Sayyda Nafisa
Posted: 09 Jul 2012, 15:18
Sayyda Nafisa [AAH]
http://almagalla.info/Bulletin/bulletin12.htm
[O Nafisa, the Generous, look after me
By your grandfather, take me under your eyes]
[I am the poor one, O give me my lady
far be it from you to keep me from your courtyards]
[or from the generosity that covered all people]
In one of the best centuries, which is the second century of Hijra, the year 145H, there came the gifts and the blessings of the house of the prophecy, where the descendant of the people of this noble house, syyda Nafisa, was born. She is syyda Nafisa bent syydi Zaid al-Ablag ibn Imam al-Hasan ibn Imam Ali ibn Abi-Talib [AAT] all. Her birth was in Maccah in the year 145H. She was one the ascetic worshipers; fasting all day and praying all night. She never left the Masjid of the Prophet [PPBUH]. She went to Hajj 30 times, most of them on foot. She used to cry hard and grip the curtains of the Ka’ba and say: “O my God, Master, and Lord, give me the pleasure of Your acceptance, as I caused no reason to keep You from me.” Zainab bent Yahia al-Motawwag, who is the brother of syyda Nafisa [AAT], said: “I served my aunt, syyda Nafisa [AAH], for forty years and I have never seen her asleep at night or breaking her fasting during the day. So I told her once: Why do not you take it easy with yourself?” Syyda Nafisa [AAT] said: “How do I take it easy, when I have obstacles that cannot be overcome except for the winners.”
When the people of Egypt heard that sayyda Nafisa [AAH] was coming to Egypt, and she was well known for them, the men and women came out to meet her on the camels with the howdah on the borders at the city of al-Arish. They escorted her until she came to the old Cairo [al-Fostat] where she stayed at the house of the chief of the traders, whose name was Gamal ed-Din Abdullah ibn al-Gassas. He was a righteous and pious man. She stayed this house for several months, while people came to visit her from all over Egypt to get blessings from her visit.
The name Nafisa, in Arabic, means precious. Sayyda Nafisa, was known as the one with the precious knowledge, because of what she had of firm feet in the field of knowledge. This is not strange for her as she is the granddaughter of the Prophet [PPBUH], who is the first teacher. When Imam ash-Shafe'y came to Egypt, he used to visit her regularly, and he used to lead her in the Ramadan prayer, at-Tarawih, in her Masjid. He used to come to her to ask her to pray for him. He used to listen to her narration of Hadith. When he got sick he used to send her one of his companions, like ar-Rabie al-Geyzi or ar-Rabie al-Moradi. His messenger would salute her and say: "your cousin, ash-Shafe'y, is sick and he is asking you to pray for him." She used to pray for him, and the messenger would go back to ash-Shafe'y to find out that he got well. When He got sick the sickness that he died from, he sent for her prayer as he used to, but she said to the messenger: "May Allah bless him with the grace of seeing His face." When the messenger got back to ash-Shafe'y and told him what she said, ash-Shafe'y knew that he is going to die, so he requested that she do the memorial prayer for him. When he died they passed by her house while taking him to his grave, so that she [AAH] would pray for him. The prince of Egypt was the one who ordered them to pass by her house, because she asked him to fulfill the will of ash-Shafe'y [AAH], as she was too weak to go out for his funeral because of her continuous worshiping. Someone of the righteous people, who attended the funeral of ash-Shafe’y, said that he heard, after the prayers was over, that Allah, Almighty, has forgiven all those who attended the funeral prayers of ash-Shafe’y because of ash-Shafe’y, and has forgiven ash-Shafe’y because of the prayers of sayyda Nafisa. May Allah accepts them both and gives us the benefits of their blessings.
