Pages from the Ikhwan al Muslimoon: A Mushaf Returned

An Account by the Wife of as Shaheed Yusuf Hawwash an Ikhwan companion executed together with as shaheed Sayyid Qutb in 1966

We lived together for two years, and he spent the rest of his life in prisons - recounted the wife of Yusuf Hawwash.

Marriage and Prison

Muhammad Yusuf Hawwaash (May Allah have mercy upon him) was born on the 12th of October 1922. He joined the Ikhwaan (Muslim Brotherhood), during his studies in the Gharbiyyah province. He married me in 1953 and I had from him two children, Ahmad and Sumayyah. They are both now doctors, and each has four children.

Our marriage initiated when one of the brothers recommended me to him as a wife, to help him carry the burden of  da`wah. Indeed we almost ended the matter due to Muhammad's problems, until my brother advised me to pray Salaat-ul-Istikhaarah.

He was imprisoned more than once during the beginning of our married life. He was imprisoned after the Aqd [wedding contract], then when he was released, we stayed together for one year, then he was imprisoned in 1954 and after the sentence was passed, he gave me the choice of staying with him or divorce. So I reprimanded him harshly, and informed him of something he was not aware of before. That once he was hospitalised, we found that one of his kidneys was severely damaged, because of an old illness he got when he was imprisoned as a student, in a cell filled with freezing cold water in winter. [At that time] the brothers offered me to cancel [the engagement] if I wanted, but I refused not to be with him on this journey just because of a situation that Allah Almighty had placed him in during one of his tribulations.

And when we married in 1953 I bore Sumayyah after ten months of marriage, and after that in just 17 days, the security services came to arrest him, and so he stayed on the run for a while.

During this time, he came to visit me once. After this, one of my sisters came, to take me and host me during my husband's absence, but when we came to leave, we found the security services surrounding us, and they wanted to arrest me.

So I decided that I would not go with them silently, until I exposed their evil system in front of the people who they had tricked, so I shouted in my highest voice that I would not go with them, whatever they do, and I criticized their actions. Being a neighbour, Anwar Sadat was there and he relented.

So I said to him: ‘I am going to the house of your master and the crown over your head, the respected Murshid (al-Hudaybi) [the head of Ikhwaan]’. I remained with the wife of the Murshid and his daughters alone in the house, because all the men in his family were in prison, until my husband appeared, and was tried and sentenced to a total of 55 years.

Muhammad and Sayyid Qutb's close friendship probably started after their sentencing in 1955, for he had been given 55 years, and the shaheed Sayyid Qutb 15; both were released in 1964. They remained together throughout this period, whether in prison or in hospital, so their relationship developed and strengthened for each other. They complemented each other - Muhammad would benefit from and learn, Fikr (thought), culture, Ilm (knowledge) and depth of the shaheed Sayyid, while Sayyid would learn about the history of Ikhwaan, their organization, Manhaj (methodology), and anything related to the Jamaa`ah (group) from the shaheed Muhammad, because he had joined before him. And so, they were very attached to each other. Muhammad would say: ‘Every chapter and every phrase in the books of Ustaadh Sayyid, I know when it was written, what the occasion was, and the discussion about it when it appeared as it did.’

Brief Release 1964 and Imprisoned Again

Of his (last) imprisonment in 1965, after his release in 1964, I went into hospital for an operation, and after coming out, he said to me: ‘You should make dhikr and seek forgiveness during your work, and you will be rewarded, and have patience and Ihtisaab (looking to your reward in the Hereafter), in being good to your relatives.’

He would pray two rak`ahs, (units of prayer) until the food was prepared, and he continuously prayed from nine in the morning to two in the afternoon. Whenever I opened the door, I would find him praying and crying. Until we heard a bang at the door of the house, and found it was the security services. So I opened the door to his room, and informed him that the security services were there and that he should finish his prayer and see them. And he did just that. They tried to take him with them, but he asked them to leave him until he could make ghusl. He then asked me extensively for a Mushaf [copy of the Qur'aan], which I did not have except the one which I had written a small message to Ahmad [our son] and I intended to give it to him as a present. So Muhammad promised me that it would be returned to me even if it had to go to Mars and back, and so I gave it to him.

