%@ Page Language="VB" ContentType="text/html" ResponseEncoding="utf-8" %>
View / Print this Newsletter Issue flipping pages
Asma-bint Abu Bakr (raa) was the daughter of Abu Bakr (raa), mother of Abdullah bin Zubair (raa) and the step-sister of Aisha (raa). She is one of the most famous women of her time. She was the eighteenth person to embrace Islam. She was twenty-seven years old at the time of Hijrat.
After the migration from Mecca, when the Prophet (pbuh) and Abu Bakr (raa) reached Madinah safely, they sent Zaid (raa) and some other Sahabahs to bring their families from Mecca. Asma (raa) came to Madinah with Abu Bakr's family. When she reached Quba, she gave birth to Abdullah bin Zubair (raa), the first Muslim baby born since Hijrat. Asma (raa) says:
"When I was married to Zubair, he had neither money nor property of any kind. He had only one camel for carrying water and one horse. I would bring fodder for the animals and date-stones to feed them in lieu of grass, bring water from the well, mend bucket myself when needed and attend to other domestic duties.Attending to the horse was the most difficult of all jobs. I was not good at baking and therefore, after kneading the flour, I would take it to the Ansar women in my neighborhood, who would bake the bread for me. When we arrived in Madinah, the Prophet (pbuh) allotted a piece of land to Zubair (raa) about two miles away from the town. I would bring date stones from there on my head. One day when I was coming in this fashion, I met the Prophet (pbuh) with a group of Ansar in the way. The Prophet (pbuh) stopped his camel. I quite well understood that he intended to give me a lift. I felt shy of accompanying him, and I also remembered that Zubair (raa) was also very sensitive in such matters. The Prophet (pbuh) understood my hesitation and left me alone. When I reached home, I narrated the story to Zubair (raa) and told him that, due to my own shyness and his sensitiveness, I did not avail of the offer of the Prophet (pbuh). At this Zubair (raa) said, 'By Almighty, I am more sensitive about your carrying the load over such a long distance but I cannot help it." (In fact, Sahabah remained occupied striving in the Almighty's Path and all other such jobs had to be done by their womenfolk.) Sometime later, Abu Bakr (raa) transferred to us a servant that the Prophet (pbuh) had given him. I was thus relieved of attending to the horse, which had been really hard for me."
The Islamic Bulletin
P.O. Box 410186, San Francisco, CA 94141-0186
info@islamicbulletin.org