Asiya

Asiya, the wife of Pharaoh, is one of the two women the Quran presents as an example for believers. Living at the very heart of the palace of the greatest tyrant, she believed in God and implored a home near Him in Paradise, refusing the injustice that surrounded her.

The Quran proposes the wife of Pharaoh as a model of faith. While she lived in the palace of the tyrant who claimed to be god and oppressed the believers, she kept a pure heart turned towards the true God.

Her prayer, reported by the Quran, has remained famous: 'My Lord, build for me near You a house in Paradise, and save me from Pharaoh and his deeds, and save me from the wrongdoing people.'

The Quran does not name this woman nor detail her fate in the text; tradition calls her Asiya and reports that she was persecuted for her faith. But the essential is in the Quran: God chose to make her an example, to show that faith can flourish in the most hostile of environments, and that one's environment never excuses injustice.

Asiya's status among the greatest women is established by hadith: 'Many men have attained perfection, but among women only Maryam bint Imran and Asiya, wife of Pharaoh, have done so' (Bukhari no. 3411). The hadith also names them together: 'It suffices you among the women of the world: Maryam, Khadija, Fatima and Asiya, wife of Pharaoh' (Tirmidhi, from Anas — authenticated).

Asiya teaches that no one is a prisoner of their environment: one can believe and remain upright at the very heart of injustice. The Quran raises her as an example for all believers, men and women, as proof that faith depends neither on rank nor on place.

وَضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا امْرَأَتَ فِرْعَوْنَ إِذْ قَالَتْ رَبِّ ابْنِ لِي عِندَكَ بَيْتًا فِي الْجَنَّةِ وَنَجِّنِي مِن فِرْعَوْنَ وَعَمَلِهِ وَنَجِّنِي مِنَ الْقَوْمِ الظَّالِمِينَ

Et Allah propose aux croyants l’exemple de la femme de Pharaon qui implora : « Veuille, Seigneur, me faire construire auprès de Toi une demeure au Paradis, me délivrer de Pharaon et de ses agissements et me sauver de ce peuple impie ! »

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