Regime's Vindictiveness and Oppression

Then the oppression of the regime began to increase in harshness. For after I had been demoted and transferred from a headmistress to a teacher, then from one province to another, then from normal teaching to special needs. I recall that in Muhammad's first period of imprisonment, the security services started their campaign to try to imprison me.

Eventually, they achieved what they wanted and I was imprisoned for six months in Al-Qanaatir prison, which I spent in constant nazeef [bleeding], until I had to have a surgical operation to remove my womb after that. I did not attend court except for the sentencing.

When Muhammad finally saw me in my weak state, he told me that he did not know of my imprisonment, until the torture dogs had ripped his clothes in prison, and he had sent for clothes from the house.

Our son Ahmad cleverly gave the guard old clothes so that they would not steal the new clothes. And when he saw them (only our children visiting him), he knew that I was not in the house.

It was in this painful situation that when my sister bore a baby daughter, and Ahmad asked me to have for him a sister, and he would put up a tantrum, nag and cry, so I said: ‘Your father has to be here’, and when we went to visit his father, he kept crying and pulling him saying: ‘Come with me father to the house, and mum can have a sister for me. Who is stopping you? Him?’ and he pointed to the guard, ‘Don't be scared of him, I will hit him, and you come with me.’, until he made me cry and subsequently made the guards cry.

Our Final Farewell

The final moments of our farewell - they asked us to pay a final visit to him, before the carrying out of the sentence, so I took Ahmad and Sumayyah with me. I prepared for him good food, and we went to see him, but they refused to let me take the food in. They kept taking us into a tent to wait for some time, then taking us to another, until we had been into four tents, and in the end the guards brought him, dragging him in a derogatory manner, and 'threw' him in front of us inside the tent. And Muhammad would say: ‘I don't know what to be remorseful over? They want me to appeal for clemency and to regret what I have done, but what have I done to be regretful about?’

And when I asked the officer to bring in the food, and he refused, Muhammad said to me: "Don't tire yourself, and waste the time that we can spend together. If they bring the food in, then they will insist that I eat now, but I am fasting." Ahmad went and sat on his father’s lap and kept crying saying: "The boys keep saying to me, you, whose father wanted to kill Abdul-Nasser". So Muhammad comforted him: "The scales today are reversed, and they will not be corrected today, but indeed: ‘We Shall set up the Scales of Justice for the Day of Judgment.’ (Sûrah al-Anbiyâ’: 47)

He advised me to good with the children, and I advised him to good with himself, and the visit ended.

On the morning of 29th of August 1966, the radio broadcasted the news that the death sentence had been carried out on the three Martyrs. And I was preparing breakfast at the time, so I kept saying ‘Inna lillaahi wa innaa ilayhi raaji`oon’, and seeking forgiveness, with my tears not stopping, while no one was aware of my situation. The murderers were not content with this, and sent for me, and made me sign a consent that there would not be a janaazah (funeral prayer) for him, and they gave me his things except that Ahmad's Mushaf (Qur’an) was not amongst them.

About My Husband

Muhammad (may Allah have mercy on him), was of kind manners. One of his most important attributes was his generosity. The helper who used to work for him, once complained to me after the Aqd (marriage contract), that he did not eat from the food that she would prepare, because his house was always open to the brothers who were students, away from home or in hardship. Similarly in Ithaar [preference of others], he would not accept at all that there could be a misunderstanding between him and his brothers. He was clean in body and manners. He would make ghusl more than five times a day apart from wudoo'.

My relationship with my shaheed husband strengthened despite the short time we spent together, I continue to discover good characteristics about him through his  letters from prison concerning Tarbiyah [educative] lessons in Aaqeedah [belief], Imaan [faith], Sabr [patience], and Istiqamaah [steadfastness]. They were a provision for me on this path, and here are some examples:

On Eed-ul-fitr he sent a letter saying: ‘Eed would come to the sahaabah, and the honourable of them had been martyred, the loved of them had been lost, and they would have been tested in their spouses, parents and children. But all of this would not dampen the happiness of `eed in their souls. In fact this is the real meaning of `eed, effort, work, and sacrifice. So we, with the conditions we are in, are the most rightful of people to celebrate `eed, and the most realistic in our happiness for what Allah has given us, and for our knowing Him. And to observe thankfulness to Allah for it, on this great day. We now taste this deen, and feel it, and we find it in our khalajaat, fresh and soft just like the day it was revealed, alive and beating in our hearts and our blood mixing with it.’

