It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah
be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) said: “On the night on which I was taken on the
Night Journey (Isra’), a beautiful fragrance came to me.
I said: O Jibreel, what is this beautiful fragrance? He said: This is
the fragrance of the hairdresser of Pharaoh’s daughter and her children.
I said: What is their story?
He said: Whilst she was combing
the hair of Pharaoh’s daughter one day, the iron comb fell from her hand
and she said, ‘Bismillaah (in the name of Allaah).’ The daughter of
Pharaoh said: ‘My father?’ She said: ‘No. My Lord and the Lord of your
father is Allaah.’ She said: ‘I will tell him about that.’ She said:
‘Yes.’ So she told him and he summoned her and said: ‘O So and so, do
you have a Lord other than me?’ She said: ‘Yes, my Lord and your Lord is
Allaah.’ He ordered that a baqarah (lit. “cow”) made of copper be
heated up, then he ordered that she and her children be thrown into it.
She said: ‘I have a request to make of you.’ He said: ‘What is your
request?’ She said: ‘I would like my bones and my children’s bones to be
gathered together in one cloth and buried.’ He said: ‘This will be done
for you.’ He ordered that her children be thrown into it in front of
her, one by one, until they came to the last one who was an infant boy
who was still being breastfed. It was as if she wavered because of him,
but he said: ‘O mother, go ahead, for the punishment of this world is
easier to bear than the punishment of the hereafter.’ So she went
ahead.” Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: Four infants
spoke: ‘Eesa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him), the companion of Jurayj,
the witness of Yoosuf and the son of the hairdresser of Pharaoh’s
daughter.
Narrated by Imam Ahmad in al-Musnad (1/309), al-Tabaraani (12280), Ibn Hibbaan (2903) and al-Haakim (2/496).
Al-Dhahabi said in al-‘Aluw (84): This hadeeth has a hasan isnaad. Ibn
Katheer said in al-Tafseer (3/15): There is nothing wrong with its
isnaad. Its isnaad was classed as saheeh by the scholar Ahmad Shaakir in
his commentary on al-Musnad (4/295). Al-Arna’oot said in Takhreej
al-Musnad (5/30-31, no. 2821): Its isnaad is hasan.
Thus it is
clear that this story is saheeh and is proven from our Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and it is not taken from Jewish or
Christian sources.
With regard to the phrase “He ordered that
a baqarah (lit. “cow”) made of copper be heated up”, Ibn al-Atheer said
in al-Nihaayah (1/145): Al-Haafiz Abu Moosa said: It seems to me that
this does not refer to something that was made in the shape of a cow,
rather it may have been a vast pot or kettle, which they called a
baqarah, taken from the word tabaqqur which means vastness, or it may
have been something that could have held a whole cow because of its
large size, so it was called thus.
And Allaah knows best.