The Role Of The Women In Fighting The Enemies [Please note: Images may have been removed from this document. Page numbers have been added.] By the martyred Shaykh, Al-Hafith Yusuf Bin Salih Al-‘Uyayri (May Allah have Mercy upon him) Introduction In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful Verily all praise is due to Allah, and may the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and all of his companions. To proceed: My honoured sister, Indeed for you is an important and great role; and you must rise and fulfill your obligatory role in Islam 's confrontation of the new Crusade being waged by all the countries of the world against Islam and the Muslims. I will address you in these papers, and I will prolong this address due only to the importance of the topic; [a topic] that is in need of double these papers. So listen, may Allah protect and preserve you. The Muslim Ummah today is suffering from types of disgrace and humiliation that cannot be enumerated; [disgrace and humiliation] that it was not familiar with in its previous eras, and were never as widespread as they are today. And this disgrace and humiliation is not a result of the smallness of the Islamic Ummah or its poverty - it is counted as the largest Ummah today, just as it is the only Ummah that possesses the riches and elements that its enemies do not possess. And the question that presents itself is: what is the reason for this disgrace and humiliation that the Ummah suffers from today, when it is not in need of money or men? We say that the reason was pinpointed to us by our Prophet, with his statement as reported in Ahmad and Abil Dawfid, from Thawban, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "The Messenger of Allah said, 'The people will soon summon one another to attack you as those eating summon others to share their food.' Someone asked, 'Will that be because of our small numbers at that time?' He replied, 'No, you will be numerous at that time, but you will be froth like the froth that is carried down by a torrent of water, and Allah will take the fear of you from the hearts of your enemy and cast Al-Wahn into your hearts.' Someone asked, 'O Messenger of Allah, what is Al-Wahn?' He replied, 'Love of the world and hatred of death." And in another narration from Ahmad, "Your hatred of fighting." 1 So this is the answer to that puzzling question. Our Messenger, answered it before it took place by around 1400 years. And the disease that destroyed the Islamic Ummah is the love of the Dunya and the hatred of death. So when the Ummah started loving the Dunya and hating death, Allah's description of the Jews in His Statement: 1 Sunan Abi Dawud #3745; Musnad Al-Imäm Ahmad #8356 1 "You will indeed find them the greediest of mankind for life"2 became applicable to it [i.e. to the Islamic Ummah]. And the word "life" here came as an indefinite noun, meaning that it encompasses any type of life, whether it be the life of disgrace and humiliation, or the life of the animals, or the life of the insects – the important thing is that it is life. So the Ummah has adhered to a lowly way of life that does not befit it or its Religion... all of this because it has loved the Dunya and hated death. And the inevitable result of our love of the Dunya and hatred for death or fighting was the abandonment of the Jihad that many of the children of the Islamic Ummah - especially the women - believe is the path to certain death, and, inevitably, the desertion of the Dunya. So when the Islamic Ummah abandoned Jihad, the enemies gained power over it and disgrace befell it. And the statement of the Messenger of Allah that was reported by Ahmad and Abu Dawud from Ibn `Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, came true. [He said], "I heard the Messenger of Allah say: "When you conduct transactions by Al-‘Inah,3 and follow the tails of cows4, and abandon Al-Jihad in the Path of Allah, then Allah will cover you with a disgrace that He will not remove until you return to your Religion."5 And in the narration of Ahmad, "If you chase the tails of cows and sell goods to a person for a price and buy it back from him for a far lesser price, and give up Jihad in the Path of Allah, Allah will cause disgrace to cling to you, and He will not remove it from you until you return to what you were upon before, and repent to Allah."6 And based on the Ahadith mentioned above, it becomes clear to us that the disease that the Messenger of Allah, diagnosed for us is none other than Al-Wahn (hatred of death). And the repercussion of this disease also becomes clear to us, and it is the disgrace cast upon us from all the nations of the world - from the worshippers of cows and stones, let alone the worshippers of the cross and the temple. And by returning to the aforementioned texts, we know that the only escape from this disgrace and