Sayyida Nafisa -part Ii

[أبو الحسنيين]

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IN THE NAME OF GOD THE COMPASSIONATE THE MERCIFUL


Subject: THE BLESSED AHL AL BAYT OR PROPHET MOHAMED’S HOUSEHOLD
-SAYYIDA NAFISA PART II

“And Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, ye members of the family, and to make you pure and spotless” Holy - Quran 33-33.



One of the notable merchants of Cairo, Jamaluddin Abdullah al-Jassas, hosted her in his home for many months, and it was obvious that from every distant corner of Egypt people used to come to visit her and to take blessings from her. Sayyida Nafisa felt that her presence might become as a burden on her hosts, so she moved to a place of her own, in the District of Khalaf, in the Mosque of Shajarat al-Durr, in Khalifa Street, now known as the Al-Hasaniyya District. The house to which she moved was owned by an Egyptian woman named Ummu Hani, renowned for her piety, and as a result this move did not bring any surcease to the flood of Egyptians coming from every far distant area, often in huge groups, to visit her and receive her Blessings or (Baraka), especially women who came simply to touch her and request her Du`a.

In this very context, the Writer of this Biography, the late and Imam Sheikh Metwalli Ash-Sha`rawi has elucidated the true meaning of intercession (shafa`a) in the understanding of the scholars and saints (Awliya) of Islam, showing that it is a method chosen by the early spiritual pioneers of Islam (As-Salaf as-Salih) as the most excellent means of approach to Allah and His good pleasure, the path to perfection and purification.


At that point Sayyida Nafisa began to feel a tremendous burden due to the huge gatherings of people visiting her and asking her Du`a, who came camping around her home, often overnight. She decided to leave Egypt and return to Madina al-Munawwara, feeling she was losing time for worship in meeting the endless throngs, once discovering her decision to leave, thousands of people sought out Sayyida Nafisa, begging her to reverse her decision and remain in Egypt.

They swarmed the Governor of Egypt, As-Sirri bin al-Hakam, asking him to request Sayyida Nafisa to stay as a result of this request , he paid her a visit, politely urging her to stay for the sake of the people who so needed her Baraka and her prayers , to the great joy of the poor Egyptians ,she informed him that she had decided to stay in Egypt ;however, she said, “I am a weak lady and these people have gathered in thousands which prevents me from observing my daily recitations. Also my home is tiny and unable to accommodate these huge crowds. I began to feel extreme longing for my grandfather the Blessed Prophet, so my heart is calling me to return to Madina to visit my grandfather's grave.”

The governor replied, “O granddaughter of Prophet! I promise you I will try my best to solve this problem, for I know your house is small. But from the depths of my heart, without asking anything in return, for the sake of Allah I am giving you a mansion I own in the district of Dirr as-Sabah; I beg you to accept this house from me and to use it in whatever way you wish”

Sayyida Nafisa paused for many minutes, engaged in deep meditation; finally she lifted her head from her reverie and said, “I accept your offer of your house.” Then she said, “O governor of Egypt! What am I to do with these huge crowds of people?” He said, “Assign Saturday and Wednesday for people to visit, and dedicate the other days purely for worship.” Likewise, Sayyida Nafisa moved to the larger house, granted to her as a gift (hiba), without giving anything in return, for the governor had granted it to her solely out of regard for her personal piety and sincerity. She followed his suggestion, relocated her residence and received people on Saturdays and Wednesdays, devoting the remaining days to worship of her Lord.

Sayyida Nafisa hosted most of the scholars of her time, experts in jurisprudence, Hadith, and Quranic explanation, but by far the greatest scholarly gatherings were those she hosted for the pillars of Tasawwuf or Mysticism and the pious of her time (Aqtab al-Tasawwuf), among these pillars of Tasawwuf and Fiqh was Imam Al-Shafi`i who had moved to Egypt from Baghdad in 109AH., five years after Sayyida Nafisa's arrival in Cairo.

