Asma bint Yazid

ProfileAsma bint Yazid

Asma (may Allah be pleased with her) was of the Banu Abd al-Ashhal of the Aws in Madinah, the daughter of Yazid ibn as-Sakan. According to the early biographies, her father was one of those who stayed beside the Prophet ﷺ at Uhud and was killed there, so wounded that he could not be recognised. Ibn Hajar records that she was known as the spokeswoman of the women, because they would send her when they wanted to put something to the Prophet ﷺ.

She was the first woman divorced in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, and, until then, a divorced woman had no waiting period. When she was divorced, Allah revealed the rule for a waiting period (Sunan Abi Dawud, graded hasan). She narrated several dozen hadith, mostly from the Prophet's ﷺ gatherings with the women of Madinah. She told how the Prophet ﷺ once passed by a group of women sitting in the mosque and greeted them with a gesture of his hand (Jami at-Tirmidhi, graded hasan), and that he passed by her among a group of women and said the greeting aloud (Sunan Abi Dawud, graded sahih; Sunan Ibn Majah, graded hasan). She described how the sleeves of the Prophet's ﷺ shirt reached his wrists (Jami at-Tirmidhi, graded hasan). She reported that she heard him say that the best of people are those who, when they are seen, Allah is remembered (Sunan Ibn Majah, graded hasan), and that she heard him recite the verse telling those who have wronged themselves not to despair of Allah's mercy (Jami at-Tirmidhi, graded hasan). According to the early biographies, she used to cook food and wait outside the mosque to invite the Prophet ﷺ after the afternoon prayer, and she said that the blessing of the day he and forty of the Ansar ate from her small dish stayed with her household.

She is best known for the day she spoke for the women. In a report in al-Bayhaqi's Shu'ab al-Iman, which is not graded here, she came to the Prophet ﷺ while he was with his Companions and said that she came as the envoy of the women, and that there was no woman in the East or West who did not feel as she did. She said that Allah had sent the Prophet ﷺ to men and women alike, that they believed in him, but that the women stayed in their houses, met the needs of their husbands and bore their children, while men had the Friday and congregational prayers, visits to the sick, funerals, Hajj after Hajj, and, more than anything, jihad. When the men went out for Hajj or battle, the women guarded their homes and property and brought up the children, and she asked whether they shared in the reward. The Prophet ﷺ turned to his Companions and asked if they had ever heard a woman ask a better question about her religion. They said that they had not thought a woman could say such a thing. The Prophet ﷺ then told her to tell the women that a woman's good care of her husband, her seeking his pleasure and following what he asked of her was equal to all of that. She went away pleased with the answer.

According to the early biographies, she was at the Battle of Yarmuk against the Byzantines, serving water and caring for the wounded. When the Byzantines charged she picked up a tent pole and killed nine soldiers with it.

WatchA lecture about Asma bint Yazid

Meet them inWhere they appear in the seerah

SourcesSources for this profile