humiliation is to return to Jihad and the love of fighting in the Path of Allah, and the abandonment of the Dunya and its adornments. The Woman Can Be From the Hindrances to Al-Jihad, or From its Supporters After we are convinced that Jihad is the cure that the Messenger of Allah described to us for the Ummah to leave this error, we find that we are still unable, until now, to act upon that conviction. Therefore, for us to act upon this conviction, we must search for the obstacles and hindrances to Jihad on the individual level. And the root of the obstacles and hindrances of to Jihad [are gathered] in one Verse in Surat At-Tawbah, and it is the Statement of Allah: Say: If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your kindred, the wealth that you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you delight are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger, and striving hard 2 Al-Baqarah:96 3 Translator's Note: Al-' Inah is a type of usury that involves selling something as a debt for a greater price, then buying it back for a lesser price 4 Translator's Note: Meaning when they become preoccupied with agriculture and breeding animals 5 Sunan Abi Dawfid #3003; Sunan Al-Bayhaqi #10484 6 Musnad Ahmad #5304 2 and fighting in His Cause, then wait until Allah brings about His Decision (torment). And Allah guides not the people who are Al-Fasiqun (the rebellious, disobedient to Allah).7 These are the roots of the obstacles to Jihad, and from them branch out innumerable other obstacles. And examining how to keep these beloved things from prevailing over the love for Allah, His Messenger, and Jihad in His Path is the first step to honour because we will reach a conviction whose essence is that the love for Allah, His Messenger and Jihad in His Path are greater and more obligatory than all these [other] beloved things. So, if we reach that result, then it is obligatory upon us to translate that conviction and to demonstrate with our actions that the love of Allah, His Messenger, and Jihad in His Path are above the love of these transient vanities, and this is what will cause the sons of this Ummah to give their souls for the Honour of Islam and the Muslims, thereby removing from us Al-Wahn, after which the disbelieving nations will not dominate over our Ummah due to their knowledge that this Ummah has men who love death the way they [the disbelievers] love life, and that it has merchants who are ready to spend all of their riches to give victory to this Religion, like Abil Bakr As-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, did, and that it has mothers who cannot enjoy life while their sons stay behind from Jihad. If all of these aspects are achieved, then the enemies of Allah will think a thousand times before agitating the Ummah or transgressing against it. In these papers we will not focus on seeking out the details of all these obstacles and hindrances, but we will suffice ourselves by mentioning one hindrance that we see the Ummah is in need of removing quickly and before everything else. And that obstacle is the woman who is manifested as the mother, or the wife, or the daughter or the sister. They all fall under the Verse detailing the obstacles [to Jihad]. And our research into the obstacle of the woman will not be new to her, but we will nevertheless address her in these papers and we will inform her that she is one of the biggest impediments before the Victory and Honour of Islam. And when we say that the woman is one of the greatest obstacles to the Victory of Islam, we must also mention the opposite notion, and it is that the woman is one of the primary and most influential factors in the Victory of Islam, with the condition that she fulfills her role with complete courage and sacrifice. And here we will transmit for her biographies that she must take as her example in order for Islam to become victorious. And the reason we address the woman in these pages is because of what we have seen in that, when a woman is convinced about a matter, she will be from the greatest impetuses for the men to fulfill it. And if she is against a matter, she will be from the biggest obstacles to the men accomplishing it, especially if that woman is a mother or a grandmother whose obedience and pleasure is mandated. And considering that the woman is the cradle of the men and the caretaker of the plant until its build becomes strong, it is appropriate for us to direct to her this address in which we urge her to carry out her active role in the current war between Islam and all the disbelieving nations, without exception. And so long as the woman abandons taking up that battle and is either isolated from it or [is not] present to strengthen the determination [of the fighters], then this is the first step to defeat and it is the way to loss, and this is what has happened to our Ummah today. 