The Quran

إِنَّ الَّذينَ جاءوا بِالإِفكِ عُصبَةٌ مِنكُم ۚ لا تَحسَبوهُ شَرًّا لَكُم ۖ بَل هُوَ خَيرٌ لَكُم ۚ لِكُلِّ امرِئٍ مِنهُم مَا اكتَسَبَ مِنَ الإِثمِ ۚ وَالَّذي تَوَلّىٰ كِبرَهُ مِنهُم لَهُ عَذابٌ عَظيمٌ

N. J. Dawood

Those who concocted that slander¹ were a band of your own people. Do not regard it as a misfortune, for it has proved an advantage. Each one of them shall be punished according to his crime. As for him who had the greater share in it, his punishment shall be terrible indeed.

The reference is to the scandal instigated by the Prophet’s opponents involving Muḥammad’s wife ‘Ā’ishah with Ṣafwān b. al-Mu‘aṭṭal.