In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
A Summary of the Prophetic biography (Seerah).
Authored by Sheikh Musa bin Rashid al-Azimi.
May Allah preserve him.
The service of the family of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
'Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with them both, used to
spend the night with the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, and his father
during the period they were in the cave.
'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said:
'Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr would spend the night with them,
and he was a sharp, intelligent, and quick-witted youth.
"Sharp" means possessing keen insight and intelligence.
"Quick-witted" means he had a good capacity for understanding and retaining what he heard.
He would leave them at the break of dawn,
and arrive in Makkah among the Quraysh by morning, as if he had spent the night there.
He would not hear of any plot they were devising without committing it to memory,
until he could bring them the news of it when the darkness of night fell.
The shepherding of 'Amir ibn Fuhayrah, may Allah be pleased with him.
'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said:
'Amir ibn Fuhayrah,
the freed slave of Abu Bakr, would graze a herd of milch sheep for them.
He would bring them back to them when the first part of the night had passed,
and they would spend the night with fresh milk,
which was the milk of their herd and their evening drink.
Then 'Amir ibn Fuhayrah would drive the sheep away at the first light of dawn.
"Drive" means he would call out to his sheep.
We did this every night during those three nights.
Ibn Ishaq said:
Whenever 'Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr, may Allah be pleased with them both,
left them in the morning to go to Makkah,
'Amir ibn Fuhayrah would follow his tracks with the sheep
until he had covered them,
meaning he would trample and erase his footprints.
Asma', may Allah be pleased with her, bringing food to them.
Asma', may Allah be pleased with her, said:
I prepared the provisions for the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
in the house of Abu Bakr
when he intended to migrate to Madinah.
The "provisions" (sufrah) refers to the food a traveler takes with him,
usually carried in a circular leather bag.
She said:
We could not find anything to tie the food bag or the water skin with.
So I said to Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him,
"By Allah, I find nothing to tie them with except my waistband (nitaq)."
The "waistband" is what a woman uses to cinch her waist,
to keep her garment raised from the ground.
He said, "Tear it into two pieces and tie them,"
using one for the water skin,
and the other for the food bag.
So I did.
That is why she was called "Dhat al-Nitaqayn" (She of the Two Waistbands).
In another narration in Sahih Muslim,
Asma', may Allah be pleased with her, said:
"I am, by Allah, Dhat al-Nitaqayn.
As for one of them,
I used it to lift the food of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
and the food of Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, away from the animals.
As for the other,
it was the woman's waistband, which she cannot do without."
Imam al-Nawawi said:
The most correct view is that she was named that
because she tore her single waistband into two halves,
making one of them a small waistband
and being content with it,
and using the other for the provisions of the Prophet, peace be upon him,
and Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him,
just as she explicitly stated in this hadith here.
A Summary of the Prophetic biography (Seerah).
If the longing of the worlds for some of them grows long,
the longing for you, O Messenger of Allah, has no bounds.
May Allah send blessings upon you as long as the call to prayer is raised,
and lips move with the remainder of the remembrance.