Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani...

Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani, well-known writer of Hilyat al-awliya', quoting 'Abd ar-Rahman ibn al- Qasim, says that once Mu' awiyah sent some gifts for 'A'ishah which included money, clothes and precious objects.(243) He also quotes 'Urwah ibn az-Zubayr, saying that on another occasion Mu'awiyah sent 'A'ishah one hundred thousand drachmas.(244) Ibn Kathir, the famous historian of the 8th century, quotes 'Ata', saying that Mu'awiyah sent a valuable necklace for 'A'ishah in Mecca, the price of which was about one hundred thousand drachmas, and she accepted it.(245) The reliable book of Tabaqat al-kubra reports that Munkadir ibn 'Abd Allah visited 'A'ishah and after some preliminary talks, she asked him: "Have you an offspring?" He said: "No!" 'A'ishah said: "If I had ten thousand drachmas, I would give it to you to buy a slave-girl and have an offspring by her." This meeting came to end, and on the same day Mu'awiyah sent 'A'ishah a huge sum of money.

'A'ishah said: "How soon we are entangled!" and then sent Munkadir ten thousand dinars, with which he bought a slave-girl.(246) Ibn Kathir quotes another incident from Sa'd ibn al-'Aziz, saying that Mu'awiyah once repaid a debt of 'A'ishah for a sum of eighteen thousand drachmas. These debts were incurred by her owing to the gifts of money given by her to the people.(247) These were some examples of the financial considerations of Mu'awiyah for 'A'ishah.

Such a treatment was not confined to Mu'awiyah. Other Umayyad rulers, too, acted in a similar manner, and from time to time they sent her various gifts.

One of these men was 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amir, governor of Basra, who once sent her money and clothes.(248) Despite the time that separates us from 'A'ishah and the Umayyad period, we see that the instances and evidence of such financial considerations by the Umayyad government towards 'A'ishah are so numerous that we are compelled to conclude that the actual instances are much more numerous than what have reached us, and that history has buried most of them within itself.

In view of this point, we can realize the degree of the respect shown to 'A'ishah by the Umayyad rulers on account of their own worldly considerations and expediency as well as the reciprocal consideration and expediency that 'A'ishah felt towards them, and thus we discover the extent of the connection and attachment of those two strong fronts of the time.