Bismillah
Praise be Allah the All Hearing, Wise, Merciful Creator of all Creations, and prayer and peace be upon His final Messenger Mohamed Ibn Abdullah and all prophets and messengers.
Because of similarity also of the type of test, we are Insh a Allah introducing Hajar may Allah be Pleased with her. Mother of Muslims and mother of Prophet Ismail blessing and peace be upon him. Both her and Umm Mussa endured a child related trial.
<b>Who is Hajar may Allah be pleased with her?</b>
Hajar was an Egyptian prettey women who grew up in a poor Egyptian family. Because of her well noted beauty, good manner and intelligence, the royal family liked and recruited her to be among the female slaves and servants working in the royal palace. She and her family were pleased with this social status improvement.
However, during her sincere and devoted service, she observed how the king was a tyrant who is infatuated with women. She hated the king for that and wished that she can have a way out of his service. He spares no opportunity to assault and transgress against women no matter who they are. At that time, Ibraheem blessing and peace be upon him arrived to Egypt. He was married with Sara who was known to be very pretty. Ibraheem had already learnt about this tyrant king and his deep love for women, that he does not care about their marital status. Thus, as soon as they landed Egypt, the tyrant king's court officers informed him about the newly arrived very pretty woman. He sent his soldiers to bring her in so that he can have sex with her. Concurrently, Hajar learnt from women around the palace about the pretty righteous woman who landed Egypt with a stranger. Actually, she also heard how the unjust king had learnt about this pretty woman and that king sent his soldiers to get her. When Sara arrived to the palace, Hajar realized signs of piety on her face, she felt sorry for her and wished that Allah would rescue her from the hands of this unjust and protect her against illegal relation with him. However, residents of the palace heard the king screaming as Sara came into his room. What happened is that he tried to approach her three times and in those three times, his hand was paralyzed , he couldn’t even touch her. He screamed calling his soldiers telling them how they got him a devil not a woman. He commanded her out of his land. But he also ordered them to give her one of the palace's slave girls to be her servant in return for Sara invoking upon Allah to release the king's hand which Allah Fulfilled. Hajar wished that she would be the one given to Sara. Her wish became true and she was given to Sara. Hajar was very happy for this. When three of them: Ibraheem blessing and peace be upon him, Sara and Hajar went back to Palestine, Hajar demonstrated utmost devotion in serving Sara. She observed how different Ibraheem and Sara are in all aspects. She also learnt that Ibraheem was Allah's Messenger and for that her happiness was immense. Ibraheem blessing and peace be upon him called her for Islam and she accepted.
Sara was infertile, and knowing how much her husband was longing for a child, she communicated to her dear slave girl and friend her decision. She decided to grant her to Ibraheem for marriage. They got married and Allah Willed for Hajar to become pregnant. But as a human being, after giving birth to Ishaq, Sara grew jealous and requested that Ibraheem blessing and peace be upon him takes Hajar away.
<b>The first major test:
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We said first, because Hajar in particular encountered two major trials that no mother would endure unless she is special in the way she perceives issues. In response to his first wife's wish, Ibraheem was thinking how to handle this situation. Allah Revealed an order to take both the wife and son to the desert of Mecca.
<b>" O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in an uncultivable valley by Your Sacred House (the Ka'bah at Makkah); in order, O our Lord, that they may perform the prayers, so fill some hearts among men with love towards them, and (O Allah) provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks. (Quran 14:37)
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We are not going to elaborate on the wisdom behind Allah's Command since we need to focus on the condition of this young mother being taken to a desert. Not only this, but left alone together with her infant with no other companions. All what Ibraheem did was immediately submit to Allah's command, order his wife to prepare for a long trip. She landed with him in the desert. To her surprise, he left her with her still suckling infant with nothing but some dates and pour of water. He turned around and started walking back. She looked around to find no sign of life. Scared and shocked, she asked where are you going, he didn’t reply. She repeated her question three times with the same reaction from Ibraheem. At this point, she felt that her prophet husband is fulfilling a devine command. So she asked him, did your Lord command you with this, still without turning his back towards her, he replied yes.
<b>How did she handle the test?</b>
What did the pious young wife do, what did she say? Did she scream and kicked the ground? Did she accuse her husband of insanity?? No. Rather she said with deep certainity, thus, Allah Shall never abandon us. She went back to her infant. Ibraheem blessing and peace be upon him continued his trip and at this point he raised his hands to the sky and make the supplication as above mentioned in the noble Ayah. That is all he did.
After two days Hajar ran out of the supply of dates and water Ibraheem left before going back. Her infant started crying badly out of hunger and thirst. The lonely mother was helplessly looking at the infant not knowing what to do. Did she despair of Allah's mercy? Did she complain about her husband's behaviour? No. what did she do. She looked around for a sign of humans, but could see nothing. So she placed her infant on the sand and mounted on the close by mountain trying to look for any sign. But nothing, so she ran to the other side and did the same with the same result. She shuttled between the two mountains 7 times. Till she was totally helpless and distressed. She went back to the infant looking at him almost dying of dire hunger and thirst. At this point, Allah's Mercy clearly manifested. Allah Sent Archangel Gabriel who stroke the ground with his wing. A water spring was opened just next to the infant to the relief of Hajar who ran towards it with a heart fully feeling grateful to Allah, praising Allah with heart and tongue. She started taking out of the water and trying to control its flowing telling it Zimmi Zimmi meaning tight together tight together.
Insh a Allah we are going to tackle the second test on another post.
<b>Lessons learnt:</b>
1. She grew up to be a pious, honest, and watchful woman.
2. Allah Blessed her with Islam, marriage to a Messenger and prophet.
3. She maintained a level of faith that allowed her not to depend on her mental abilities to overcome her test but rather only her faith and trust in Allah.
4. She endured a hard test manifested in her infant life jeopardy.
5. She accepted Allah's Will and Command communicated by her husband.
6. She submitted herself to Allah and had definite feeling that Allah Shall protect her and her child.
7. Allah not only manifested His mercy, but also established her behaviour as a ritual that we apply and will continue to apply as part of Haj and Ummrah till the day after in order for Muslims to be always mindful of how Allah rewards those who practice patience and accept Allah's Will without an argument.