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Stories Of The Companions ::
قصص الصحابة رضوان الله عليهم
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'Abbaad Ibn Bishr |
‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbaas |
‘Abdullah Ibn 'Amr Ibn Al-'Aas |
'Abdullah ibn Hudhafah as-Sahmi |
'Abdullah ibn Jahsh |
'Abdullah Ibn Mas'uud |
'Abdullah Ibn Rawaahah |
'Abdullah Ibn Sailam |
'Abdallah Ibn 'Umar |
'Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum |
'Abdullah Ibn Az-Zubair |
'Abd Ar- Rahman Ibn Abi Bakr |
'Abd Ar-Rahman Ibn 'Awf |
Abu Ad-Dardaa |
Abu Ayuub Al-Ansaariy |
Abu Dhar Al-Ghifaariy |
Abu Jabir Abdallah bin
Amr bin Hiram |
Abu Hurairah |
Abu-l Aas ibn ar-Rabiah |
Abu Muusaa Al-Ash'ariy |
Abu Sufyaan Ibn Al-Haarith |
Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah |
'Adiyy ibn Hatim |
'Aishah bint Abi Bakr |
Al-'Abbaas Ibn 'Abd Al-Muttalib |
Al-Baraa' Ibn Maalik |
Al-Miqdaad Ibn 'Amr |
'Ammaar Ibn Yaasir |
'Amr Ibn Al -'Aas |
'Amr Ibn Al-Jamuuh |
An-Nuayman ibn Amr |
An-Numan ibn Muqarrin |
Asmaa bint Abu Bakr |
At-Tufail Ibn 'Amr Ad-Dawsiy |
Az-Zubair Ibn Al-'Awaam |
Barakah |
Bilaal Ibn Rabaah |
Fatimah bint Muhammad |
Fayruz ad-Daylami |
Hakim ibn Hazm |
Hamzah Ibn 'Abd Al-Muttalib |
Hudhaifah Ibn Al-Yamaan |
Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl |
Ja'far Ibn Abi Taalib |
Julaybib |
Habib Ibn Zaid |
Khabbab ibn al-Arat |
Khaalid Ibn Al-Waliid |
Khaalid Ibn Sa'iid |
Khubaib Ibn 'Adiy |
Mi'aadh Ibn Jabal |
Muhammad ibn Maslamah |
Mus'ab Ibn 'Umair |
Nuaym ibn Masud |
Rabiah ibn Kab |
Ramlah bint Abi Sufyan |
Rumaysa bint Milhan |
Qais Ibn Sad Ibn Ubaadah |
Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqaas |
Sa'd Ibn Mitaadh |
Sa'd Ibn 'Ubaadah |
Sa'iid Ibn Aamir |
Sa'iid ibn Zayd |
Saalim Mawlaa Abi Hudhaifah |
Salamah Ibn Al-Akwa' |
Salmaan Al-Faarisiy |
Suhayb ar-Rumi |
Suhayb Ibn Sinaan |
Suhayl Ibn'Amr |
Talhah Ibn - Ubaid Allah |
Thaabit Ibn Qais |
Thumamah ibn Uthal |
'Ubaadah Ibn As-Saamit |
Ubaiy Ibn Ka'b |
Umair Ibn Sa'd |
Umair Ibn Wahb |
'Umraan Ibn Husain |
Umm Salamah |
Uqbah ibn Aamir |
Usaamah Ibn Zaid |
Usaid Ibn Hudair |
'Utbah Ibn Ghazwaan |
'Uthmaan Ibn Madh'uun |
Zayd al-Khayr |
Zayd Ibn Al-Khattaab |
Zayd Ibn Haarithah |
Zayd Ibn Thaabit
'Aishah bint Abi Bakr
The life of Aishah is proof that a woman can
be far more learned than men and that she can be the teacher of scholars and
experts. Her life is also proof that a woman can exert influence over men
and women and provide them with inspiration and leadership. Her life is also
proof that the same woman can be totally feminine and be a source of
pleasure, joy and comfort to her husband.
She did not graduate from any university there were no
universities as such in her day. But still her utterances are studied in
faculties of literature, her legal pronouncements are studied in colleges of
law and her life and works are studied and researched by students and
teachers of Muslim history as they have been for over a thousand years.
