Asiya
Āsīya (Arabic: آسیة) was the wife of Pharaoh and the daughter of Muzahim b. 'Ubayd who played a role in taking the Prophet Moses (a) out of the Nile River. She is admired in the Qur'an and hadith. In some Shia hadiths, she is referred to as Khadija bt. Khuwaylid's companion in the Heaven.
Asiya believed in Moses's (a) prophethood. She concealed her faith from the Pharaoh. Some scholars have appealed to her secret faith as evidence for the permissibility of dissimulation.
Lineage and Family
Asiya was the daughter of Muzahim b. 'Ubayd and the wife of Pharaoh.[1] According to some sources, she was an Israelite.[2] Some sources considered her as Moses's (a) paternal aunt.[3]
In Qur'an
Asiya's name does not appear in the Qur'an, but exegetes have taken "the wife of Pharaoh," which has occurred twice in the Qur'an to refer to Asiya. According to verse 9 of Qur'an 28, when the baby Moses (a) was taken out of the river, Asiya was there and encouraged the Pharaoh to keep him alive.[4] Moreover, Asiya is admired in verse 11 of Qur'an 66 (as believing in God despite her companionship with the Pharaoh), in contrast to the wives of Noah (a) and Lot (a), who were infidels despite their companionship with prophets.[5] According to this latter verse, Asiya asked God to give her a house in Heaven and save her from the Pharaoh and the cruel people.[6]
Asiya's Faith
According to some Qur'anic verses, although Asiya lived in the Pharaoh's palace, she believed in God. When she saw the miracle of Moses's (a) staff or rod (turning into a snake), she believed in him. She concealed her faith from the Pharaoh, and when he learned about her faith, he asked her to give up worshiping God, but she refused to do so. The Pharaoh tortured her.[7] He ordered that her arms and legs be tied to nails, her body be put under the sun, and a giant stone be put on her head. She was killed after these tortures.[8]
The Shi'as have appealed to Asiya's secret faith and worship to demonstrate the permissibility of taqiyya (precautionary dissimulation).[citation needed]
In some other hadiths, she, 'Ali b. Abi Talib, and Mu'min Al Yasin are referred to as people who were never infidels before their beliefs.[9]
In Hadiths
Some hadiths have referred to Asiya as one of the four superior women of the world, along with Maryam bt. 'Imran, Khadija, and Fatima al-Zahra (a).[10] According to 'Allama Tabataba'i, the fact that they are superior to all women in the world does not contradict the belief that one of them is even more superior to the others.[11] According to some other hadiths, Fatima al-Zahra (a) was superior to the other three.[12] He also appealed to hadiths according to which people in the period of Fatima al-Zahra (a) were more civilized and mature than people of the other periods to show the superiority of Fatima (a).[13] Some Sunni scholars, such as al-Alusi, have appealed to a hadith from Prophet Muhammad (s) to show the superiority of Fatima (a) over other women. According to this hadith, "Fatima is part of my body." Al-Alusi argues that since Fatima (a) is part of the Prophet's (s) being, and since the Prophet (s) is the most superior creature, then Fatima (a) is also the most superior.[14]
According to a hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (a), which is cited in some Shia sources of hadiths, when Fatima (a) was born, the Quraysh women left Khadija (a) alone. So, God sent women from Heaven to Khadija (a), including Maryam and Asiya. In some hadiths, Asiya is referred to as a companion of Khadija (a) in Heaven.[15] According to another hadith, when Khadija (a) died, Fatima (a) constantly longed for her mother. Thus, the Prophet (s) showed her the place of Khadija (a) in the Heaven besides Maryam and Asiya.[16]
Notes
- ↑ Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh, vol. 1, p. 169.
- ↑ Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya, vol. 1, p. 239.
- ↑ Kāshānī, Khulāṣat al-Manhaj, vol. 4, p. 152.
- ↑ Qummī, Tafsīr Qummī, vol. 2, p. 135.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 19, p. 344.
- ↑ Qurʾān, 66:11.
- ↑ Ibn al-Jawzī, al-Muntaẓam, vol. 1, p. 346.
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 10, p. 739.
- ↑ Ḥaskānī, Shawāhid al-tanzīl, vol. 2, p. 304; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 89, p. 296.
- ↑ Suyūṭī, al-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 3, p. 23.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 3, p. 215.
- ↑ Suyūṭī, al-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 3, p. 23;
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 3, p. 215.
- ↑ Ālūsī, Rūḥ al-maʿānī, vol. 2, p. 149-150.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 593-594; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 16, p.80-81.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Amālī, p. 175.
References
- The Qurʾān.
- Ālūsī, Sayyid Maḥmūd al-. Rūḥ al-maʿānī fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm. Edited by ʿAlī ʿAbd al-Bārī ʿAṭīyya. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya, 1415 AH.
- Ḥaskānī, ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh al-.Shawāhid al-tanzīl li-qawāʿid al-tanzīl. Edited by Muḥammad Bāqir Maḥmūdī. Tehran: Majmaʿ Iḥyāʾ al-Thiqāfat al-Islāmī, 1411 AH.
- Ibn al-Athīr, ʿAlī b. Abī l-Karam. Al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh. Beirut: Dār al-Ṣādir, 1385 AH.
- Ibn Kathīr al-Dimashqī, Ismāʿīl b. ʿUmar. Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1407AH-1986.
- Kāshānī, Mullā Fatḥ Allāh al-. Khulāṣat al-Manhaj. Edited by Abū l-Ḥasan Shaʿrānī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Islāmīyyah, 1373 AH.
- Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār al-jāmiʿa li-durar akhbār al-aʾimmat al-aṭhār. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1403 AH.
- Qummī, ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-. Tafsīr al-Qummī. Edited by Ṭayyib Mūsawī Jazāʾrī. Qom: Dār al-Kitāb, 1404 AH.
- Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Amālī. Tehran: Kitābchī, 1376 Sh.
- Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr al-. Al-Durr al-manthūr fī tafsīr al-maʾthūr. Qom: Maktabaṭ Āyat Allāh al-Marʿashī, 1404 AH.
- Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1374 Sh.
- Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Third edition. Tehran: Naṣir Khusraw, 1372 Sh.
- Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan al-. Al-Amālī. Qom: Dār al-Thiqāfa, 1414 AH.
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