Some more great women of Islam

Hadhrat Umme Haroon (May Allah be well pleased with her)

 

She was among those worshippers who were greatly conscious of Allah Most High.  She would have only bread (Roti).  She said that she would feel solace only when night came.  When day dawned, she would be sad.  She would spend the whole night in worship.  Once, she stepped out her house and someone cry out:  Catch her!  She fainted.  For 20 years, she didn’t apply any oil to her head.  Whenever she would unbraid her hair, she would find them to be more beautiful than the hair of other women.  Whenever she would come face to face with a tiger in a forest, she would say:  If your Sustainer has ordered you to eat me, do so.  The tiger would turn and run away.  May Allah be well pleased with her.

 

‘Umrah, the wife of Habeeb (May Allah be well pleased with them)

 

She would spend the whole night in Salaat.  When the time for the pre-dawn meal would come, she would wake her husband and say:  Get up o slave of Allah!  The night has passed.  The day has come.  The star of the heavens has gone.  The caravans of the pious have passed and you have been left behind.  Now, you can’t meet them.

 

Once, both her eyes were hurting.  Somebody asked her the reason for it and she said:  The pain of my heart is very intense.  May Allah be well pleased with her.

 

Hadhrat Ummatul Jaleel (May Allah be well pleased with them)

 

She was a great worshipper of Allah Most High and a great ascetic as well.

 

Once, the worshippers discoursed on the meaning of Wilayah (Lit. Friendship.  In the terminology of the Shariah, it means a friend of Allah Most High).  Then they said:  Let us go to Ummatul Jaleel.  She was asked the definition of Wilayah in her opinion.  She said:  The hours of a Wali (Lit. Friend) are the hours spent in ignoring the material world.  For any Wali, there is no moment in this world in which he/she has time for anything of this world other than Allah Most High.  Then she told them:  The person who tells you that a Wali of Allah has time for anything other than Allah is a liar.  May Allah be well pleased with her.

 

Hadhrat ‘Ubaidah bint Abu Kilab (May Allah be well pleased with them)

 

She would always turn to Hadhrat Malik bin Deenaar (May Allah be well pleased with him).  She heard a person say:  A pious person can’t grasp the reality of piety unless and until there is nothing more beloved to him/her than turning to Allah Most High.  She fainted.

 

People would prefer her over Hadhrat Rabi’a Basriyya.  May Allah be well pleased with them.

 

Hadhrat ‘Afeeratul A’abidah (May Allah be well pleased with her)

 

Once, some worshippers came to pay their respects to her.  She asked them:  How are you?  They said:  We seek your supplications.  She said:  If the sinners went dumb, then this old woman of yours couldn’t speak because of being dumb.  However, supplication is a Sunnah.  She then said:  May Allah Most High host you with heavenly fruits.  May He keep death before you and me and safeguard our faith until we die and He is most merciful.