Lobna Mulla – #1 Courage Against Evil Asiyah bint Muzahim as Upheld Allah Women in Quran
AI: Summary ©
The transcript describes the story of Asiya Alay tensive and corrupt, and her actions and behavior during the killing of all boys of Bani Israel. It also describes the behavior of a woman who confronts a woman's father and gives an example of her actions, including her own. The transcript uses a hairdresser as an example of the woman who faced extreme hardship and traded her palace for a far greater one in Jannah. Finally, it describes the story of Asiya Alay tensive and corrupt, who was born in a garden and was a hairdresser, and was forced to kill her hairdresser by a townhouse. She was sent to a garden and chastised for being too religious or doing things that would lessen their chances of finding a good job or getting married.
AI: Summary ©
Have you ever wanted to become closer to
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la growing your spirituality,
your practice only to be faced with criticism,
intense questioning or even worse? Have you ever
felt like you had to give up certain
things so that you could practice your Islam
despite it going against your friends, family, or
even your own spouse?
This is no doubt a lonely place to
be, but we have a role model preserved
in the Quran for us to connect with.
I'd like to introduce you to Asiya bint
Muzahim,
the wife of not only one of the
most powerful, but one of the most corrupt
rulers of all time,
Firaun, the ruler of ancient Egypt.
Imagine a woman who has it all, access
to power, wealth, and high status. She's a
believer in the one true God, but is
married to one who claims to be a
God. And on top of his grave delusion,
he is a cruel and an oppressive tyrant,
massacring the people of Bani Israel simply for
believing in Allah.
Fir'awn's desperation for power blinds him, but not
the one closest to him, his wife, Asi
Alayhi Salaam.
Asiyeh not only had deep faith, but an
optimism in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la. A
trust in him that would spark the dua
she made to her Lord. The dua that
is forever preserved in the Holy Quran.
My Lord, build me a house and paradise
near you and deliver me from Fir'awn and
his evil doing and save me from the
wrongdoing people.
Who is Asiya and why is she so
inspirational?
What is her story and what led up
to this famous hope filled du'a?
To understand her story and why she's mentioned
in such high regard by Allah Subh'anaHu Wa
Ta A'la in the Holy Quran, let's start
from the beginning.
Not many details of her childhood is known,
but we do know that Esai Alaihi Salam
was a queen her entire life. She lived
a luxurious life as her father was a
wealthy and powerful man. Her marriage to Far'awn
was an arranged one. And as royal marriages
go, this was the making of a power
couple.
Essia's faith and determination is amazing and inspiring
on its own. But what is unique to
her story is that it intersects with another
revered member of religious history, our beloved prophet
Musa Alayhi Salaam.
As we understand, Essia Alayhi Salaam wasn't able
to have children of her own. And as
such was superbly delighted to find baby Musa
Alayhi Salaam floating in the Nile river in
a basket.
And as we'll talk about in another video,
Musa's mother was inspired by Allah Subh'anaHu Wa
Ta A'la to save her son from the
torment inflicted by the order of Esiyah's very
own husband, Firaun.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la says, And we
inspired the mother of Musa,
nurse him, but when you fear for him,
then cast him into the river and fear
not nor grieve, verily we shall bring him
back to you and shall make him one
of our messengers.
So here you have Firaun on the one
hand ordering the killing of all boys of
Bani Israel that year out of fear that
the interpretation of his dream that one day
a son of Bani Israel would kill Firaun
and overtake his kingdom would come true. And
on the other hand, you have Allah Subh'anaHu
Wa Ta A'la inspiring Musa's mother to send
him down the river to the very house
of Firaun.
The irony is just amazing, and reminds us
that truly Allah is the best of planners.
And as Allah would have it planned, Esi
would be outside of the palace at the
very instant when the basket carrying baby Musa
would pass right in front of her. Thinking
it was a treasure and it truly was,
she had the basket retrieved from the river
and brought it to her. Upon opening the
basket, her heart was filled with joy as
she found baby Musa Alaihi Wasallam.
Allah says, Then the household of Firaun picked
him up, that he might become for them
an enemy and a cause of grief.
Verily Firaun, Heman and their armies were sinners.
And the wife of Firawn said, A comfort
of the eye for me and for you,
kill him not perhaps he may be of
benefit to us, or we may adopt him
as a son. And they perceive not the
result of that.
Now the very boy that Firawn and Asiya
welcomed into their own home, was raised lovingly
as their own son.
Asiya loved Musa Alayhi Salaam. And after he
left the palace and later became a prophet
of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la, she would
later come to believe in his message of
Tarheid.
Despite the cruelty and tyranny of Firaun against
anyone who believed, she set aside her fears
and accepted the message of Musa.
Firaun as it stands, had children from other
wives. Now there's an amazing intersection that happens
with the hairdresser
of 1 of the daughters of Firaun and
Asiya, queen of Egypt.
One day the hairdresser of 1 of Firaun's
daughters was tending to her hair.
The hairdresser dropped her comb and said, Bismillah
in the name of Allah. The daughter taken
aback said, Abi Allah my father. And the
hairdresser said, No, the Lord of your father,
the Lord of me and the Lord of
you, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la. Knowing this
would upset her father, the daughter told Fir'an
about the incident.
Of course, Fir'an was furious. So he decided
to make an example of the hairdresser in
front of everyone.
