The Pious Wife of a Tyrant (Asiya bint Muzahim) - Women of Paradise - Omar Suleiman

Asalamu alaikum warahmatoAllahi wabaraktoho Quran Weekly. This is your brother Omar Suleiman

continuing with the SuperStars Series and we are focusing on women of Jannah.

Today we are going to speak about a very special woman. Allah (SWT) describes her in the Quran

saying, "ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا امْرَأَتَ

فِرْعَوْنَ" [Đaraba Al-Lahu Mathalāan Lilladhīna 'ĀmanūAimra'ata Fir`awna] (66:11)

- that Allah (SWT) has given an example to those who believe of the wife of Firaoun.

And the reason why Allah (SWT) called her the wife of Firaoun is to show us that this

woman, the wife of Firaoun, Asiya bint Muzahim radiyaAllahu 'anha, may Allah be pleased with her,

despite being married to the absolute worst human being who has ever walked the

face of the Earth, she still was a woman of perfect iman as the Prophet (SAWS) described her.

That's why in the previous ayah Allah (SWT) says, "ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا

لِّلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا امْرَأَتَ نُوحٍ وَامْرَأَتَ لُوطٍ"

[Đaraba Al-Lahu Mathalāan Lilladhīna KafarūAimra'ata Nūĥin Wa Aimra'ata Lūţin] (66:10) -

That Allah (SWT) gives an example to those who disbelieve of the wives of Noah and Lut. That

these women despite being married to prophets, who obviously have perfect iman, still managed

to disbelieve. So Allah (SWT) was showing us that iman is an individual struggle and

it is attained by the individual. And your associations and your affiliations and your

families will not be able to save you on the Day of Judgment.

Nevertheless, when we are talking about Asiya 'alayha alsalam, radiyaAllahu 'anha, it is

absolutely phenomenal, extraordinary who this woman managed to become despite being married

to Firaoun. When we look at her biography, we don't find much about her even when we

look at Biblical sources, we don't find much about her. We find that her life is very similar

initially to the wife of a king or a prince that you would see in the Middle East today.

A very secretive life, not much is known about her. You don't know where she came from,

you don't know much about her family and even until today, usually you don't even know the

names of the wives of the kings. And so in this situation with Asiya, the only thing

that we know about her is that she was a very beautiful woman, obviously, that came from

a very rich family. So her father was obviously an important man as well. She was in an arranged

marriage with Firaoun as was their tradition. At the same time she was only known for her

generosity. So when we look at Firaoun obviously we see the oppositve of generosity. We see

Asiya 'alayha alsalam was a very generous woman. This woman, her story starts, at least

from an Islamic perspective, or when things get interesting, is when one day she is at

the Nile River with her maids and as she is sitting there with her maids at the Nile,

she sees this small crate come and her maids think when they see this box that it must

be some form of treasure that is inside of it. Instead, when they open this box they

find a baby. And that baby was Musa 'alayhi alsalam, who Allah (SWT), look at the precision

of Allah (SWT)'s divine decree. Not only did Allah (SWT) tell Musa 'alayhi alsalam's mother

to place him in the Nile, and don't worry he'll be taken care of, he will be safe, and

let your heart be at ease, but Allah (SWT) on top of just taking care of Musa 'alayhi alsalam,

planned it in a way that Asiya 'alayha alsalam would be outside at that moment and

would see this box come by and then take Musa 'alayhi alsalam, open that box and she fell

in love with the baby. She was absolutely in love with the baby. And subhanAllah when

we say 'in love', this is something that was from her fitra, from her nature because the

Prophet (SAWS) he said, "الأرواح جنود مجندة" - an authentic hadith in Saheeh Muslim.

The Prophet (SAWS) said, 'the souls are like constricted soldiers.' They're like

troops. And rasool Allah (SAWS) said, - in the realm of souls, those souls that loved

one another and that came close to each other in that realm, come close to each other in

this realm of dunya. They have a natural affinity towards each other in this dunya. Which is

why sometimes you love people for the sake of Allah even though you barely know them.

And those that do not get along, don't get along in this world as well.

So when Asiya saw Musa 'alayhi alsalam, she instantly fell in love with him and this baby

that fell into her hands was even more special because Asiya 'alayha alsalam was unable to

have children. The 'ulama say the wisdom of that is obviously that Musa 'alayhi alsalam

would be taken in as if her was her child. On top of that, that Allah (SWT) would not

allow a child to be born to Asiya and Firaoun. It just wouldn't make sense.

That Firaoun would have the pleasure of having a child through Asiya.

So Asiya 'alayha al salam, brings this baby, she falls in love with this baby, and she

says to Firaoun, let us keep this baby, - he will be the coolness of my eyes and the coolness

of your eyes. And Firaoun obviously wants to put Musa 'alayhi al salam through a test,

because he had already killed all of the babies that were born to Bani Israel that year.

