Asiya bint Muzahim(Arabic:آسِيَة بِنْت مُزَاحِم,romanized:Āsiya bint Muzāḥim) was, according to theQur'anand Islamic tradition, thewifeof thePharaoh of the Exodusand adoptive mother ofMoses.[2][3]
آسِيَة زوجة فرعون Asiya wife of Pharaoh | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Wife of thePharaoh |
| Spouse | Pharaoh |
| Children | Mūsā(Adopted) |
| Father | Muzāḥim |
Asiya is first mentioned inSurah Al-Qasasin the Quran,[3]identified asBithiahin theJewish tradition.[4]She is revered by Muslims as one of the four greatest women of all time, and according to a prophetic narration inSahih al-Bukhari,the second greatest ever afterMary.[5][6]
She is believed to have secretly acceptedmonotheismafter witnessing the miracle of Moses. The tradition holds that Asiya worshippedAllahin secret and hid her religion from her husband. However, later her faith was revealed and the Pharaoh ordered her execution.[7]
Al-Tha'labibelieved that the continent ofAsiawas named after her.[8]
Narrative
editAnd Allah sets forth an example for the believers: the wife of Pharaoh, who prayed, “My Lord! Build me a house in Paradise near You, deliver me from Pharaoh and his ˹evil˺ doing, and save me from the wrongdoing people.”
InSahih Bukhari,the Prophet said "Many men were completed [in faith], and only Asiya, the wife of Pharaoh, andMaryam bint Imranwere completed among the women ".[7][10]
Asiya'smarriageto the Pharaoh was arranged.[citation needed]Unlike her husband, she was humble and accepted the faith that Moses andAaronwere preaching. Although she had exceeding wealth, she was not arrogant like the Pharaoh. She realized that faith was far more important and was thus exalted by God amongst the women of her generation, and of all time. According to a few hadiths, Muhammad will marry Asiya in Paradise.[note 1][11][12][13][14]
Maurice Bucaillecommented that the wife of Pharaoh who contended with Moses is the one inSurah At-Tahrim,while another early wife of another Pharaoh is the one who adopted him inSurah Al-Qasas.[15]However, as there are no mentions of there being different wives or Pharaohs, the majority of Muslims and scholars believe Asiya and Pharaoh to be a singular person.
Asiya and her maids found a crate floating in theNile river.Asiya ordered that the crate be drawn ashore. The maids thought there was a treasure inside, but instead found a baby boy, Moses. Unable to conceive herself, Asiya instantly felt a motherly love towards him. She told the Pharaoh about the baby. The incident has been described in theQur'an:
And Pharaoh's wife said: A refreshment of the eye to me and to thee – slay him not; maybe he will be useful to us, or we may take him for a son. And they perceived not.
According to Islamic belief, Asiya searched for a wet nurse for the baby Moses, but he rejected every woman that attempted tobreastfeedhim. Moses' sister, who had been ordered by their mother to watch him from afar, approached Asiya and suggested her mother, although concealing their relationship and guising her as any otherwet nurse.Miraculously, Moses began to breastfeed from his biological mother and the two were reconnected. Asiya offered her to live in their household and paid her for her services, unaware of their true relationship.[17][18]
When she witnessed the death of a believing woman under her husband's torture, Asiya declared her faith before the Pharaoh. He tried to turn her away from Islam, but Asiya refused torejectGod and the teaching of Moses. On Pharaoh's orders, she was tortured to death.[19]
Veneration
editAsiya is one of the four most respected women of all time, and is highly honored by Muslims.[20]It is said that Asiya was a sincere believer and that she fully submitted herself toAllah,despite being the wife of Pharaoh. According to Hadith, she will be among the first women to enter Paradise because she accepted Moses's monotheism over Pharaoh's beliefs. TheQur'anmentions Asiya as an example to all Muslims.[18][21][22]Hersupplicationis mentioned in the Qur'an:
And Allah citeth an example for those who believe: the wife of Pharaoh when she said: "My Lord! Build for me a home with thee in the Garden, and deliver me from Pharaoh and his work, and deliver me from evil-doing folk."
Abu Musa Ashaarinarrated that once theIslamic prophet,Muhammadstated:
There are many persons amongst men who are quite perfect but there are none perfect amongst women exceptMary,daughter ofImran,Asiya wife of Pharaoh, and the excellence ofAishaas compared to women is that ofTharidover all other foods.
— Sahih MuslimHadith 2431[5]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Avner Gilʻadi (1999).Infants, Parents and Wet Nurses: Medieval Islamic Views on Breastfeeding and Their Social Implications.Brill Publishers.ISBN9789004112230.
- ^Bucaille, Maurice (1994). Written at Tokyo.Moses and Pharaoh: In the Bible, Qur'an and History.Tokyo, Japan: NTT Mediascope, Inc. p. 191.ISBN9789675062056.
