Taimiyyah Zubair – The Legacy Of Faith The Story Of Asiyah
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of consistency in people's lives and the role of Asiya's leverage in protecting and defending the message of Allah. They also touch on how Asiya uses her power to create change and save lives, citing her use of her voice and leverage to stop negative emotions. The speakers emphasize the importance of following footsteps and being a part of Allah's religion to protect and dominate people's bodies. They also mention a woman who only knew comfort and luxury and was punished by the way she did.AI: Transcript ©
Tired already?
Okay.
Alhamdulillah, in the previous lecture we just learned
about the importance
of consistency.
And consistency,
it is an amazing characteristic but it comes
with a lot of discipline
and a huge, huge
sacrifice and price that a person has to
pay.
However, the rewards of consistency
are amazing. They are worth it. As we
will see in the example of Asiyah
radiAllahu anha.
The prophet
was an amazing teacher. And
one day, the prophet
drew 4 lines on the ground.
And he did that in order to draw
everyone's attention to those 4 lines
that pay attention to the fact that these
are 4 and they're 4 lines.
And the prophet
asked them, do you know what these 4
lines represent?
And the companion said that Allah and his
messenger know best.
The prophet
said that the best among the women of
paradise
are 4.
And they are
Khadija
Fatima
Maliam
and Assia
These 4 women, he said, are
the best of the women of paradise.
And I'm sure when you come across this
hadith, I'm sure you've heard of it before,
you may have wondered,
well, what about the other amazing women?
How come the prophet
did not mention them in this hadith?
Well, they are mentioned in other ahadith. Like,
for example, in another hadith, the prophet
mentions the status of Aisha
But here he mentions
these 4 women.
And if you think about it, what is
common in these 4 women
is the fact that they played a huge
role
in protecting,
in nurturing,
in defending
the messengers
of Allah.
We see for example that Khadija
she played such a huge role
in comforting the prophet
in encouraging him in his early days.
Fatima
being a young girl,
she also defended the prophet
in times, in situations when men could not
come forward.
Once the prophet
was praying near the Kaaba, and the enemies
of Allah, what did they do? They brought
these insides of the camel that had just
been slaughtered, and they put them on top
of the neck of the prophet
and he was not able to get up.
And imagine he's in that position and the
Muslims are watching, but none of them has
the ability to come forward because who is
it that did that to
the prophet It was these big men.
They knew that if they came forward,
they would be in a lot of trouble.
So who came to rescue the prophet
over there? It was his daughter Fatima
a young girl at the time. And she
didn't just come and remove those things from
him. She actually yelled at those men. Can
you imagine
a young girl
yelling at Abu Jahl, how satisfying.
Right? Alhamdulillah.
So we see that both of them played
a huge role in protecting, defending the prophet
salallahu alayhi wasalam.
Mariam alayhi wasalam, she gave birth to Isa
alayhi Isa nurtured him, protected him, and also
she
paid a huge price
in being the mother of Musa alaihis salam.
And then we have Asiya
who also played a huge
role in saving the life of Musa alayhis
salam,
in nurturing him, in protecting him from the
from from the harm of Firaun.
And then we see that she became a
believer, and she she paid a huge, huge
price
in
in in in believing in Allah and his
messenger,
alayhis salam.
We see that Assia is
mentioned
2 times in the book of Allah.
And this is something significant. Allah mentions,
Firaun, the wife of Firaun, in 2 places
in the Quran.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam mentioned
her by name.
And this is significant
because not many women are mentioned in the
Quran.
And out of those women,
there's only a few whose names we know.
And Asiya
is one of them.
Who is she? What what did she do?
We see in the Quran that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala explains to us how Firaun had
really
exalted himself in the land of Egypt,
and he had divided the people of Egypt.
And he was oppressing a group of those
people, and that is the Bani Israel.
And how was he oppressing them? Everybody knows.
He was killing their children,
and he was keeping their women alive.
This was a genocide.
This was an intended a deliberate effort
to not only control the population of Bani
Israel,
but also to oppress them and to and
to really
destroy them from the inside.
So in that environment, we see that Asiya
she
is a believer.
And this is significant
because she is from the family of Iran.
She is the wife of Iran.
And yet she is someone who believes
in Allah, who believes in the prophet of
Allah.
We see that Asiya
does not become
like the people around her.
And this is significant
because a lot of times we just follow
the trends.
We just do whatever is culturally acceptable
or whatever is common,
whatever is, you know, is is acceptable.
And we fail to distinguish between what is
right and between what is wrong.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the
Quran that
that say good and bad are not equal.
They're not the same. Even
if the abundance of bad impresses you, it
attracts
you, that you see it everywhere.
