Musa alayhi salam, they said that he has a skin condition. And then Musa alayhi salam put his garment on the stone and the stone ran off with his garment and basically revealed that Musa alayhi salam was slandered. Musa alayhi salam beat the stone because he was upset about it but that's how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala relieved Musa of the slander towards him alayhi salam. And then he said Allah exonerated Yusuf alayhi salam through the young boy shahida shahidun min ahliha the young boy that was a witness. Allah revealed the innocence of Yusuf alayhi salam through that. And Allah exonerated Maryam alayhi salam through Isa alayhi salam in the cradle when the baby spoke from the cradle. But as for Aisha, Allah chose to exonerate her himself. So she was slandered in a way that no other wife of the prophet was slandered. And she was tested with this unique test of pain. But Allah exonerated her himself with Quran. And that's why sometimes you find her name in the hadith
allati barra'ahallahu mimma qaloo. The one who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala exonerated from that which they said about her. So Aisha radiallahu anha has a few months of pain followed by an eternity of praise. Where till now we read about her innocence, radiallahu ta'ala anha, in this regard. And then she continues in the hadith, by the way, and I'll move on from it. That Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu, just quickly as we've heard the story. Abu Bakr, as soon as these ayat came down, he said, mistah! He said, I give charity to him, wallahi la'anfiq wa'ali. I'm never going to give him charity again. That's Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu's response. He slandered my daughter and I've been giving him charity. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala responded, wa liya'fu wa liya'sfahu ala tuhibbuna yakhfirallahu lakum. Forgive and pardon, don't you want Allah to forgive you? Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu said, I want to be forgiven by Allah. So Abu Bakr gave him his daily charity, even on the day he was flogged for slandering his daughter. It shows you the way that this family sought the pleasure of Allah and the Messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam. Now one thing that happens and then we'll get to the hardest tragedy, which is the death of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. One thing that happens in the same year, six years after hijrah, is that Umru Mann radiallahu anhu, the mother of Aisha radiallahu anhu, got sick and died. Now subhanallah, some of the scholars, they said, it's perhaps an insinuation, though there is nothing, you know, that is concrete in this regard, that the stress of that situation may have led to some of the circumstances that caused her death. Because it was a very hard year for them, a very difficult year for the entire family. And Umru Mann radiallahu anhu in that stress would pass away soon after. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam himself went into the grave of Umru Mann and he received her body radiallahu anhu, and he sought forgiveness for her. And in one narration, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, as he buried Umru Mann radiallahu anhu, he said, whoever wants to
look at a woman of Jannah, then look at Umru Mann. Radiallahu anhu, a noble woman, the mother of Aisha radiallahu anhu. So she dealt with al-ifk, and then she dealt with the death of her mother. Now, subhanallah, relative to the first years, the next few years of Aisha and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam are the sweetest years. Why? Because the victories start to come now. Right? The last four years of their life together are the victories. The hajj delegation, the people coming from all over to embrace Islam, hajjat al-wada'a, the conquest, fatah Mecca, and the farewell hajj of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. These years are the years in which the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is seeing his mission come to fruition. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is certainly encountering the least amount of test and trial in these last few years of his life, alayhi salatu wasalam. And she describes that when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam got back from hajjat al-wada'a, the pinnacle of the life of the Messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam, is when he gets back from hajjat al-wada'a, the farewell hajj. And she said it was at that moment that she started to see the sickness of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam come. So it's right after that journey. I mean, we won, right? This is it. And suddenly, the health of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam starts to look a bit different and it's not as obvious in the beginning to the people that aren't paying as close attention to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. So Abu Sa'id al-Khudri radiyallahu anhu narrates the famous narration. He said that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam stood up and he was giving a khutbah. And in the khutbah he said salallahu alayhi wasalam, inna allaha khayra abdan bayna dunya wa bayna ma'indahu fakhtaro ma'inda Allah Allah has given
a choice to one of his servants between that which is in this dunya and that which is with Allah and that servant has chosen that which is with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the only person in the entire masjid thousands of people, the only person in the entire masjid who understood what the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was saying was Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiyallahu anhu. So Abu Bakr started to cry and it's even described, he started to whimper, radiyallahu anhu, I mean heavy, heavy crying. So much so that people started to cry after the crying of Abu Bakr not knowing why they were crying. His crying was that severe. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam in the middle of the khutbah starts to address Abu Bakr. He says, ya Abu Bakr la tabki. Oh Abu Bakr don't cry, inna amanna an nasi alayya fee sohbatihi wa malihi Abu Bakr walaw kuntu mutakhidhan khalilan min ummati latakhathtu Aba Bakr walakin ukhuwatu al-Islam wa mawaddatuhu He said don't cry, oh Abu Bakr and then he says to everyone else, Allah has blessed me with Abu Bakr with his friendship, with his support, and if I were to take a khalil, a close friend from amongst mankind, from amongst my ummah, I would take Abu Bakr, but Allah has taken me as a khalil, as his special and exclusive friend. And he said, but with Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu ukhuwatu al-Islam, the brotherhood of Islam, and his love and companionship, and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam says, shut all of the gates to the masjid, except for the gate of Abu Bakr. Everyone else's gate to the masjid should be shut. He said I've repaid everyone else, I could never repay this man radiyallahu anhu. So Abu Bakr's gate remained open to the masjid, everyone else's gate shuts. Meaning the private doors that the people used to have to come to the masjid of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, those are all gone at this point. Aisha radiyallahu anhu
