The Holy Prophet (SA) said, “The best of the women of the world are four: Maryam bint Imran, Asiya bint Muzahim, Khadija bint Khuwaylid, and Fatima bint Muhammad.”
From them, the best is Lady Fatima al-Zahra (AS). It is important to learn about them because they are our role models.
Asiyah bint Mazahim
”Allah cites an example of the faithful: the wife of Pharaoh, when she said, ‘My Lord! Build me a home near You in paradise and deliver me from Pharaoh and his conduct, and deliver me from the wrongdoing lot (66:11).’” The Pharaoh of Egypt had come to know from fortune-tellers that his kingdom would be destroyed by a man named Musa from the Israelites. (Since the time of Prophet Yusuf the Children of Israel had settled in Egypt). So, the Pharaoh ordered all the male children of the Israelites to be killed. However, Allah willed Prophet Musa to be born. His mother was uneasy, but Allah revealed to her to make a wooden box for the child and cast it in the Nile River. Prophet Musa’s mother obeyed the command of her Lord. She became sad for her child and wanted to cry, but Allah gave her patience.
Asiyah, the wife of the Pharaoh, belonged to the Israelites and was the best woman of her time. One day she was sitting when all of a sudden she saw a basket floating on the river, coming towards her. She asked her maidservants, “Can you see what I see?” They said, “By Allah! We can see something floating on the water.” When the wooden basket reached her, she stood up from her place and asked her maids to pull it out. They pulled the basket out of the water and opened it. She found a beautiful baby boy. Suddenly, she became anxious as she held the boy. Lady Asiyah decided to adopt the child as her own. She went to her husband and showed him the charming baby boy from the river. “I want to adopt him, so do not kill him,” she said. The Pharaoh asked her from where she got him. She said that she did not know whose child it was. “He was floating in a casket, and I pulled him out from the river.” The Pharaoh then accepted Prophet Musa to grow up in his own palace as his son.
Time passed and Prophet Musa (AS) proclaimed his message to the people of Egypt. The Pharaoh would kill anyone who believed in Allah and the message of Musa. The royal hairdresser of the daughters of the Pharaoh was good and believed in Allah. One day a comb slipped from her hand, so she said “Bismillah.” The daughter of the Pharaoh asked whether she has uttered this word for his father. She answered, “No, it was for Allah, the Great.” The daughter of the Pharaoh informed her father. Pharaoh ordered a large stove of copper and lighted it with fire. He put her children one by one into the stove. The last child was a baby, but by the permission of Allah he said, “O, mother! Be patient, Allah is with you.” The pious hairdresser was burned after her children.
Lady Asiyah had always prayed secretly to Allah, but she could take bear her husband’s cruelty no longer when she witnessed the fate of the pious hairdresser. She defiantly said to him, “What a shameful task you did against the law of Allah!” The Pharaoh said, “You have became insane like your servant.” Lady Asiyah replied, “I am not insane. I believe in Allah who is my Lord, your Lord and the Lord of the realms.” Furious, Pharaoh ordered his executioner to drive pegs into her while she lay on the hot sand. He tortured her to make her recant, but she prayed, “My Lord, build me a home near You in paradise, and deliver me from the Pharaoh and his evil deeds, and deliver me from these wrongdoers.” Her prayers were accepted immediately and while she was still being tormented, Allah showed her the gardens of paradise. She smiled and was happy to see her house in the Heaven. Till the end of time, Allah has made her a role model for all those who believe, men and women. No matter what our situation is, no one can make us renounce our belief in Allah.
