(Mu‘aazah bintu ‘Abdillah Al-‘Adawiyyah [rahimahallah] #1)
There once lived, in the city of Basrah, a woman by the name of Mu‘aazah bintu ‘Abdillah Al-‘Adawiyyah (rahimahallah). She was a student of Sayyidah ‘Aaishah (radhiyallahu ‘anha).
Mu‘aazah (rahimahallah) was well known for her abundant nafl ‘ibaadah. She had such love for salaah that she would perform approximately six hundred rakaats of nafl salaah daily. She was married to an illustrious Taabi‘ee named Abus Sahbaa, Silah bin Ashyam (rahimahullah). Their love for ‘ibaadah can be gauged from the fact that on their wedding night, she and her husband stood and commenced nafl salaah, and remained engaged in their salaah right until the time for Fajr Salaah dawned upon them! They thus spent their entire first night engaged in salaah.
At the beginning of every day, Mu‘aazah (rahimahallah) would say to herself, “Perhaps today is the day in which I will pass away.” With this in mind, she would exert herself in ‘ibaadah the entire day, without resting. When the evening would set in, she would address herself saying, “Perhaps tonight is the night in which I will pass away.” With this thought in mind, she would similarly exert herself in ‘ibaadah the entire night, without resting.
A statement of hers has been recorded with regard to spending the entire night in ‘ibaadah. She says, “I am surprised at an eye which is able to sleep, despite being well aware of the long sleep it will experience in the darkness of the grave.”
During the winter season, she would deliberately avoid wearing thick, warm clothing as she feared that the warmth would make her fall asleep and affect her ‘ibaadah.
When Mu‘aazah (rahimahallah) was close to passing away, she began to cry, and thereafter began to laugh. When someone asked her the reason for her crying and laughing, she replied, “As for my crying, I realized that I will soon be separated from fasting, salaah and zikr (as I will no longer be able to perform ‘ibaadah after passing away), and it was this that caused me to cry. As for my laughing, I saw Abus Sahbaa (my late husband) enter the courtyard of our home with a group of people, and he was dressed in two green garments. By Allah! I never before saw people such as these! It was this sight that caused me to laugh.”
Mu‘aazah (rahimahallah) thereafter said, “I do not think that I will reach the next salaah.” Thus it transpired exactly as she had said; she passed away before the next salaah time could set in.
(Al-Bidaayah wan Nihaayah vol. 9, pg. 166 and Sifatus Safwah vol. 2, pg. 240)
Lessons:
1. The hadeeth teaches us to inculcate within ourselves the awareness and consciousness of death as it will serve as a great deterrence from sin and aid one in gaining the special proximity of Allah Ta‘ala. Hence, Mu‘aazah (rahimahallah) had such an awareness of death that she felt as if every day was her last.
2. When a person abandons sin and commits himself to ‘ibaadah, then Allah Ta‘ala blesses him with the sweetness of imaan. Once the sweetness of imaan is acquired, a person will enjoy such ecstasy in their ‘ibaadah that even the enjoyment of the first night of marriage will not be able to compare.