Women and Family (continued)

Part V: Famous Muslim Women of the Past

 

A. Biographies of early Muslim women:

 

1. Khadija, first wife of Muhammad, was fifteen years his senior, but considered a "model marriage relationship" and she was the first convert to Islam. She supported him when he came back from meditation on the hillside saying that he was a prophet of God. For twenty-five years Muhammad was married to her alone. She died at the age of 65. They worked together as a team to spread Islam and Muhammad was very loyal to Khadija, even after her death. Read another brief biography of Khadija.

 

2. Aishah bint Abu Bakr (613-678) was the daughter of Abu Bakr, and the third of Muhammad's wives. She had a tremendous impact upon the development of Islam. She was involved in a dispute that led to the split between two groups of Muslims - the Sunni Muslims and the Shi'ite Muslims. [For a shortened summary of this biography, press here.]

Aishah became furious when she heard about the assassination of Uthman, the third successor to the Prophet Muhammad. She wondered about Ali, the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law and nephew who had just become the fourth successor. Was he somehow involved? Why wasn't he taking immediate action against the murderers? She told people how cruel it was on the part of the rioters to have killed the Caliph Uthman in cold blood in the holy city of the Prophet. She appealed to them to avenge his death. There were three thousand men under her flag. They demanded to know why Ali had not punished the assassins.

A clash with Aishah could not be helped because he wanted to investigate carefully and prevent further civil war. He called upon the people of Medina to gather under his flag, but the response was poor. How could they cross swords with the Prophet's widow? Learn more about the "Battle of the Camel," part of a civil war which pitted Aishah against Ali.

"The Death of Fatimah, Hadiqat al-Su'ada'," Istanbul, Turk ve Islam Eserleri Muzesis, T 1967, fol. 94b

 

 

3. Fatimah bint Muhammad, the fifth child of Muhammad and Khadija, and wife of Ali and mother of al-Husain. (Husain was considered the rightful caliph by the Shia group. This claim and the war that followed split Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.) Through her, the group known as Fatimids would eventually rule Egypt claiming that they were the descendants of Muhammad and had the right to rule. Many Shia Muslims consider her to be like a "saint" of Islam.

Fatimah is usually described as a sweet, humble person. But according to one Shia historian, she also had disagreements with the successors to her father, the Prophet Muhammad. Fatimah challenged Abu Bakr, the 1st caliph, in many cases such as donations, the inheritance and the shares of the relatives, but her challenges were dismissed, and she died angry at him. [Read her speech to a crowd in which she praises the Prophet Muhammad, her father, and criticizes Abu Bakr, the man who succeeded her father in power.]

 

Fatimah died only six months after her father, and she is especially honored by Shi'a Muslims. She asked to be buried secretly, and at night, so that none of them could be present at her funeral, and to this day, the grave of the Prophet's daughter is unknown.

 

4. Umm Sulaym was a model Muslim, a model wife and mother, friend of the Prophet. Read her speech against idol worship in her biography.

5. A woman warrior who protected the Prophet Muhammad in a battle. Her name is Nusseyba bint Ka'b known as Ommou 'Imara. At the beginning of the battle, she was bringing water and tending the wounded, as the other women were doing. But as the battle began going badly for the Muslims, "Nasibah went forward, with her sword unsheathed and her bow in her hand, to join the small group who were standing firm with the Prophet (pbuh), acting as a human shield to protect him from the arrows of the mushrikin. Every time danger approached the Prophet (pbuh) she hastened to protect him. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) noticed this, and later said, "Wherever I turned, to the left or the right, I saw her fighting for me."

 

B. Women's Roles in Islamic History

1. Muslim women played a role in the early battles against the Byzantine armies. "They formed together and stood at the back of the Muslim army. They supplied water to the men and dressed their wounds. They shouted words of encouragement when the army showed signs of weakness.

"The Byzantine army at first forced the Muslims to fall back. The Muslim general Khalid came to the women and said, 'O daughters of Islam, if anyone turns his back on the battlefield, kill him at once.'

"The women did what Khalid asked them to do. They stood at their post. They had stones in their hands and their eyes were fixed on the battlefield. If anyone fled for life, he was met by a shower of stones. Back he ran into the thick of battle and fought to the last.

