'Ata' ibn Dinar, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr: Then He exhorted those who had waded into the affair of 'Aisha, saying: "Why then, did not the believers..." meaning: Why did you not deny it? And His saying: "when you heard it," meaning: the slander of 'Aisha with Safwan. And His saying: "The believing men and believing women thought"—because among them was Hamnah bint Jahsh.

14221 - Muhammad ibn al-'Abbas, the mawla of Banu Hashim, narrated to us, [saying]: Muhammad ibn 'Amr Zunayj narrated to us, [saying]: Salamah narrated to us, [saying]: Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar narrated to me, from his father, from some of the men of Banu al-Najjar, that Abu Ayyub, Khalid ibn Zayd, was asked by his wife, Umm Ayyub: "O Abu Ayyub, do you not hear what the people are saying about 'Aisha?" He said: "Yes, and that is a lie. Would you, O Umm Ayyub, do such a thing?" She said: "No, by Allah, I would never do it." He said: "Then 'Aisha, by Allah, is better than you." He said: Then when the Qur'an was revealed, Allah mentioned those who said what they said regarding the slander, and then said: "Why then, did not the believers, men and women, when you heard it, think well of their own people and say: 'This is an obvious lie?'"—meaning: so speak as Abu Ayyub and his wife spoke.

14222 - Abu Yazid al-Qaratisi informed us in what he wrote to me: Asbagh informed us, [saying]: I heard 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd, regarding the saying of Allah: "Why then, did not the believers, men and women, when you heard it, think well of their own people," he said: This is the good [thought], that the believing men and women thought well of their own people, that a believer would not commit adultery with his mother, and that a mother would not commit adultery with her son. If he wanted to commit adultery, he would commit it with someone other than his mother. He says: 'Aisha was merely the mother of the believers, and her sons were forbidden to her.

His saying: "think well of their own people."

14223 - Abu Zur'ah narrated to us, [saying]: Yahya ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Bukayr narrated to us, [saying]: 'Abd Allah ibn Lahi'ah narrated to me, [saying]: 'Ata' ibn Dinar narrated to me, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, regarding the saying of Allah: "think well of their own people," he says: Why did some of them not think well of others, [by believing] that they did not commit adultery?

14224 - 'Abd Allah ibn Sulayman narrated to us, [saying]: al-Husayn ibn 'Ali narrated to us, [saying]: 'Amir ibn al-Furat narrated to us, [saying]: Asbat narrated to us, from al-Suddi, regarding His saying: "Why then, did not the believers, men and women, when you heard it, think well of their own people," he says: [Think well] of the people of their own creed, that they do not commit adultery.

14225 - My father narrated to us, [saying]: al-Hasan ibn al-Rabi' narrated to us, [saying]: Ibn Idris narrated to us, [saying]: Ibn Ishaq said: My father narrated to me, from elders of the Ansar, that the one concerning whom this verse was revealed: "The believing men and believing women thought well of their own people," is that Umm Ayyub said: "O Abu Ayyub, do you not hear what the people are saying about 'Aisha?" She said: He said: "Would you do that, O Umm Ayyub?" She said: "No, by Allah." He said: "Then 'Aisha, by Allah, is better than you; this is only a lie and an evident slander."