Who was the woman with two belts? She was Asma bint Abi
Bakr al-Siddiq (27 BH - 73 AH / 595 - 692 CE); her mother was Qutaylah bint Abd
al-Uzza ibn Saad. She was a female companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and
blessings be upon him) and one of the first to embrace Islam, having converted
in Mecca after seventeen others. She was the wife of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and
the half-sister of Aisha bint Abi Bakr, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad (peace
and blessings be upon him). She was a few years older than Aisha (may God be
pleased with her). She was the mother of Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, who was given
the oath of allegiance as caliph, and the first child born to the Muhajirun
(immigrants) in Medina.
Why was she called the woman with two belts? Because she
tore her belt in two. One half she used to carry the food of the Messenger of
God (peace and blessings be upon him) and the food of Abu Bakr (may God be
pleased with him) when they emigrated to Yathrib, which was later called
Medina. The other half was simply a belt that a woman cannot do without. When
she came to the Prophet, having torn her belt, he said to her, "May God
replace this belt of yours with two belts in Paradise."
Among the virtues and resourcefulness of Asma' (may God
be pleased with her) is that when Abu Bakr emigrated with the Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon him) on the night of the 27th of Safar in the 14th
year of the Prophetic mission (September 12, 622 CE), he took all his wealth
with him that night, leaving nothing behind in the house. Then her grandfather,
Abu Quhafa, who was blind, came to the house, his heart filled with polytheism.
He said to her, "This man"—meaning Abu Bakr—"has caused you
grief by taking his wealth and his life." She replied, "No, Father,
he has left us much good." She took some stones and placed them in a niche
in the house, covering them with a cloth. Then she took his hand and placed it
on the cloth, saying, "Father, place your hand on this wealth." He
placed his hand on it and said, "There is no harm in it. If he has left
you this, then he has done well, and this is sufficient for you." She had
been persecuted for her Islam since the very beginning of the call to faith,
and she endured it with patience and fortitude for the sake of Islam, desiring
a good outcome for herself, her family, the people of Mecca, and all of
humanity. She recounts, “When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon
him) and Abu Bakr emigrated, a group of Quraysh, including Abu Jahl ibn Hisham,
came to us. They stood at Abu Bakr’s door, and I went out to them. They asked,
‘Where is your father, daughter of Abu Bakr?’ I replied, ‘By God, I don’t know
where my father is.’ Abu Jahl, who was a vile and wicked man, raised his hand
and slapped me so hard that my earring fell off. Then they left.”
She married the Companion Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (one of the
ten promised Paradise) before the Hijra. She says, “He had no wealth or slaves
on earth, nothing but a camel used for drawing water and his horse. I fed his
horse, drew water, mended his bucket, and kneaded dough. I didn’t know how to
bake, so some of my neighbors from the Ansar baked for me. They were truly good
women. I carried date stones from Zubayr’s land, which the Messenger of God
(peace and blessings be upon him) had granted him, on my head.” It is
two-thirds of a farsakh away from me. One day I came with the date pit on my
head, and I met the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace,
and with him were some of the Ansar. He called me and then said, (Ekh ikh. He
offered to carry me behind him, but I felt shy to walk with the men. I
remembered Zubayr and his jealousy, for he was the most jealous of men. The
Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) realized I was shy and
continued on his way. I went to Zubayr and said, “The Messenger of Allah (peace
and blessings be upon him) met me while I was carrying date stones on my head,
accompanied by some of his companions. He made his camel kneel so I could
mount, but I felt shy before him, knowing your jealousy.” He replied, “By
Allah, your carrying the date stones was harder on me than your riding with
him.” She said, “After that, my father, Abu Bakr, sent me a servant to take
care of the horse, and it was as if he had freed me.” She also said, “When I
complained to my father about Zubayr’s jealousy, he said, ‘My daughter, be
patient, for if a woman has a righteous husband and he dies, and she does not
remarry, they will be reunited in Paradise.’”
Asma' migrated to Medina while pregnant with Abdullah ibn
al-Zubayr. She gave birth to him in Quba' in Shawwal of the first year of the
Hijra, or according to another account, in the second year of the Hijra.
Abdullah was the first child born to the Muhajirun (immigrants) in Medina, and
the Muslims rejoiced at his birth, as they had gone for a long time without a
child being born to them, to the point that it was said the Jews of Medina had
bewitched them. His mother then carried him in a cloth to the Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon him), who performed the tahnik (rubbing the palate
of the newborn with a date), blessed him, and named him Abdullah after his
grandfather Abu Bakr. He then instructed Abu Bakr to recite the adhan (call to
prayer) in his ears.
Asma’ witnessed the Battle of Yarmouk with her husband,
Al-Zubayr. Abu Waqid Al-Laythi said, “Asma’ bint Abi Bakr was with Al-Zubayr.”
He said, “I heard her say to al-Zubayr, ‘O Abu Abdullah, by God, if an enemy
man were to run past and his foot were to strike the rope of my tent (a rope
used to secure a tent, canopy, or similar structure), he would fall face down
dead, no matter what the weapon struck.’” Asma’ bore al-Zubayr four sons and
three daughters after the birth of Abdullah: Asim, al-Muhajir, Urwah,
al-Mundhir, Khadijah the Elder, Umm al-Hasan, and Aisha. Her last son was
Urwah, who was born during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab in the year 23
AH.
