Hadith Narrated by Urwah
Ali bin Mus-hir al-Kufi transmitted from Hisham bin Urwah, who transmitted from his father Urwah, that Aisha (RA) related that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) liked honey—or, she said, he was fond of sweet things. After finishing the Asr prayer, he would visit all his wives, pausing briefly with each (and he would spend the night with the one whose turn it was). One day, he remained with Hafsah bint Umar (RA) longer than usual. I felt jealous, so I sought out the reason. I learned that a female relative of Hafsah (RA) had sent her, as a gift, a leather container filled with honey, and that Hafsah (RA) had given the Holy Prophet (PBUH) some of that honey to drink. I said to myself: We will devise a plan to ensure that, henceforth, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) will not drink honey at Hafsah’s (RA) quarters.
So, I said to Sawdah bint Zama (RA): When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) visits you, say to him: “Have you eaten maghafir (the resin of the urfut tree, which has a sweetness)?” If he says, “No,” then say: “What, then, is this odor that I notice?” He will say: “Hafsah (RA) gave me a drink of honey.” Say to him: “The bees that produced that honey must have fed on the nectar of the urfut tree.” And when he comes to me, I will say the same; and, O Safiyyah, you say the same as well. Ayshah (RA) reports: (Sawdah followed my plan to the letter.) Sawdah (RA) used to say: As soon as the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) arrived at my door, I felt like calling out that the smell of maghafir was present—such was my fear of you, O Aisha. In short, Sawdah (RA) said what I had prompted her to say. When he came to me, I also said the same. Then, when he went to Safiyyah (RA), she too said the same.
Then, when (the next day) he came to Hafsah (RA), she said: “O Messenger of Allah, shall I give you to drink from that honey I gave you yesterday?” He replied: “I have no need of it.” (When it became known that he had declined to drink honey at Hafsah’s (RA) quarters,) Sawdah (RA) said: “We have deprived the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) of it; that was not good of us.” I said: “Now be quiet.”
This hadith, whose sense I have rendered, appears in Sahih Bukhari with this chain and wording:
حَدَّثَنَا َفَرْو ُۃ ُبْن ِی أَب ،ِالمَغْرَاء َقَال حَدَّثَنَا ِعَل ی ُبْن ،ٍمُسْھِر ْعَن ِهِشَام ِبْن َعُرْو َۃ، ْعَن ِأَبْی،ِہ ْعَن َعَائِش َۃ، ْقَالَت: َکَان ُرَسُوْل ِہاللّٰ
ی صَل ہاللّٰ َی عَل ِہ َوَسَلَّم ُی حِب َالْعَسَل ،َوَالْحَلْوَاء َوَکَان إِذَا َانْصَرَف َمِن ِالعَصْر َدَخَل ٰی عَل ،ٖنِسَاءِہ َف َی ْدْنُو ْمِن ،َّإِحْدَاهُن َفَدَخَل ٰی عَل
َحَفْص َۃ ِبِنْت ،َعُمَر َفَاحْتَبَس عِنْدَهَا َأَکْثَر مَا َکَان َی،ُحْتَبِس ،ُفَغِرْت ُفَسَأَلْت ْعَن ،َذٰلِک ِفَقْی َل ِیل: ْأَهْدَت لَھَا َامْرَأ ۃ َّعُک ۃ ْمِن ٍعَسَل،
ِفَسَقَت ِالنَّب َّی ی صَل ہاللّٰ َی عَل ِہ َوَسَلَّم ُمِنْہ َشَرْب ۃ، ُفَقُلْت: أَمَا ِوَاللّٰہ َّلَنَحْتَالَن لَہُ؛ ُفَقُلْت َلِسَوْد َۃ ِبِنْت َزَمْع َۃ: ُإِنَّہ َس َی ْدْنُو ،ِمِنْک فَإِذَا دَنَا ِمِنْک
ِفَقُوْل ی: َأَکَلْت ِمَغَافْرَ؟ ی ُفَإِنَّہ َس َی ُقُوْل ِلَک: ،َلْ ِفَقُوْل ی لَہ: مَا ِهٰذِہ ِالرْی ُح ِی الَّت ُأَجِد مِنْکَ؟ فَإِنَّہ َس َی ُقُوْل ِلَک: ِی سَقَتْن َحَفْص ُۃ
َشَرْب َۃ ،ٍعَسَل ِفَقُوْل ی لَہ: ْجَرَسَت ُنَحْلُہ ،َالْعُرْفُط ُوَسَأَقُوْل ،َذٰلِک ِوَقُوْل ی ِأَنْت َای ِصَف ُیَّۃ َذٰلِک. ْقَالَت: ُتَقُوْل َسَوْد ُۃ: ِفَوَاللّٰہ مَا َهُو َّإِْل
ْأَن َقَام َی عَل ،ِالْبَاب فَأَرَدْت ْأَن ِأُنَاد َی ُہ بِمَا ِأَمَرْتِن ی ٖبِہ فَرَق ا مِنْکِ؛ فَلَمَّا دَنَا ،مِنْھَا ْقَالَت لَہ َسَوْد ُۃ: َای َرَسُوْل ،ِہاللّٰ َأَکَلْت ِمَغَافْرَ؟ ی َقَال: َلْ.
