(Lo! they who spread the slander are a gang among you…) [24:11]. Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn Muhammad al-Muqri' informed us> Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Muqri'> Abu Ya'la> Abu'l-Rabi'> al-Zahrani> Fulayh ibn Sulayman al-Madani> al-Zuhri> 'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr> Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab> 'Alqamah ibn Waqqas> 'Ubayd Allah ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Utbah> 'A'ishah, the wife of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, when she was slandered by a group of people and Allah, exalted is He, exonerated her from what they accused her of. Al-Zuhri said: “All of them related to me a portion of her narration. Some of them remembered better what she related to them but they related only a summary of the report. I remembered all the reports related to me by each one of them. All the reports they related to me support each other. They mentioned that 'A'ishah, may Allah be well pleased with her, the wife of the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: 'When the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, travelled, he was in the habit of drawing lots, such that the one among his wives whose name is drawn travelled with him. On one occasion, he wanted to set off for one of his military expedition, and so he drew lots to decide who would accompany him among us. My lot was drawn and so I travelled with the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. This happened after the verse of segregation (Hijab) was revealed. I was therefore transported on my howdah and remained inside it for as long as we travelled. When the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, finished from his military expedition, he travelled back. We were close to Medina when one night it was announced that we were to make a move. When they announced that they were moving, I walked until I went far beyond the camp. I relieved myself and headed back toward the camp. As I was walking back, I felt my chest and noticed that I had dropped my necklace which was made of gems from Dhafar. I went back to look for my necklace and got delayed. The people who were in charge of my transportation came along, picked up my howdah and placed it on the mount I was travelling on, assuming I was inside it.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
