إجازة الشيخ أحمد بن محمد بن أحمد لبن بقراءة الإمام عاصم

Women Around The Messenger

Author:
Dr. Bassam Mohammad Hamami
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In the Name of Allaah, the All-Compassionate, All-Merciful

Introduction
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All praise is due to Allaah. We praise Him and thank Him. We repent to Him and seek for His forgiveness. We seek refuge from Allaah from the evils of our own souls and from the consequences of our misdeeds. No one can mislead whomever Allaah guides and no one can guide whomsoever Allaah causes to go astray.

We testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allaah alone. He has no partner. His is the dominion and the praise. It is He who gives life and death and He has power over all things. Exalted and far is He above what they ascribe to Him.

We equally testify that our leader and model, Muhammad, is Allaah's Servant and Messenger, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam.

Allaah sent him with guidance and the religion of truth that He may make it prevail over all other religions and make him erase the effects of the time of ignorance that have become oppressive and widespread. The Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, delivered the message, fulfilled the trust, wished the Ummah well and fought in the way of Allaah as it was due. He left us on a brilliant path whose night is as clear as its day. It is only the doomed that can deviate from that path.

Peace and blessings be upon him, his family, the Companions and their successors and all those who rightly follow them till the Day of Judgment.

Indeed, the first person to believe in Allaah as the Lord and in Muhammad, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, as the Messenger and Prophet was his wife, Khadeejah, may Allaah be pleased with her. She was the first person to support the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam. She strengthened him, assured him and consoled him. She received the Prophet and his message with her big heart.

After her, many women embraced Islam, not in compliance with their husbands' will or out of tribal solidarity or in obedience to their fathers' command. Rather, these women, in most cases, embraced Islam independently, out of conviction and in demonstration of their right of choice.

If there are men companions, there are also women companions. If there are `Men around the Messenger' there are also `Women around the Messenger'.

Each of these women played her role in the best possible way and in the noblest way in the arena of faith and sincerity.

These women excellently maintained necessary balance between the two segments of humanity: male and female. They stand out as outstanding models in the history of humanity in a way that made them unrivalled in the history of nations from the time of Aadam, may Allaah exalt his mention, until Allaah inherits the earth and all that is on it.

This important and critical aspect in the life of Allaah's Messenger, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, the message that he was carrying, the journey of Islam in its first step and the appearance of the dawn of Islam after the stark darkness in which the entire humanity was living then needs to be written down for many reasons.

One of the diseases of our contemporary age with all its achievements and setbacks, with its scientific breakthrough and cultural defects is that the woman has been turned to a `doll' or something like a doll in all the senses of the word. I do not think that I have exaggerated in this.

Take for instance, the advertisement of any product in any of the mass media, the woman is disgustingly, cheaply and flimsily dragged into this advertisement even if the product is just the necktie that men wear. This is in addition to her being used as an instrument of sexual arousal.

This is just an example of how the woman has been reduced to a cheap commodity. There are other uncountable examples of this, facilitated through satanic hands.

It is unfortunate this horrible disease has crept into the midst of the Muslims under the guise of cultural interrelation and in total disregard for our purity and distinguishing values and for many other uncountable reasons.

It is also astonishing that reawakening Muslims should dedicate a lot of their intellectual and practical efforts to help man develop his intellectual, spiritual and physical qualities while little attention is paid to woman.

This is in spite of their sure knowledge that the woman is the foundation of family structure and the indispensable factor in putting the children properly on the right path.

If the family is endowed with a pious, believing, understanding and hard-working woman, it will produce a strong member of the Islamic Ummah.

Is there anyone who can answer this call? Is anybody paying attention? Is anybody ready to work?

As the mother of the faithful, Khadeejah, may Allaah be pleased with her, was the first person to accept Islam the first person to be martyred in the way of Allaah was also a woman: Sumayyah, may Allaah be pleased with her. She was crucified on a wood along with her husband, Yaasir and their son, `Ammaar, may Allaah be pleased with them.

They were persecuted in the way of Allaah.

They were made to stay in the scorching sun that pierced their bodies as if it was arrows of fire. Their skins were at the same time, subjected to lashes like strikes of swords and pierces of spears. They bore all this with patience, hoping to get reward from Allaah.

The Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, would pass by them while they were in this state of persecution and he would tell them sorrowfully and with tears in his eyes, "Have glad tiding, the household of Yaasir, may Allaah be pleased with him, for Paradise is your appointed place."

These words from the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, brought relief and peace to their hearts, making them forgetting the persecution. While they were in this pitiful situation, Abu Jahl passed by and he insulted and rebuked them. To show that he was a worthless man, Sumayyah, may Allaah be pleased with her, replied him by spitting in his face. This enemy of Allaah then mercilessly stroke her private parts with a spear he was carrying. She fell down and died as the first martyr among the Companions of Allaah's Messenger.

This noble woman was patient and persevering in the cause of Allaah. She was soon joined by her husband in the like manner.

As for her youthful son, `Ammaar, may Allaah be pleased with him, he feared death and preferred safety. He was given respite for sometime but he also later died as a martyr.

Another exemplary woman is `Aa'ishah, may Allaah be pleased with him. She grew up in the house of Islam and Eemaan and she entered the house of Prophethood while still a youth.

She was intelligent and full of knowledge. She performed her role in her marital home in a most wonderful way that was full of love and tranquillity.

She conveyed the knowledge that she has comprehended and memorised. She directed people, taught them, guided them and gave them wisdom. And she left a legacy that is rare to be found in others among members of the Prophet's, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, household. The knowledge she taught formed a substantial part of rules of Islamic jurisprudence and its principles.

In addition to her erudition in knowledge and understanding, she was also a lofty model in acts of worship and shunning of worldly materials.

She was once asked of the reason why she applied musk on her money, and she answered, "This money falls into Allaah's Hand before it falls into the hand of the beggar."

Though `Aa'ishah, may Allaah be pleased with him, was never destined to bear a child, she was actually a mother. It was in her house that `Urwah ibn Zubayr, `Amrah bint `Abdur-Rahmaan Al-Ansaariyah, Al-Qaasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, may Allaah be pleased with them, and others were nurtured.

These are those who took knowledge from her, drew from her fountain, blossomed and produced the fruits of that knowledge under her generous love.

Though the examples of these women are many, we will, by the permission of Allaah, discuss about those women who were around Allaah's Messenger, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, or those women whose lives were connected to that of the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, and played roles in his life.

In spite of the fact that we have previously written something on this topic, the past methodology is different from the present in many aspects. Here we will, God willing, discuss about these women in serials and do so within the framework of calling to the path of Allaah, drawing therefrom, the proper stands that a Muslim must take, and defining his responsibilities.

This is in order to make these women an example to follow in constructive Islamic resurgence without resorting to any exaggeration.

Dear reader, it is with all love and sincerity to Allaah, The Exalted that I am dedicating this book Women Around the Messenger, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, to you, beseeching Allaah to accept from me and from every Muslim, male and female, our good deeds. All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of all the worlds.
Muhammad `Ali Qutb

» Women whose lives were connected with the life of the Messenger, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam
» Men Around The Messenger
» THE GLOBAL MESSENGER
» The Death of the Messenger
» 8- A Messenger and a Prophet of God