Firaoun orders a pit to be dug, and
copper to be melted in that pit, so
that the hairdresser and all of her children
would be thrown into it. After her children
were forced to jump in before her, now
all who was left was the hairdresser and
her baby whom she was nursing.
She hesitated to jump in with her baby,
but then miraculously,
this baby
spoke. The baby said, go ahead and jump
for the punishment of this life is lighter
than the punishment of the next life. And
with that, the blessed woman full of hope
and optimism and Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la
jumped in.
The irony of it all is that Fir'awn
gathered the people to witness this cruelty as
a form of intimidation,
and as a means for setting an example
for those who may wish to join this
woman in her tawhid.
But it is Allah who made an example
of Fir'awn by preserving his body for all
time so that people today and tomorrow can
see the end of those who claim superiority
and oppress others.
SubhanAllah, this woman on the other hand, although
she was powerless and poor in the material
sense,
she was rich in her iman. So much
so that she also was made as an
example for those who believe.
In a hadith in Sahih Muslim, it is
narrated that during Alassa'atul Mi'raj, when Prophet Muhammad
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam traveled through Jannah, he smelled
a beautiful scent of which he asked Jibreel
Alayhi Salaam, and Jibreel told him that this
was the scent of the hairdresser of the
daughter of Firaoun.
After seeing the courage and deep faith of
the servant of Firaoun declare her servitude to
the Almighty Allah, Asiya Alayhi Salaam decided it
was time for her to do the same.
So Asiya confronts Firaoun about her iman the
same night the hairdresser was killed.
Knowing what just happened to the servant who
expressed her faith, Asiya told Firaoun that she
disbelieves in him and does not care what
will happen to her. She then goes on
to express her belief in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa
Ta A'la. When she confronts Firaoun, the horrible
and cruel tyrant that he is, he orders
his servants to drag her to the desert,
tortures her in front of his own daughters,
and they laugh at her. The scene is
really heart wrenching but we only share this
to understand the perseverance
and strength of this amazing woman.
SubhanAllah, there's Asiya with no supporter,
deprived of food, water, protection from the scorching
sun and having the children of her powerful
and evil husband laugh at her in her
most painful moment. And despite all of this
suffering, we see this beautiful expression of the
deep hope and the only truth in this
world, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la. And in
this moment, the queen of Egypt, Asiya looks
up to the sky and makes his famous
and beautiful dua in Surat Tahrim.
Oh my Lord, build me a house in
paradise near you and deliver me from Fir'awn
and his evil doing and save me from
the wrongdoing people.
What beautiful companionship she seeks in the next
life. Before asking for a house in Jannah,
she asked that it be near Allah Subh'anaHu
Wa Ta A'la. In essence, she traded the
companionship with the most powerful yet worst man
on earth with Allah, the most merciful and
traded her palace on earth for a far
greater one in Jannah. What an amazing believer
to not despair in the mercy of Allah
despite her extreme hardship.
Allah answers her dua. When she looks up
at the sky, she sees her palace in
Jannah. Asi Alayhi Salaam also sees the angels
sent by Allah to shade her. What a
mercy from Allah, what an expression of his
love for her. After seeing the angels, Asi
Alayhi laughs at Firaun. Now picture this, Firaun
thinks he has the upper hand and as
the most powerful ruler in the land as
he tortures her for her faith, but she
owns her faith, her heart and mind. He
cannot take away her most precious asset, her
belief in Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la. And on
top of that, Allah is comforting her physically
in this world and morally by showing her
a glimpse of her reward in the next
life.
Seeing Esiyeh laugh infuriates Firaun, and he thinks
she's crazy. He orders his guards to go
to the highest peak and to push over
a giant boulder that would crush her body
down below. Again, Allah the most merciful, answering
Esiye's dua to save her from frown, took
her soul before her body was further tormented.
Esiye's story is a clear example of the
reward of those who put Allah Subh'anaHu Wa
Ta A'la first. Esiye's deep commitment to her
faith reminds us that sometimes there is great
sacrifice and staying on the straight path. Sometimes
it means giving up that very tempting job
offer because aspects of the work may involve
haram, or maybe passing up some material gain
because it might bring you more distraction than
benefit.
Her story also reminds us that the more
yaqeen you have in this life of the
year after, the less the trials of this
world hurt us.
And Allah sets forth an example for the
believers. The wife of Fir'awn, who prayed, my
Lord build me a house in paradise near
you, deliver me from Fir'awn and his evil
doing and save me from the wrongdoing people.
What's amazing here is that with Asiya's story,
Allah does not set her as an example
for women only. And Allah doesn't set her
as an example for the people of Arabia
or for a certain group of people. Allah
sets an example for the believers, both men
and women for all time.
Asiya, a woman of power, wealth and high
status, gave up everything for her faith in
Allah. And Allah shares her dedication to faith,
her deep hope and optimism in Allah with
all of humanity.
Sometimes when you want to become more religious
or for those of you who have converted
to Islam, you experience a harsh backlash to
your religiosity.
Are you a Sheikh or Sheikha now? Who
do you think you are? You may not
have a Firaun in your house, but you
may very much have great hardship in progressing
in your faith journey, or even maintaining your
base level of worship. Some get kicked out
of their homes. Others are chastised for being
too religious as if their devotion will lessen
their chances of finding a good job or
of getting married, etcetera.
May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la make all
of us like Asiya Alayhi Salaam. Firm in
belief, hopeful in Allah, and persevering in the
face of adversity. Ameen.