For what we know of the position in history of the life of Moses has shown us that the king who reigned at the time of his birth was not the sovereign of Egypt at the time when Moses and Pharaoh were confronting each other before the Exodus. The same is true for the so-called wife of Pharaoh.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^abIbn Ashur, Muhammad.Tafsir al-Tahrir wa'l-Tanwir | The Book of Liberation and Enlightenmentتفسير التحرير والتنوير(in Arabic).ISBN9973767233.
And Asiyah the Pharaoh's wife is the wife of Pharaoh to whom Moses was sent, and not the wife of Pharaoh who adopted Moses when she picked him up from the river, because that happened during the time of Pharaoh Ramesses II, and there were eighty years between the two times. They had no knowledge of religion before Moses was sent to them.
- ^"Daughter of Pharaoh: Midrash and Aggadah".Jewish Women's Archive.Retrieved2022-03-19.
The midrash calls the daughter of Pharaoh "Bithiah," identifying her with the woman mentioned in I Chron 4:18: "And his Judahite wife bore Jered father of Gedor, Heber father of Soco, and Jekuthiel father of Zanoah.
- ^abMuhmmad al-Bukhari. Sahih Al-Bukhari Translated into English Prose by Muhammad Muhsin Khan.Hadith 7.329
- ^Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an. Leidan: Brill, 2001. Print.
- ^ab"Who is Asiya Pharoah's wife".islamqa.com.
Hadith of prophet about Asiya
- ^Abu ishaq al-Tha'labi.ʿArāʾis al-madjālis fī ḳiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ Stories of the prophets.
- ^Quran66:11:And Allah sets forth an example for the believers: the wife of Pharaoh, who prayed, “My Lord! Build me a house in Paradise near You, deliver me from Pharaoh and his ˹evil˺ doing, and save me from the wrongdoing people.”
- ^Bukhari, Muhammad (10 May 2020).Sahih Al-Bukhari[صحيح البخاري] (in Arabic). Mohee Uddin.ISBN9798640953879.
Hadith number 3411 قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «كَمُلَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ كَثِيرٌ وَلَمْ يَكْمُلْ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ إِلَّا آسِيَةُ امْرَأَةُ فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَرْيَمُ بِنْتُ عِمْرَانَ
- ^Al-Tabarani,Al Mu’jamul Kabir, Hadith: 5485 and 8006.
- ^Ibn Asakirin Al Tarikh
- ^Ibn Kathir, Qisas al-Anbiya [Cairo: Dar al-Kutub, GB 1968/1388], p. 381- as cited in Aliah Schleifer's Mary The Blessed Virgin of Islam [Fons Vitae; ISBN: 1887752021; July 1, 1998], p. 64;
- ^Lisanul Mizan, vol. 5 pg. 284, Majma’uz Zawaid, vol. 9 pg. 218
- ^Bucaille, Maurice; Pannell, Alastair D. (December 1, 1983).The bible the Quran and science.Paris: Fixot / Seghers. p. 191.ISBN2221012119.
The question is also whether the latter—the wife mentioned in sura 66—is the same one who had saved Moses, mentioned in sura 28?For what we know of the position in history of the life of Moses has shown us that the king who reigned at the time of his birth was not the sovereign of Egypt at the time when Moses and Pharaoh were confronting each other before the Exodus. The same is true for the so-called wife of Pharaoh
- ^Quran28:9:(Here is) joy of the eye, for me and for thee: slay him not. It may be that he will be of use to us, or we may adopt him as a son. "And they perceived not (what they were doing)
- ^Ṭabarī; Brinner, William M. (1991).The children of Israel.SUNY Press.ISBN0-7914-0688-1.
- ^abWheeler, Brannon M. (2002).Prophets in the Quran: an introduction to the Quran and Muslim exegesis.Continuum International Publishing Group.ISBN0-8264-4957-3.
- ^Renard Although the Quran says that she prayed to God to save her from Pharaoh and some Muslim traditions even say that she was migrated when Moses was delivering the Israelites., John (1998).Windows on the house of Islam: Muslim sources on spirituality and religious life.University of California Press: Continuum International Publishing Group.ISBN0-520-21086-7.
- ^"4 Women of Paradise".www.muslim.sg.Retrieved2021-08-11.
- ^Renard, John (1998).Windows on the house of Islam: Muslim sources on spirituality and religious life.University of California Press.ISBN0-520-21086-7.
- ^Turfe, Tallal Alie (1996).Patience in Islam: sabr.TTQ, INC.ISBN1-879402-32-7.
- ^Quran66:11:And Allah citeth an example for those who believe: the wife of Pharaoh when she said: "My Lord! Build for me a home with thee in the Garden, and deliver me from Pharaoh and his work, and deliver me from evil-doing folk."
- ^The narration states that the Prophet Muhammad mentioned:"Allaah married me to Maryam, mother of Jesus, and Kulthum [Miriam], sister of Moses, and Asiyah, the wife of Pharaoh, in Jannah.Al-Hakim al-Nishapuriclassified the hadith to be authentic, whileIbn Kathiras weak.