Then Al-Zubayr divorced her and took Urwah, who was a
young boy at the time. There are differing accounts of the reason for her
divorce. It is said that Abdullah said to his father, "A son like me
should not have his mother violated!" so he divorced her. Another account
states that al-Zubayr struck her, and she cried out to her son Abdullah, who
came to her. When his father saw him, he said, "Your mother will be
divorced if you enter." Abdullah replied, "Do you make my mother
subject to your oath?!" So he entered and rescued her from him.” It was
also said, “Rather, she and al-Zubayr had a dispute, so Abdullah came to
reconcile them. Al-Zubayr said, ‘If she enters, she is divorced.’ So she
entered, and the divorce was finalized.” Lady Asma remained with her son,
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, after her divorce.
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr was given the oath of allegiance
as caliph in 64 AH after the death of Yazid ibn Mu’awiya. He established Mecca
as the capital of his rule, and all the provinces pledged allegiance to him
except for some areas in the Levant. However, his caliphate did not last long,
as the Umayyads seized Medina, and al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi, on the
orders of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, besieged him in Mecca. Al-Hajjaj set up
catapults on Mount Abu Qubays, causing most of his companions to desert him.
When his companions deserted him, Abdullah went to his mother, Asma, and said
to her, “O Mother, the people have abandoned me, even my own children and
family. Only a few remain with me, and they have no more than an hour’s
patience. The people are giving me what I want from him.” "The world, so
what do you think?" She said, "You know yourself best. If you know
that you are right and that you are calling to it, then go for it, for your
companions were killed for it, and do not let your neck be played with by the
boys of the Umayyads. But if you only wanted the world, then what a wretched
servant you are! You have destroyed yourself and those who were killed with
you. And if you say that you were right, but when my companions weakened, you
weakened, then this is not the action of free men or people of religion. How
long will you live in this world?" "Death is better!" he
exclaimed. "Mother, I fear that if the people of Syria kill me, they will
mutilate my body and crucify me." She replied, "My son, a sheep feels
no pain when it is slaughtered. Proceed with your conviction and seek God's
help." He kissed her head, asked her to pray for him, and left, determined
to continue fighting. Not many days passed before the army attacked Mecca. He
fought fiercely until he was killed on Tuesday, the seventeenth night of Jumada
al-Ula, in the year seventy-three AH.
Asma entered Mecca after her son's death. She had lost
her sight. Al-Hajjaj sent for her, but she refused to come. He sent a messenger
saying, "Come to me, or I will send someone to drag you by your
hair." She refused, saying, "By God, I will not come to you until you
send someone to drag me by my hair." Al-Hajjaj went to her and said,
"How did you see what I did to the enemy of God?" Asma bint Abi Bakr
replied, "I saw you ruin his worldly life." And he ruined your
afterlife. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) told us that
among the Thaqif tribe there would be a liar and a destroyer (a corrupt,
worthless person). As for the liar, we have seen him—referring to al-Mukhtar
al-Thaqafi—and as for the destroyer, I believe you are none other than him.
Al-Hajjaj then left her and did not speak to her again.
This reached Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, who wrote to
al-Hajjaj rebuking him for addressing Asma, saying, "What business do you
have with the daughter of a righteous man?" He ordered him to take
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr down from the gallows. She took his body, washed it,
embalmed it, shrouded it, perfumed it, prayed over it, and then buried it. She
died a few days later.
She was generous. Ibn al-Zubayr said, "I have never
seen a woman more generous than Aisha and Asma. Their generosity differed:
Aisha would accumulate things until she had enough, then she would distribute
them appropriately. Asma, however, would not save anything for tomorrow."
Fatima bint al-Mundhir said, "When Asma' fell ill, she would free all her
slaves." She would say to her daughters and family, "Spend and give
charity, and do not wait for a reward. For if you wait for a reward, you will
gain nothing, and if you give charity, you will not find it lacking."
She was pious. When she had a headache, she would place
her hand on her head and say, "This is due to my sins, and what God
forgives is far greater." Even when she became an old, blind woman, she
was diligent in prayer. Al-Rakin ibn al-Rabi' said, "I entered upon Asma'
bint Abi Bakr, and she was an old, blind woman. I found her praying, and
someone was with her, prompting her, "Stand up." Sit down. Do
this.'" She was also careful to wear the proper Islamic dress. Hisham ibn
Urwah reported, “Al-Mundhir ibn al-Zubayr came from Iraq and sent Asma’ bint
Abi Bakr a garment of fine, finely woven, old-fashioned cloth from Marw (a
famous garment in Iraq, named after Marw, a village near Kufa) and Quhiyya
(Quhiyya being a fabric from Quhistan, a region in Khorasan), after she had lost
her sight. She touched it with her hand and then said, ‘Ugh! Return his garment
to him.’ This distressed him, and he said…” “O Mother, it is not transparent.”
She said, “Even if it is not transparent, it is still revealing.” He said, “So
he bought her fine, coarse clothes, and she accepted them, saying, ‘Give me
clothes like these.’”
She was courageous. It is narrated that when thieves
became numerous in Medina during the time of the governor of Medina, Sa’id ibn
al-‘As, Asma’ acquired a dagger, which she kept under her head. When asked,
“What do you do with this?” she replied, “If a thief enters upon me, I will rip
open his stomach.” She was also an interpreter of dreams, and she learned this
from… Her father and Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab learned the interpretation of dreams
from her.
She was a narrator of hadith; al-Bukhari and Muslim
agreed on thirteen hadiths from her, al-Bukhari alone narrated five, and Muslim
four. Ahmad ibn Hanbal included eighty hadiths from her in his Musnad, and Baqi
ibn Makhlad narrated fifty-eight hadiths from her.
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