Just as he was gentle in feelings, he would place his hand on the place of pain, and would nurse it with softness, and gentle medicine. He says in another letter; "It is hard on me, while I spend these moments with you, to see on you the signs of struggle and the indications of tiredness, and it is as if the journey has been long, and the hardships heavy. And I do not deny the hardships on this path, and I do not claim that I do not feel its difficulty, for indeed I am a weak human. Except that I feel, and I would like you to feel with me, that on either side of this long path, are oases with shade, that passers-by can relax in, if they tire, and in whose shade travellers can rest whenever the toils of travel take their toll. So would you like that we turn to one of these oases, perhaps we may find in it cool and calm? Then we can take from it water and food, which will help us continue our journey, and finish our travel?"

And here is what he wrote in a copy of the Book of Allah Almighty which he gave to me as a present:

In the Name of Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful,

To you. To you my wife.

To you O sister in creed.

To you O partner in Jihad.

To you O calmness of the soul and mother of the child.

To you O flower of the heart. To you this great book, upon whose law Allah brought us together as spouses, through which He gathered us as brothers, and in whose path He made us in the ranks of the believers two soldiers.

To you my beloved this grand book, in appreciation, love and faithfulness from your husband. Lest Allah may bring me back to you, and gather us under His aim.

And peace be upon you, and mercy from Allah, and His blessings, and all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

12th Shawwaal 1383

Aside from these cherished letters, I heard a lot from his brothers speaking about him. Asked about his favourite season and he chose: ‘Autumn, as the falling of the leaves reminds me of the end of one's allotted time.’

In his dreams, he also saw the Prophet s.a.w more that once, and Yusuf (as) and `Eesaa (as), and he would have true visions.

If he would become very tired in the long prison queues he would say: ‘Yes my Lord, how gentle you are.’ And if they spoke about torture in front of him, he would reply: (…then leave them in their wasteful discourse and trifling) (Al-An`aam:91)

And if they discussed with him the expectations of sentences, he would say: "Indeed these do not judge, and for Allah is judgment, and Allah does not judge except by the truth and those who they call upon beside him, do not judge by anything. What are we and they while in the qabd (grasp) of Allah like an atom? If Allah sees us as worthy of Martyrdom, He will choose us for it, and if not, then Allah's qadar - destiny will pass us and them."

A Mushaf Returned

Ahmad's Mushaf (Qur’an) has a story . When they imprisoned him in 1965, and he took the mushaf [Qur’an] with him, I did not find it in the belongings after his Martyrdom. And after twenty years, while we were in the holy city of Madeenah, in the house of my daughter and her husband, I saw it on the shelves, so I asked my daughter's husband where he got this mushaf from so he said that during his vist to the haram (masjid), a woman heard his brothers calling him, so she went to him, and said: ‘Are you so and so?’, and he replied in the affirmative. She said: ‘Then wait for me and do not leave until I give you a trust.’ Then she informed him that her husband had given her a mushaf that he had taken from the shaheed (Muhammad) and told her to take it to his heirs.

And that this mushaf had been to France, London and Saudi Arabia, until it eventually reached us 20 years later. And I did not expect that Allah Almighty had fulfiled the promise of the shaheed.

If I were to to send him a letter today, I would say, I pray to Allah Almighty that I am still upon the covenant, and have not changed after you, and that you are now in the levels of the Shuhadaa [Maryrs] and Sideeqeen [Truthful], and that Allah Almighty gathers me with you: (They and their wives in groves of shade, reclining on thrones) (Surah Yaa-Seen:56).

adapted and edited from Ad-Da'wah Issue 109, Muharram 1422 (www.cageprisoners.com)