Muhammad: Victory and Death
another point on the journey, A'isha lost her necklace again, and by the time she had found it, Muhammad and the other Muslims had already moved on. Safwan b. al-Muattal, who had lagged behind the other
Muslims, found A'isha and mounted her on his camel. They did not reach Muhammad and the others until the next morning, and rumors, whose sources were said to have beenAbd-ullah b. Ubayy, Mistah bt. Uthatha,
Hamna bt. Jahsh, and the poet Hassan b. Thabit, began to abound. After
arriving in Medina, a conflict between the Aws and the Khazraj arose as to
who would support Muhammad in this matter. Muhammad then asked for
the counsel of Ali and Usama; the former suggested that Muhammad find another wife (which fosteredA'isha's dislike of Ali) , and the latter supportedA'isha's plea of innocence. About a month later, Qur'an 24:1-11
is said to have been revealed to Muhammad, which absolved `A'isha of any
guilt. Since those who had defamed her (i.e. Mistah, Hamna and Hassan)^34
could not have been witnesses (cf. Qur'an 24:4,12-13), they were said to
have been given 80 lashes each.^35
Qur'an 24Qur'an 24Qur'an 24Qur'an 24 claims to be a legal sura (v. 1), in which the punishment for
adulterers and adulteresses is set at 100 lashes, the number of witnesses for
condemnation was set at four, and the punishment for a false witness is
fixed at 80 lashes (vv. 2f). According to the vv. 6f a husband accusing his
wife of unfaithfulness is to swear four times, but the accused wife is to be
spared the punishment if she swears four times that she did not commit
adultery; on the fifth time, both parties are to wish that Allah curse
themselves should the other party have said the truth. The vv. 11f refer to
the matter of A'isha on the return from al-Muraysi, and the^36 appeal to
forgive (v. 22) is said to have been directed at Abu Bakr. The v^37. 24 states
that the various parts of one's body will testify at the Judgment. The vv.^38
28f dictate that all are to ask for permission before entering someone else's
dwelling, and the vv. 30f give a command against the lust of the eyes along
with the regulation regarding to whom women can expose themselves. It
would appear that these measures were also possibly connected to Zayd b.
Haritha's divorce of Zaynab b. Jahsh. The v. 32 basically com^39 mands
Muslims to marry, and v. 33 speaks of those who cannot find a wife,
encourages manumission of slaves, and prohibits forcing women