The Story of the Ifk
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Creator: Yasir Qadhi
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Identifier: http://www.khutbah.com/en/quran_taf/ifk.php
Language: en
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Subject: quran
Title: The Story of the Ifk
Created on: Tue Jan 29 11:02:56 -0500 2008
Updated on: Tue Jan 29 11:02:56 -0500 2008
Version: 1
Abstract: ... was ill, he didn’t bring it up, and visited her regularly, as per his normal pattern. Aisha continues: “After I had been cured I once exited with Umm Mistah (Aisha's great aunt and the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam's first cousin) towards the area that we used to relieve ourselves. We would only go once every few nights and it was before the time that people started building restrooms close to their houses. So we used to do like the Arabs of old did and we used to disdain building restrooms close to our houses. “So I went out with Umm Mistah. As we returned to my house, Umm Mistah tripped over a stone and exclaimed, ‘May Mistah fall,’ or ‘May Mistah be killed.’” When something happened to the Arabs, they would curse someone. So she cursed her son. Aisha exclaimed, “What an evil thing you have said. How can you curse a person who has witnessed the Battle of Badr?” Aisha defended Mistah, though she didn’t know what was going on; she didn’t assume evil about him, although his mother cursed him. Her comments also show us the status of those who fought in the Battle of Badr; they were considered to be amongst the highest ranks of Sahaabaa. We also learn from this incident that it is dangerous to anger your parents as this might prompt them to curse you, like Umm Mistah did. The Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said that the curse or the du’a of a father against his son will be accepted. Umm Mistah replied, “My dear child, did you not hear what he is saying about you?” When Aisha asked what he said, Umm Mistah told her the whole story and this was the first time that she heard of what had happened. She returned home and became extremely ill, worse than before; in fact some narrations state that she fainted as soon as she heard the story. When the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam came, he greeted her and asked her how she was, and she asked, “Do you give me permission to go to my parents house for I desire to verify the information from them?’’ and he agreed. In addition to understanding how affected Aisha was by the story, we also learn the importance of verifying information. Umm Mistah was a trustworthy person, however, when it comes to something so grave, you cannot even take the word of a fiqah, an acceptable person; you must find out and verify from other people. That is why one witness is not sufficient when it comes to implementing the hudood, or the punishment for transgressions. We also learn that it is necessary for the wife to ask permission from her husband to leave the house, and that the husband in turn should be gentle and wise and not prevent the wife from visiting her relatives especially. So Aisha went to her parents’ home and continues: “I asked my mother, Umm Ruman, ‘My dear mother, what are the people talking about? What are they saying?’” Her mother replied, “My daughter, be easy upon yourself. By Allah, it hardly occurs that a wife is so beloved to her husband, and she has co-wives at the same time, except that they talk about her.” Aisha said, “Subhan Allah, have the people actually said this?” Umm Ruman was quiet and Aisha narrates: “I cried that night. I cried and cried until the morning came. My tears could not stop nor could I taste the sweetness of sleep.” Aisha informs us that the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi was sallam called Ali ibn Abi Talib and Usama ibn Zayd and asked them about her. Usama testified what he knew about the Prophet’s family, and said that they were free of this charge. Usama said, “They cannot be guilty! They must be innocent. They are your wives and we know nothing but good about them.” As for Ali, he said, “Ya RasulAllah, Allah has not restricted matters upon you and there are plenty of women beside her. Ask her maidservant; she will confirm what she knows about her.” So the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam called Aisha’s maid servant, Barira, and asked, “Ya Barira, have you ever seen anything from Aisha that will cause you to have doubts about her? Barira said, “By Him who has sent you with the truth, I have not seen anything from her what so ever that will cause me to have doubts about her except one thing. Except that she is a young girl who sometimes falls asleep when she is kneading the dough. And when she falls asleep, the lamb comes, eats the dough and goes away. So this is the crime that I know she does.” We learn from the above the permissibility of turning to witnesses and trustworthy people for advice. We also see the love the companions had for the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam, trying to calm him down in different ways. When the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam received this advice from Usama, Ali, and Barira, he called a general assembly. Standing up on a mimbar he praised Allah and said, “Oh