ْقَالَت: فَمَا ِهٰذِہ ِالرْی ُح ِی الَّت ُأَجِد مِنْکَ؟ َقَال: ِی سَقَتْن َحَفْص ُۃ َشَرْب َۃ ،ٍعَسَل ْفَقَالَت: ْجَرَسَت ُنَحْلُہ العُرْفُطَ؛ فَلَمَّا َدَار َإِل َّی ُقُلْت لَہ َنَحْو
ذٰلِکَ؛ فَلَمَّا َدَار ٰی إِل ِصَف َیَّۃ، ْقَالَت ُلَہ َمِثْل ذٰلِکَ؛ فَلَمَّا َدَار ٰی إِل َحَفْص َۃ، ْقَالَت: َی ا َرَسُوْل ،ِہاللّٰ َأَْل ِأَسْقْی َک مِنْہُ؟ َقَال: َلْ َحَاج َۃ ِیل ِفْی ِہ.
ْقَالَت: ُتَقُوْل َسَوْد ُۃ: ِوَاللّٰہ ْلَقَد ،ُحَرَمْنَاہ ُقُلْت لَھَا: ِاسْکُت ْی.
(Sahih Bukhari, No. 5268)
Like Ali b. Mus-hir al-Kufi, this report is also narrated by Abu Usamah (Hammad bin Usamah al-Kufi) from Hisham bin Urwah (Sahih Bukhari, No. 6972). It is likewise extracted by Sahih Muslim Muslim, No. 1474).
To be sure, Urwah bin al-Zubayr (or his son, the distinguished Hisham bin Urwah) erred in transmitting this baseless tale. May Allah forgive Urwah (or Hisham) for this mistake. However, Urwah did not hear this story directly from our Mother, the Truthful Lady Aisha (RA). Certainly, Urwah heard many hadiths from her and benefited greatly from her knowledge; yet we also find multiple reports which he did not hear directly from Aisha (RA), but which another person ascribed to her and related to Urwah. Out of confidence and trust, Urwah then transmitted those reports ascribed to Aisha (RA) without naming that intermediary. In such reports we have found only errors. This story belongs to that very category; had Urwah reflected more carefully, he would never have narrated it. The reasons for judging this story to be false and baseless are as follows:
1. The report implies that at Hafsah’s (RA) quarters the Holy Prophet (PBUH) drank the honey only once; the next day, when he went to her and she asked leave to present honey again, he declined— because he had been influenced by Aisha’s (RA) stratagem and had become averse to that honey. Yet the logic of the story requires that he should have drunk the honey again on the second day and only declined on the third. For, according to the tale, it was when the Holy Prophet (PBUH) remained longer than usual at Hafsah’s (RA) due to drinking the honey that Aisha (RA) grew concerned to discover the cause; after inquiry, she devised the plan and coached the maghafir line to our Mothers Sawdah and Safiyyah (RA). Evidently, that maghafir remark would have occurred on the second day; only then would the Holy Prophet (PBUH) have declined the honey on the third. This inconsistency shows it was not an event that truly occurred, but a fabricated yarn. Those who concocted it slandered the Mothers of the Believers and the Holy Prophet (PBUH). One should count it among the miracles of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) that, however cleverly a forged report may be crafted, there remains a flaw in its content that reveals to careful minds its falsity.