7 At-Tawbah:24 3 Islam was not victorious in its radiant times over the disbelieving nations who were greater than it in power, in number, and in wealth except when the woman was up for the responsibility, for she is the one who raises her children upon the Jihad, and she is the one who guards the man's honour and wealth if he goes out for Jihad, and she is the one who is patient and helps her children and her husband remain patient in the pursuance of this path. So the saying, "Behind every great man is a woman" is true of the women of that time, so we could say, "Behind every great Mujahid is a woman." Those women knew their roles, and were as the Messenger of Allah described them, as reported by Ahmad and At-Tirmidhi, that on one occasion, "Umar asked the Prophet, "O Messenger of Allah! What wealth shall we seek [in this world]?" He answered, "It is upon you to seek a grateful heart, a tongue occupied in the remembrance of Allah, and a wife who will strengthen you in the matter of the Hereafter."8 But the women of our era, what shall we say? And with what shall we describe them? And what are their concerns? Are they a means of help to their husbands in the affairs of the Hereafter? Do they comprehend anything about the war today between Islam and Kufr? Or do they even know the countries of Kufr? And do they even know what Muslims are experiencing everywhere besides Palestine? They are unaware - and what kind of unawareness is it? It is the unawareness of [everything except] following the latest trends and fads, the adornments and the pomp. Rather, some of them are, if you wish, drowning in the prohibited things. They've become relied on for destruction. The enemies of the Religion use them against the Ummah in its own lands. After we had expected them to contribute to the building of the tower of the Ummah, we find ourselves instead working to stop them from destroying Islam. And the enemy's focus on "freeing" women was only after they realized that the woman is the custodian of the Ummah. If she is corrupted, her creation will be corrupted, as well as those around her. So they [the enemies] used her in the worst way, while she is delusional and drowning, and believes all of these false calls, and there is no Might or Power except with Allah. And if you, O Amatullah, are unaware about the presence of the current war on your own, the matter would have been easy, for here we would have said that we have the men to compensate! But today, if you are unaware of the presence of the current war or the preparation for it, the entire Ummah will be unaware of it with you. Who will raise the youth for this battle? And who stands behind the men in embarking upon this battle? And who prepares the mothers of the coming generations to continue on this path after you? The answer to this question and the tens of other urgent questions like it shows us one thing, and that is that the woman is an important element in the struggle today, and she must participate in it with all of her capacity and with all of her passion. And her participation does not mean the conclusion of the struggle - no. Rather, her participation is counted as a pillar from amongst the pillars that cause victory and the continuation of the path. Therefore, you must be aware, my Muslim sister, that your mission is greater than what you imagine. You are responsible for a large part of the defeat of Islam today, for if you rose to your responsibility, this disgrace would not have befallen the Ummah. And perhaps you will say, "Why do I bear all of these responsibilities?" We say, because your responsibility is the first responsibility that, if not executed correctly, there will be mostly no benefit to what comes after it. This is because the first [place] that the child grows up is between your arms, and if he grows into a young man, he will only know your guidance because of his love for you. So if you do not plant within him the love for Allah, His Messenger and jihad in His Path in his childhood, no one else will be able to implant it in his heart when he is older, except with much difficulty, The 8 Sunan Ibn Majah #1846; As-Silsilah As-Sahihah #2176; Sahih al-Idmr#5231 4 plant is between your hands, tender and moist, so rise to your role and you will see the results after two decades, by the Permission of Allah. And to show the importance of your role in this clash today between the religions of Kufr and the Religion of Islam, and especially in the new crusade that the world is waging against Islam and the Muslims under the leadership of America, then we must remind you of an aspect of your role, reflected in the image of the Muj Midah of the Islamic Golden Age. And the examples we will transmit to you of the Muslim women should not be considered the only luminous side in the pages about these women. But it is just one