The two waistbands

The Hijrah was not a single dramatic departure. It was three nights of hiding in a cave outside Makkah while search parties looked for them, and somebody had to keep them fed.

That somebody was Asma. She prepared provisions and carried them out of the city to the cave.

When she came to tie the food and the waterskin, she had nothing to fasten them with. So she took the waistband she was wearing, tore it in two, and used one half for the provisions and the other for herself.

That is where the name Dhat an-Nitaqayn comes from — she of the two waistbands. It is a small, practical detail, and it became the title she is known by for the rest of history.

It is worth remembering what the risk actually was. Makkah was searching for these two men, and had put a price on finding them. A young woman carrying food out of the city to where they were hiding was not doing something safe.