You see that it is trendy. You see
that it is acceptable. You see that it
is the norm.
But Asiya,
even though she is in the house of
Iran, and she sees what a tyrant her
husband is,
and she sees how the people around her
are all oppressing the Bani Israel, how they
are
participating in that,
she does not become a part of that
oppression.
She does not play a role in that.
In fact, we see that she uses her
voice
and she uses the leverage that she has
to stop whatever injustice that she is able
to.
And so we see in the Quran, Allah
mentions
how when the people of Firaun, they discover
baby Musa at the bank of the river,
And they pick him up, and they are
deciding to kill him. Right?
And they they decide they bring him to
Firaoun.
At that moment, what does Assia do?
She
she she speaks up. She uses her voice.
She uses the leverage that she has.
And she says,
don't kill him.
And she says to her husband,
that this child is so adorable. He is
a source of comfort of the eye for
me and for you.
So please don't kill him.
And she says,
Asa'ayinfarana,
maybe he will benefit us.
Or maybe we can adopt him as our
own child.
So Assia, we see that she does not
just become, you know, a part of the
injustice that she witnesses around her. She is
not she is in no way complicit,
and she speaks up. She uses her voice
to defend Musa,
salam. Now one might wonder, in a position
that she is in,
that how could saving
1 child
make a difference?
Wasn't it that hundreds of children were being
killed on the regular
in Egypt?
Right?
Children were being killed every day. Boys were
being killed every day.
But Asia
speaks up to save the to save the
life of 1 child.
She does not belittle
the one act of goodness that she
has the power to do.
And it is so important to remember that.
When we see injustice all around us,
when we see evil
widespread, everywhere, we
wonder, what could my voice do?
What could my contribution do?
What could my charity do?
How could that even make a difference?
We belittle our efforts,
but we see that if Asiya has the
opportunity to save the life of one child,
she does that.
And does that make a difference?
It makes such a huge difference.
By saving the life of Musa alaihis salam,
how many more lives does Asiya end up
saving?
Allah tells us in the Quran that
that whoever saves one life,
it is as though they save all of
humanity.
You think that it is a small contribution.
You you think that what you can do
could make no difference whatsoever.
But the the results are not in our
control.
What is in our control, what is in
our ability,
is to do the little that Allah has
has empowered us to do. So let us
seize those tiny moments and those tiny opportunities,
and let Allah
create a huge impact
from our from our small tiny efforts.
So we see that asiyah
saves the life of Musa, alayhis salam, and
by doing just one deed, she makes such
a huge difference.
Now we see about Asiya that when she
sees Musa, alayhis salaam,
she says something good.
And when she says something good, she also
receives what is good.
What does she say? She says
She says to Firaun
that this child is a coolness of the
eye for me and for you.
So what happened? Did Musa, alayhis salaam,
become a coolness of the eye for her?
Did he?
Yes. He did.
Not
only was he
she raised him and not only was he
a source of comfort for him in a
motherly sense,
but also
we see that Musa
when he delivers the message and she believes,
she receives the greatest coolness, right? The greatest
comfort
that a person can get in paradise because
of iman.
But what does Fir'awn do? Does Fir'awn agree
with her that, yes, he is
No. He does not. And so the ulama
say that because
Assia said,
what happened?
Allah made Musa alayhi salam.
He made Musa alaihis salam a source of
comfort for her because this is what she
said.
And Firaoun refused.
Firaoun did not agree. He did not say,
yes. This child is a source of comfort
for me too. He did not agree. And
so the ulama said that had
Fir'aun said that, yes, this child
is what would have happened? Allah
would have guided him
just as he guided her.
But because he refused,
this is why Musa
became an enemy to him and a source
of his downfall.
And this shows us that it is very
important for us to say
and expect good
from the things that Allah
shows us.
Because every blessing, everything that
Allah brings into our lives, remember, it has
good in it and it may also have
some kind of potential
harm in it.
But focus on the good and ask Allah
to make it beneficial for you. You know,
a small thing, when the wind would blow,
alright, the prophet would
pray that, oh Allah, make it good for
us.
Right? Oh Allah, I ask you for its
goodness. And this is not just related to
the wind. It's this this, you know, this
is something that we find in so many
duas of the prophet
that he would ask
Allah to bless him with the goodness
that is in different things.
So Asiya,
she says something good, and therefore, she receives
what is good.
And she becomes a force from the forces
of Allah
who defend the religion of Allah, who protect
the religion of Allah.
Now we see that when Musa alayhi salam,
he returns to Egypt as a prophet
and he conveys the message to Feraoun.
What happens?
We see that Feraoun ups his oppression
of the Bani Israel.
And so he begins
to kill the children, the boys of Bani
Israel for another time, for a second time.