So he wants to put Musa 'alayhi al salam to a test to make sure that he won't be capable

of overthrowing him as he saw in a dream that he would be overthrown by a child that was

born to Bani Israel that year. So he puts him through these tests and Musa 'alayhi al

salam is raised in this palace of Firaoun and Asiya. And Asiya dedicates herself to

Musa 'alayhi al salam as if she is indeed his mother. She raises him, she continues

to love him, and subhanAllah, eventually as we know the story goes, she brings in the

mother of Musa 'alayhi al salam, not knowing that she is the mother of Musa 'alayhi alsalam

to be a wet nurse for Musa 'alayhi al salam. Musa 'alayhi al salam's mother was reunited

with him and on top of that Asiya 'alayha al salam had the pleasure and the honor of

raising this child Musa 'alayhi al salam in her own palace.

As times goes on and Musa 'alayhi al salam comes out and Musa 'alayhi al salam shows

that he is a Prophet and calls to Tawid, and Firaoun is infuriated. Firaoun is in this

battle now with Musa 'alayhi al salam. Asiya immediately believed in the message that was

given to Musa alayhi al salam. She immediately believed in Tawhid and she started to practice

the religion of Musa alayhi al salam on a personal level without Firaoun recognizing

that she was amongst the monotheists and she was amongst those that were following the

message of Musa 'alayhi al salam. Why? Because if Firaoun mutilates children and has women

raped the way that he does for believing in Allah, then what would he do to his wife?

What sense of betrayal would he feel if he saw his own wife accepted that message of

Musa 'alayhi al salam.

As time goes on however, there is an incident that would lead to Asiya coming out and exposing

her Islam. And that was the incident that is known as the incident of the hairdresser

of the daughter of Firaoun. And the hairdresser of the daughter of Firaoun one day she was

doing her hair and she dropped a comb. And when she dropped the comb, she said "bismAllah"

"in the name of Allah." And Firaoun's daughter, obviously from another wife, or a concubine

other than Asiya, she said to the hairdresser, "أبي الله؟" [abee Allah?] - My father?

The hairdresser responded and said no. The Lord of your father and the Lord of me and

the Lord of you, Allah (SWT). So the daughter goes back to Firaoun and says to Firaoun,

and narrates this incident to Firaoun. Firaoun doesn't think twice, he doesn't have an ounce,

or an atom's worth of mercy in his heart. Firaoun orders for a pit to be dug and copper

to burned in that pit so that that woman and all her children could be thrown into that

pit in front of everyone. Firaoun wanted to make an example out of everyone who believed.

And subhanAllah Allah (SWT) made an example out of him for all time. To even where his

corpse has been preserved so that we can see the humiliation that he was put through.

But he wanted to make an example out of this woman. So Firaoun calls the town and Asiya is obviously

witnessing this incident. This woman has all of her children and she is a poor woman.

And Firaoun says that I am going to throw each and every single one of your children into

this pit. And the woman says, 'I have a request from you oh Firaoun." He says, What is that

request? She says, "the request is that whenever you finish burning us is that you gather our

bones in one cloth." SubhanAllah! Look at how much this mother loves her children which

makes the test even greater. And Firaoun says, "لك ذلك" [laki dhaalik]- you have that

request honored. So one by one Firaoun started to throw her children into that boiling oil

and they were parishing right in front of her until it came down to just her and the

baby that was in her arms that she was suckling. And she became hesitant because she didn't

want to throw this baby into the fire. And the baby spoke, and rasool Allah (SAWS) said

that this is one of the babies that Allah (SWT) caused to speak amongst 3 babies. You

can try to figure out who the other 2 babies were. This baby spoke and said to the mother,

"Go ahead and jump. Throw me in." "فإن عذاب الدنيا أهون من عذاب

الآخرة" [Fa 'inna 'adhaab al dunya 'ahwan min 'athaab al akhira.] - Because torture

and punishmed in this world is much lighter than the torture and the punishment in the

hereafter. And so she takes this baby and she jumps with her baby into this pit and

she parishes. And subhanAllah when rasool Allah (SAWS) on the night of Al-Israa and

Al-Miraaj in Sahih Muslim, the Prophet (SAWS) as he was going through the heavens, he smelled

the beautiful scent and he said, "يا جبريل ما هذه الرائحة الطيبة؟"

[Ya Jibreel, ma hadhihi al raai'ha al tayyiba?]- Oh Jibreel, what is this beautiful smell that

I'm smelling? And Jibreel 'alayhi al salam says, 'that is the scent of the hairdresser

of the daughter of Firaoun. That is her scent in Jannah." SubhanAllah! The Prophet (SAWS)

was smelling her cloth. The Prophet (SAWS) was smelling her beautiful scent in Jannah

even as he was travelling on the night of Al-Israa and Al-Miraaj.

