The next ten Ayat were all revealed concerning ‘A’ishah, the mother of the believers, may Allah be pleased with her, when the people of slander and falsehood among the hypocrites made their accusations against her and spread lies about her. Allah became jealous on her behalf and on behalf of His Prophet, and revealed her innocence to protect the honor of the Messenger of Allah. He said:

meaning they were not one or two, but a group. Foremost among this group was ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul, the leader of the hypocrites, who fabricated the lie and whispered it to others, until some of the Muslims started to believe it, and others thought it might be possible and began to talk about it. This is how matters remained for almost a month, until Qur’an was revealed. This is reported in Sahih Hadiths.
Imam Ahmad recorded that Az-Zuhri said: Said bin Al-Musayyib, Urwah bin Az-Zubayr, ‘Alqamah bin Waqqas and Ubaydullah bin ‘Abdullah bin ‘Utbah bin Mas'ud told me about the story of ‘A’ishah, the wife of the Prophet when the people of the slander said what they said about her, and Allah declared her innocence. Each of them told something about the story, and some of them knew more details than others or had memorized more than others. I learned the story from each of them, who had heard it from ‘A’ishah herself, and what one told me confirmed what the others said. They mentioned that ‘A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, the wife of the Prophet, said: “When the Messenger of Allah wanted to go on a journey, he would cast lots among his wives, and the one whose lot was drawn would go with him.” ‘A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said, “So he drew lots among us with regard to a campaign he was going out on, and mine was drawn, so I went out with the Messenger of Allah. This was after the commandment of Hijab had been revealed, so I traveled in my howdah and stayed in it when we camped. We traveled until the Messenger of Allah completed his campaign, then we returned. As we were approaching Al-Madinah, we paused for a while, then they announced that the journey was to be resumed. When I heard this, I walked quickly away from the army to answer the call of nature, then I came back to my howdah. Then I put my hand to my chest and noticed that a necklace of mine that was made of onyx and cornelian had broken, so I went back and looked for it, and was delayed because of that. In the meantime, the people who used to lift my howdah onto my camel came along and put it on the camel, thinking that I was inside. In those times women were more slender and not so heavy, they only ate mouthfuls of food. So the people did not think anything of the howdah being so light when they lifted it up, as I was a young woman. They set off, and I found my necklace after the army had moved on. Then I came back to the place where we had stopped, and I saw no one to call or answer. So I went to the place where I had been, thinking that the people would miss me and come back for me. While I was sitting there, I fell asleep.

Safwan bin Al-Mu‘attal As-Sulami Adh-Dhakwani had rested during the night behind the army. Then he set out just before daybreak and reached the place where I was in the morning, where he saw the outline of a person sleeping. He came to me and recognized me when he saw me, as he had seen me before Hijab was made obligatory for me. When he saw me and said 'Truly, to Allah we belong, and truly, to Him we shall return,’ I woke up, and covered my face with my Jilbab (outer garment). By Allah, he did not speak a word to me and I did not hear him say anything except 'Truly, to Allah we belong, and truly, to Him we shall return,’ until he brought his camel and made it kneel so that I could ride upon it, then he set out leading the camel until we caught up with the army at Zuhr time.

There are people who are doomed because of what happened to me, and the one who had the greater share therein was ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul. When we came back to Al-Madinah, I was ill for a month, and the people were talking about what the people of the slander were saying, and I knew nothing about it. What upset me when I was ill was that I did not see the kindness I used to see on the part of the Messenger of Allah When I was ill; he would just come in and say,

«How is that (lady)?»