then says that she had the dream of three moons falling in her home, radiyallahu anhu. And if you remember Saudah radiyallahu anhu had the dream of a moon coming to her. So she had the dream of three moons coming from the sky and falling into her home, and then in the ground. So she told her father Abu Bakr what it was and Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu said that three righteous people are going to be buried in your home. Three righteous people are going to be buried in your home. Subhanallah. And when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam would pass away, Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu would say to her the best of your moons just landed. The best of your moons has come. Now subhanallah, and these are some of the narrations that I don't think people actually read when we're talking about the death of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Because Aisha radiyallahu anhu has a very unique perspective. She's seeing the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam's decline in a way that others are not. So the first decline she's seeing is that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam now does not pray qiyam standing up the entire night. Remember, he used to stand up until his feet would swell, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Now she says that he would recite salallahu alayhi wa sallam for some time, then he'd sit down and recite, and then he'd stand up to do rukur and sujood, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. But he had to sit down for a portion of his qiyam. And this is, subhanallah, a narration that a whole khutbah could honestly be given about this narration. Abdullah ibn al-Shaqiq says, I asked Aisha radiyallahu anhu, halkana nabiyu salallahu alayhi wa sallam yusalli wahuwa qa'id? Did the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam used to pray at night while he was sitting down? You know what she said? She said, naam ba'dama hatamahu an-naas. She said, after people burnt him out. After the people broke him down. Subhanallah, that is such a powerful narration, like I saw him, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, give his entire body to this ummah.
He gave everything to this ummah. And the people consumed, subhanallah, from him, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, in 23 years, what cannot be given to mankind over a course of hundreds of thousands of years, millions of years, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam gave it all in two decades, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So she said, hatamahu an-naas, like I saw my husband and I saw him get consumed, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, by everything he gave to this ummah. And so, she then describes some of the further things. She says that when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was getting very sick now, towards the end of his life, he would say to his wives, ayna ana ghadan? Where am I tomorrow? And they knew that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was longing for Aisha. But the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, even in his sickness, did not want to wrong anyone. So, he would light up, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he got to be with Aisha radiyallahu ta'ala anha. And all of the wives of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam understood that, and so they all agreed that let's let him stay with Aisha radiyallahu anha. It's very clear that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam's health and his emotional well-being is best when he's with Aisha radiyallahu anha. So, they all agreed that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam stay in the house of Aisha radiyallahu anha until the time that he would pass away. Al-Fadl ibn Abbas radiyallahu anhuma and Ali radiyallahu anhu, they carried the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam's body. He was so sick at that point that they carried him over to the house of Aisha radiyallahu anha. And that's actually when the panic starts in the masjid. When you see the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he can't walk on his own anymore, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he had to be carried to the house of Aisha radiyallahu anha.
That's when they realized that this is a very serious condition that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam has. And still, subhanAllah, Aisha radiyallahu anha says that he still found it in him, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, even when he could barely move, to still joke with her. So she says that, I told the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, I have a headache. And Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam says, He said, well that's good because that means if you pass away before me, I'll get to seek forgiveness for you and ask Allah's mercy for you. And Aisha radiyallahu anha said that I said back to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, you probably want that so you can be with somebody else, like you're probably trying to get rid of me. And they both laughed. So even, subhanAllah, it shows you the nature of their relationship. That even as he's dying, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he's still initiating jokes with Aisha radiyallahu anha. And they're still telling these jokes to each other. Now, as the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam starts to deteriorate even further with his health, it gets to a point where, Ubaidullah Abdullah ibn Utbah, he says, I went to Aisha and I said, can you describe the moments when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam became most severely ill? She said that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam became so ill that it got to a point where he was in and out of consciousness. And we know the fever of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was so severe that when you touched his body, it would burn you. And Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said that I touched the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam's body and I thought, how can a human being have this high of a fever? And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said that I am tested twice as much as everyone else. Why? Because I have double the reward. Double the trial, double the reward. So the fever of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was more severe than anything that any of the companions had ever felt.
