A Prominent Sahabiya
(Female Companion of the Prophet
Mohammad (SAW)
She is an excellent model of
self-dignity and pride .She faced two tyrants stubbornly. One of them is Abu
Jabl, 'Amr ibn Hisham, the Monarch of this Ummah, according to the title the
Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave him. And the second one is Hajjaj
ibn Yusuf ath-Thaqafi.
She was a paternal sister of Hazrat A'ishah (RA) and she was some years older than her, for she was born seventeen years before the Prophet (peace be upon him) was commissioned. Asma' had embraced Hazrat .A'ishah (RA) since when she was young. She was in fact like a mother to her. So, '.A'ishah grew up loving Asma', respecting her and giving her due preference.
She was a paternal sister of Hazrat A'ishah (RA) and she was some years older than her, for she was born seventeen years before the Prophet (peace be upon him) was commissioned. Asma' had embraced Hazrat .A'ishah (RA) since when she was young. She was in fact like a mother to her. So, '.A'ishah grew up loving Asma', respecting her and giving her due preference.
Hazrat Asma' (RA) witnessed the
noble Prophetic commissioning in every single aspect. There is no wonder! She
was a valuable member of Hazrat Abu Bakr's household which was - of the all the
households of Makkah - the place of refuge and rest for the Messenger of Allah (peace
be upon him). The Prophet (SAW) would visit the houses of his earliest
Companion occasionally but he would not miss visiting Abu Bakr's house every
day. This is according to what '.A'ishah (peace be upon him) told us.
This was the case until the day of Prophet's migration after thirteen years of preaching of Islam and in which the Muslims met the severest obstinacy and cruelest confrontation from the tyrants of ignorance. All this confrontation increased Asma' in nothing but resilience and strength. The Prophet's movement- in the company of his Companion Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) to the Cave of Thaur to hide commenced from the house of Abu Bakr. It was from here that roles were apportioned.
'Abdullah ibn Abu Bakr was to go and snoop and get the words and movements of the polytheists. He would then bring the news to the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his father in the night and then go back to Makkah.
Amir ibn Fuhayrah, the free slave of Hazrat
Abu Bakr (RA) and the shepherd of his sheep would herd his flock at the heels
of' Abdullah to erase his footprints, so that no one would know his movements.
He would then bring the sheep close to the cave, milk them and give the evening
milk to the Messenger of Allah (SAW) and his Cave Companion.
Hazrat Asma'(RA) would prepare food in
their house and would then secretly canny it away far from the sight of the
unjust people. Anyone who follows the way from Makkah to the Cave of Thaur
through the rocky and rugged mountainous paths will realize how shrewd Asma'
was.
In the morning of the night of Hijrah,
the Quraysh were at a loss because the Messenger of Allah (SAW) had escaped
from his house in between two young men whom the Quraysh had positioned at his
door to watch him. He escaped their attention reciting the verse:
And We have covered them up, so that
they cannot see.(Qur'an 36: 9)
He escaped safely and unhurt,
surrounded with Allah's care through His noble Angels to the house of Abu Bakr
and from there to the Cave of Thaur. Abu Jahl, having become agitated and
losing his senses when he heard that the Prophet (SAW) had escaped came to Hazrat
Abu Bakr's house. He knocked at the door and Asma' came out to see him. He asked
her of her father's whereabouts and she replied confidently, proudly and
courageously, while noticing the sparkles of fire in the eyes of this tyrant,
"I don't know." Facing another unbearable disappointment and unable
to control himself, Abu Jahl gave her a very hard slap on her face. That slap
was so hard that her rings flew off her ears. But she was unconcerned and
rather stood there like a fonnidable dam in front of that tyrant until he turned
back and left.
The history will forever remember this
event in the life of Asma'. The truthful believers who fight in the cause of
Allah will never forget it; neither will the
truthful believing women who fight in
the cause of Allah, who migrate for the sake of Allah and who worship Allah
devotedly forget it. On the day of departure from the cave to Yathrib (which
was to be later known as Madinah), Asrna' prepared the provision for the great
journey. But she forgot to include the ribbon for tying the food container and
the water skin to the camel. As a clever and smart lady,. she removed her
girdle, tore it into two and used one of them to tie the food container and the
other to tie the water skin.
