Pharaoh's daughter's hairdresser: Her steadfastness in upholding ‎the truth in the face of the tyrannical oppressor.‎

 

The hairdresser of Pharaoh's daughter was a righteous woman whose steadfastness in truth is an example to be followed in every time and place and whose piety is a model for every believing man and woman.

She lived with her husband and children during the time when Pharaoh sat on the throne of Egypt, oppressing and tyrannizing, and his arrogance reached such a point that he said: "And Fir'aun (Pharaoh) proclaimed among his people, saying: "O my people! Is not mine the dominion of Egypt, and these rivers flowing underneath me. See you not then? (Az-Zukhruf 43:51). She worked as a servant and nanny to Pharaoh's daughter, and she and her husband were believers in the message of our Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), but they concealed their faith for fear of Pharaoh and his court. However, it wasn't long before Pharaoh learned of her husband's faith and had him killed. Some accounts say that her husband was a believing man from the people of Pharaoh, concerning whom God Almighty said: “And a believing man of Fir'aun's (Pharaoh) family, who hid his faith said: "Would you kill a man because he says: My Lord is Allah, and he has come to you with clear signs (proofs) from your Lord? And if he is a liar, upon him will be (the sin of) his lie; but if he is telling the truth, then some of that (calamity) wherewith he threatens you will befall on you." Verily, Allah guides not one who is a Musrif (a polytheist, or a murderer who shed blood without a right, or those who commit great sins, oppressor, transgressor), a liar! (Ghafir 40:28)

After Pharaoh killed her husband, she became even more determined to conceal her faith in God from everyone. She continued working as a hairdresser for Pharaoh's daughter to earn a living for herself and her children.

One day, while combing Pharaoh's daughter's hair, the comb fell from her hands, and she involuntarily said, “In the name of God, woe to him who disbelieves in God.” When Pharaoh's daughter heard her, she asked, “Do you have a lord other than my father?” Pharaoh's daughter's hairdresser replied, “God is my Lord and the Lord of your father and the Lord of all things.”

Pharaoh's daughter couldn't contain herself, nor could she control her tongue, even out of loyalty to the woman who cared for her adornment and ensured her comfort. She rushed to tell her father what she had said. Upon hearing the news, her father was furious, more so than he had ever been before. The news shocked him and shook him to his core; someone living in his household, enjoying his bounty, worshipped God.

He ordered her to be brought before him. When she stood before him, he asked her, "Who is your Lord?" She replied, "My Lord and your Lord is God." He then ordered her to renounce her faith or face imprisonment and torture. She disregarded his threats and remained steadfast in her faith.

After the hairdresser refused Pharaoh's order to renounce her religion... He ordered a copper cow to be heated, then he ordered that she and her children be thrown into it. She said to him, "I have a request of you." He said, "What is your request?" She said, "I would like you to gather my bones and the bones of my children in one shroud and bury us." He said, "That is your right to us." So he ordered her children to be thrown in before her one by one, until it came to her nursing infant, and she seemed to hesitate for his sake. He said, "O mother, plunge in! For the torment of this world is easier than the torment of the Hereafter." So she plunged in.

This nursing infant, as our master Abdullah ibn Abbas said, was one of four who spoke about infants: our master Jesus, son of Mary, peace be upon him; the companion of Jurayj; the witness for Joseph; and the son of the hairdresser of Pharaoh's daughter (Narrated by: Abdullah ibn Abbas; Source: Takhrij al-Musnad by Shakir).

This woman is a shining example and a model to be emulated for steadfastness in the truth brought by the Messenger and the Prophets from their Lord. For this world, however long it may seem, is short, and its adornments are limited and uncertain. The wise person is the one who works for eternal bliss and everlasting life. Summary