So she said that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam became severely ill and he would go in and out of consciousness. And then he'd wake up and he'd say, Asallan nas? Have the people prayed yet? And we'd say to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, not yet. So Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam would say, can you put some water in a bucket for me so that I can wash up, do wudu for salah? So she said that I'd do so and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam would start but he couldn't finish. He would lose consciousness again salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And then he'd wake up and every time he woke up salallahu alayhi wa sallam, what was he asking? Asallan nas? Did the people pray yet? And the same thing, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam would say, can you give me the water? And he would try to bathe salallahu alayhi wa sallam, wash himself until he had enough energy to go to the salah. And he keeps on asking, asallan nas, asallan nas, asallan nas. And eventually the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam asks, have the people prayed? And we say no and Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam was able to do enough of wudu that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam then says, tell Abu Bakr to lead the salah. So Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu leads the salah from Salatul Isha, Fajr and then the next day at Dhuhr, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam called for Al-Abbas and Ali, may Allah be pleased with them, to come and carry the Messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And they carried him to the salah with his feet dragging on the ground salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu was leading the salah already and Abu Bakr was going to move back to let the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam take his place. And Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam told him to stay. And instead they set up a chair next to Abu Bakr and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam prayed next to him sitting salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So this is the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam making every last attempt as Aisha radiallahu anhu narrates,
to go out and to be with the people and to join the salah even as he salallahu alayhi wa sallam cannot even walk at that point. And she said that as he got sicker, she said, مَا أَغْبِطُ أَحَدًا بِهَوْنِ مَوْتٍ بَعْدَ الَّذِي رَأَيْتُ مِنْ شِدَّةِ مَوْتِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَىٰ سَلَامًا She said, I don't envy anyone over their death after I see the death of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, the way that the severity of his death was. And look at her radiallahu anhu. You know they used to ask her, how do you know so much about medicine? She said because she's asking every doctor, she's listening in. She's trying to cure the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam by any means necessary. And one of the most beautiful ahadith, subhanallah, in al-Bukhari, she says that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam used to breathe in his hands, and he used to read the mu'awwidatan, قُلُوا اللَّهُ قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ الْفَرَقِ قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ and he used to wipe his hands over his body. And she said that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam got so sick that he couldn't do that anymore. So she said, فَلَمَّا ثَقُلَ كُنْتُ أَنْفِثُ عَلَيْهِ بِهِنَّ وَأَمْسَحُ بِيَدِ نَفْسِهِ salallahu alayhi wa sallam. She said that when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam got too sick to do it himself, she said, I started to take his hands, and I would read Qur'an in his hands, and then I would blow on his hands salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and then I'd use his hands to wipe his face. Why? She said, لِبَرَكَتِهَا because the blessing from the hands of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is greater than my blessings. SubhanAllah, that's how detailed she's thinking. She said, let me read the Qur'an in his hands, and then use his hands salallahu alayhi wa sallam to wipe his face and to help him. Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha says that amongst the du'as that she narrates, she says that when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was passing away, he had a cup of water, and he put his hand in that cup of water,
and he would wipe himself salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he would say, اللَّهُمَّ عِنِّي عَلَىٰ سَكَرَاتِ الْمَوْتِ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ إِنَّ لِلْمَوْتِ سَكَرَاتٍ Oh Allah, help me through the agony of death. لا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ إِنَّ لِلْمَوْتِ سَكَرَاتٍ She said, I would hear the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam saying, Oh Allah, forgive me and have mercy on me, and let me join with the highest companion. And then she narrates the last visits. She says that when all of the wives of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam were gathered around him salallahu alayhi wa sallam in my house, because they would come to visit him in my house, she said, جَاءَتْ فَاطِمَةُ And you know, I know we've heard this narration, but the way Aisha even describes it is so beautiful. She says, جَاءَتْ فَاطِمَةُ تَمْشِي كَأَنَّ مَشْيَتَهَا مَشْيَةُ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَمُ Like even the way she was walking was like the walk of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Fatima was so like the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam that she walks into the room and like you couldn't help but notice that even her walk was the same walk as the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam smiled and said, مَرْحَبًا بِابْنَتِي مَرْحَبًا Welcome my beloved daughter. فَأَجْلَسَهَا عَنْ يَمِينِهِ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَمُ And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam sat her down on his right side. وَإِنَّهُ أَسَرَّ إِلَيْهَا حَدِيثًا فَبَكَتْ That he said something in her ear and she started to cry. And then the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam told her come back and he said something to her that caused her to laugh. So Ha'isha radiallahu anha said, I said to Fatima, what did he say to you? And Fatima said, this is a secret between me and my father. So she wouldn't tell Ha'isha radiallahu anha what happened until after the death. She'd say that the first time the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam told me that I'm not going to survive this, that I'm going to die. And it made me cry.