gathering of believers, who will excuse me from a person who has hurt me even with regards to my wives? Whatever I do, you have nothing to blame me with now. If I were to do anything to this man [referring to ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul] then you cannot blame me. He has affected me, slandered me, and he has even reached my wife. Can anyone blame me for anything I do to him now? Who will give me an excuse? By Allah, I only know good about my wife, and they have mentioned a man with her concerning whom I only know good of as well.” We learn from his statement that good character saves you at all times. When you have established a reputation that is good, you can expect to benefit from it later on. Similarly, when you have established a reputation that is evil, you can only blame yourself if people speak ill of you. After the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam had said this, Usayd ibn Hudhaiy from the Aws tribe of Madinah stood up and said, “I excuse you ya RasulAllah. If this person be from among the Aws, then I will cut his head off. And if he be from among my brethren of the Khazraj, then command us and we will do your bidding.” It so happened that ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul was from the Khazraj. When he said this, Sa’ad ibn Abi ‘Ubadah, who was also from the Khazraj, immediately stood up and said, “By Allah you have lied. You cannot kill him, nor are you able to kill him. Rather, had he been from your tribe you would not have liked that he be killed.” Aisha said, “Sa’ad had been, before this incident, a righteous man, but the tribalism of the jahiliyyah overtook him.” When he said this, the reply came back from Usayd, “Rather you are the liar and we will surely kill him. You are only a hypocrite defending the other hypocrite.” This caused the passions of both the Aws and the Khazraj to flare up. They were about to fight one another while the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam was still standing on the mimbar. So the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam had to calm them down until they became quiet and resolved their argument. Aisha says: “So I continued to cry that day and my tears would not stop flowing until I believed that my liver would split open due to my tears. While I was sitting and crying, my parents were with me, and one of the Ansar ladies asked permission to enter and started crying with me.” This woman from the Ansar showed Aisha that she was her sister and was there for her, trying to relieve her pain. This is one of many examples of the brotherhood and sisterhood that was present amongst the Sahaabaa. Aisha continues: “While we were in that state the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam entered upon us, said salam, and sat down. He had not sat with me for the whole month while these rumors were being spread. For this whole month he had not been inspired [had not received a revelation] concerning my matter with anything. The Prophet sal Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam praised Allah after he sat and he said, ‘Amma ba’d. I have heard about you such and such. So if you are innocent, then Allah will clear you of this charge, and if you have slipped into a sin then seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him, for whenever a servant does a sin, admits to it, and repents, Allah accepts his repentance from him.’” Firstly, this shows us the importance of salam as the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said salam before he began speaking. The Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said that if someone starts talking to us without first making salam, we should not respond to him until he does so. Secondly, we also learn of the fallible nature, the humanness, of the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam. He is a Prophet of Allah, so he is affected by what he has heard. He is waiting for Allah to tell him what to do. Thirdly, we learn the importance of praising Allah at the beginning of any speech as the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam did so before he began speaking to Aisha here and this is Sunnah. Fourthly, we see the gentleness of the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam in his manner of dealing with Aisha. He doesn’t know what to say or do, yet he is gentle throughout and gives her hope no matter what the situation might be. And lastly, we are of course reminded of the importance of repentance; no matter how severe the sin, repentance is our way out. When the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam stopped talking, Aisha says she “stopped crying until [she] could not even feel a single tear in [her] eyes.” Aisha was in shock now, as it was the first time that the Prophet sal Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was admitting to having knowledge of the rumors. Aisha turned to her father and said, “Respond to the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam on my behalf. Answer him! Say something!” He responded, “I cannot speak right now.” So Aishah turned to her mother Umm Ruman and said, “Respond to the Prophet sal Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam! Say something! Tell him I didn... [Full Article...]