The bulk of her vast treasure of knowledge was obtained
while she was still quite young. In her early childhood she was brought up
by her father who was greatly liked and respected for he was a man of wide
knowledge, gentle manners and an agreeable presence. Moreover he was the
closest friend of the noble Prophet who was a frequent visitor to their home
since the very early days of his mission.
In her youth, already known for her striking beauty and
her formidable memory, she came under the loving care and attention of the
Prophet himself. As his wife and close companion she acquired from him
knowledge and insight such as no woman has ever acquired.
Aishah became the Prophet's wife in Makkah when she was
most likely in the tenth year of her life but her wedding did not take place
until the second year after the Hijrah when she was about fourteen or
fifteen years old. Before and after her wedding she maintained a natural
jollity and innocence and did not seem at all overawed by the thought of
being wedded to him who was the Messenger of God whom all his companions,
including her own mother and father, treated with such love and reverence as
they gave to no one else.
About her wedding, she related that shortly before she was
to leave her parent's house, she slipped out into the courtyard to play with
a passing friend:
"I was playing on a see-saw and my long streaming hair was
dishevelled," she said. "They came and took me from my play and made me
ready."
They dressed her in a wedding-dress made from fine
red-striped cloth from Bahrain and then her mother took her to the
newly-built house where some women of the Ansar were waiting outside the
door. They greeted her with the words "For good and for happiness may all be
well!" Then, in the presence of the smiling Prophet, a bowl of milk was
brought. The Prophet drank from it himself and offered it to Aishah. She
shyly declined it but when he insisted she did so and then offered the bowl
to her sister Asma who was sitting beside her. Others also drank of it and
that was as much as there was of the simple and solemn occasion of their
wedding. There was no wedding feast.
Marriage to the Prophet did not change her playful ways.
Her young friends came regularly to visit her in her own apartment.
"I would be playing with my dolls," she said, "with the
girls who were my friends, and the Prophet would come in and they would slip
out of the house and he would go out after them and bring them back, for he
was pleased for my sake to have them there." Sometimes he would say "Stay
where you are" before they had time to leave, and would also join in their
games. Aishah said: "One day, the Prophet came in when I was playing with
the dolls and he said: 'O Aishah, whatever game is this?' 'It is Solomon's
horses,' I said and he laughed." Sometimes as he came in he would screen
himself with his cloak so as not to disturb Aishah and her friends.
Aishah's early life in Madinah also had its more serious
and anxious times. Once her father and two companions who were staying with
him fell ill with a dangerous fever which was common in Madinah at certain
seasons. One morning Aishah went to visit him and was dismayed to find the
three men lying completely weak and exhausted. She asked her father how he
was and he answered her in verse but she did not understand what he was
saying. The two others also answered her with lines of poetry which seemed
to her to be nothing but unintelligible babbling. She was deeply troubled
and went home to the Prophet saying:
"They are raving, out of their minds, through the heat of
the fever." The Prophet asked what they had said and was somewhat reassured
when she repeated almost word for word the lines they had uttered and which
made sense although she did not fully understand them then. This was a
demonstration of the great retentive power of her memory which as the years
went by were to preserve so many of the priceless sayings of the Prophet.
Of the Prophet's wives in Madinah, it was clear that it
was Aishah that he loved most. From time to time, one or the other of his
companions would ask:
"O Messenger of God, whom do you love most in the world?"
He did not always give the same answer to this question for he felt great
love for many for his daughters and their children, for Abu Bakr, for Ali,
for Zayd and his son Usamah. But of his wives the only one he named in this
connection was Aishah. She too loved him greatly in return and often would
seek reassurance from him that he loved her. Once she asked him: "How is
your love for me?"
"Like the rope's knot," he replied meaning that it was
strong and secure. And time after time thereafter, she would ask him: "How
is the knot?" and he would reply: "Ala haaliha in the same condition."
As she loved the Prophet so was her love a jealous love
and she could not bear the thought that the Prophet's attentions should be
given to others more than seemed enough to her. She asked him:
"O Messenger of God, tell me of yourself. If you were
between the two slopes of a valley, one of which had not been grazed whereas
the other had been grazed, on which would you pasture your flocks?"
