Download PDF: [S] Generosity of Sayyidah Ayesha (Islamic story)

It is mentioned that the Mother of the Faithful, Sayyidah Ayesha – may Allah be pleased with her – was considered as one of the most learned Muslims of her era. She was a Haafizah of the Qur’an and knew thousands of Ahadith. Hadrat Sayyiduna Abu Moosa Ash’ari – may Allah be pleased with him – narrates that, “Whenever there was any Hadith Shareef which was difficult for us (to understand), for elaboration of this, we used to refer to Sayyidah Ayesha – may Allah be pleased with her. There is no doubt that we used to always receive some elaboration (about this Hadith Shareef).” (Jamia Tirmidi Shareef)

 

There was also no one more expert than her in classical Arabic. Ahnaf mentions that he heard the Khutbah of Hadrat Sayyiduna Abu Bakr – may Allah be pleased with him, the Khutbah of the other three leaders of Islam and the Khutbah of many eminent speakers and lecturers. However, he had never heard the speech and words of anyone who was more classical and masterly than the words of Sayyidah Ayesha – may Allah be pleased with her.” (Al Haakim)

 

Sayyidah Ayesha – may Allah be pleased with her – was extremely generous even though on most days, there was no food or provision in the blessed house of Sayyiduna Rasoolullah – may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him. In fact, at times, days and weeks used to go by and no sign of fire appeared from the blessed household. This meant that no food was prepared. They survived by merely dates and water.

 

Her nephew, Hadrat Sayyiduna Urwah bin Zubair – may Allah be pleased with him, mentions that once, Hadrat Sayyiduna Ameer Mu’awiyah – may Allah be pleased with him – sent one hundred thousand Dinaars for the blessed lady. However, he swears in the Divine Name of Allah Almighty that by the evening everything was distributed in the Path of Allah Almighty. In fact, in the evening, her servant mentioned to her that if she had kept at least a single Dinaar, they would have been able to purchase some meat to prepare some food for that evening. When she heard this, she replied, “Why did you not inform me that there was no food in the house?”

 

The same type of incident is reported by her servant Umme Zarr. She narrates that once the nephew of the blessed lady, Hadrat Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Zubair – may Allah be pleased with him, presented her with two sacks of Dirhams which was equal to about one hundred thousand Dirhams. She asked for a piece of cloth and then placed all of this on the piece of cloth and distributed this among the poor and needy. In the evening, she asked her servant Umme Zarr to prepare some food but her servant replied, “O Ummul Mo’mineen! You had distributed one hundred thousand Dirhams (among the poor and needy). If only you had purchased some meat for one Dirham, then we would have prepared something for Iftaar.”

 

Sayyidah Ayesha – may Allah be pleased with her – told her that if she had been informed that there was no food in the house, surely she would have purchased something.

 

One day, the verse of the Qur’an was revealed that the blessed wives were to be informed that if they wanted to choose the material things of this world, they were to be given these things and then told to leave. In other words, Sayyiduna Rasoolullah – may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him – was told that if they choose the world, then he was free to offer them Talaaq. He then approached Sayyidah Ayesha – may Allah be pleased with her – and also presented this option to her. At the same time, he did not push her or anyone else for their decision. He allowed her to think about it and even consult with her parents before making a decision. However, she replied that she did not need to consult with anyone and that she had chosen Allah Almighty, His beloved Prophet – may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him – and the Hereafter in place of everything else. (Musnad Imam Ahmed; Sunan Kubra)

 

Their entire life was a symbol of piety and greatness and certainly something which our Muslim sisters and mothers should try and emulate.