Imam Shafi`i stayed in Egypt for over four years until his passing. There he classified his books and assembled his school of jurisprudence; it was in Egypt that he acquired fame and people came to sit in his Majlis or association , his new school of thought was modified greatly from the school he had developed earlier in Baghdad, according to the change of times, culture and customs. His judgments were written in the book “Al-Umm”.

From Imam Shafi`i's careful tuning of his "Baghdadi school" to produce the different "Egyptian school", we see the importance he gave, in making a juristic decision about an issue, of taking into account not only the relevant verses of Qur`an and applicable Hadith, but the characteristics of the people he was giving the ruling for as well, including aspects of culture, behaviour, the overall public level of morality and other intangibles. So whereas Imam Shafi`i could be said to have differed
with himself on some issues, unfortunately today, differences in jurisprudence between the Imams have caused one group of Muslims to accuse another of insincerity, innovation (bida), unbelief (kufr) and worst of all, polytheism, (shirk).

Imam Shafi`i began teaching after Fajr prayer every day his students of Quran and its exegesis (Tafsir) and other distinguished scholars would sit to study, immediately after sunrise the Hadith students would arrive and the students of exegesis would leave .Following them were the students of Hadith explanation, followed by the group of speculative philosophy (Kalam) students, then students of jurisprudence (Fiqh) shortly before noon.

Thus Imam Shafi`i would sit at least six hours, with
different groups of students, teaching one course after another. The fertility and fruitfulness of Imam Shafi`i's Fiqh was a result of his vast intellect and life experience, acquired during his extensive travels
throughout Muslim lands, and in his ongoing debates with other scholars.


When Imam Shafi`i arrived in Egypt, a relationship evolved with Sayyida Nafisa, based on adherence to faith and piety in religion. He used to visit her in her home going to and returning from his associations at the Mosque of “Amr Ibn Al As” in the Fistat district ; moreover ,Imam Shafi`i used to lead Taraweeh in the Masjid of Sayyida Nafisa and she would pray following him for the entire Ramadan. Historians say that despite his tremendous scholarship, Imam Shafi`i used to visit Sayyida Nafisa to ask her invocation (Du`a) and seek her Baraka (blessing).

Imam Shafi`i also used to sit in Sayyida Nafisa's association, learning Hadith from her , when on occasion he was sick, he would send one of his students to sit in her association. He would invariably tell her, “Your cousin ash-Shafi`i is sick and requests your Du`a” and immediately Sayyida Nafisa would raise her hands in supplication, asking Allah to cure Imam Shafi`i , often by the time the messenger returned to Imam ash-Shafi`i he would find him already cured, by means of her Du`a.

One time Imam ash-Shafi`i fell sick and as usual sent his messenger asking Sayyida Nafisa's Du`a , She sent him the message, “Tell him that may Allah make his meeting with Him the Best of meetings and may Allah lift him to His proximity “, when the messenger returned with this message, the Imam understood that his death was imminent, and straight away , Imam Shafi`i wrote his will, stating that Sayyida Nafisa should pray the funeral prayers (Salat al-Janaza) over him , he died at the end of Rajab, 204AH.

Sayyida Nafisa also executed his will, incapacitated due to her constant worship, they brought the Imam's body from his house in al-Fistat district to her home, and there she prayed the funeral prayer (Salat al- Janaza) over him from the women's section, following Imam al-Buwaiti who led the prayer.

We will recall to History, that not only did Imam Ash-Shafi`i sat with our Sayyida Nafisa, learnt Hadith from her, requested her Du`a and sought her Baraka, but so too did many other scholars and great Sufis ,among them were al-Imam Uthman bin Said al-Misri, Dhun-Nun al-Masri, Masri al-Samarkandi, Imam Abu Bakr al-Adfawi, (Author of one of the greatest explanations of Qur`an, al-Istiftah fi ulum al-Qur`an), and Abul Hasan bin Ali bin Ibrahim who wrote ten volumes on Quranic grammar, and many others.
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