In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The Mawaddah Association is pleased
to present to you
"Portraits from the Lives of the Female Companions"
by Dr. Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy on him.
Asma' bint Abi Bakr,
may Allah be pleased with them both.
This female Companion of ours encompassed glory from every side:
her father was a Companion,
her grandfather was a Companion,
her sister was a female Companion,
her husband was a Companion,
and her son was a Companion;
that alone suffices her in nobility and honor.
As for her father,
he was al-Siddiq, the intimate companion of the Noble Messenger during his lifetime,
and his successor after his death.
As for her grandfather,
he was Abu Atiq, the father of Abu Bakr.
As for her sister,
she was the Mother of the Believers, Aisha,
the pure and exonerated.
As for her husband,
he was the disciple of the Messenger of Allah,
al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam.
And as for her son,
he was Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr,
may Allah be pleased with him and with them all.
She is, in brief,
Asma' bint Abi Bakr al-Siddiq—and that suffices!
Asma' was among the earliest converts to Islam,
for no one preceded her in this immense virtue
except seventeen people, both men and women.
She was given the title "Dhat al-Nitaqayn" (She of the Two Girdles)
because she prepared food for the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and for her father on the day of their migration to Medina,
and she prepared a waterskin for them.
When she could find nothing with which to tie them,
she tore her girdle into two pieces,
binding the provision bag with one and the waterskin with the other.
Thereupon, the Prophet, peace be upon him, prayed for her
that Allah would replace them with two girdles for her in Paradise,
and so she was titled "Dhat al-Nitaqayn."
Al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam married her
when he was a poor young man,
having no servant to attend to his needs,
nor wealth to provide abundantly for his household,
except for a single horse he owned.
She was the best of righteous wives to him:
serving him, grooming his horse,
tending to it, and grinding date-stones for its fodder,
until Allah bestowed abundance upon him
and he became one of the wealthiest of the Companions.
When the opportunity came for her to migrate to Medina,
fleeing with her faith to Allah and His Messenger,
she was full-term in her pregnancy with her son Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr.
Yet that did not prevent her from enduring the hardships of the long journey,
and no sooner had she reached Quba' than she gave birth to her child.
The Muslims proclaimed the greatness of Allah and rejoiced with "La ilaha illa Allah,"
for he was the first child born to the Emigrants in Medina.
She carried him to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and placed him in his lap.
The Prophet took a little of his saliva and put it into the baby's mouth,
then performed tahnik for him and prayed for him.
Thus, the first thing to enter his stomach was the saliva of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
Asma' bint Abi Bakr combined such qualities of goodness,
noble traits, and sound intellect
as are rarely found except in a precious few men.
She was so generous
that her generosity became proverbial.
Her son Abdullah narrated, saying:
"I have never seen two women
more generous than my maternal aunt Aisha and my mother Asma'.
Yet their ways of giving differed:
as for my aunt, she would gather thing upon thing,
and once enough had accumulated, she would distribute it among the needy;
whereas my mother would not keep anything until the morrow."
Asma' was also deeply wise, conducting herself impeccably in critical situations.
An example of this occurred when al-Siddiq set out on the migration accompanied by the Messenger of Allah;
he took all his wealth with him, amounting to six thousand dirhams,
leaving nothing behind for his family.
When his father, Abu Quhafah, learned of his departure—
and he was still a polytheist at the time—
he came to his house and said to Asma':
"By Allah, I see that he has distressed you with his wealth
after having already distressed you by leaving himself!"
She said to him:
"Not at all, grandfather!
He has left us abundant wealth."
Then she took some pebbles
and placed them in the niche where they used to keep their money,
covering them with a cloth.
Then she took her grandfather by the hand—
and he was blind—
and said:
"Grandfather,
feel how much wealth he has left for us."
He placed his hand on it and said:
"There is no harm then;
if he has left you all of this, he has done well."
By doing so, she intended to reassure the old man's heart
and prevent him from offering her any of his own money,
for she detested being beholden to a polytheist,
even if he was her grandfather.
And if history were to forget all the stances of Asma' bint Abi Bakr,
it would never forget the soundness of her judgment, her resolute determination,
and the strength of her faith
when she met her son Abdullah for the very last time.
For her son, Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr,
had been pledged allegiance as caliph after the death of Yazid ibn Mu'awiyah,
and the Hijaz, Egypt, Iraq,
Khurasan, and most of the Levant had submitted to his rule.
But the Umayyads soon dispatched a massive army to wage war against him,
led by al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi.
Fierce battles raged between the two sides,
in which Ibn al-Zubayr displayed forms of heroism befitting a valiant warrior of his stature.
