astonishment. Must have noticed how they hung back,
with nobody rushing up to say, “Thanks be to God that
you’re safe.” Must have seen how they looked sideways
at each other and muttered as she passed. No matter how
upright she sat on Safwan’s camel, how high she held
her head or how disdainful her glare, she must have
heard the tongues start to wag as children ran ahead,
spreading the word, and must have known what that
word was.
The sight was too much to resist. The Prophet’s
youngest wife traveling alone with a virile young
warrior, parading through the series of villages strung
along the valley of Medina? Word of it ran through the
oasis in a matter of hours. A necklace indeed, people
clucked. What could one expect of a childless teenager
married to a man in his late ɹfties? Alone the whole day
in the desert with a young warrior? Why had she simply
lain down and waited when she could have caught up
with the expedition on foot? Had it been a prearranged
tryst? Had the Prophet been deceived by his spirited
favorite?
Whether anyone actually believed such a thing was
beside the point. In the seventh century as today, scandal
is its own reward, especially when it has a sexual aspect.
But more important, this one fed into the existing
political landscape of the oasis. What Aisha and Safwan
may or may not have done in the desert was not really
the issue. This was about Muhammad’s reputation, his