That is what upset me. I did not feel that there was anything wrong until I went out after I felt better, and Umm Mistah went out with me, walking towards Al-Manasi‘, which is where we used to go to relieve ourselves, and we would not go out for that purpose except at night. This was before we had lavatories close to our houses; our habit was similar to that of the early Arabs in that we went out into the deserts to relieve ourselves, because we considered it troublesome and harmful to have lavatories in our houses. So I went out with Umm Mistah, who was the daughter of Abu Ruhm bin Al-Muttalib bin ‘Abd Manaf, and her mother was the daughter of Sakhr bin ‘Amir, the paternal aunt of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq. Her son was Mistah bin Uthathah bin ‘Abbad bin Al-Muttalib. When we finished what we had to do, the daughter of Abu Ruhm Umm Mistah and I came back towards my house. Umm Mistah stumbled over her apron and said, “May Mistah be ruined!’ I said to her, 'What a bad thing you have said! Are you abusing a man who was present at Badr?’ She said, ‘Good grief, have you not heard what he said?’ I said, 'What did he say?’ So she told me what the people of the slander were saying, which made me even more ill.

When I returned home, the Messenger of Allah came in to me and greeted me, then he said,

«How is that (lady)?»

I said to him, 'Will you give me permission to go to my parents?’ At that time I wanted to confirm the news by hearing

«Be glad O ‘A'ishah, Allah has declared your innocence.»

My mother said to me, ‘Get up and go to him.’ I said, ‘By Allah, I will not go to him and I will not give praise to anyone except Allah, may He be glorified, for He is the One Who has proven my innocence.’ So Allah revealed:

{Verily, those who brought forth the slander are a group among you.}, until

the ten Ayat. Allah revealed these Ayat concerning my innocence. Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, who used to spend on Mistah bin Uthathah because he was a close relative and because he was poor, said, “By Allah, I will never spend anything on him again after what he has said about ‘A’ishah.’ Then Allah revealed,

{And let not those among you who are blessed with graces and wealth swear not to give to their kinsmen.} until His saying:

{Do you not love that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful } 24:22.

So Abu Bakr said, ‘By Allah, certainly I love that Allah should forgive me.’ So he resumed spending on Mistah as he had spent on him before, and he said, “By Allah, I shall never stop spending on him.’

The Messenger of Allah asked Zaynab bint Jahsh about my situation, and said,

«O Zaynab, what do you know and what have you seen?»

She said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, may Allah protect my hearing and my sight. By Allah, I know nothing but good.’ She is the one who used to compete with me among the wives of the Prophet, but Allah protected her (from telling lies) because of her piety. But her sister Hamnah bint Jahsh kept on fighting on her behalf, so she was doomed along with those who were doomed.” Ibn Shihab said, “This is as much as we know about this group of people.” It was also by Al-Bukhari and Muslim in their Sahihs from the Hadith of Az-Zuhri, and by Ibn Ishaq also from Az-Zuhri. He also said: “Yahya bin ‘Abbad bin ‘Abdullah bin Az-Zubayr told me from his father, from ‘A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, and ‘Abdullah bin Abi Bakr bin Muhammad bin ‘Amr bin Hazm Al-Ansari told me from ‘Amrah, from ‘A’ishah, (a report) similar to that quoted above. And Allah knows best.

Allah’s saying:

{Verily, those who brought forth the slander} means, the lies, falsehood and fabrications.

{are a group} means, a gang among you.

{Consider it not a bad thing for you.} O family of Abu Bakr,

{Nay, it is good for you.} means, in this world and the Hereafter, honorable mention in this world and raised status in the Hereafter. Allah demonstrated the esteem with which He regarded the family of Abu Bakr when He defended ‘A’ishah the Mother of the believers, may Allah be pleased with her, by revealing her innocence in the Qur’an,

{Falsehood cannot come to it from before it or behind it...} 41:42.

Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, entered upon her when she was dying, he said to her, “Rejoice, for you are the wife of the Messenger of Allah and he used to love you; he did not marry any virgin other than you, and your innocence was revealed from heaven.”

means, each of those who spoke about this matter and accused the Mother of the believers ‘A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, of any immoral action, will have a great share of punishment.

It was said that this referred to the one who initiated the rumors, or that it was the one who collected rumors and spread them among the people.

{his will be a great torment.} means, for that. He was ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul, may Allah disfigure him and curse him.