beaming aspect in the lives of the mothers of the heroes, and the sisters of the heroes, and the wives of the heroes. And if the Muslim today had the [spirit of] sacrifice, and the truthfulness and the love for the Religion that was within the women of the Salaf, then Islam would be victorious, by the Permission of Allah. Examples of the Mujahidah From the Women of the Salaf And we hope that you will take the stories we mention to you as examples and follow them, O honourable sister, so that the same grace that befell them and the Religion during their time will befall you. Your role model, my Muslim sister, is not that whorish dancer or the one that commercializes her body everywhere, or that singer or model - no! And if you want to know who you are, then look at who you take as role models. And if you want to know the state of the Ummah, look at who its women take as role models. So if they look up to the great, truthful, devout, worshipping, patient, journeying [for the sake of their Religion] Mujahidat, then the Ummah will be victorious. But if they look up to the immoral, disbelieving, lying, deceiving, misguided women, who lead others astray and sway when they walk, then that is a true loss for the Ummah, and that is what we have seen these days - we ask Allah for safety and pardon. The woman entered the battlefield in the first centuries of Islam, not because of the small number of men during her time, but rather, due to her love for the reward and for sacrifice in the Path of Allah This is clear in what Ahmad narrated from Hashraj Bin Ziyad Al-Ashja'i, from his grandmother, Umm Abihi who said: "I went out with the Messenger of Allah in the Battle of Khaybar, and I was the sixth of six women. So when it reached the Messenger of Allah that he had women with him, he sent for us and said, 'What made you come out? And by whose command did you come out?' We said, 'We came out to hand out the arrows and give water to the people, and we have with us what we can use to treat the wounded and spin wool and to assist with all this for the Sake of Allah.' He said, 'Stand up and depart.' So when Allah granted us victory in Khaybar, he gave us an allotment like the allotment of a man. I said, 'O grandmother, what did he give you?' She said, 'Dates." And also from her love for Jihad and sacrifice for this Religion, is that this sincere love steered her to openly request participation in the Jihad from the Messenger of Allah as was narrated in Al-Bukhari and Sunan An-Nisal, the statement of A'ishah, "'I said, O Messenger of Allah! Why do we not go out and fight with you, as I do not see any deed in the Qur'an better than Jihad?' He said, 'No, rather the best and the most beautiful Jihad [for women] is an accepted Hajj.'"9 And in the narration of Ahmad and Al-Bukhari he said, "No. Your [women's] Jihad is an accepted Hajj, for you it is Jihad."10 And in comparison to the state of the woman of yesterday, who would ask for Jihad to be prescribed upon her due to her love for this Religion, we find that the woman of today wished 9 Sunan An-Nisa'i #2581 10 Al-Bukhari #1423, #2576 and #1728; Musnad Ahmad #23357 5 that the Statement of Allah, "Fighting is prescribed upon you," wasn't revealed, especially if she finds out that her son, or her father or her husband will answer [the Call] of Allah and leave for His Sake to defend this Religion. So this enormous difference between the women of yesterday and the women of today has a direct impact on the state of the Ummah, for the women of yesterday produced men who dominated all the disbelieving nations, and the women of today produce males who are dominated by the worshippers of the cows and the stones and the trees and the cross and the temple, to the point that they pay them the Jizyah with willing submission, while feeling themselves subdued - and there is no Might nor Power except with Allah. The first of these examples that we will relate to you, my noble sister, so that you would weigh yourself and your deeds next to hers before your deeds are weighed [on the Day of Judgment], is truly a great woman who carries the weight of a thousand men or more. And if the Muslim women were a tenth of what she was or less, we would never have lost a single right, nor would a single sanctity of ours have been violated. She is the courageous Mujahidah: Umm 'Umärah, Nusaybah Bint Ka'b Al - Ansariyyah: It was said in her biography in Siyar An-Nubala' [2/278], "Umm 'Umarah witnessed the night of Al-'Aqabah, and witnessed Uhud, and Al- Hudaybiyah, and the day of Hunayn, and the day of Al-Yamamah, and she fought and did amazing things, and her hand was cut off in the Jihad." And Al-Waqidi said, "She witnessed Uhud with her husband, Ghaziyyah Bin 'Amr, and with her two sons. She went out to give water and with her was water skin; and she showed extreme courage, and was wounded