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon
him) smilingly looked at her and said: "Indeed, Allah has given you, in exchange for this girdle, two
girdles in Paradise." This saying of the Prophet was the
greatest testimony and the most honourable one, for that matter, for this
woman. It is a great source of pride for her, though she had the modesty and
amicability of the believer.
Hazrat Asma' (RA) later married to az-Zubayr
ibn al-' Awwam. Az-Zubayr was not wealthy. He had only a horse on which he
fought in the way of Allah. So Asma' lived with him in that great discomfort.
Her son, 'UlWah narrated from her that she said, "Az-Zubayr married me
while he owned nothing but his horse. So I would feed it, take care of it and
mark it. I would also grind the kernels and I would carry the Kernels
from az-Zubayr's Finn.”Asma' found nothing wrong in serving her husband and her
home and taking part in shouldering the responsibilities. Perhaps, she carried
the greatest responsibility. All that did not have any impact on her
self-dignity. It rather increased her in resilience and strength. She was one
of the first and the most brilliant female students who learnt from the
Prophet's teachings. Her son, 'Abdullah was defeated in his battle against
Hajjaj in Makkah after a historically unparalleled battle and gallantry written
down on pages of history with illuminating words.
She said about her situation:
"When az-Zubayr married me, he had neither land, nor wealth, nor slave,
nor anything else like it, except a camel to get water and his horse. I used to
graze his horse, provide fodder for it, look after it and ground dates for his
camel. Besides this, I grazed the camel, made arrangements for providing it
with water and patching up his leather bucket and kneading the flour. I was not
very good at baking the bread, so my female neighbors used to bake bread for me
and they were sincere women. And I used to carry on my head, the date-stones
from the land of az-Zubayr which the Prophet (SAW) had endowed him and it was a
distance of two miles from Madeenah. One day, as I was carrying the date-stones
upon my head, I happened to meet Allaah's Messenger (SAW), along with a group
of his Companions. He called me and told the camel to sit down so that he could
make me ride behind him. I felt shy to go with men and I remembered az-Zubayr
and his Gheerah (Gheerah is the sense of pride that a man has which causes him
to dislike his wives, daughters or sisters from being seen or heard by
strangers. It is this gheerah which makes a man protective about his women) and
he was a man having the most gheerah. The Messenger (SAW) understood my shyness
and left. I came to az-Zubayr and said: "The Messenger of Allaah met me as
I was carrying date-stones upon my head and there was with him a group of his
Companions. He told the camel to kneel so that I could mount it but I felt shy
from him and I remembered your gheerah." Upon this az-Zubayr
said: "By Allaah, the
thought of you carrying date-stones upon your
head is more severe a burden to me than you riding with him."
I led this life of hardship until Hazrat
Abu Bakr (RA) sent me a female servant who took upon herself the responsibility
of looking after the horse and I felt as if she had emancipated me."
(Reported in Saheeh al-Bukhaaree (eng. Trans. Vol.7 p.111 no.151)
The hero, 'Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr fell
in that battle and Hajaj ordered him crucified. He vowed that he would not
bring him down from the cross until his mother interceded on his behalf,
thereby wanting to crush her sense of pride and dignity. But she never did!
Ibn as-Sakan reported on the authority
of Yahya at-Taymi from his father that he said: "I entered Makkah after
Ibn az-Zubayr was killed and I saw him crucified. I saw his mother Asma' who
was a tall, blind old woman.
She went to Haijaj and stood before
him and said, 'Is it not time for this rider to dismount?' Hajaj
responded, 'He is a hypocrite! But his mother retorted, 'No, he was never a
hypocrite. He was rather a constant performer of voluntary fasting and prayer.'
Haijaj then said, 'Go away, you old and senile woman.' She again retorted, 'I
am not senile. I have heard the Messenger of Allah (*) saying that there would
come out ofthe tribe of Thaqeef a liar and a ruthless murderer. As for the
liar, we have already seen him, as for the ruthless murderer, it is you.'"
The tyrant Hajjaj could not find any
way to suppress this believing, truthful and persevering woman. And he had no
other choice than to bring the corpse of 'Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr down from the
cross. Asma' only lived for few days after this event and then died.
May Allah be pleased with
her!