And the second time the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam told me that you'll be the first one to follow me. So I started to laugh. Fatima radiallahu anha is a young woman by the way, very young woman. But she was happy because the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam just told her you're about to die as well, to come and to be with me. And of course, the last thing the Sahaba saw of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was the narration that Anas radiallahu ta'ala anhu mentions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam removing his curtain and looking at the companions praying. And the companions were so excited because they all thought that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was going to heal and come out. And Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam was smiling. And his face was as bright as the page of a Mus'haf. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam ashara ilayhim. He signaled to them, keep praying. And he closed the curtain, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. At this point, the only person that's going to be with our Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam for the rest of his life here is Aisha radiallahu anha. Meaning subhanAllah of an ummah of over 100,000 at this point, only one person is going to spend whatever remains of his life with him, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And that's Aisha radiallahu anha. So Aisha radiallahu anha says that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was perched up against my chest, alayhi salatu wa salam. So they're sitting in the room and Aisha radiallahu anha says that the fever of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was very hot and he was breathing hard, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And clearly he doesn't have much left, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And she says, Abdurrahman, my brother, came to check in on me and he had a siwak, a toothbrush. Wa ana musnidatun Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was leaning against me. Faraytuhu yandhuru ilayhi.
So I noticed that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, his eyes looked at the siwak. Wa araftu anahu yuhibbu siwak. And I knew the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam used to love the siwak, especially before what? Before Salah. Before he'd meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for his Salah, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam would always use the siwak. He liked to have beautiful breath, alayhi salatu wa salam, when he recited the Quran. Fakultu aakhuthuhu lak. I said to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, do you want me to take it? Fa ashara biraksihi an na'm. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam simply nodded his head. Meaning the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was so weak at this point, that he couldn't even move his hand, and he couldn't even respond with his voice, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So she said, I took it. Fatanawaltuhu. Fashtadda alayhi. Fakultu ulayyinuhu lak. Fa ashara biraksihi an na'm. Falayyantuhu. So she said, I took the siwak, and it was stiff for him to use. So she said, should I soften it up for you? And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam nodded his head. So Aisha radiyallahu ta'ala anha, she says that I took the siwak of the Prophet, the siwak, and I softened it with my own saliva, with my own mouth, and then I gave it to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, I put it in his mouth, and started to put the siwak around his mouth, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Then she says, min ni'ma Allah, min ni'ma Allah, min ni'ma Allah alayya. One of the greatest blessings upon me, was that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam tawufiya fee bayti wa fee yawmi wa bayna sahri wa nahri wa anna Allaha jama'a bayna reeki wa reekihi ainda mawtihi salallahu alayhi wa sallam. She said that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam would die in my house, and it happened to be my day. Meaning, even though the wives of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam had agreed that he could stay with her, that it happened to be her day anyway, in her home. And she said,
the distance between my chest and my thigh, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed the last thing the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam to have in his mouth was my saliva mixed with his saliva. So she said, what a blessing that I had with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And Aisha radiallahu anha is the one that narrates the hadith that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, man ahabba liqaa Allah, ahabba Allah liqaa. Whoever loves to meet Allah, Allah loves to meet him. And whoever hates to meet Allah, Allah hates to meet him. And she said, I said to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, kulluna yakrahu al-mawt, ya Rasulallah, we all hate death. And she said, la innama zaka inda mawtihi, idha bushira bi rahmatillah wa maghfiratihi, ahabba liqaa Allah, ahabba Allah liqaa. He said to her, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, that that's not what I'm talking about. This is referring to the last moments that the believer, when they are given that tiding of paradise, at the time of death, at that moment, they love to meet Allah. At that moment, they love to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So she is now seeing that hadith come to fruition. And she says, kana Rasulallah salallahu alayhi wa sallam yaqul wa huwa sahih. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam used to say, when he was fully healthy, lan yuqbada nabiyun qad hatta yara maqadahu anna thumma yukhayyar. Subhanallah. It's even more special for the Prophets. For the believers, you hope to see your kafan of Jannah, your cloth of Jannah, you hope to see the angels coming to you with pleasure. But the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said to her, when he was healthy, alayhi salatu wa salam, no Prophet passes away except that Allah shows them their place in Jannah, and then gives them a choice. So before they leave this world, they already see their place in Jannah. So Rasulallah salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
in those moments, he is seeing his place in Jannah, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And, the masjid is waiting for news, the wives of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam are waiting for news, and Aisha is the only one with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in these moments. Subhanallah, there is a hikmah here, there is a wisdom that Allah could have taken the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in sujood, in prostration, could have taken him leading the Salah with the people. But Allah chose Aisha radiallahu anha's lap to hold the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam for those last moments, and for them to have those moments together. It shows you something, subhanallah. And she said that, when Jibreel alayhi wa sallam entered into the room with the angel of death, and of course, this is the greatest soul the angel of death has ever taken. The angel of death will never take a soul like taking the soul of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. You could feel the presence of the mala'ika in that room, like the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam lights up. So she said, that while he was in my lap salallahu alayhi wa sallam at this point, he would lose consciousness and then he'd come back. He'd make dua. And then when Jibreel alayhi wa sallam entered the room with mala'ika al-mawt, with the angel of death, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam looked up and his eyes became fixated on the ceiling. And at that point, his face lit up salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and Aisha radiallahu anha says, I said in those moments, he's not going to choose us. Salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Subhanallah, like she's saying, I still had hope until the last moments that maybe he's going to cure. Maybe he's going to heal.
