Abdullah bin Zubair RA
was A’ishah’s RA nephew. He was very dear to her, as she had
brought him up. He did not like her spending so much in charity,
while she herself lived in difficulty and poverty. He mentioned this
to somebody and said:”I must stop my aunt from doing that.” She
heard about this and was so unhappy that she took an oath not speak
to Abdullah RA for the rest of her life. Abdullah bin Zubair RA
was very upset by her oath. He sent many people to speak to her for
him, but she told them, "I have taken an oath and I am not ready
to break it." He at last, took two persons from the family of
Nabi's SAW mother to her house to plead for him. A`ishah RA allowed
the persons to enter the house and to speak to her from behind a
curtain. Ibn Zubair also quietly got in with them.
When these persons started talking, he
could not control himself and crossed the curtain and clung to his
aunt, crying and begging her for forgiveness. The two persons also
begged and reminded her of Nabi's SAW stopping a Muslim from refusing
to speak with another Muslim. When she heard this , she got
frightened of Allah's SWT unhappiness and the result there of, and
began to cry very bitterly. She forgave Zubair RA and began to speak
with him. She then began freeing slave after slave in repayment of
her oath, till 40 slaves had been set free by her. Even later on,
whenever she thought of the breaking of her oath, she cried so much
that her shawl would become wet with her tears.
How much do
we worry about the oaths we take from morning till evening? It is for
every one to check his own self and answer. Come and see the people
who had real respect for Allah SWT and His name; how deeply did they
feel when they were unable to fulfil an oath. We see A`ishah RA
crying so much whenever she remembered that incident about the
breaking of her oath.
