Asiya bint Muzahim | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Wife of thePharaoh |
| Spouse | Pharaoh |
| Children | Mūsā (Adopted) |
| Father | Muzāḥim |
Asiya bint Muzahim (Arabic:آسِيَة بِنْت مُزَاحِم,romanized: Āsiya bint Muzāḥim) was, according to theQur'an and Islamic tradition, thewife of thePharaoh of the Exodus and adoptive mother ofMoses.[2][3]
Asiya is first mentioned inSurah Al-Qasas in the Quran,[3] identified asBithiah in 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 acceptedmonotheism after witnessing the miracle of Moses. The tradition holds that Asiya worshippedAllah in secret and hid her religion from her husband. However, later her faith was revealed and the Pharaoh ordered her execution.[7]
Al-Tha'labi believed that the continent ofAsia was named after her.[8]
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.”
InSahih Bukhari, the Prophet said "Many men were completed [in faith], and only Asiya, the wife of Pharaoh, andMaryam bint Imran were completed among the women".[7][10]
Asiya'smarriage to the Pharaoh was arranged.[citation needed] Unlike her husband, she was humble and accepted the faith that Moses andAaron were 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 Bucaille commented 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 tobreastfeed him. 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 toreject God and the teaching of Moses. On Pharaoh's orders, she was tortured to death.[19]
Asiya 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'an mentions Asiya as an example to all Muslims.[18][21][22] Hersupplication is 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 Ashaari narrated that once theIslamic prophet,Muhammad stated:
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 ofAisha as compared to women is that ofTharid over all other foods.
— Sahih Muslim Hadith 2431[5]
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.
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.
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.
Hadith of prophet about Asiya
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
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
