‘HOMEMAKING’ is our ultimate responsibility and no matter how much we run away from it or refuse to accept it, we can’t really change it. Do you think a bowl of cereal served to your child by a babysitter or a maid contains enough nutrition of education, refinement and civilization? Also, home making is not about cleaning the house and making sleek hot phulkas. It’s about shaping up the whole generation with utter proficiency. We’ve got to believe that this proficiency will enrich our conduct turning it into a nobler one and no doubt the “house cleaning and phulkas” coming from an educated, capable woman would be very different from the ones coming from an uneducated woman. Also be calm, as the career and Academic bounties aren’t going anywhere. They belong to us. They are and will always be our greatest ever existing rights. We just need to realign our definition because someone has to raise the next generation right?Islam has given a woman, the highest status in society on grounds of respect, dignity and grace. Imagine what an honour it is to raise a family, lay the base of finest etiquette, intellect and knowledge enveloped with immeasurable honesty. We have to realize that we hold a key position in shaping up the next generation. What a joy it is to witness the miracle of emerging of a whole new life through us, struggle to transform those mere pieces of bricks together into a warm shelter of truthfully precious relationships, and then pour all our sincerity, love, devotion and commitment in bonding every fibre of relation residing in our heaven that we call ‘home’. Now imagine all this coming from an educated, well aware and updated woman. Don’t we visualize an ideal role model, a perfect wife and a mother of a globally proficient child? What a concrete and noble responsibility our Lord has given to us. For a woman, this is a matchless capital.
Education and career approach for men might just be a passion and a requirement. But for women it is passion, requirement and an ‘asset’ which can be a staircase to prosperous and satisfied life if carried out with a balance. We also come across several viewpoints coming from different religious people in the society that a woman is forbidden to work outside her house walls. Had this been the case then we wouldn’t have come across marvellous examples of bravery and accomplishments coming from some of the most pious and prominent women of Islam and that too, 1400 years ago. At the time in pagan Arabia when a woman was treated as slave or a mere property, it was Islam that made her worthy of high respect and gave her equal spiritual, economic, social, educational, legal and political rights. The valuable services of development rendered by these women are recounted throughout history. I would quote a few examples.
Sahl ibn Sa’d, a companion of the Prophet (SAW) mentioned a woman who had her own farm. She used to cultivate beets and barley to feed the companions of the Prophet with it after Friday prayer.Quite a few women companions of the Prophet were engaged in trading. Khadija, the Prophet’s first wife, is the most famous example. Other women such as Khaula, Lakhmia, Thaqafia, and Bint Makhramah traded perfumes. Saudah, the Prophet’s wife, was an expert in tanning skins. She sold her tanned goods to trading caravans and local men throughout Medina. Rufaidah Aslamiyyah was an expert in Medicine and Surgery. She used to attend the sick and wounded in the battlefields. Other women experts were Umm Muta’, Umm Kabashah, Hamnah bint Jahsh, Mu’adhah, Laila, Umaimah, Umm Zaid, Umm ‘Atiyyah, and Umm Sulaim. Fatima bin Qais was a very able and intelligent scholar. When ‘Umar RA died, the nomination committee consulted Qais on the selection of the next Caliph. ‘Amra bint ‘Abdu’r-Rahman was one of most prominent women of second generation. She was one of those who gave legal opinions in Madina after the companions. Her opinion overrode the views of other authorities. She was the first authority for three legal issues dealing with the prohibition against digging up graves, the ban on selling unripe fruit, and the effect of crop damage on the sale of agricultural produce. In one case, she reversed the decision of her nephew to cut off the hand of a man who stole some iron rings. Her authority was accepted on matters such as business transactions and punishments (Hudud). Imam Malik takes her as a legal precedent for details on the Hajj.Many examples of women actively participating in war could be found at the time of the Prophet. Umm ‘Umarah demonstrated courage and fearlessness in the battle of Uhud. Umm Hakim, wife of Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl participated in the war against the Romans. There were many female jurists in early Islamic history. In jurisprudence, ‘Aisha RA had few equals and Umm Salam also gave many legal rulings. Others are Safiyyah, Hafsa, Umm Habiba, Juwayriyyah, Maymuna, Fatima, Zahra, Umm Sharik, Umm ‘Atya, Asma’ bint Abu Bakr, Haila bint Qanif, Khaula bint Tuwait, Umm al-Darda, Atika bint Zaid, Sahalah bint Suhail, Fatima bint Qais, Zaynabah bint Abu Salamah, Umm Ayman, and Umm Yusuf. Asma’ bint Yazid fought and killed nine enemy soldiers in the battle of Uhud. Umm Salaim, mother of Anas, went to battle with a dagger.Umm Sa’d Jamilah bint As’ad Ansariyyah, daughter of As’ad ibn Rabi fought in the Battle of Badr and achieved martyrdom in the Battle of Uhud. Khansa bint ‘Amr was a woman of great stature and a poetess of great fame. According to Ibn Athir, all poets of fame unanimously agree that no poetess ever equaled Khansa, and the Prophet appreciated her verses.
Who were these women? The realm of words is too small and ordinary to be presented in their exalted and extra ordinarily superior names. The point here is that these warriors and torch bearers of Islam not just raised role models in the family but also in the entire Islamic regime. Comparing ourselves to them that what we have done to our generation and society, our heads and gaze should bow down in embarrassment.
..Continued
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