Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 291
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 291 mongering. He affirmed that he knew nothing at all about me, except that which was good, and that he also considered that the person who was being mentioned in this connection was a good man, who had never visited his house in his absence. Upon this, S’ad bin Muaz, chief of Aus, stood up and submitted, “Messenger of Allah, I shall put an end to this scandal. If the person who is responsible for noising it about belongs to my tribe, I deem him guilty of a capital offence and I shall immediately strike him do wn; if he is one of our brethren, Khazraj, I am prepared to act as you might direct. ” Upon this, S’ad bin Ubada, chief of Khazraj, protested against what S’ad bin Muaz had said about Khazraj and rebuked him. Usyad bin Hudhair, cousin of S’ad bin Muaz, supp orted his cousin and rebuked the Khazraj chief. But the Holy Prophet intervened and appeased the quarrel. ‘About that time, when the Holy Prophet came to visit me, he sat down next to me and after reciting the Shahadah, said to me, “Aisha, you have heard what some people are saying about you. If you are innocent, I am hoping that God will proclaim your innocen ce; but if you are guilty of some default, you should seek forgiveness of God and turn to Him, for He accepts the repentance of a servant of His, who turns sincerely to Him, and has mercy on him. ” On hearing this from the Holy Prophet, my tears stopped and I asked my parents to reply on my behalf, but they said they did not know what they should say. I was a young girl and did not know the Holy Quran well, but, being disappointed with my parents, I said to the Holy Prophet, “I realize that you have been aff ected by what people have been saying, so that if I were to protest my innocence, you might doubt