And not only that,
he also kills the all of those magicians
who embraced
Islam. Right? And it is said that it
that it was 70,000 magicians who
came to compete with Musa alayhi wasalam, who
were disbelievers at the beginning of the day,
and by the end of the day they
were all martyrs. Because Fir'aun
killed every single one of them.
And he didn't just kill those magicians. He
would actually torture
and kill
any person
any person
even from his own people
who believed in Musa alaihis
salam. So we see, for example,
that
daughter was like,
who who is that? Right? Don't you believe
in my daughter was like, who who is
that? Right? Don't you believe in my father
as god? And she says, no. I believe
in Allah who is your lord lord and
also my lord and also the lord of
Fir'aun.
And so
what does the daughter of Fir'aun do?
She goes and tells her father.
And what does Fir'aun do to that woman?
Fir'aun doesn't just kill her,
he actually brings her with all of her
children, her little children,
and he throws all of her children, one
by 1 into the fire in front of
her eyes
until eventually he throws her infant child
in the fire in front of her eyes,
and he also throws her.
This is what is happening
to the people
who are believing in Musa, alayhis salam.
It is obviously
extremely,
extremely dangerous.
And
Allah mentions in the Quran that no one
believed in Musa Alaihi Salam except
the
except some young people
from his nation.
It was it was only some youths from
the nation of Iran who who believed in
Musa alaihi salaam.
But, of course, among them was also Asiya,
the wife of Iran.
I want you to understand
that, you know, just as the current events
have shown,
that it can be
extremely
difficult
to speak up for the truth.
It doesn't it it it doesn't seem that
you know, the current events have shown that
it's not that easy to speak up for
the truth.
People will
write one post, and on the basis of
that post, they're going to be fired from
their work. They're going to lose their job.
Right? And it is not just the Muslims.
It is anybody,
anybody
who speaks up for the truth,
we see that they have they end up
losing
a lot.
And the more you have,
the more you have to lose.
Right?
And we see that Assia is in the
house of power. She is the wife of
Iran.
She is living the most comfortable life.
If she is the wife of Iran, imagine
how much she receives from Firaoun
and how much privilege she has and how
much dunya she has.
But we see that
when she believes in Musa alaihis salam and
she defends Musa alaihis salam, what happens?
Asiya
not only loses a lot, she also suffers
a lot. She has to pay a huge
price.
But her wealth, her privilege,
they do not deceive her because she understands
that this dunya is its nature is temporary.
No matter how much it is,
the akhirah is always, always better.
And Allah
tells us in the Quran
that do not let worldly life delude you.
Don't be deceived by it.
And what is the deception of worldly life?
That we think that it is incredibly important,
that we think that we must have it
at all costs,
that we think we cannot afford to lose
any of it,
that we think that it's going to last
with us forever. But is that so? No.
The nature of this worldly life is that
it is.
It is a temporary
enjoyment. It is not meant to last.
And we see that Assia recognizes that.
And so
her her wealth, her privilege,
all of the duniya that she has, it
does not prevent her from believing in Musa
alayhi salam, from believing in Allah
And this is very important for us to
remember
because sometimes
you know, like the prophet salallahu alayhi salam
warned us
that there will come a time when a
person will sell his religion for any for
for for the for the littlest for the
smallest of worldly
gains.
So we have to be very careful.
Asiya is willing to give up all of
her duniya
for the sake of the akhirah.
And what does she do? What choices does
she make? We see that Asiya
chooses Allah over Firaoun.
Firaoun is someone who had declared himself to
be god,
and he
used his
power, and he threatened people with his power,
and he inflicted great harm on people with
his power.
Allah mentions in the Quran that
That Firaun was someone who had exalted himself.
And this is not all imaginary. This is
real.
Firaun had power,
and he would use that power to harm
people.
So if anyone feared Fir'aun, that fear was
not imaginary. It was real. There there were
going to be real real consequences.
But Asiya
chooses Allah
over Firaoun.
And what happens then? Firaoun
turns against her,
and
he doesn't just,
you know, divorce her simply.
No. He uses
everything within his ability, within his power
to torture her, to cause her pain,
to cause her suffering,
to somehow
get her to give up her religion.
But does she give it up? No, she
does not.
And this is a woman
who only knew a life of comfort.
Because being the wife of Feraoun, you can
only imagine how much comfort, how much luxury
she had at her disposal.
And what happens when she believes?
We learn about how Firaoun
tortured her. Abu Huraira
mentioned about how Firaoun had put spikes on
her hands and on her feet, and he
literally
nailed her to the ground so that she
would not be able to move.
And if she tried to move even a
little bit, her hands would hurt. Her feet
would hurt.