"On that which had not been grazed," replied the Prophet.
"Even so," she said, "and I am not as any other of your wives. "Everyone of
them had a husband before you, except myself." The Prophet smiled and said
nothing. Of her jealousy, Aishah would say in later years:
"I was not, jealous of any other wife of the Prophet as I
was jealous of Khadijah, because of his constant mentioning of her and
because God had commanded him to give her good tidings of a mansion in
Paradise of precious stones. And whenever he sacrificed a sheep he would
send a fair portion of it to those who had been her intimate friends. Many a
time I said to him: "It is as if there had never been any other woman in the
world except Khadijah."
Once, when Aishah complained and asked why he spoke so
highly of "an old Quraysh woman", the Prophet was hurt and said: "She was
the wife who believed in me when others rejected me. When people gave me the
lie, she affirmed my truthfulness. When I stood forsaken, she spent her
wealth to lighten the burden of my sorrow.."
Despite her feelings of jealousy which nonetheless were
not of a destructive kind, Aishah was really a generous soul and a patient
one. She bore with the rest of the Prophet's household poverty and hunger
which often lasted for long periods. For days on end no fire would be lit in
the sparsely furnished house of the Prophet for cooking or baking bread and
they would live merely on dates and water. Poverty did not cause her
distress or humiliation; self-sufficiency when it did come did not corrupt
her style of life.
Once the Prophet stayed away from his wives for a month
because they had distressed him by asking of him that which he did not have.
This was after the Khaybar expedition when an increase of riches whetted the
appetite for presents. Returning from his self-imposed retreat, he went
first to Aishah's apartment. She was delighted to see him but he said he had
received Revelation which required him to put two options before her. He
then recited the verses:
"O Prophet! Say to your wives: If you desire the life of
this world and its adornments, then come and I will bestow its goods upon
you, and I will release you with a fair release. But if you desire God and
His Messenger and the abode of the Hereafter, then verily God has laid in
store for you an immense reward for such as you who do good."
Aishah's reply was:
"Indeed I desire God and His Messenger and the abode of
the Hereafter," and her response was followed by all the others.
She stuck to her choice both during the lifetime of the
Prophet and afterwards. Later when the Muslims were favored with enormous
riches, she was given a gift of one hundred thousand dirhams. She was
fasting when she received the money and she distributed the entire amount to
the poor and the needy even though she had no provisions in her house.
Shortly after, a maidservant said to her: "Could you buy meat for a dirham
with which to break your fast?"
"If I had remembered, I would have done so," she said. The
Prophet's affection for Aishah remained to the last. During his final
illness, it was to Aishah's apartment that he went at the suggestion of his
wives. For much of the time he lay there on a couch with his head resting on
her breast or on her lap. She it was who took a toothstick from her brother,
chewed upon it to soften it and gave it to the Prophet. Despite his
weakness, he rubbed his teeth with it vigorously. Not long afterwards, he
lost consciousness and Aishah thought it was the onset of death, but after
an hour he opened his eyes.
Aishah it is who has preserved for us these dying moments
of the most honoured of God's creation, His beloved Messenger may He shower
His choicest blessings on him.
When he opened his eyes again, Aishah remembered Iris
having said to her: "No Prophet is taken by death until he has been shown
his place in Paradise and then offered the choice, to live or die."
"He will not now choose us," she said to herself. Then she
heard him murmur: "With the supreme communion in Paradise, with those upon
whom God has showered His favor, the Prophets, the martyrs and the
righteous..." Again she heard him murmur: "O Lord, with the supreme
communion," and these were the last words she heard him speak. Gradually his
head grew heavier upon her breast, until others in the room began to lament,
and Aishah laid his head on a pillow and joined them in lamentation.
In the floor of Aishah's room near the couch where he was
lying, a grave was dug in which was buried the Seal of the Prophets amid
much bewilderment and great sorrow.
Aishah lived on almost fifty years after the passing away
of the Prophet. She had been his wife for a decade. Much of this time was
spent in learning and acquiring knowledge of the two most important sources
of God's guidance, the Quran and the Sunnah of His Prophet. Aishah was one
of three wives (the other two being Hafsah and Umm Salamah) who memorized
the Revelation. Like Hafsah, she had her own script of the Quran written
after the Prophet had died.
