Assalamualaikum.

So, insyaAllah today I will be talking about a very special woman. It’s not Aisyah but someone very very special.

There are some women whose resolve you can’t shake. They are strengthened by Allah and submit to nothing except for him. And so even the greatest tyrant cannot break them or make them give up their faith.

Asiya the wife of Firaun was one such woman.

Her strength and her status will forever remain an example for all of mankind. She was a woman who never allowed herself to be defined or limited by her painful circumstances. Instead, she carried in her such a deep faith and knowledge of who she really was that she was willing to die for what she believed in. It was perhaps for this reason that the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w mentioned her as one of the greatest women of all time.

One day, he was sitting with his companions and he drew four lines and then he asked, “Do you know what this is?” And they replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said that, “The best of the women of Paradise are Khadijah, daughter of Khuwailid, Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad, Asiya, daughter of Muzahim the wife of Firaun and Mariam, daughter of Imraan. And this is Sahih Ahmed.

Now as the story begins in Egypt, where she lived with her husband Firaun, the greatest tyrant of all time. After being told by a fortune-teller that he was going to be overtaken by a man from Bani Israel, the children of Israel, Firaun gave orders that every other year, the male babies would have to be executed. The Quran describes this horrific life of Bani Israel when it says what is translated as, “And remember, we delivered you from the people of Pharaoh. They set you hard tasks and punishments, slaughtered your sons and let your women live therein what’s a tremendous trial from your Lord.” And this is surah Baqarah verse 49.

So, when Musa a.s was born, his mother feared for his life. But Allah assured her that he would be safe and told her to place him in a boat on the Nile. The Quran tells us what’s translated as, “And we inspired to mother of Musa, saying, “Suckle him but when you fear for him, then cast him into the river and fear not nor grieve. Verily, We shall bring him back to you and shall make him one of our Messengers.”” And this is chapter 28 Verse 7.

And just as Allah had promised, Musa came safely to the shore where he was found by Asiya. Asiya then convinced her husband to keep the child. Allah tells us, “Then the household of Firaun picked him up that he might become for them an enemy and a cause of grief. Verily, Firaun, her man, and their hosts were sinners and the wife of Pharaoh said, “A comfort for the eye, for me and for you. Kill him not. Perhaps he may be of benefit for us and we may adopt him as a son. And they perceived not the result of that. This is also from Suratul Qasas verses 8-9.

So Musa grew under that protection of Asiya, in the house of Firaun. Musa grew to be a great Prophet who called his people to the worship of one God. But because of the oppression of Firaun, many people did not believe in him. He would threaten people. He had gathered all of his henchmen and Firaun had announced that, “I am your Lord, most great.” And he threatened anyone who tried to not believe in him as the one true lord. What happened was for example when the magicians believed in the message of Musa, Firaun threatened them with a great penalty. He threatened to cut off their limbs. Their hands and their feet from opposite sides and then crucify them on tree trunks. So this was the punishment that he had given to those who believed. Yet, despite this persecution, Asiya believed in Musa’s message and she held firm to her faith. That faith was so strong that she was willing to die for it. When Firaun found out that she believed, he tortured her severely. But her belief in God was so strong that it made her an everlasting symbol.

Allah s.w.t says in the Quran what is translated as, “God sets forth an example for those who believe, the wife of Firaun who said, “My Lord, build for me with You a house in Paradise and save me from Firaun and his doings. And save me from an unjust people.””

Now think about this.

Asiya was a queen. She was the wife of one of the most powerful man to walk the earth. She lived a life of unparalleled luxury and wealth. Yet, Asiya knew that her true home was in Paradise. She had no attachment to this life.

Now, there are a lot of lessons we can learn from Asiya’s life and from this in particular. But one of the really beautiful lessons for me particularly, from her story, is the fact that despite all the persecution that she was going through, Allah s.w.t made it easy on her so much so that when she was being tortured she actually smiled. And the reason why she smiled was because Allah s.w.t answered her dua and allowed her to actually see her home in Jannah.

The reason why I find this particularly moving is because if Allah is with you, even your hardest struggles can become light. If you can see your home with Allah s.w.t in Jannah, no matter what you are going through in this life can become easy. And what better example of that than this woman who’s being tortured by the worst man ever to walk the earth? Yet, she was able to bear it and she even smiled because Allah s.w.t was with her and He made it easy for her. And she had a greater attachment to her home in Jannah than to her home here. And because of that, everything that she dealt with, regardless of how difficult it was, was made easy for her.

The second lesson which I think is very important is that she was married to a very tyrannical man who claimed to be the Lord right? Yet, she was not defined by him. Although he was her husband and although that was her circumstance, she was not defined or limited by those circumstances.

Now, this is an important lesson for us because all of us will have different things in life that are thrown at us.

The question is: What are we going to define our self-worth by? So, we go through society and society tells you that you are supposed to get your self-worth, if you are a woman, by the way you look usually. By how many people think you are attractive, by how thin you are. There’s different places you are supposed to get your self-worth. But that’s one of the places society teaches women to get their self-worth. As men, they are told, a lot of times to get their self-worth by status, by wealth, how powerful you are.

The point here is that our self-worth should only come from one relationship. Only one relationship. And that’s the relationship with our Creator. Our relationship with our Creator should define how we feel about ourselves and who we are.

For Asiya, that’s how it was. It was her relationship with her Creator. It wasn’t her relationship with the tyrannical person that she happened to live with or by her circumstances. In the story of Asiya is an everlasting example of a woman who chose the Hereafter over all of the glitter of this world. It is the story of a woman whose love of Allah and the home with Him was greater. It is the story of a woman whose faith inspired her to take on the greatest tyrant of all time. And to give her life in the process.

Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.