Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) used to take part in all the things which interested the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him). She tried her best to please him. And never went against his wishes. She was very loyal to her husband and devoted to Allah’s Deen. Aisha helped her husband in Allah’s way. She tried to utilise the time he spent with her in the best possible manner, learning from every action of the Holy Prophet. She had great power of retention; every word of the Prophet was imprinted in her mind, as she was quite young in age at the time of marriage. So quite often it happened that Aisha cooked food for the Holy Prophet and lay asleep near the fireplace and was awakened by the Holy Prophet on his return.
Aisha was only 18 years old at the time of the Holy Prophet’s death. The Holy Prophet remained ill for 13 days until he breathed his last. During these days, he spent eight days with Aisha and five days with other wives. He died in Aisha’s room. After the passing away of the Holy Prophet, Aisha lived 48 years as widow.
Her life is full of many controversial and significant incidents such as Ifk (incident relating to slander on Aisha and Allah’s verdict on the matter), Eilaa (incident of abstination of the Holy Prophet from his wives), Tehreem (incident relating to abstination of the Holy Prophet from eating honey), and Thakh’eer (the incident of option given to the wives of the Holy Prophet to continue marital bond or opt for divorce).
Let us study these incidents one by one. The details of the incident of Ifk are briefly as follows: Once Aisha was accompanying the Holy Prophet in a caravan. During the journey, the caravan stopped for a night’s stay. Aisha went out of her caravan to relieve herself and she lost her precious necklace somewhere in the way. When she realised her loss, she went back to search for the necklace. She was very thin and light-weight; hence the camel puller did not realise her absence, and the caravan has moved on. When she came back to her camp, she found the caravan had moved and she was left alone. She wrapped herself in a cloth sheet and waited to be rescued.
Soon she was approached by Safwan, son of Mauttal, whose duty was to collect the leftover and join the caravan afterwards. He recognised Aisha and asked her to travel on his camel while he walked alongside. By noon, they joined the caravan. The “munafiqeen” were always on the lookout for ways to harm and dishonour the holy Prophet. They started making false stories against Aisha and spread slander against her. They started a malicious propaganda against Aisha and accused her of adultery. The whole incident put immense pressure on the Holy Prophet; as a result he sent her to her parent’s house for some time.
When people asked the Prophet constantly about this matter, he replied to them that he has left this matter to Allah. He said, “If Aisha is innocent, Allah will defend her.” So the matter was left there for quite a few days. On learning the whole story Aisha was very disturbed and cried night and day asking Allah for help; soon her prayers were answered and Allah vindicated Aisha of this false accusation and the Holy Prophet’s prediction proved true. In Surah Al-Noor, Allah confirmed the innocence of Aisha. This happened when the Holy Prophet had gone to see Aisha at her parents’ place. The Holy Prophet, after the revelation, smilingly told Aisha that Allah has revealed her innocence and recited the verses of Surah Al-Noor. Aisha’s mother asked her to get up and bow in thanks before the Holy Prophet. “No, I am only grateful to my Allah,” promptly replied Aisha.
[The first part of this article appeared in Issue No. 1 dated 1-7 April 2012]