When Aishah (RA) lost her necklace

The Prophet ﷺ and an army of Muslims were once travelling home, when Maa Aishah رضي الله عنها lost her necklace. Nabi ﷺ and the army stopped at a place called Baydaa to search for it. However, it was nowhere to be seen. Before we continue, just look at His exemplary character.

When we go out we just get ourselves ready and go. Women have to clean the house, get their children ready, pack their bags etc. We assume they take too long to get ready. Whereas in reality, that is because they have to help the rest of the family first. Forgetting this, many of us are quick to scold and shout. Yet observe how loving of a husband Nabi ﷺ was. Not only did he sympathize with his wife, he stopped an entire army to search for her jewellery.

As they continued to search, the time for prayer drew closer and closer and with that came another dilemma – they had no water. Baydaa was a desert, water was not easily accessible. This upset the companions, for how can one perform ablution without water?

Noticing this Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه went to her to speak to her about the matter. When he reached her, he saw Nabi ﷺ sleeping on her lap. So as to not awaken His friend Nabi ﷺ, he began to quietly reprimand her for holding everyone back. In his condemnation lies a pertinent lesson for those young women who assume their fathers cannot reprimand them after marriage, as they are no longer under his guardianship. This is incorrect. A father always maintains a right to correct and guide his daughter even if she has married and moved on.

Eventually he began to poke her but she did not move so as to not awaken Nabi ﷺ. Like father, like daughter. Many years before this Nabi ﷺ was once sleeping on the lap of Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه and a scorpion bit him. Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه did not move because he did not want to awaken Nabi ﷺ. This love had passed onto his children which shows here in Baydaa, as his daughter did the same.

Nabi ﷺ later woke up for Fajr and the believers were still in the same predicament – there was no water available to perform ablution. Allah revealed a Surah permitting tayammum (using mud to perform ablution). Usaid bin Hudhair  رضي الله عنه then approached Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه. He said to him that this is not the first blessing that has come to us due to your family. In other words, if her necklace had not gone missing, we would not have been blessed with tayammum. Therefore, it was due to the virtue of the family of Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه that this blessing was revealed and years on, we still benefit from it.

— Shaykh Dawood Seedat حفظه الله

Above is an extract from Shaykh’s talk on 20/7/17 in Masjid-ut-Taqwa, Pietermaritzburg. To listen to the full talk, please click here.

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