Documents of the Right Word

concordant with hadîth-i-sherîfs and the statements made by the
Islamic ’Ulamâ. When some of the Ahl as-sunna scholars
‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ alaihim ajma’în’ said that these people should
not be called disbelievers, they meant those who were not
excessive in their eccentricities. Their statements are therefore in
agreement with the hadîth-i-sherîfs and the statements of the
(other Islamic) ’Ulamâ.
The booklet curses, vituperates Âisha-i-Siddîqa ‘radiy-Allâhu
ta’âlâ anhâ’, too. These people assert that she is to be cursed
because she disobeyed the âyat-i-kerîma and the hadîth-i-sherîf.
They traduce her – may Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us from doing such
an ignoble act. They say, “It was commanded, ‘Stay in your
homes’, in the âyat-i-kerîma. Disobeying this commandment, she
fought Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’ in the event of Camel. On the other
hand, it had been stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf, ‘He who fights you will
have fought me.’ This means to say that fighting Alî means fighting
Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’. And he who fights the
Prophet will become a disbeliever. For this reason, it is necessary
to censure, to curse Âisha.”
Our answer is this: The commandment, “Stay in your homes,”
does not mean, “Always sit in your home in all circumstances.
Never go out.” The fact that some of Rasûlullah’s wives
accompanied him in some of his expeditions shows that the truth
is not as they state. This means to say that the commandment to
stay in homes was intended for certain occasions and situations. It
is like expressing something as a whole while meaning a part of it.
Such statements are not absolute commandments. It is
permissible for a mujtahid, therefore, to infer another part from
this whole. For there are some qualities common in all the parts.
Âisha ‘radiy-Allâhu anhâ’ was doubtless a learned scholar and a
mujtahid. Abû Mûsal-esh’arî [one of Rasûlullah’s governors. He
introduced the custom of putting dates on written documents,
letters, etc. He passed away in Kûfa in 51] states in Tirmuzî’s
book: Whenever the As-hâb-i-kirâm wanted to know something,
they would go and ask hadrat Âisha and learn from her. Mûsâ bin
Talha states, again in Tirmuzî’s book: I saw no one who could talk
more eloquently, more correctly than Âisha did. Owing to the
profound knowledge she had, Âisha ‘radiy-Allâhu anhâ’
understood the inner meaning of the âyat-i-kerîma, followed the
exceptional cases which made it permissible for her to go out, and
went out. The meaning inferred from the âyat-i-kerîma is, “Do
not go out without covering yourselves.” Indeed, the final part of
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