Sayyida Nafisa

Nafisah bint Al-Hasan
Masjid having Nafisah's Mausoleum by its side, Cairo, Egypt.
Title Sayyidah, at-Tahirah
Born Nafisah
762 ACE, 145 AH
Makkah, Al-Hijaz, the Arabian Peninsula, Asia
Died 824 ACE, 208 AH
Cairo, Egypt
Resting place Cairo, Egypt
Other names Nafisah at-Tahirah (Nafisah the Pure)
Region Egypt, Africa
Occupation Islamic scholar
Religion Islam

Sayyidah Nafisah bint Al-Hasan (Arabic: الـسـيـدة نـفـيـسـة بـنـت الـحـسـن‎) was a woman of the Bayt (Arabic: بـيـت‎, Household) of the Islamic Nabi (Arabic: نَـبِي‎, Prophet) Muhammad, and a scholar and teacher of Islam.[1]

Biography

She was born in Mecca in 762 CE, to Al-Hasan al-Anwar, the son of Zayd al-Ablaj, son of Al-Hasan the grandson of Muhammad. She spent her later life in Cairo, where there is a mosque bearing her name.[1]

Marriage and career

She married Is-haq al-Mutamin, son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, himself a descendant of Muhammad. She emigrated with him from Al-Hijaz to Egypt. She had two children, a son named 'Qasim' and a daughter named 'Umm Kulthum'.[2]

Her students traveled from faraway places and among them was Idris al-Shafi‘i, the man behind the Shafi‘i school of Sunni fiqh. She financially sponsored his education for him.[3]

Legacy

Her piety was of such renown that people came from far and near to seek her blessings; hagiographers recount her decision to leave Egypt due to the throngs that came to seek the blessings of Ahl al-Bayt, leaving little time for prayer. The governor of Egypt and the pleas of the people for her not to leave Egypt convinced her to stay. Numerous accounts are given of the miracles she performed for those who sought her aid directly or through prayer, such as curing a blind child, intervening when the Nile did not rise one year as expected, preventing a ship from sinking, helping a poor woman who spent her life spinning wool to support her family, freeing a prisoner through her intercession and seeing people through their difficulties.[2]

Sayyidah Nafisah, Sayyidah Ruqayyah and Sayyidah Zaynab bint ‘Ali are traditionally considered the patron saints of the madinah (Arabic: مـديـنـة‎, city) of Cairo.

References

  1. 1 2 Nafisa at-Tahira
  2. 1 2 Zayn Kassam and Bridget Blomfield "Remembering Fatima and Zaynab: Gender in Perspective", in "The Shi'i World", edited by Farhad Daftory. I.B Tauris Press 2015
  3. ↑ Aliyah, Zainab. "Great Women in Islamic History: A Forgotten Legacy". Young Muslim Digest. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
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