2. From the story it follows that when the Holy Prophet (PBUH) would visit the Mothers of the Believers in succession after Asr, he would come to Sawdah (RA) after Hafsah (RA); then to Aisha (RA); and after her to Safiyyah (RA). The actual order was otherwise. After the passing of Khadijah (RA), the Holy Prophet (PBUH) married Sawdah (RA), then Aisha (RA), then Hafsah (RA) in 2 AH after Badr, then Umm Salamah (RA) in 4 AH, then Zaynab bint Jahsh (RA) after the battles of Ahzab and Qurayzah in 5 AH, then Juwayriyyah bint al-Harith (RA) after Banu al-Mustaliq in 6 AH, then Umm Habibah bint Abi Sufyan (RA)—who was in Abyssinia and came to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) after Khaybar—then Safiyyah bint Huyayy (RA) soon after Khaybar, and a few months later in the same year Maymunah bint al-Harith (RA). In keeping with this sequence, his just and balanced nature set their turns; and in this order he would visit each briefly daily to inquire after their conditions and needs. Thus, he would visit Sawdah and Aisha (RA) before Hafsah (RA)—that is, before drinking any honey. This is decisive evidence that Aisha (RA) never related the maghafir tale; rather, it was composed by someone ignorant of the established order among the Mothers of the Believers.
3. According to this report, the maghafir line was coached by Aisha (RA) only to Sawdah and Safiyyah (RA). Yet after drinking the honey at Hafsah’s (RA), the Holy Prophet (PBUH) also visited Umm Salamah, Zaynab bint Jahsh, Juwayriyyah, Umm Habibah, and Maymunah (RA). None of them said to him that they noticed the odor of maghafir. If only Sawdah, Aisha, and Safiyyah (RA) had raised the matter, he would have taken it as their misperception. Would he not have reflected that the sense of smell was not deficient in the other six wives? If six perceived nothing, how did only these three notice it? In that case, he would necessarily have realized that the maghafir line was an artifice devised by these three.
4. The report explicitly states that Sawdah (RA) feared Aisha (RA). This is utterly meaningless. Sawdah (RA) was older in age, larger in build and stature, and she had entered the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) household before Aisha (RA)—indeed, for years she alone was his companion. And Aisha (RA) was neither quarrelsome nor ill-tempered. Why, then, would Sawdah (RA) fear her?
5. Lying is prohibited; prompting another to lie is also sinful; and to lie for a frivolous end—while coaching others to do so as well—is sin compounded. Likewise, to lie at someone else’s prompting is sin, pure and simple. This report casts multiple stains of sin upon the pure character of the Mothers of the Believers—Ayshah, Sawdah, and Safiyyah (RA)—whereas the wives of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), rightly titled “the Purified Wives,” were devout servants of Allah, free from the moral defects that are imagined in women; they remained pure until the very end.
6. Even if, hypothetically, the Aisha (RA) had, under the provocation of jealousy and rivalry, fallen into this fault of untruth, she would later have felt deep remorse and would never have narrated the episode. When a person commits a sin and Allah veils it so that none discovers it, it is incumbent upon that person, whenever he remembers it, to seek forgiveness from Allah—and not to disgrace himself by publicizing it. Yet in the report before us there is not a word indicating that our Mother Aisha (RA) regretted any grave misdeed. The report suggests, rather, that she recounted the tale with relish. Was she so naïve? Never—by Allah, never. Our Mother Ayshah the Truthful did not relate this story at all. How could she assert what did not occur? Neither did this event take place, nor did she narrate it. It is the nonsense composed by an enemy of hers, relayed to Urwah b. al-Zubayr (or to Hisham b. Urwah), and Urwah (or Hisham), setting aside sound reason, believed it and transmitted it.
[To be continued]