1234567

Aisha was not aware of the rumours. She felt sick as they completed the journey to Medina and took to her bed as soon as they arrived. She was aware during her illness that Muhammad was not paying his usual attention to her comfort; but she knew that he had just acquired a new bride (this brought the total to seven)<ref></ref> and that he was busy with plans to force his way into Mecca;<ref></ref> she had no reason to assume that his coolness indicated that he was displeased with ''her''. She soon moved into her parents’ house so that Umm Ruman could nurse her. It was three weeks before she was well enough to speak to anyone outside the family, whereupon she discovered that she was suspected of adultery.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 495; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}</ref>

#'''Hamna bint Jahsh''' was the sister of another of Muhammad’s wives. She hoped that Aisha’s downfall would pave the way for her sister to become the favourite wife.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 495; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref> Aisha did not mention that Hamna also had a more personal grudge against her. Hamna’s husband, Talha ibn Ubaydullah, had expressed open admiration for Aisha and had declared that he would marry her as soon as she was widowed.<ref></ref> Muhammad had responded to this affront with a revelation that his widows were never to remarry.<ref></ref> Although Talha was eventually married to a total of eleven women, Hamna was at this date his only wife. She cannot have relished the news that her husband intended to become a polygamist and that his first choice was a politically important and pretty girl twenty years younger than herself. Nevertheless, Hamna cannot have been the person who originally concocted the slander, for she had not travelled with the army, and the story was already underway before they returned to Medina. Having heard the speculation, however, Hamna made herself very busy in spreading it.

#'''Abdullah ibn Ubayy''' was not the author of the slander either. “The people propagated the slander and discussed it in his presence. He confirmed it, listened to it and asked about it to let it prevail.”<ref>{{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref> His part in the scandal appears to have been to encourage other people’s gossip when it would have been more fitting to a leader among the people to forbid further mention of such idle tales – for Abdullah was the most important chief in Medina. Seven years earlier, he had been elected King. But before he could be crowned, a dissident faction announced their support for the prophet from Mecca. Abdullah had at first cooperated with the Muslims and had even instructed his own partisans to support Muhammad rather than fight over the leadership of the city.<ref></ref> But once he realised that Muhammad was a tyrant, he regretted the way he had facilitated the Muslim take-over.<ref></ref> His refusal to fight his Meccan friends at Uhud had contributed to the Muslim defeat, and Muhammad had labelled him the “chief hypocrite”.<ref></ref> Although Abdullah had nothing personal against Aisha, he must have hoped that the Muslims would quarrel among themselves so that Islam would crumble from within. So who were the people who speculated on Aisha’s chastity in his hearing?

Muhammad was furious that Aisha had embarrassed him by exposing herself to the accusation, and he barely spoke to her for the next month.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 495, 496; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref> It has been suggested that the reason Muhammad took four weeks to decide what to do was that he was waiting to ascertain that Aisha was not pregnant.<ref></ref> This cannot be correct, as he knew she was not yet fertile.<ref>{{Bukhari|3|48|829}} refers to the day she lost the necklace, while {{Muslim|4|1940}} and {{Bukhari|8|73|151}} concern incidents that happened up to six months later.</ref> The general public, however, might not have been aware of such personal information. It is possible that Muhammad wanted some (unspecified) other persons to ''believe'' that he feared a pregnancy so that they would assume Aisha’s guilt. This public humiliation would punish Aisha and keep everyone else guessing about his intentions.

Ali, who perceived Abu Bakr as a rival for Muhammad’s favours,<ref></ref> hinted that there were “plenty more women out there.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 496; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref> Perhaps he thought that Muhammad could be induced to divorce Aisha (and hence cut ties with Abu Bakr); he does not appear to have been bothered by the possibility that Aisha would have to be stoned to death. He suggested that Aisha’s servant Barira would know the truth. Muhammad sat without voicing a murmur of protest while Ali beat the servant for information. But no matter how he abused her, the worst story that Barira could produce against her mistress was that Aisha had once fallen asleep when she was supposed to be watching the rising dough, and so the pet lamb had eaten it (doubtless a hungry memory).<ref>{{Guillaume/Ishaq 496}}; {{Bukhari|3|48|829}}; {{Bukhari|3|48|805}}; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref>

In the end Muhammad announced a revelation: Allah declared that Aisha was innocent.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 497; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}.</ref> Hamna, Hassan and Mistah were sentenced to eighty lashes each;<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 497.</ref> but Abdullah was left unpunished so that Allah might deal with him in the Afterlife.<ref></ref> (Muhammad apparently lacked confidence that Allah’s law applied equally to such a powerful aristocrat.) The revelation also proclaimed that adultery could not be punished unless there were four male witnesses.<ref></ref> This excused Aisha even had she happened to be guilty, since she only had three and a half witnesses against her.<ref>{{Quran-range|24|11|20}}; {{Bukhari|3|48|829}}; {{Bukhari|5|59|462}}; {{Bukhari|6|60|274}}; {{Bukhari|6|60|281}}; {{Muslim|37|6673}}.</ref>