The Descent of Surah Noor

The Descent of Surah Noor

Ibn al Hashimi states:

It would be none other than Allah Himself who would declare Aisha’s innocence (رضّى الله عنها) and vindicate her of the slander levied against her. Allah revealed to the Prophet (صلّى الله عليه وآله وسلّم) the following verses, condemning those Munafiqoon who doubted Aisha’s innocence (رضّى الله عنها) and slandered her honor:

[24:11] “Surely those who fabricate the lie are a group from among you…Every man will receive what he has earned for this sin, and whoever had the greater part in it will have a grievous punishment.”

[24:12] “Why did the men and women believers, when they heard it, not think good of their own folk and say: ‘This is clearly a lie?’”

[24:13] “Why did they not produce four witnesses? Since they did not produce witnesses, they are certainly liars in the sight of Allah.”

[24:14] “If it were not for the grace of Allah, and His mercy on you in this world and in the next world, an awful doom would have overtaken you for what you repeated.”

[24:15] “Since you received it with your tongues, and repeated what you did not know anything about with your mouths, you thought it was a trifle, but in the sight of Allah it is serious.”

[24:16] “Why, when you heard it, did you not say: ‘It is not for us to repeat this, Glory be to You (O Allah), this is a serious slander.’”

[24:17] “Allah warns you to never repeat anything like this again, if you are indeed believers!”

[24:18] “And Allah makes the signs clear to you; and Allah is Knowing, Wise.”

[24:19] “Surely those who love to spread around slander about those who believe will have a painful punishment in this world and in the next world; and Allah knows and you do not know.”

[24:20] “And had it not been for the Grace of Allah and His Mercy on you, (Allah would have hastened the punishment upon you). And that Allah is full of kindness, Most Merciful.”

[24:21] “O you who believe! Follow not the footsteps of Shaitan…”

[24:22] “And…Do you not love that Allah should forgive you? …”

[24:23] “Verily, those who accuse chaste women, who never even think of anything touching their chastity and are good believers, are cursed in this life and in the Hereafter, and for them will be a great torment.”

[24:24] “On the Day when their tongues, their hands, and their legs or feet will bear witness against them as to what they used to do.”

[24:25] “On that Day Allah will pay them the recompense of their deeds in full, and they will know that Allah, He is the Manifest Truth.”

[24:26] “Vile women are for vile men, and vile men for vile women. Good women are for good men, and good men for good women; such are innocent of that which people say: For them is pardon and a bountiful provision.”

As we had previously pointed out there exists a discrepancy, in Sahih Bukhari Volume 6, Book 60, Number 274 Ayesha informs us “He had stayed a month without receiving any Divine Inspiration concerning my case”. Here Ayesha informs that the delay was purely over her matter but in Sahih Bukhari Volume 5, Book 59, Number 462 she says “When the Divine Inspiration was delayed” so there was a blanket ban on the Wahi.

Our questions are as follows:

• Why the month long wait, was Allah (swt) conducting an investigation in to the matter, to ascertain whether / or not Ayesha was innocent? Why did the Wahi stop during this period, was it on account of anger towards the Ummah?
• Why did Allah (swt) not seek to resolve the matter on the day of Ifk?
• Why was He (swt) waiting for just over a month?
• Has this Wahi hiatus not simply been cited to exalt the status of Ayesha?

Whilst these are just side questions, let us make it clear that we are in no doubt that this verse descended to declare the innocence of Ayesha. Worthy of note is after the exoneration of Ayesha the traditions inform us that Umm Ruman told her to convey her salutation to the Prophet (s) she refused, why did she disobey her mother?

Do the Shia deny that this verse descended about Ayesha?

Ibn al Hashimi states:

Sometimes Shia will have a hard time absorbing these verses, so they will oftentimes try denying that these verses were revealed in relation to Aisha (رضّى الله عنها). They will even completely deny the incident of al-Ifk, which is a known historical event recorded in the preserved annals of history and is even in the authentic Shia books.

This is a blatant lie, the Shia are in no doubt whatsoever that the said verses descended to make it clear that the allegation made against Ayesha by some Sahaba was completely false, she had done nothing untoward on the night in question. Ibn al Hashimi then goes on to cite Shia Tafsir’s confirming the descent of this verse, there is no need to quote them verbatim here, as it merely corroborates what all Shia believe, namely that the verse confirms that Ayesha had done nothing wrong.