However, his supporters began to desert him little by little,
so he retreated to the Sacred House of Allah
and took refuge, along with those remaining with him, within the sanctuary of the Venerated Ka'bah.
A few hours before his death,
he entered upon his mother, Asma',
who was then an elderly woman advanced in years and blind.
He said: "Peace be upon you, mother, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings."
She replied: "And upon you be peace, O Abdullah.
What brings you at this hour,
while the stones launched by al-Hajjaj's catapults at your troops in the Sanctuary
are violently shaking the houses of Mecca?"
He said: "I have come to consult you."
She asked: "To consult me about what?"
He said: "The people have deserted me
and turned away, either out of dread of al-Hajjaj
or coveting what he has to offer.
Even my own children and family have dispersed from me,
and none remain with me except a small band of my men.
Yet no matter how great their endurance may be,
they cannot hold out for more than an hour or two.
Meanwhile, the emissaries of the Umayyads are negotiating with me,
offering to give me whatever worldly wealth I desire
if only I lay down my arms
and pledge allegiance to Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan.
What do you think?"
Her voice rose as she said:
"The matter is yours, O Abdullah,
and you know yourself best.
If you believe that you are upon the truth
and calling to the truth,
then endure and fight valiantly, just as your companions who were killed beneath your banner endured!
But if you only sought worldly gain,
then what a wretched servant of Allah you are—
you have destroyed yourself and destroyed your men!"
He said:
"Yet I am surely to be killed this day."
She said:
"That is better for you than surrendering yourself to al-Hajjaj voluntarily,
only for the Umayyad youths to toy with your head!"
He said:
"I do not fear death;
I only fear being mutilated."
She replied:
"There is nothing after death for a person to fear,
for a slaughtered sheep feels no pain from being skinned!"
His face beamed with joy, and he said:
"May you be blessed as a mother,
and may your noble virtues be blessed!
For I did not come to you at this hour
except to hear from you precisely what I have heard.
Allah knows that I have neither faltered nor weakened,
and He is my witness
that I did not undertake what I did out of love for this worldly life and its adornments,
but out of anger for the sake of Allah that His sacred boundaries should be violated.
Here I am, proceeding toward what you desire!
So if I am killed,
do not grieve over me,
and surrender your affair to Allah."
She said:
"I would only grieve over you if you were killed upon falsehood."
He said:
"Rest assured that your son never deliberately committed a vile deed,
nor ever engaged in an immorality,
nor ever deviated from the judgment of Allah,
nor ever betrayed a covenant of safety,
nor ever intentionally wronged a Muslim or a non-Muslim under covenant,
nor was anything dearer to him than the pleasure of Allah, Glorified and Exalted.
I do not say this to praise myself,
for Allah knows me better than I know myself,
but I only said it to bring comfort to your heart."
She said:
"Praise be to Allah Who has made you as He loves and as I love!
Come close to me, my son,
so that I may smell your scent and touch your body,
for this may well be my final moment with you."
Abdullah bent over her hands and feet, kissing them profusely,
while she passed her face over his head, face, and neck,
smelling him and kissing him.
She stretched out her hands, feeling his body,
but soon pulled them back, saying:
"What is this you are wearing, O Abdullah?"
He said,
"My coat of mail."
She replied,
"O my son, this is not the attire of one seeking martyrdom!"
He explained,
"I only put it on to comfort you and put your heart at ease."
She said,
"Take it off!
For that will ignite your zeal even more,
make your charge more formidable,
and allow you greater agility of movement.
Instead, put on doubled lower garments,
so that if you fall, your private parts will not be exposed."
'Abdullah Ibn al-Zubayr took off his coat of mail,
tightened his lower garments firmly,
and headed toward the Sacred Sanctuary to resume fighting, calling out:
"Do not cease praying for me, mother!"
So she raised her hands to the heavens and prayed:
"O Allah, have mercy on his lengthy standing in prayer and his intense weeping in the darkness of the night,
while the people were fast asleep.
O Allah, have mercy on his hunger and his thirst in the scorching midday heat of Medina and Mecca while fasting.
O Allah, have mercy on his devotion and filial piety toward his father and mother.
O Allah, I have truly surrendered him to Your command,
and I am pleased with whatever You have decreed for him,
so grant me for him the reward of the patient."
The sun of that day had not yet set
before 'Abdullah Ibn al-Zubayr had departed to the presence of his Lord.
Barely a dozen or so days had passed after his death
before his mother, Asma' bint Abi Bakr, also followed him.
She had reached a hundred years of age,
yet not a single incisor or molar of hers had fallen out,
nor had she lost any of her mental faculties.
Asma' lived for a hundred years,
without losing a single front tooth or molar,
and without suffering any decline in her intellect.
The historians record:
Not a single tooth had fallen from her mouth.