So far as the Ahadith or sayings of the Prophet is
concerned, Aishah is one of four persons (the others being Abu Hurayrah,
Abdullah ibn Umar, and Anas ibn Malik) who transmitted more than two
thousand sayings. Many of these pertain to some of the most intimate aspects
of personal behavior which only someone in Aishah's position could have
learnt. What is most important is that her knowledge of hadith was passed on
in written form by at least three persons including her nephew Urwah who
became one of the greatest scholars among the generation after the
Companions.
Many of the learned companions of the Prophet and their
followers benefitted from Aishah's knowledge. Abu Musa al-Ashari once said:
"If we companions of the Messenger of God had any difficulty on a matter, we
asked Aishah about it."
Her nephew Urwah asserts that she was proficient not only
in fiqh but also in medicine (tibb) and poetry. Many of the senior
companions of the Prophet came to her to ask for advice concerning questions
of inheritance which required a highly skilled mathematical mind. Scholars
regard her as one of the earliest fuqaha of Islam along with persons like
Umar ibn al-Khattab, Ali and Abdullah ibn Abbas. The Prophet referring to
her extensive knowledge of Islam is reported to have said: "Learn a portion
of your religion (din) from this red colored lady." "Humayra" meaning "Red-coloured"
was an epithet given to Aishah by the Prophet.
Aishah not only possessed great knowledge but took an
active part in education and social reform. As a teacher she had a clear and
persuasive manner of speech and her power of oratory has been described in
superlative terms by al-Ahnaf who said: "I have heard speeches of Abu Bakr
and Umar, Uthman and Ali and the Khulafa up to this day, but I have not
heard speech more persuasive and more beautiful from the mouth of any person
than from the mouth of Aishah."
Men and women came from far and wide to benefit from her
knowledge. The number of women is said to have been greater than that of
men. Besides answering enquiries, she took boys and girls, some of them
orphans, into her custody and trained them under her care and guidance. This
was in addition to her relatives who received instruction from her. Her
house thus became a school and an academy.
Some of her students were outstanding. We have already
mentioned her nephew Urwah as a distinguished reporter of hadith. Among her
women pupils is the name of Umrah bint Abdur Rahman. She is regarded by
scholars as one of the trustworthy narrators of hadith and is said to have
acted as Aishah's secretary receiving and replying to letters addressed to
her. The example of Aishah in promoting education and in particular the
education of Muslim women in the laws and teachings of Islam is one which
needs to be followed.
After Khadijah al-Kubra (the Great) and Fatimah az-Zahra
(the Resplendent), Aishah as-Siddiqah (the one who affirms the Truth) is
regarded as the best woman in Islam. Because of the strength of her
personality, she was a leader in every field in knowledge, in society, in
politics and in war. She often regretted her involvement in war but lived
long enough to regain position as the most respected woman of her time. She
died in the year 58 AH in the month of Ramadan and as she instructed, was
buried in the Jannat al-Baqi in the City of Light, beside other companions
of the Prophet.