It was at that moment when Asiya saw the cruelty of Firaoun and the bravery of that woman,

and by the way, history repeats itself. Whenever a tyrant oppresses believers and other believers

see that, and the tyrant tries to make an example out of those believers, instead he

increases the iman of those who have iman as Allah (SWT) says in the Quran that even

when the believers when they're told, "إِنَّ النَّاسَ قَدْ جَمَعُوا

لَكُمْ" ['Inna An-NāsaQad Jama`ū Lakum] (3:173) - That everyone is gathering against

you. they're going to turture you, and do this to you and that to you, Allah (SWT) says,

- it increases their faith. So Asiya ceased that and Asiya says, 'you know what if Firaoun

is like that and this woman had the guts to stand up to him and that courage, then I'm

also going to go up to him and stand up to him.' So she walks up to Firaoun that night

as Abu Al-'Aliyah rahimahuAllah says, and she says, "يا فرعون كفرت بك ولا

أبالي وآمنت برب موسى ورب هارون" [Ya Firaoun kafarto bik w la 'ubaali,

w 'aamant b rabb Musa w rabb Harun]- Oh Firaoun I have disbelieved in you. I don't care what

you're going to do. And I believe in the Lord of Musa and the Lord of Harun. "رب العالمين"

[Rabb al-'aalameen]- the Lord of all of the worlds. Firaoun said, 'Do you know what I'm going

to do you?!' He was shocked! He said, 'Do you know what I'm going to do you?!' She said,

'I know and I don't care.' SubhanAllah! "لا أبالي كفرت بك ولا أبالي"

[la 'ubaali, kafartu bik w la 'ubaali] - I have disbelieved in you, I have rejected you

and I don't care. This was a woman of perfect iman and she saw a woman of lesser iman stand

up to Firaoun. 'I don't care. Do what you want.' So Firaoun drags this woman, Asiya

bint Muzahim. Asiya bint Muzahim grew up her entire life as a Queen. She has never encountered

any adversity. She has never had any inconvenience and she has never had to lift a finger. Anything

she wanted in life she just tells her maids to do it. And Firaoun drags her to the desert,

ties her down, tortures her, deprives her of water, deprives her of food, deprives her of

her dignity, her honor. Strips her. His own wife. And the daughters of Firaoun from the

concubines and from the other wives are laughing at her. She has no support. No human being

there that loved her, supported her because Musa 'alayhi al salam was not there, her maids are silent

because they don't want to be killed. And while that is going on, she looks up to the

heavens and she says, "رَبِّ ابْنِ لِي عِندَكَ بَيْتًا فِي

الْجَنَّةِ" [Rabbi Abni Lī `Indaka Baytāan Fī Al-Jannati] (66:11))

- Oh Allah build for me with You a palace in Jannah. " رَبِّ ابْنِ لِي عِندَكَ

بَيْتًا فِي الْجَنَّةِ" (66:11). [Rabbi Abni Lī `Indaka Baytāan Fī Al-Jannati]

You know what's so beautiful is that the 'ulama/scholars say here that before she

asked for the palace in Jannah she asked for Allah's company. And that shows us something

very significant. She didn't ask for another husband, she asked for Allah (SWT)'s company.

Her goal was the akhirah, was the hereafter. Just as the child said to the mother, "فإن

عذاب الدنيا أهون من عذاب الآخرة" [Fa 'inna 'adhaab al dunya 'ahwan

min 'athaab al akhira] - that the punishment of this world, this lust, and the punishment

of the hereafter, she was only thinking aakhirah. So instead of Firaoun, 'Oh Allah! I want to

be with you.' "عِندَكَ" [`Indaka]- I want to be with you. Replace the company

of Firaoun with the company of Allah (SWT) and replace this palace that I've sacrificed

for your sake with a palace in Jannah. So Allah opened up the skies and she was able

to see her palace in Jannah. Therefore when the people lashed her over and over again,

the angels shaded her. The angels shaded her the same way they shade the people of al-shaam

as the Prophet (SAWS) said, "تلك ملائكة الله باسطوا أجنحتها على

الشام" [tilk malaa'ikatu Allah baasitoo 'ajnihatiha 'ala al-shaam] - the same way

the angels shade the people of al-shaam. That when they are tortured their iman rises.

There iman rises. So as she was being tortured she looked up, she saw what she saw, and she was

shaded and she laughed. And Firaoun said to the guards, 'look how crazy this woman is.'

And she laughed and she laughed and she laughed until Firaoun got frustrated and he said,

'You know what? This woman is not coming back to her senses.' He said, 'Go to the highest

cliff and tie her under there. And push off a boulder that would smash her body to pieces.'

So they go up to that cliff and they push this boulder to fall on the body of Asiya

but Allah (SWT) did not give Firaoun that pleasure. Abu Al-'Aliyah rahimahuAllah said,

'Allah took her soul when she said, "نَجِّنِي مِن فِرْعَوْنَ" [Najjinī Min Fir`awna]

- Save me from Firaoun and his evil. Allah took her soul before the boulder landed

on her body. So although to the people of this world her body was shattered to pieces,

Allah (SWT) had taken her for Himself. And Allah (SWT) had given her a palace in Jannah

as she requested.

What an amazing woman! And what an amazing example. And what a test of faith and subhanAllah

she passed that test with flying colors.

We ask Allah (SWT) to gather us with her and those that have perfected their faith from

the Saliheen, the Siddiqeen, and the 'Anbiyaa and the Prophet (SAWS) the highest of levels

jannat-ul-firdaous. Allahumma ameen.

jazakomAllahu khayran Wasalamu alaikum warahmatu Allahi wabarakatohu.