Sayyda Nafisa [AAH] has a lot of miraculous acts, favors, and merits. We will give you some of those in the following paragraphs:
· It was narrated that a Jewish man lived next door to her who had a crippled young daughter who could not standup. One day her Jewish mother told her that she was going to the market bath. The mother wanted to carry the crippled daughter along with her. The daughter said: I cannot go with you. The Mother said: So would you stay alone at home, until we come back. The daughter said: No, mother, but you can leave me with that noble woman next door, until you come back. The mother went to sayyda Nafisa [AAH] and got her permission, so she took her daughter to sayyda Nafisa [AAH]’s house and left her at a corner there and went to the market. When the time came for the prayer of Dhuhr, sayyda Nafisa [AAH] brought some water and did ablution. Some water from sayyda Nafisa [AAH]’s ablution ran beside that crippled young girl, so she took it and rub it down against her limbs. Allah blessed her and she came out of her paralysis, and when her parents came back, they found her walking out for them and told them what happened, so they converted to Islam.
· There was this old lady who had four daughters whom she fed from their work in spinning. They used to spin their linen from one Friday to the other, then she would take their spin to sell it in the market. Thus she would buy with half its price food for the whole week, and buy linen with the other half. Once she took the spin and wrap it in a red piece of cloth and went to the market. In her way and while she carried the spin over her head, a big bird dived down and took the spin and flew away. The woman fainted. When she woke up she cried and said: What would I do with my orphans who are so hungry? People gathered around her and asked her about her story. When she told them, they told her about sayyda Nafisa [AAH] and said to her: Go to sayyda Nafisa [AAH] and ask her to pray for you, and Allah will help you ISA. The woman went to sayyda Nafisa [AAH], told her the story of what happened and asked for her prayer. Sayyda Nafisa [AAH] had pity on her and said: "O You, who are Exalted so became Able and owned so forced. O, heal for this woman what has been broken, as they are your creatures and under your care." Then she told the woman to stay as Allah is Able to do everything. The woman sat by the door with a heart aching from the hunger of her children. It was not more than an hour, when a group of people came to the door of sayyda Nafisa [AAH], got her permission to enter, and said to her:
"We have a very strange story. We are merchant people and we have been traveling safelyon the sea for a period, thanks to Allah. When we were close to your shores, our boat got a hole, the water came flowing on and we almost got drowned. We tried all we could to plug this hole and stop the water flow, but we could not. So we asked Allah for help and entreated to him by you. Then we found a bird that throw to us some cloth with spin it. We plugged that spin in the hole and it was closed and so we were saved by the will of Allah with your blessing. Now we came to you with this five hundred Dirham of silver as a token of thanks to Allah for our safety."
At that time sayyda Nafisa [AAH] cried and said: "O my God, how Graceful and Kind You are with your servants!" Then she called on the woman and asked her: "How much do you sell your spin for?" The woman replied: "For twenty Dirham." Sayyda Nafisa [AAH] said: "So get the good tiding that Allah compensated you for each one Dirham, twenty five ones." Then she told her the story of the merchants and gave her their money. The took the money to her daughters and told them what Allah gave her that money with the blessings of sayyda Nafisa [AAH].
· There was a man who married a non-Muslim woman and had a son from her. That son was captured in the land of the enemies. His mother kept asking about the captives waiting for him, but he never came back. The woman said to her husband: "I heard that there is a woman among us who is called Nafisa bent al-Hasan. Why do not you go to her and ask her to pray for our son, so that Allah may bring him back to us. If he would be saved, I will believe in her religion" The man went to sayyda Nafisa [AAH] and told her the story, and she prayed for him that Allah may return his son to his mother. When the night came, the mother heard knocking on the door and opened the door to find her son standing by it. She asked him how he came back. He said: "O mother, As I was standing in the land of captivity at that time – and he specified the time which was the time of the prayer of sayyda Nafisa [AAH] – during my service, when I felt a hand on my chains and I heard a voice saying: 'Release him as sayyda Nafisa bent al-Hasan has interceded for him'. I was released from my chains. Then I did not feel anything except when I was entering the doors of our city until I stopped at our door." His mother was so delighted and that charismata was spread between the people. They say that the people of seventy houses converted to Islam that night with her blessings. The mother also converted to Islam and became a servant to sayyda Nafisa [AAH].
At the beginning of the third century of Hijra, the year 208H, sayyda Nafisa [AAH] got sick and her sickness kept getting worse until it was Ramadan. They got her a doctor, and he told her to break her fasting, so she said: "How strange! I have been asking Allah for thirty years to die fasting. Do I break the fasting now?" Her soul went back to Allah, and she was buried in her well known Masjid in Egypt.