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EsinIslam.Com
Links To Sahabah The Companions Of Prophet Muhammad
(SAW):
Stories Of The Companions ::
قصص الصحابة رضوان الله عليهم
--
'Abbaad Ibn Bishr |
‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbaas |
‘Abdullah Ibn 'Amr Ibn Al-'Aas |
'Abdullah ibn Hudhafah as-Sahmi |
'Abdullah ibn Jahsh |
'Abdullah Ibn Mas'uud |
'Abdullah Ibn Rawaahah |
'Abdullah Ibn Sailam |
'Abdallah Ibn 'Umar |
'Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum |
'Abdullah Ibn Az-Zubair |
'Abd Ar- Rahman Ibn Abi Bakr |
'Abd Ar-Rahman Ibn 'Awf |
Abu Ad-Dardaa |
Abu Ayuub Al-Ansaariy |
Abu Dhar Al-Ghifaariy |
Abu Jabir Abdallah bin
Amr bin Hiram |
Abu Hurairah |
Abu-l Aas ibn ar-Rabiah |
Abu Muusaa Al-Ash'ariy |
Abu Sufyaan Ibn Al-Haarith |
Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah |
'Adiyy ibn Hatim |
'Aishah bint Abi Bakr |
Al-'Abbaas Ibn 'Abd Al-Muttalib |
Al-Baraa' Ibn Maalik |
Al-Miqdaad Ibn 'Amr |
'Ammaar Ibn Yaasir |
'Amr Ibn Al -'Aas |
'Amr Ibn Al-Jamuuh |
An-Nuayman ibn Amr |
An-Numan ibn Muqarrin |
Asmaa bint Abu Bakr |
At-Tufail Ibn 'Amr Ad-Dawsiy |
Az-Zubair Ibn Al-'Awaam |
Barakah |
Bilaal Ibn Rabaah |
Fatimah bint Muhammad |
Fayruz ad-Daylami |
Hakim ibn Hazm |
Hamzah Ibn 'Abd Al-Muttalib |
Hudhaifah Ibn Al-Yamaan |
Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl |
Ja'far Ibn Abi Taalib |
Julaybib |
Habib Ibn Zaid |
Khabbab ibn al-Arat |
Khaalid Ibn Al-Waliid |
Khaalid Ibn Sa'iid |
Khubaib Ibn 'Adiy |
Mi'aadh Ibn Jabal |
Muhammad ibn Maslamah |
Mus'ab Ibn 'Umair |
Nuaym ibn Masud |
Rabiah ibn Kab |
Ramlah bint Abi Sufyan |
Rumaysa bint Milhan |
Qais Ibn Sad Ibn Ubaadah |
Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqaas |
Sa'd Ibn Mitaadh |
Sa'd Ibn 'Ubaadah |
Sa'iid Ibn Aamir |
Sa'iid ibn Zayd |
Saalim Mawlaa Abi Hudhaifah |
Salamah Ibn Al-Akwa' |
Salmaan Al-Faarisiy |
Suhayb ar-Rumi |
Suhayb Ibn Sinaan |
Suhayl Ibn'Amr |
Talhah Ibn - Ubaid Allah |
Thaabit Ibn Qais |
Thumamah ibn Uthal |
'Ubaadah Ibn As-Saamit |
Ubaiy Ibn Ka'b |
Umair Ibn Sa'd |
Umair Ibn Wahb |
'Umraan Ibn Husain |
Umm Salamah |
Uqbah ibn Aamir |
Usaamah Ibn Zaid |
Usaid Ibn Hudair |
'Utbah Ibn Ghazwaan |
'Uthmaan Ibn Madh'uun |
Zayd al-Khayr |
Zayd Ibn Al-Khattaab |
Zayd Ibn Haarithah |
Zayd Ibn Thaabit |
Muhammad The Messenger Of Allah ::
محمّد رسول الله صلى الله عليه
وسلّم --
Biography by a Muslim, Muhammad Hamidullah |
Biography by a non-Muslim, K. Rao |
The Prophet (s.a.w.) as a blessing to mankind |
Description Of The Prophet (s.a.w.) |
Finality of Prophethood |
Last Sermon Of The Prophets (s.a.w.) |
What other scholars say about the Prophet (s.a.w.) and
additional sayings |
The Rightly Guided Caliphs ::
الخلفاء الراشدون رضوان عليهم |
The First Caliph, Abu Bakr (632-634 A.C.)
|
The Second Caliph, Umar (634-644 A.C.) |
The Third Caliph, Uthman (644-656 A.C.) |
The Fourth Caliph, Ali (656-661 A.C.)
|
Muslim Profiles --
Imam Abu Hanifa |
Imam Ibn Hanbal |
Imam Malik |
Imam Al Shafi’i |
Al Ayoubi |
Al Battani |
Al Biruni |
Al Buzjani |
Al Farghani |
Al Kindi |
Al Idrisi |
Al Khayyam |
Al Khawarizmi |
Al Tusi |
Al Zahrawi |
Dan Fodio |
Ibn Al-Baitar |
Ibn Al Nafis |
Ibn Batuta |
Ibn Haiyan |
Ibn Khaldun |
Ibn Rushd |
Ibn Qurra |
Ibn Sina |
Ibn Ziyad |
Ibn Zuhr |
Sheikh Abdulfattah Abu-Abdullah Adelabu (Ph. D. Damas)
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