Hazrat Safwan ibn al-Mu'attal

The Rear-Guard of the Army

Safwan ibn al-Mu’attal, of Banu Sulaym, was appointed to follow at the rear of the army, to pick up anything dropped along the march. On the return from the campaign against Banu al-Mustaliq, Aisha رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَاHazrat Aisha bint Abi Bakrرَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَاWife of the Prophet ﷺ; the most beloved of his wives and a foremost scholar of the UmmahMothers of the Believers · Narrators stepped away to retrieve a lost necklace and was left behind when her howdah was carried on without her. Coming up from the rear, Safwan — who had known her before the verse of the veil — recognised her, said only “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un,” made his camel kneel, and led it on foot until they rejoined the army, speaking no other word. 1 Seerat-e-Mustafa · Vol 1 · pp. 354–356 — Idris Kandhlawi — Safwan finds Aisha left behind and brings her back in silence.

The Slander Refuted

His arrival with Aisha رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَاHazrat Aisha bint Abi Bakrرَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَاWife of the Prophet ﷺ; the most beloved of his wives and a foremost scholar of the UmmahMothers of the Believers · Narrators gave the hypocrites, led by Abdullah ibn Ubayy, the pretext for the slander (al-Ifk) against her honour — a calumny Allah Himself refuted from above the seven heavens in the verses of Surah an-Nur, clearing both Aisha رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَاHazrat Aisha bint Abi Bakrرَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَاWife of the Prophet ﷺ; the most beloved of his wives and a foremost scholar of the UmmahMothers of the Believers · Narrators and Safwan. 2 History of Islam · Vol 1 · pp. 188 — Najeebabadi — Safwan the rear-guard in the account of the slander, which Allah refuted in the Qur'an. He later fell in the campaigns and died in Armenia.