In these moments, the way the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam looked up and the way that the angels entered, he's not going to choose us. And then he raised his finger to the sky and he said, O Allah, the highest companion. O Allah, the highest companion. O Allah, the highest companion. And Aisha radiallahu anha said, those were the last words he said, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and his soul left his body and his hand fell, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. This is the greatest tragedy that ever struck the earth. And it happened in her lap. Think about that for a moment. Subhanallah, there is no tragedy in the history of this world that matches the death of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And it happened in her lap. And you ask yourself, what would you do? The whole ummah, not one person except for her radiallahu ta'ala anha is holding the body of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and witnessing his last moments, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And she said, when he passed away, she shrieked, radiallahu ta'ala anha. and when she shrieked, when she screamed, that's when everyone in the mazjid knew what happened. They hadn't heard her scream like that before radiallahu ta'ala anha. So that's when it overtakes the mazjid, the death of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. That the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam has passed away, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam passed away. And Aisha radiallahu anha, she admits in a narration, she says that I stood up and I screamed. I mean she didn't know how to handle the gravity of the moment. This is not the death of any human being, this is the death of Rasulallah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So she got up and she shouted.
And then she narrates that Abu Bakr radiallahu ta'ala anhu came, and she said that after I shouted, the family of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam came, the women came, and they all started to cry over the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And they covered the body of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam with a cloak from Yemen. And his body was there salallahu alayhi wa sallam and she said that Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu came bolting to the house. And she said that he passed through the mazjid and subhanallah he didn't speak to anybody. And Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu enters into the mazjid, he sees people screaming, he sees people shouting, he looks to the walls and he sees Ali and Uthman completely wiped out. They couldn't speak, they couldn't move. The greatest companions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam are absolutely paralyzed in this moment. How do you come to terms with this? And he refused to talk to anyone until he got to the house of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So Aisha radiallahu anhu says he entered into the house fa kashafa an wajhihi salallahu alayhi wa sallam. He removed that cloak. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam's body was laying there. He removed that cloak from the body of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And he says, she says, Abu Bakr threw himself on the body of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and kissed him and cried.
And he said, By Allah, Allah will never cause you to die twice. Subhanallah. The death that was decreed for you, you've died, Ya Rasulullah, you're in good hands now. Subhanallah. I think inshallah ta'ala we'll stop there. Hopefully reflect. Again, this was the greatest tragedy. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, When you lose someone that you love, Remember your tragedy in the death of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And Aisha radiallahu anhu describing this moment, You know, you have the last joke, the last smile, the last hug, the last conversation, the last dua, and here you have the last kiss from Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu to the forehead of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And profound words. Allah had a way of putting something on the tongue of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiallahu anhu that was unlike anyone else. How beautiful are you? And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala won't let you die twice. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala send his peace and blessings upon our Messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam. May Allah be pleased with the companions of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. May Allah be pleased with our mother Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anhu who had to witness that.
And who brought him so much joy and comfort until the very last moments of his life salallahu alayhi wa sallam. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala comfort us with the ru'ya of our Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. His eternal companionship. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala let the death that he has decreed for all of us be a good death. Grant us all husnul khitam. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala let our eternity be in the companionship of our beloved Messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us for our shortcomings. Allahumma ameen. Inshallah ta'ala we'll go ahead and we'll stop there and we'll continue next week. Jazakumullah khair. Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
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