Autographed photo of His Royal Highness Mowlana Sultan Mahomed Shah and Mata Salamat Message reads: "I give My best Paternal Blessings to all who adopt simple colonial dress, Aga Khan 1952"
Ya Ali Madad! The following is a contribution from my friend Sakar Datoo, whose knowledge I highly respect. It is a well known fact that in Islam, women are held in high esteem. Bibi Khadija, Prophet Muhammad's (p.b.u.h.) wife was a business woman and in fact the Holy Prophet was her employee! Then, our beloved Bibi Fatima (a.s.) the Prophet's daughter was helping him and Hazrat Ali in the management and distribution of charities and social welfare of the Muslim Ummah of the time. The veil imposed upon women by the Mullahs and patriarchs, seems to be a later, cultural development. In the Holy Quran Allah asks that both women and men cover their fineries. Respectable dress has been ordained but not robes covering the head where vision is impaired and makes it tough to be mobile - running after kids, cooking, going to work. Anyhow, all this can be discussed in another article as I don't want to take away from Sakar's article. Khuda Hafiz!
Ya Ali Madad
This essay aims at acquainting us with women mentioned in the Holy Quran. To be
sure, it by no means is a comprehensive or a definitive account nor a scholarly
discourse. It is simply an interesting look at the life and lifestyles of women
appearing in the Quran.
The women mentioned in the Quran are often treated as narrative tools in stories
centred around men. They have seldom been studied to find out what kind of
images Allah has chosen to give us regarding them.
Generally, the Holy Book mentions women by their family references instead of by
their own names(an Arab social tradition of the times). However, there is one
exception - Bibi Mariam who is clearly mentioned by her own name, elucidating
therefore the unique position or status of the Holy Virgin. Also, the Quran
mentions 'good' and 'negative' examples of women.
THE FIRST LADY - HAVA
She does not appear in the Quran as such. She is simply referred to as 'the
spouse of Adam'. She was created by Allah as companion to Adam, and together
they were to live in Paradise.Misled by Shaitan, they both defaulted. Repenting,
they together sought forgiveness in the words from Surah Araf "Our Lord! We have
been unjust to ourselves, and if Thou forgive us not, and have no mercy on us,
we shall certainly be of the losers." In the same Surah, Allah says: "O Children
of Adam! Let not the Shaitan cause you to fall into affliction as he expelled
your parents from the garden, pulling off from both of them their clothing..."
SARAH
She was the wife of Hazrat Ibrahim with who she migrated first to Palestine and
then to Egypt. In her old age, the angels approached her with a prophecy that
she would give birth to a son, Ishaq: "And his wife was standing by, so she
laughed, then we gave her the good news of Ishaq and after Ishaq of (a son's son)
Yaqoub.She said: O wonder! Shall I bear a son when I am an extremely old woman
and this my husband an extremely old man?..."
HAJIRAH
She is described as the younger wife of Hazrat Ibrahim, and mother to Hazrat
Ismail. Allah ordered Ibrahim to leave her with her son alone in the desert of
Mecca. Frantic for water for her infant, she ran across between the mountains of
Safa and Marwah. This action was later on made mandatory by Allah for every
pilgrim. In a miracle, water gushed forth for mother and son in the form of
'Zamzam'.
ZULEKHA
She is mentioned as the wife of an Egyptian chief. She made repeated attempts to
seduce Hazrat Yusuf who had been brought as a young slave to her palace."And she
in whose house she was sought to make him yield to her, and she made fast the
doors and said:Come forward..." Failing in her seductive attempts she had him
imprisoned. Yusuf was tried and acquitted, and Zulekha confessed her sin:"...The
chief's wife said:Now has the truth become established; I sought him to yield to
me, and he is most surely of the truthful ones." This confession is viewed as
the transformation of her soul - from worldly love to love of God.
EUCABID
Believed to be Hazrat Musa's mother whom Allah addressed: "And we revealed to
Musa's mother saying:Give him suck, then when you fear for him, cast him into
the river and do not fear nor grieve; surely We will bring him back to you and
make him one of the apostles. (28:7)
ASIYA
She is described in the Quran as the wife of Pharoah. She adopted Hazrat Musa
after he was rescued from the Nile. She also protected him from the Pharoah and
pleaded for him:"And Firon's wife said:"A refreshment of the eye to me and to
you; do not slay him;may be he will be useful to us, or we may take him for a
son."
SAFURAH
She is Hazrat Musa's wife. In the Quran, she is one of the two women whom Hazrat
Musa rescued from bad men and helped them:"So he watered their sheep for
them..." She recommended him to her father for employment:"O my father! employ
him, surely the best of those that you can employ is the strong man,the faithful
one." The father then offered the girl in marriage to Musa:" I desire to marry
one of these two daughters of mine to you on condition that you should serve me
for eight years..."
BILQUIS, THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
Bilquis is the name given by the Arab Jews to the Queen of Sheba, who in the Old
Testament is depicted as a temptress. However, the Holy Quran vindicates her as
a powerful. wise and enlightened monarch. She refuses her advisors to try their
military prowess against Hazrat Sulaiman. After visiting him, she accepted the
faith:"Surely I found a woman ruling over them, and she has been given abundance
and she has a mighty throne." " I found her and her people adoring the sun
instead of Allah..." Finally, convinced of the truth, she submitted"...and I
submit with Sulaiman to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds." Her reference in the
Quran offers a strong argument to those who believe that Islam is not against
the concept of a woman ruler.
MARIAM (Mary)
Exalted in the Quran "above the women of all the worlds":"O Mariam! Surely Allah
has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the world...O
Mariam! Keep to obedience to your Lord and humble yourself..." She is the only
woman who is mentioned in the Quran by her own first name and has a Surah named
after her. Two Surahs - Al Imran and Mariam narrate her story in considerable
detail.
She was brought up by the prophet Zakariya who soon discovered her spiritual
link with Allah. When she became an adult, she was approached by angels:"O
Mariam!, surely Allah gives you good news with a Word from Him (of one) whose
name is the Messiah, Isa, son of Mariam, worthy of regard in this world and the
hereafter and of those who are made near to Allah."
In the Quran, there is evidence of all the experiences a woman in her
circumstances undergoes - embarassment and anxiety, labour and delivery pains,
and her agony at not being able to have any proof of her chastity in the face of
questioning people. She testified to the truth of the words of her Lord (Allah)
and of His revelations, and was one of the most devout believers: "And Mariam,
the daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity, so We breathed into her of Our
inspiration and she accepted the truth of the words of her Lord and His books,
and she was of the obedient ones." (66:12)
AYESHA
Ayesha, daughter of Abu Bakr, was one of the wives of the Holy Prophet(PBUH). It
is said that she was very young, in her teens, at the time of her marriage. She
was unduly involved in a scandal by the hypocrites in Madinah, and the Quran
declared her innocence by stipulating that whoever fails to prove an allegation
against a woman should himself receive punishment for adultery: "Surely they who
concocted the lie are a party from among you... Every man of them shall have what
he has earned of sin...he shall have a grievous chastisement." (24:11)
Bibi Ayesha was a brilliant woman. She is believed to have narrated more than
2000 Hadith of the Holy Prophet(PBUH). She was considered to be an authority on
the Prophet's life as well as on the interpretations and meanings of the verses
of the Holy Quran. Her guidance was frequently sought on intricate religious and
judicial matters. Testifying to the sublimity of the Prophet's morals she
commented: 'His morals are the Quran'. She lived for some 48 years after Prophet
Muhammad(PBUH).
The Quran also mentions 'negative' women.
NUH'S WIFE
Her first name is not known. She was a non-believer: "Allah sets forth an example
to those who disbelieve, the wife of Nuh and the wife of Lut: they were both
under two of our righteous servants, but they acted treacherously towards
them...and it was said: Enter both the fire..."(66:10) She was drowned in the
great flood.
WIFE OF LUT
She was also a non-believer married to Prophet Lut. When Allah chose to wipe out
the people of Sodom for their sin, she too was wiped out: "We will most surely
deliver them all, except his wife; We ordained that she shall surely be of those
who remain behind." (15:59-60)
URWAH
Wife of Abu Lahab, a non-believing uncle of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). She used to
cut down thorny branches and spread them in the Prophet's way as he passed
by. Surah 111 called Lahab (Flame) speaks of Abu Lahab and his wife: "...And his
wife, the wood carrier, upon her neck a halter of strongly twisted rope."
More Articles on Women
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Mowlana Hazar Imam's Speech at the All India Women's Conference
Hazrat Mowlana Sultan Mahomed Shah's Message to all Pakistan Women’s Association
and more!
Rabia, the Mystic
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