Abu Ayyub al-Ansari RA, Khalid ibn Zayd, was a Companion of the Banu al-Najjar of Madinah, the clan of the Prophet ﷺ's great-grandmother. When the Prophet ﷺ arrived in Madinah after the Hijrah, he stayed about six months in Abu Ayyub's two-storey house until his own house and the Masjid were built, and Abu Ayyub and his wife treated him with famous reverence, refusing to live above him. During the slander against Aisha RA, his immediate rejection of the rumour matches the response Surah al-Nur holds up as the example. After Khaybar he guarded the Prophet ﷺ's tent through the night of his marriage to Safiyyah RA, and the Prophet ﷺ made du'a for him.
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Order within 622 isn’t recorded · listed A–Z
Roughly the Prophet ﷺ's 6th cousin, via shared descent through Banu al-Najjar: the Prophet ﷺ's great-grandmother was of Banu Adi ibn al-Najjar.
وَلَوْلَا إِذْ سَمِعْتُمُوهُ قُلْتُم مَّا يَكُونُ لَنَا أَن نَّتَكَلَّمَ بِهَٰذَا سُبْحَانَكَ هَٰذَا بُهْتَانٌ عَظِيمٌ
“If only you had said upon hearing it (the slander), "How can we speak about such a thing! Glory be to You [O Lord]! This is a heinous slander!"”
Quotes Abu Ayyub al-Ansari RA's exemplary response as the model reaction to hearing the slander.