Written by Issam
http://almagalla.info/Bulletin/bulletin12.htm
[O Nafisa, the Generous, look after me
By your grandfather, take me under your eyes]
[I am the poor one, O give me my lady
far be it from you to keep me from your courtyards]
[or from the generosity that covered all people]
In one of the best centuries, which is the second century of Hijra, the year 145H, there came the gifts and the blessings of the house of the prophecy, where the descendant of the people of this noble house, syyda Nafisa, was born. She is syyda Nafisa bent syydi Zaid al-Ablag ibn Imam al-Hasan ibn Imam Ali ibn Abi-Talib [AAT] all. Her birth was in Maccah in the year 145H. She was one the ascetic worshipers; fasting all day and praying all night. She never left the Masjid of the Prophet [PPBUH]. She went to Hajj 30 times, most of them on foot. She used to cry hard and grip the curtains of the Ka’ba and say: “O my God, Master, and Lord, give me the pleasure of Your acceptance, as I caused no reason to keep You from me.” Zainab bent Yahia al-Motawwag, who is the brother of syyda Nafisa [AAT], said: “I served my aunt, syyda Nafisa [AAH], for forty years and I have never seen her asleep at night or breaking her fasting during the day. So I told her once: Why do not you take it easy with yourself?” Syyda Nafisa [AAT] said: “How do I take it easy, when I have obstacles that cannot be overcome except for the winners.”
When the people of Egypt heard that sayyda Nafisa [AAH] was coming to Egypt, and she was well known for them, the men and women came out to meet her on the camels with the howdah on the borders at the city of al-Arish. They escorted her until she came to the old Cairo [al-Fostat] where she stayed at the house of the chief of the traders, whose name was Gamal ed-Din Abdullah ibn al-Gassas. He was a righteous and pious man. She stayed this house for several months, while people came to visit her from all over Egypt to get blessings from her visit.
The name Nafisa, in Arabic, means precious. Sayyda Nafisa, was known as the one with the precious knowledge, because of what she had of firm feet in the field of knowledge. This is not strange for her as she is the granddaughter of the Prophet [PPBUH], who is the first teacher. When Imam ash-Shafe'y came to Egypt, he used to visit her regularly, and he used to lead her in the Ramadan prayer, at-Tarawih, in her Masjid. He used to come to her to ask her to pray for him. He used to listen to her narration of Hadith. When he got sick he used to send her one of his companions, like ar-Rabie al-Geyzi or ar-Rabie al-Moradi. His messenger would salute her and say: "your cousin, ash-Shafe'y, is sick and he is asking you to pray for him." She used to pray for him, and the messenger would go back to ash-Shafe'y to find out that he got well. When He got sick the sickness that he died from, he sent for her prayer as he used to, but she said to the messenger: "May Allah bless him with the grace of seeing His face." When the messenger got back to ash-Shafe'y and told him what she said, ash-Shafe'y knew that he is going to die, so he requested that she do the memorial prayer for him. When he died they passed by her house while taking him to his grave, so that she [AAH] would pray for him. The prince of Egypt was the one who ordered them to pass by her house, because she asked him to fulfill the will of ash-Shafe'y [AAH], as she was too weak to go out for his funeral because of her continuous worshiping. Someone of the righteous people, who attended the funeral of ash-Shafe’y, said that he heard, after the prayers was over, that Allah, Almighty, has forgiven all those who attended the funeral prayers of ash-Shafe’y because of ash-Shafe’y, and has forgiven ash-Shafe’y because of the prayers of sayyda Nafisa. May Allah accepts them both and gives us the benefits of their blessings.
Sayyda Nafisa [AAH] has a lot of miraculous acts, favors, and merits. We will give you some of those in the following paragraphs:
· It was narrated that a Jewish man lived next door to her who had a crippled young daughter who could not standup. One day her Jewish mother told her that she was going to the market bath. The mother wanted to carry the crippled daughter along with her. The daughter said: I cannot go with you. The Mother said: So would you stay alone at home, until we come back. The daughter said: No, mother, but you can leave me with that noble woman next door, until you come back. The mother went to sayyda Nafisa [AAH] and got her permission, so she took her daughter to sayyda Nafisa [AAH]’s house and left her at a corner there and went to the market. When the time came for the prayer of Dhuhr, sayyda Nafisa [AAH] brought some water and did ablution. Some water from sayyda Nafisa [AAH]’s ablution ran beside that crippled young girl, so she took it and rub it down against her limbs. Allah blessed her and she came out of her paralysis, and when her parents came back, they found her walking out for them and told them what happened, so they converted to Islam.
