"Too Small for Revelation"

When the slander of al-ifk spread about her, 'A'ishah was a young wife, ill, and at first unaware of what the city was saying. Looking back, what stands out in her own account is her humility. She said she had thought herself far too insignificant for Allah to send down revelation about her that would be recited; she had only hoped the Prophet ﷺ might see a dream in which Allah cleared her (Sahih al-Bukhari 4750).

Instead, ten verses came down from the heavens, beginning, ﴿إِنَّ الَّذِينَ جَاءُوا بِالْإِفْكِ عُصْبَةٌ مِنْكُمْ﴾ (“Those who brought the lie are a group among you”) (24:11–20). Her innocence became part of the Qur'an, recited in prayer for all time.

She never let the wound turn into hatred. Years later the poet Hassan ibn Thabit, who had been drawn into repeating the slander, visited her. When someone asked why she let him in, she replied that he had suffered enough, and that he used to defend the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with his poetry.