261 H) also records...
261 H) also records: حدثنا هارون بن سعيد الأيلي حدثنا عبدالله بن وهب أخبرني سليمان (يعني ابن بلال) أخبرني يحيى أخبرني عبيد ابن حنين أنه سمع عبدالله بن عباس يحدث قال مكثت سنة وأنا أريد أن أسأل عمر بن الخطاب عن آية فما أستطيع أن أسأله هيبة له حتى خرج حاجا فخرجت معه فلما رجع فكنا ببعض الطريق عدل إلى الأراك لحاجة له فوقفت له حتى فرغ ثم سرت معه فقلت يا أمير المؤمنين من اللتان تظاهرتا على رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم من أزواجه ؟ فقال تلك حفصة وعائشة Harun b. Sa’id al-Ayli – ‘Abd Allah b.
Wahb – Sulayman b. Bilal – Yahya – ‘Ubayd b. Hunayn – ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Abbas: I hesitated for a (whole) year, and I had intended to ask ‘Umar b. al-Khaṭṭab concerning a verse. But I could not ask him out of fear of him, until he went out for Hajj and I accompanied him. During his return, while we were still on the way, he stepped aside towards an Arak tree to ease himself. So, I waited for him until he finished. I then walked along with him, and said, “O Amir al-Muminin!
Who were the two women who helped each other against the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, among his wives?” He replied, “ They were Hafsah and ‘Aishah .”[^6] There are three things here: Both ‘Aishah, and especially Hafsah, betrayed the confidence of the Messenger of Allah. Both of them literally helped each other against him in order to hurt him. The hearts of both of them had deviated from the Truth. This is very obvious, anyway.
No one with a clean heart would ever help another against the Messenger in any circumstance. Interestingly, the above verses were the last updates by Allah on the hearts of both women. Nothing else was revealed thereafter by Him to discharge them, or to indicate their repentance.
It is a matter of great interest then that the deviation of their hearts means they both have little or no hope of salvation in the Hereafter: يوم لا ينفع مال ولا بنون إلا من أتى الله بقلب سليم The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail, except him who brings to Allah a clean heart .[^7] The perturbing question here is: how is ‘Aishah the best of this Ummah, after its Prophet, despite that she was a deviant in the Sight of Allah?
Are our Sunni brothers telling us that Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthman were worse than deviants? Besides, Allah mentions the existence of women who would be better wives to His Prophet; if case he divorced ‘Aishah and Hafsah. Does this fact alone not debunk the Sunni ahadith on the superiority of Umm al-Muminin ‘Aishah as mere sectarian polemical artwork?