· There was this old lady who had four daughters whom she fed from their work in spinning. They used to spin their linen from one Friday to the other, then she would take their spin to sell it in the market. Thus she would buy with half its price food for the whole week, and buy linen with the other half. Once she took the spin and wrap it in a red piece of cloth and went to the market. In her way and while she carried the spin over her head, a big bird dived down and took the spin and flew away. The woman fainted. When she woke up she cried and said: What would I do with my orphans who are so hungry? People gathered around her and asked her about her story. When she told them, they told her about sayyda Nafisa [AAH] and said to her: Go to sayyda Nafisa [AAH] and ask her to pray for you, and Allah will help you ISA. The woman went to sayyda Nafisa [AAH], told her the story of what happened and asked for her prayer. Sayyda Nafisa [AAH] had pity on her and said: "O You, who are Exalted so became Able and owned so forced. O, heal for this woman what has been broken, as they are your creatures and under your care." Then she told the woman to stay as Allah is Able to do everything. The woman sat by the door with a heart aching from the hunger of her children. It was not more than an hour, when a group of people came to the door of sayyda Nafisa [AAH], got her permission to enter, and said to her:
"We have a very strange story. We are merchant people and we have been traveling safelyon the sea for a period, thanks to Allah. When we were close to your shores, our boat got a hole, the water came flowing on and we almost got drowned. We tried all we could to plug this hole and stop the water flow, but we could not. So we asked Allah for help and entreated to him by you. Then we found a bird that throw to us some cloth with spin it. We plugged that spin in the hole and it was closed and so we were saved by the will of Allah with your blessing. Now we came to you with this five hundred Dirham of silver as a token of thanks to Allah for our safety."
At that time sayyda Nafisa [AAH] cried and said: "O my God, how Graceful and Kind You are with your servants!" Then she called on the woman and asked her: "How much do you sell your spin for?" The woman replied: "For twenty Dirham." Sayyda Nafisa [AAH] said: "So get the good tiding that Allah compensated you for each one Dirham, twenty five ones." Then she told her the story of the merchants and gave her their money. The took the money to her daughters and told them what Allah gave her that money with the blessings of sayyda Nafisa [AAH].
· There was a man who married a non-Muslim woman and had a son from her. That son was captured in the land of the enemies. His mother kept asking about the captives waiting for him, but he never came back. The woman said to her husband: "I heard that there is a woman among us who is called Nafisa bent al-Hasan. Why do not you go to her and ask her to pray for our son, so that Allah may bring him back to us. If he would be saved, I will believe in her religion" The man went to sayyda Nafisa [AAH] and told her the story, and she prayed for him that Allah may return his son to his mother. When the night came, the mother heard knocking on the door and opened the door to find her son standing by it. She asked him how he came back. He said: "O mother, As I was standing in the land of captivity at that time – and he specified the time which was the time of the prayer of sayyda Nafisa [AAH] – during my service, when I felt a hand on my chains and I heard a voice saying: 'Release him as sayyda Nafisa bent al-Hasan has interceded for him'. I was released from my chains. Then I did not feel anything except when I was entering the doors of our city until I stopped at our door." His mother was so delighted and that charismata was spread between the people. They say that the people of seventy houses converted to Islam that night with her blessings. The mother also converted to Islam and became a servant to sayyda Nafisa [AAH].
At the beginning of the third century of Hijra, the year 208H, sayyda Nafisa [AAH] got sick and her sickness kept getting worse until it was Ramadan. They got her a doctor, and he told her to break her fasting, so she said: "How strange! I have been asking Allah for thirty years to die fasting. Do I break the fasting now?" Her soul went back to Allah, and she was buried in her well known Masjid in Egypt.
Written by Issam