Can you imagine? And he had appointed guards
over her
to ensure
that nobody comes to rescue her, nobody comes
to save her, and she is like that
in the sun.
And when the guards would get tired and
they would go take a break,
Abu Hurairah
mentions in one of the narrations that the
angels would shade her.
SubhanAllah.
This is what Firaun is doing to his
own wife.
But does she give up? No. She does
not give up.
In that condition,
she turns to Allah and she calls upon
Allah, and she says,
Oh my lord,
build for me near you a house in
paradise.
And oh Allah, save me from
and his deed.
The ulama say, the work of Firaoun was
his torture
and his abuses that he hurled at her.
And the torture, the physical torture, the physical
pain
that he inflicted on her.
And
she says,
oh my lord, save me from the wrongdoing
people, from the from this oppressive nation.
Because she knew that it wasn't just Ra'un
who was guilty.
It was all the people who supported him.
His whole establishment,
right, that were in the wrong.
So she prays to Allah that, oh Allah,
you save me from all of them.
And we learn in the narration about how
when she is when she makes this dua,
the veil of the unseen is removed and
she's shown her home in paradise. And Hassan
al Basri said this was a house.
What she was shown was a house made
of pearls.
SubhanAllah.
And so she smiles.
And in and in some narrations it is
mentioned that when Firaun sees her smiling,
he calls her
that she's insane, but what is wrong with
her? How could a person be smiling in
this condition?
But you know what her dua reminds me
of?
Look at her dua. She says,
My Lord.
Oh Allah, my lord.
What did Fir'awn claim? Fir'awn claimed,
I am your greatest lord.
And as Siyya says in her dua,
my real lord.
And this reminds me of Bilal
That when he would be tortured, what would
he say?
Right? In his defiance
of the people who were torturing him, he
would
say And so we see that Assia also
in that,
in the middle of that punishment, she's calling
upon Allah
And she says,
Oh Lord build for me a house near
you.
She mentions
the location of the house before mentioning the
house in in
in paradise.
And what is the location that she wants?
She wants
nearness to
Allah
That is her ultimate concern.
And she prays for a house in
paradise because
what did she end up giving up over
here in this world?
She gave up
her house, her palace,
her home, her comfort.
Right?
Her domain.
She sacrificed all of that
for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So so she asks Allah
that
And she asks Allah that, oh, Allah save
me from Firaun,
his torture,
and Allah
saved her.
Now in the Quran, Allah
mentions
that Allah presents an example for the people
who believe.
And this example is of who?
The wife of Firaoun.
So the wife
of Firaoun, Asiya, is an example for who?
Is she just an example for believing women?
No.
Allah mentions,
for all who believe.
For the men and the women.
For every single believer.
How is she an example for every single
believer?
The ulama say,
because she held on to
Allah
She held on to the truth,
right, in her in her tamasuk,
in the fact that she did not let
go.
And how easy would it have been for
her to just let go?
Right? You need everything could just go back
to normal,
and she, you know, her her life would
be so easy and comfortable again,
and she could just forget about everything that's
happening outside of her castle.
Right?
But, no, she holds on to Allah.
She is steadfast on
the truth,
and she is an example
of patience
in hardship.
Assia is not an average woman.
Assia is the wife of her own who
has only
lived a life of luxury and comfort.
And if Raoun inflicted
so much torture on her
and she was patient,
she endured,
she did not quit,
then what befits us?
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for alafiyah,
for his protection.
But what befits us? That in our trials,
small and big,
what should we do? We should follow the
footsteps of Asiya
and remain true to Allah,
remain steadfast
in Allah's religion,
and call upon Allah
and ask
him to compensate us for whatever we have
had to lose, for whatever that we have
had to sacrifice for his sake.
And
Allah is able to do that.
You know, we see that
it never happens that a person
calls Allah
for something and a person has hope in
Allah except that Allah
gives them better than what they
asked for. Assia
asked Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
for a home in paradise.
Assia asked Allah subhanahu ta'ala for closeness to
Allah in paradise.
And what does Allah subhanahu ta'ala give her?
Allah subhanahu ta'ala makes her of the inhabitants
of paradise. But not just of the inhabitants
of paradise, but as the prophet
said,
the best
of the women of paradise.
The best of the women of paradise
who is an example, a role model for
all of us.
May Allah
allow us to hold on to the truth.
May Allah
allow us to see the truth in the
midst of all this darkness and confusion.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us all
sincerity.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us all
steadfastness,
and may Allah
use us for his religion,
for for truth, for justice,
and may Allah
protect all of us from the trials of
this world and also from the punishment in
the hereafter. May
Allah be pleased with all of us.
This is a dua that we should also
make for ourselves.
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