"Victory of Yarmuk was in no small measure due to the courage of Muslim women." Abridged from Islamzine's Report on Abu Bakr

2. The Prophet Muhammad's wives

The Prophet Muhammad married 11 times, but don't think this was for bad reasons! He was an old man in his fifties when his first wife Khadija died. Then he married others. He often married the daughters of his faithful followers who had been widowed (whose husbands had died). It was a marriage to support, protect, and honor the faithful wives of Islamic heroes. Marriage was also a way of uniting the various tribes of Arabia. Therefore marriage had its political purpose. Because of these marriages big tribes and clans embraced (joyfully accepted) Islam and believed in the Messenger of Allah. All of Muhammad's wives, except Aishah were widows, and he began to get more wives only after the Hegira when war and fighting started between the Muslims and the disbelievers. "In each marriage, there was an obvious proof of the Holy Prophet's nobleness of purpose, gratefulness and humanitarianism." [This is a brief summary of the article "Fallacies and Misconceptions About The Messenger's Marriages" by Sheikh Muhammad Ali Al-Saboony.]

 

3. Muslim Women as Rulers, Warriors and Slaves:

 

a. Fatimid Princess in Egypt, Sitt al - Mulk "was intelligent and careful enough not to violate any of these rules and requirements [of a caliph who must be a male], and while she carried out virtually all the functions of caliph, she did so and directed the affairs of the empire quite effectively as Regent (for her nephew who was too young to rule). She had the title of 'Naib us Sultanat'. She died in 1024 C.E., having brought order and stability to the state. Other women leaders are also discussed at this site: "In Islam, no woman who has held power has borne the title of caliph or imam. Caliph is a title exclusively reserved to a tiny minority of men because of its religious and messianic dimension. However, although no woman ever became a caliph, as such, there have been women who became sultanas and malikas (queens)."

 

b. One such famous woman was Razia (or Raziyya) Sultana of India, who took power in Delhi in the year 1236 C.E. Read another biography of Raziyya and her four-year reign over India. "The Princess was adorned with every qualification required in the ablest kings and the strictest scrutinizers of her actions could find in her no fault, but that she was a woman. In the time of her father, she entered deeply into the affairs of government, which disposition he encouraged, finding she had a remarkable talent in politics. He once appointed her regent (the one in control) in his absence. When the emirs (military advisors) asked him why he appointed his daughter to such an office in preference to so many of his sons, he replied that he saw his sons giving themselves up to wine, women, gaming and the worship of the wind (flattery); that therefore he thought the government too weighty for their shoulders to bear and that Raziyyah, though a woman, had a man's head and heart and was better than twenty such sons." [Firishta, sixteenth-century historian of Muslim rule in India, quoted in "Muslim Women Through the Centuries" by Kamran Scot Aghaie, Nat'l Center for History in the Schools, UCLA,1998, p. 32.]

 

c. Another queen bearing the title of sultana was Shajarat al-Durr, who gained power in Cairo in 1250 C.E. like any other military leader. In fact, she brought the Muslims a victory during the Crusades and captured the King of France, Louis IX." Read more about her at "Women in World History Project: Female Heroes".

 

d. Slaves to the Royal Families - According to Moktefi in The Rise of Islam (pages 40-43), young female slaves were instructed in music, singing, dancing, and literature in special schools. Then they were part of the entertainment at parties given by the wealthy and the royal families. (See picture below.) Slaves came from all over the Islamic Empire: Slavs and Greeks from Europe, Turks from Central Asia, and Blacks from Africa. Thousands of children were bought as slaves in the markets throughout the world. Some of these slaves ended up in the palaces of the rulers of Islamic Empire. Boys might become soldiers for the Islamic armies. Some boys were castrated and served as eunuchs in the royal courts. Muslim rulers even married slave women and during part of Islamic history, many caliphs were the sons of slave women.

 

From The Rise of Islam by Moktefi, Silver Burdett, 1985. "In Baghdad and Cordova, young female slaves were instructed in music, singing, dancing, and literature..."

 

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Go to Page Two: Growing Up Muslim

Go to Page Three: Marriage and Wedding Ceremonies

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