Continuation of the explanation of 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him): ( .

The Shaykh: And there is no doubt that this oath was very difficult. Therefore, it came in some narrations that when those who visited her, such as Mas'ud and others, interceded, they entered upon her as mentioned in the story. They pressured her to break her vow. She had wished that her vow would be milder than not speaking to him for the rest of her life, but she swore this oath anyway, which was a vow. Ibn al-Zubayr sought the intercession of the Muhajireen when her boycott of him became prolonged. 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr could not bear it; he was distressed, and he was afflicted with something similar to what befell the three who were left behind . So Ibn al-Zubayr was as if he was afflicted with something of this nature. He became annoyed at his aunt's boycott of him. She brought in intercessors and mediators between him and her so that he could speak to her, so that she would end the boycott and speak to him. But she refused and said, "By Allah, I will never intercede for anyone in this matter, nor will I break my vow." Meaning, I will not break my vow or my oath; I will not be lenient in it; I am holding firm to it. I said I would not speak to al-Zubayr ever, so I will not speak to him ever, and I will not accept the intercession of intercessors. When this became prolonged for Ibn al-Zubayr, he spoke to Mas'ud ibn Makhrama and 'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Aswad ibn 'Abd Yaghuth, who are from Banu Zuhrah, the tribe to which the Lady Aisha belongs through her father. He asked these relatives to mediate to resolve the problem. Ibn al-Zubayr said to the two mediators, Mas'ud and 'Abd al-Rahman, "I ask you by Allah" (I implore you by Allah) "that you bring me to Aisha, for it is not permissible for her to vow to cut me off completely." Meaning, he was imploring them and swearing to them by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that they would take a middle path and a means to bring him to the Lady Aisha without her knowledge. So what did they do? Mas'ud and 'Abd al-Rahman came to him, wrapped him in their two cloaks, placed him between them, and wrapped him like a cloak or like the blankets people used to wrap themselves in in the past, so that no one would notice that there was a third person there. They came to the house of the Lady Aisha and asked for permission to enter by saying, "Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. May we enter?" This is the etiquette of Islam: it is not permissible to enter except after asking for permission and after greeting. Her answer was, "Enter." So they used a certain strategy. Aisha said, "Enter." They said, "All of us, O Mother of the Believers?" She said, "Yes, enter, all of you," and she did not know that Ibn al-Zubayr was with them. When they entered, Ibn al-Zubayr entered the screen. What does "Ibn al-Zubayr entered the screen" mean? It means that when non-mahram people ask for permission to enter upon the Mother of the Believers, the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), who are not her mahram, she would be sitting behind a screen, a curtain, so she would speak to them and they would hear her voice but not see her person. When they used this trick on her, saying "We will enter, all of you," they entered and stood behind the screen. He tore the screen and rushed to his aunt, kissing her and embracing her, as is natural for a nephew. He embraced Aisha and began to implore her, weeping. Mas'ud and 'Abd al-Rahman began to implore her to speak to him and accept his kiss, meaning he requested to end the boycott. They said here, the point is: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade what you know of boycotting, for it is not permissible for a Muslim to boycott his brother for more than three nights." As if they were saying to her, "Accept the request of your nephew 'Abd Allah and end your boycott of him, because you know what we do not need to teach you: the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: . You have already boycotted him for thirty-three days and more, so you have a need to end this boycott. So she answered them after they had repeatedly reminded Aisha and put her in a difficult position. She began to remind them and weep, saying, "I have made a vow, and a vow is severe." Meaning, it is difficult for me to break my vow. I swore I would not speak to al-Zubayr ever; it is a vow to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And Allah praised those who vow to do good, saying: . As if the Lady Aisha was answering the argument of Mas'ud and 'Abd al-Rahman against her that the Messenger said: , so you are contradicting the Shari'ah here. Her answer was that my boycott of Ibn al-Zubayr was not for the sake of venting my anger or taking revenge, which the Lawgiver permits for only three nights. Meaning, one person gets angry at another for a reason, which may be one of the most trivial reasons, and so he boycotts him. The Lawgiver, our Lord (Mighty and Majestic), the Wise, the Compassionate to His servants, the Merciful, considers the nature of humans and permits boycotting for only three days. But after three days, this boycotting becomes forbidden. So when the Lady Aisha was argued with using this hadith, she said that my boycotting of him was to discipline him, because he did not respect his aunt; he did not respect the relationship between her and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) as his wife. So I boycotted him this long boycott and swore not to speak to him ever, to discipline him, not as revenge for myself. So there was a discussion between the Lady Aisha and the two mediators until she yielded to their request and spoke to Ibn al-Zubayr, her nephew, the son of her sister Asma. So naturally, she broke her vow at that time. At that point, she was obligated to expiate for breaking her vow. In the way of this expiation, what did she do? She freed forty slaves in her vow, not just one slave, but forty people. They were all slaves, and she drew near to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) by freeing them and liberating their necks as expiation for her vow, which was not to speak to Ibn al-Zubayr ever. And she used to mention her vow after the story and weep until her tears would wet her head covering. And in a narration by al-Bukhari in the Sahih, she used to say that she wished her vow had been of a different type than this vow not to speak to Ibn al-Zubayr ever, because if the vow had been, for example, not to speak to him for a week or two weeks, that would be possible, but for the rest of her life, that is difficult. And with this, we conclude the lesson.