(As for those who accuse their wives but have no witnesses except themselves…) [24:6].
Abu ‘Uthman Sa‘id ibn Muhammad al-Mu’adhdhin informed us> Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn ‘Ali al-Hiri> al-Hasan ibn Sufyan> Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah> Yazid ibn Harun> ‘Abbad ibn Mansur> ‘Ikrimah> Ibn ‘Abbas who said: “When the verse (And those who accuse honourable women but bring not four witnesses…) up to His words (They indeed are evil-doers) [24:4], Sa‘d ibn ‘Ubadah, the master of the Helpers, said: ‘Is this how it was revealed to you, O Messenger of Allah?’ The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, responded: ‘Do you not hear, O Helpers, what your master is saying?’ They said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, he is a very jealous man. By Allah, he never married a woman who was not a virgin and no one amongst us ever dares to marry any woman he divorces, because of his extreme jealousy’. Sa‘d then said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, by Allah I know it is the truth and that it is from Allah. But I was wondering: if I were to find a man on top of my wife, I am not supposed to disturb or move him until I go and bring four witnesses. By Allah, by the time I go to bring them, the man would have finished his business’. Not a long time had passed after this incident when Hilal ibn Umayyah found a man with his wife upon returning in the afternoon from his field. He saw with his eyes and heard with his ears. He did not react and waited until the following morning and went to see the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. He said to him: ‘O Messenger of Allah, I went to my wife in the afternoon and found her with a man. I saw them with my own eyes and heard them with my own ears’. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, disliked what he heard and was greatly distressed as a result. ‘Ubadah ibn al-Samit said then: ‘Now the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, will flog Hilal ibn Umayyah and his testimony will be void among the Muslims’. Hilal said: ‘By Allah, I am hoping that Allah will make for me a way out of this’. Then he said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, I can see that you are distressed because of what I have told you. But Allah knows that I am saying the truth’. By Allah, just as the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, was about to order his flogging, the revelation from heaven came to him. When the revelation came to him, the prophetic Companions knew about it by the change in the complexion of his skin. They held back until the revelation stopped. The following verse was revealed (As for those who accuse their wives but have no witnesses except themselves) up to the end. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, was relieved. He said: ‘Good news for you, O Hilal! Allah has put you at ease and made for you a way out’. Hilal exclaimed: ‘That is what I was hoping for from my Lord’ ”. And the he mentioned the rest of the narration.
Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Faqih informed us> Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Sinan al-Muqri’> Ahmad ibn ‘Ali al-Muthanna> Abu Khaythmah> Jarir> al-A‘mash> Ibrahim> ‘Alqamah> ‘Abd Allah who said: “We were in the mosque on Thursday night when a man from the Helpers came in and said: ‘A man finds his wife with another man [what can he do?]. If he speaks about it, you will flog him; if he kills the man, you will kill him; and if he keeps quiet, he will suffer inwardly. By Allah, I will ask the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, about this’. The following morning he went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: ‘If a man finds his wife with another man [what can he do?]. If he speaks about it, you will flog him; if he kills the man, you will kill him; and if he keeps quiet, he will suffer inside. O Allah, clarify the matter for us’, and he began making supplications. The verse of the public imprecation (li‘an) was revealed after that (As for those who accuse their wives but have no witnesses except themselves). One of the people was tried with this and so he came with his wife to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, for public imprecation. The man gave testimony by Allah four times that he was saying the truth, on the fifth occasion he invoked Allah’s curse on himself if he was lying. When his wife was about to contribute her part of this public imprecation, the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, asked her not to, but she went ahead and did it. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: ‘The child she will give birth to will be black with curly hair’. And, surely, she gave birth to a child who was black and had curly hair”. This was narrated by Muslim from Abu Khaythmah.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou