Great women of Islam
Syed Atya Tabassum
“Teach your daughters every lesson of life not only books
Train your daughters for every battle of life not just for marriage
Give her the jewels of wisdom instead of gold and silver
Decorate her with pearls of knowledge not with diamond rings
Show her the path and let her walk
Don’t be that lovely creatures which is going to make her lame
Let her fight but don’t forget to check her way of fighting in the battlefield of life.
When I was jotting down these lines on my personal diary, she came to me and started reading it. Then she asked a very innocent question “what should I do to be a best mother for my daughter?
I don’t know that the scene of library was mesmerizing or frightening. But that question of senior most female professor of my college was shaking my soul. Her frustrated voice and her miserable questions made her eyes wet.
She asked again, “Being a Muslim woman what kind of mother is Quran expecting from me? What can I do to bring my daughter back from these futile activities?”
Her painful voice was cracking and drowning me into deep and Dark Ocean of silence. I remember the moment when she was staring at my plain black dress code. Ah! That single moment which breaks me in thousand pieces?
That day she was throwing the words just like pots and pans at me. The most bitter sentence which she said on that day flashed into my inward eye “How can you follow the backward teachings of Islam in this 21st century?”
But unfortunately it does not occur to her that this religion which she arrogantly deems as backward, has produced the pearls like Hazrat Fatima (RA), the beloved daughter of Muhammad (saw) and Hazrat Khadija (RA).
In the meantime, the bell rang and I came out from my universe of thoughts. She also ran towards the class and said while leaving the library “I will talk to you later, my dear”.
She left but the series of questions, which she asked were still in my mind. In this present era, how can she be the best mother and make her daughter the princess of Jannah. My blur sight goes on the lines which were clearly written on the front wall of library.
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, “Every one of you are leaders and you will be asked to be responsible upon your leadership.” I felt like some divine power is helping me. The word “leaders” is so fascinating. According to that part of Hadith, both male and female are leaders.
It was nothing but the outstanding leadership of Hazrat Khadija (RA) who trained and educated her daughter Hazrat Fatima(RA). When this thought hits my mind I just open my dairy and start writing about this leadership.
The leadership was so brilliant and training was so fascinating that she became the emotional support of her father during the crucial time when everyone was against Him (saw). But the question is what kind of leadership was Hazrat Khadija (RA) performing.
She was a “housewife”. In the present era when a woman hears this word “housewife”, it just tears up her soul and breaks her beautiful dreams into thousand pieces. How can she be “just a housewife”. She wants to be a doctor, a business tycoon or a scholar. Her dream is to serve the society and earn a good name and fame. She wants to be a charming modern lady. The status of housewife is so sub-standard for her that she even does not want to hear this word.
There is totally no problem in nurturing dreams. Islam is not against her every dream. She can be a doctor, a business tycoon or a scholar and serve the society. But how can well educated women look at this precious word “housewife” so miserably and call Islam a backward religion?
Islam is so loaded with the rich history of women empowerment that we don’t need to go anywhere else. It gives me an immense pleasure to write that Islam was the first religion to wage a silent war against the social customs and prejudices for the emancipation and uplift of women in society. In the eyes of Allah, woman enjoys the same status as that of man. Hazrat Khadija (RA) was not only a housewife but a great business person of her age.
She was not an ordinary business woman. Her business entity was widely spread both in the Arab and the other areas. She was a visionary woman blessed with wealth and honor. Imagine a business woman in that dark Arab who can take her decisions freely, who was totally independent and bold.
But Hazrat Khadija (RA) really knew the worth of this word “housewife” She respected the status because she was aware about the fact that she is not just housewife but a “leader”. She was aware that on the day of judgment she will be asked about this responsibility.
Great women of Islam were touched with the sense of responsibility and accountability. Thus they produce daughters like Hazrat Fatima (RA), who was not only a loving daughter but also a brilliant mother of Hazrat Hasan (AS) and Hazrat Hussain (AS) and a caring wife of Hazrat Ali (RA).
We have another example of a charming housewife, Hazrat Aisha (RA). She not only was housewife but also an intellectual partner of the Last Prophet of Islam (PBUH). Currently who can think a housewife can narrate a lot of traditions of Prophet. Not only this, but she had also a deep knowledge of various fields like mathematics, poetry and jurisprudence. She taught male Sahaba for 44 years.
Islam never stops a woman from fulfilling her legal dreams and serve mankind. But how can she forget so easily that family is the nucleus of the society, and the strongest pillar of a family is a woman she can serve society at every stage as a daughter, a sister, a wife, or a mother.
For performing her duties efficiently, she needs to be an example of goodness. An Islamic woman can’t be ignorant. She must attain the highest level of perfection. She should know the fact that gaining knowledge is obligatory for her. A woman must be aware about her rights and status only then she could be a brilliant personality, a charming character and a visionary person, who can change the society. A mother who can give society just a single person like Ibn-e-Qasim, who can be the greater social worker than her.
It is actually the duty of parents to make their daughters so brilliant and confident that they can design the fascinating characters of the history. Daughters shouldn’t be only prepared for domestic chores but also for social responsibilities. The role model and inspiration of a Muslim woman are brilliant women like Hazrat Khadija (RA), Hazrat Aisha (RA) and Hazrat Fatima (RA. We should go through their lives, and try to follow their shining footsteps . Only then we can attain the success in both the worlds.
