newly converted to Islam by marrying its leader’s
daughter, a girl renowned for her beauty. When the
bride-to-be arrived in Medina, Aisha volunteered to help
prepare her for the wedding and, under the guise of
sisterly advice, advised her that Muhammad would think
all the more highly of her if on the wedding night, she
resisted him by saying, “I take refuge with God from
thee.” The new bride had no idea that this was the
Islamic phrase used to annul a marriage. All she knew
was that the moment she said it, Muhammad left, and
the next day she was bundled unceremoniously back to
her own people.
Aisha, in short, was used to having things her own
way, so when she was left behind in the desert, she saw
no reason to expect anything diʃerent. If there was the
slightest murmur of panic at the back of her mind as the
sun rose higher overhead and she took shelter under a
scraggly acacia tree, as the shadow of the tree grew
shorter and still nobody came, she would never have
acknowledged it, not even to herself. Of course she
would be missed. Of course someone would be sent for
her. The last thing anyone would expect was that she,
the favorite wife of the Prophet, run after a pack of
camels like some Beduin shepherd girl. That would be
just too demeaning.
Someone did come, though not a special contingent