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When recounting the story of how she had been accused of infidelity, she finished, “Questions were asked about [Safwan] ibn Al-Muattal, and they found that he was impotent; he never touched women. He was killed as a martyr after this.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 499.</ref> Perhaps she believed that she would never be contradicted because Safwan was dead. Unfortunately, his name had already appeared on the public record in a law-suit. Not only had he been married, but his wife had complained that he demanded sex while she was fasting (in addition to beating her for spending too long at her prayers). Safwan’s defence had been, “I am a young man and I cannot restrain myself.” Muhammad had ruled that a woman should not fast without her husband’s permission (and that the way to avoid being beaten was to pray shorter prayers).<ref>{{Abudawud|13|2453}}.</ref> In fabricating additional “evidence” for her innocence, presumably because she felt that some people would not be convinced by Allah’s direct revelation, Aisha had overshot the mark. | When recounting the story of how she had been accused of infidelity, she finished, “Questions were asked about [Safwan] ibn Al-Muattal, and they found that he was impotent; he never touched women. He was killed as a martyr after this.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 499.</ref> Perhaps she believed that she would never be contradicted because Safwan was dead. Unfortunately, his name had already appeared on the public record in a law-suit. Not only had he been married, but his wife had complained that he demanded sex while she was fasting (in addition to beating her for spending too long at her prayers). Safwan’s defence had been, “I am a young man and I cannot restrain myself.” Muhammad had ruled that a woman should not fast without her husband’s permission (and that the way to avoid being beaten was to pray shorter prayers).<ref>{{Abudawud|13|2453}}.</ref> In fabricating additional “evidence” for her innocence, presumably because she felt that some people would not be convinced by Allah’s direct revelation, Aisha had overshot the mark. | ||
Sometimes she gave legal judgments even to senior companions, for “nobody else was so knowledgeable in law.”<ref>Ahmad, ''Musnad'' 6:67; Al-Hakim, ''Mustadrak'' 4:11.</ref> She ruled that the guardian of an orphan was allowed to enjoy the income of her ward’s property.<ref>{{ | Sometimes she gave legal judgments even to senior companions, for “nobody else was so knowledgeable in law.”<ref>Ahmad, ''Musnad'' 6:67; Al-Hakim, ''Mustadrak'' 4:11.</ref> She ruled that the guardian of an orphan was allowed to enjoy the income of her ward’s property.<ref>{{Abudawud|23|3521}}; {{Abudawud|23|3522}}.</ref> She warned some Syrian women to stop their custom of visiting public bath-houses since, “If a woman undresses outside her own home, she tears the veil between herself and Allah.”<ref>{{Abudawud|31|3999}}.</ref> When she recalled Muhammad’s word that, “Breaking a dead man’s bone is like breaking it when he is alive,”<ref>{{Abudawud|20|3201}}.</ref> she was presumably dealing with a current case. She mentioned that Muhammad had not claimed the estate of a freedman who, after falling out of a palm-tree, had died without heirs, but had paid it out to a man from the servant’s village.<ref>[http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/29/ Tirmidhi 4:29:2251], {{Abudawud|18|2896}}.</ref> She was good at arithmetic, so the Muslims used to consult her on dividing up an inheritance or profits.<ref>Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' vol. 2, p. 481.</ref> | ||
She was also consulted on medicine, for nobody knew more home remedies. “A person would become ill and would be prescribed something, and it would benefit, and I would hear the people prescribing for each other, and I would memorise it all.”<ref>Ahmad, ''Musnad'' 6:67; Al-Hakim, ''Mustadrak'' 4:11.</ref> For example, Muhammad had always treated her fevers with broth.<ref>[http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/28/ Tirmidhi 4:28:2173].</ref> She used to recommend ''talbina'', a gruel of barley-flour, milk and honey, for a depressed mood, even though patients disliked it.<ref>{{Bukhari|7|71|593}}; {{Bukhari|7|71|594}}.</ref> | She was also consulted on medicine, for nobody knew more home remedies. “A person would become ill and would be prescribed something, and it would benefit, and I would hear the people prescribing for each other, and I would memorise it all.”<ref>Ahmad, ''Musnad'' 6:67; Al-Hakim, ''Mustadrak'' 4:11.</ref> For example, Muhammad had always treated her fevers with broth.<ref>[http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/28/ Tirmidhi 4:28:2173].</ref> She used to recommend ''talbina'', a gruel of barley-flour, milk and honey, for a depressed mood, even though patients disliked it.<ref>{{Bukhari|7|71|593}}; {{Bukhari|7|71|594}}.</ref> |