23 Preface إِنَّ الَّذينَ يَرمونَ المُحصَناتِ الغافِلاتِ المُؤمِناتِ لُعِنوا فِي الدُّنيا وَالآخِرَةِ وَلَهُم عَذابٌ عَظيمٌYusuf AliThose who slander chaste women, indiscreet but believing,1 are cursed in this life and in the Hereafter: for them is a grievous Penalty,-Good women are sometimes indiscreet because they think of no evil. But even such innocent indiscretion lands them, and those who hold them dear, in difficulties. Such was the case with ʿĀisha, who was in extreme pain and anguish for a whole month because of the slanders spread about her. Her husband and her father were also placed in a most awkward predicament, considering their position and the great work in which they were engaged. But unprincipled people, who start false slanders, and their unthinking tools who help in spreading such slanders, are guilty of the gravest spiritual offence, and their worst punishment is the deprivation of God’s grace, which is the meaning of a state of Curse.