Part 86

WOMEN AROUND THE MESSENGER

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Compiled and translated by:

Dr. Abdel-Hamid Eliwa Al-Azhar University

One of the major themes that prevails the western mind is that Islam treats women as mere things. She has no right to take part in social, political or economic life. She may rather have no right to go outdoors.

However, Islam still has so much to offer today's woman: dignity, respect, and protection in all walks of life. A woman in Islam is as responsible as a man for populating the earth. Both of them have to work for the good of humanity. They will be questioned before the hands of Allah concerning that great role, let alone the responsibility of disseminating the word of Allah.

Both husband and wife have equal important role in the family. These roles according to Islam, cannot be identical or the same but reciprocal and complementary. The wife-mother's role which is bringing up the children and providing love, affection and warm gentle care for her family members, complements that of the husband who is breadwinner of the family and who provides protection from the external world. In Islam, husband-wife relationship is governed by mutual understanding and mutual consultation over important problems. The wife in a Muslim family should be a tremendous source of strength to the husband in facing the hardships of life. The husband in turn should always be the firm shield that protects the wife from the hazards of life.

These examples which we have dicussed in this book are Just some examples of ideal Muslim women in the past. There are also many examples, who belong to the modern world, but they are beyond the subject matter of the book: The Early Muslim Women.

Praise be ro Allah and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his household, his companions and those who follow his guidance .

A woman is a half of humankind and bears the other half. Thus, she is the whole world. Among the most wonderful mysteries of our nature is that of sex. The unregenerate male is apt in the pride of his physical strength, to forget the all-important part, which the female plays in his very existence, and in all the social relationships that arise in our collective human lives. The mother that bore us must ever have our reverence. Sex, which governs so much of our physical life, and has so much influence on our emotional and higher nature, deserves -not our fear, or our contempt or our amused indulgence, but -our reverence in the highest sense of the term.

One of the effective ways that magnity the belief in one’s heart is to highlight some stories of the early believers. Such stories explain the seeming contradictions of life, the enduring nature of virtue in a world full of flux and change and the marvellous working of Allah’s eternal purpose in His plan as unfolded to us on the wide canvas of history.

When one looks at the women, who will be dicussed, however those who risked their lives in Jihad against the enemies of Allah and those who presented their sons and all what they had for the cause of Allah, an explanation of their motivations that downplays faith in Allah and His Messenger (pbuh) must surely need a great deal more to be convincing than this type of brief detail. However, hereunder there are some snapshots of their lives that may highlight the development of their chasracters.

The Mother of the Mankind

She is the mother of mankind. She is created from one of Adam's ribs. Allah the Almighty says,

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It was after Adam had been created the angels were asked to prostrate to him, for by Allah's grace, his status had actually been raised higher. All of the angels prostrated save Iblis (Satan) who in turn was expelled from the Garden awing to his rebelliousness. Adam and his wife, Hawwa' were placed in the Garden of comfort and bless, but it was Allah's plan to give him a limited faculty of choice. All that he was forbidden to do was to approach the Tree, but he succumbed to Satan's suggestions.

Adam and Hawwa! were innocent in matters material as well as spiritual. They knew no evil. But the faculty of choice, which was given to them and which raised them above the angels, also implied that they has the capacity of evil, which by the training of their own will, they were to reject. They were warned of the danger. When they fell, they realized the evil. They were (as we are) still given the chance in this life on a lower plane, to make good end recover the lost status of innocence and bliss.

Adam and Hawwa' were commanded to inhabit the earth. They were very sad Both of them repented and Allah accepted their repentance because it was sincere. They were told by Allah that the

earth is their original abode where they would live and die and be resurrected from on the Day of Judgement. Allah the Almighty said,

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Jrom it shall ye be taken out (at last)? (Al-A'taf: 25)

Some people claim that Hawwa' is the real reason why mankind does not dwell in Paradise because she asked Adam to eat from the tree.

They believe that if it were not for this sin, we would have continued to live there. This is undoubtedly a naive view. When Allah the Almighty willed the creation of Adam He told the angels,

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He did not say, "I will create a vicegerent on Paradise." Allah the High Exalted knew that Adam and Hawwa' would eat from the Tree and descend on earth. He knew that Satan would rob them of innocence. The knowledge they learned was to become essential for their life on earth.

From the very early down of life on earth, Satan tried to tempt our parents (and all of us) in order that he might manage to keep them away from the path of Allah. Thus it is an ongoing war and we should fight against Satan to win Paradise.

The Mothers of the Prophets

She was the only woman of Ibrahim's people to believe in Allah. She, afterwards, became his wife. She stood by her husband all the time when calling his people to Allah.

When Ibrahim realized that no one other than his wife and his nephew, Lut was going to believe in his call, he decided to immigrate, to a city called Ur and another called Haran and then departed for Palestine with them. After Palestine, Ibrahim arrived in

His wife, Sara was barren. The pharaoh of Egypt, during her stay in Egypt, presented her a slave girl to serve her. Ibrahim was getting old and he had had no son by her. Sara was past the age of childbearing as well. Sara thought about how she and Ibrahim were lonely, for she was barren. She thought that Ibrahim should take her slave girl, Hajar as a wife. Sara let her husband Ibrahim marry Hajar, Then Hajar gave birth to Isma ‘il, Ibrahim’s first son.

One day, Ibrahim received a group of strange guests. He chose a fat calf and gave orders for it to be slaughtered.

Ibrahim then invited his guests to eat and he let his wife serve them a gesture of welcome and hospitality. He received them with a salutation of peace, and immediately placed before them a sumptuous meal of roasted calf. The strangers were embarrassed. They were angles and did not eat. The angels gave Sara glad tidings of Ishaq. She could hardly believe the news. The news seemed to her too good to be true. She came froward, clamoured, struck her forehead with her hands, indicative of her amusement and incredulity as "a barren old woman." Allah the Almighty says,

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éThere came our Messenger to Ibrahim with glad tidings. They said, "peace!" He answered, "Peace!" and hastened to entertain them with a roasted calf. But when he saw their hands not reaching towards the (meal), he felt some mistrust of them, and conceived a fear of them. They said: "Fear not: We have been sent against the people of Lut." And his wife was standing (there), and she laughed: But We gave her glad tidings of Isaac, and after him, of Jacob. She said: "Alas form me! Shall I bear a child, seeing I am an old woman, and my husband here is an old man? That would indeed be a wonderful thing!" They said: "Dost thou wonder at Allah's decree? The grace of Allah and His blessings on you, O ye people of the house! For He

is indeed Worthy of all Praise, Full of all Glory|?

‘She was an Egyptian slave girl who was given to Sara, Ibrahim's wife as a present. Because Sara was barren, She prefered to give Ibrahim that girl in marriage so that she might bless him with a child. As years passed, Hajar gave birth to a son. Sara grew jealous and furious. She thought that she became inferior and that Hajar boasted over her. Therefore, she started to blame her husband by saying, "You dishked me after she had become pregnant!" He replied, "She is just your slave girl and you can do whatever you want." !

However, Sara kept patient until Hajar gave birth to a boy. At that time, she became jealous. She swore not to live with that slave girl together

Accordingly, Ibrahim took Hajar and the baby and went southward. They arrived at Makka, a barren town, where the relics of Allah's Sacred House were still there. This was the first House in which Allah was worshipped. There were just a few nomad people who would stay wherever they found water or pasture.

Ibrahim left his wife and his son there with a small amount of food and water. Then, he turned around and walked away. His wife hurried after him saying: "Where are you going, Ibrahim, leaving us in this barren desert?”