with 12 injuries. Damrah Bin Sa'id Al-Mazini said about his grandmother on Uhud, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, say, 'Indeed the status of Nusaybah Bint Ka'b today is better than the status of so-and-so and so-and-so.'" And she was seen that day fighting very intensely, and she had tied her dress to her waist until she was wounded with 13 injuries, and she would say, 'Indeed I was looking at Ibn Qami'ah,' while he was hitting her shoulder, and it was her greatest wound and she treated it for a year. Then the Caller of the Messenger of Allah called out to go to Hamra Al-Asad, so she tied her dress, but couldn't [go] because of the dripping blood, may Allah be pleased with her and have Mercy on her." Umm 'Umarah said, "I saw that the people had exposed the Messenger of Allah except for a group of ten, and I and my two sons and my husband were next to him, keeping the people away from him, and the [Muslims] were passing by him, defeated. The Messenger of Allah saw me with no shield and he saw a man running away with a shield so he said, "Give your shield to one who is fighting!" So he threw it, and I took it, and I began to shield the Messenger of Allah with it. And the horsemen did many things to us, and if they were on foot like we were, we would have crushed them, In Sha' Allah. A man came on a horse and was hitting me, so I shielded him so that he could not do anything. He turned so I hit the hamstring of his horse so he fell on his back, and the Messenger of Allah began to shout, "O son of Umm 'Umarah! Your mother, your mother!" She said, "So he helped me against him until he died." Abdullah Bin Zayd - the son of Umm 'Umarah - said: "I was wounded on that day, and the blood would not stop flowing. So the Prophet said, 'Bandage your wound.' My mother came to me with a waist-wrapper. She tied my wound while the Messenger of Allah was standing, and he said, 'Rise, my son, and strike the people!' Then he said, 'Who could endure what you endure, O Umm 'Umarah?'" Umm `Umaarah said, "The one who hit my son approached, so the Messenger of Allah said, 'This is the one who hit your son!' She said, 'So I stood in his way and hit his thigh, and he collapsed. I saw the Messenger of Alla, smile until I saw his molar teeth, and he said, 'You have taken your revenge, O 'Umarah!' 6 Then we hit him with our weapons until we finished him, so the Prophet said, 'Praise be to Allah who made you victorious.'" And Abdullah Bin Zayd Bin 'Asim also said, "I witnessed Uhud, and when the people parted from the Messenger of Allah I approached him, and my mother and I defended him, so he said, 'The son of Umm 'Umarah?' I said, 'Yes.' He said, 'Throw!' So while next to him, I threw a rock at a man, and he was on a horse, and I hit the eye of his horse, and the horse became confused and fell with its rider. So I began to throw rocks at a man in front of him and the Prophet was smiling, and he looked at the injury on my mother's shoulder and said, 'Your mother, your mother! Tie her wound! O Allah, make them my companions in Paradise!' I said, 'I do not care what befalls me in this world.'" From Muhammad Bin Yahya Bin Hibban, who said, "Umm 'Umarah was wounded with 12 injuries at Uhud, and her hand was cut off on the day of Al-Yamamah, and she was wounded on the Day of Al-Yamamah with 11 wounds besides her hand, and she came to Al-Madinah wounded. Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, saw her, and he was the Khalifah. He went to her to ask about her, and her son, Habib Bin Zayd Bin 'Asim was the one Musaylamah the Liar cut into pieces, and her other son, Abdullah Bin Zayd Al-Mazuni was the one who narrated the ablution of the Messenger of Allah He was killed the day of Al-Hurrah, and he was the one who killed Musaylamah the Liar with his sword. In Sifat As-Safwah [2/63] it was said about her that 'Umar Bin A1-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated from the Prophet, s 44.1a 211, that he said, "I did not look left or right on the day of Uhud except that I saw her fighting in front of me." End quote. And it was also narrated about her in Al-Isabah [4/418] from her story, "Al- Waqidi mentioned that when Nusaybah Bint Ka'b heard about the killing of her son, Habib Bin Zayd, by Musaylamah, she made an oath to Allah that she would die before Musaylamah or kill him. So she witnessed Al-Yamamah with Khalid Bin Al-Walid, may Allah be pleased with him, and with her was her son, Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with him. Musaylamah was killed and she lost her arm in the fight." Ibn Hisham mentioned in his Ziyadah, from Umm Sa'd Bin Sa'd Bin Ar-Rabi', that she said, "I entered upon Umm 'Umarah, so I said, "O aunt, inform me! [Umm 'Umarah] said, 'I went out - meaning on the day of Uhud - and I had a water skin with water, and we reached the Messenger of Allah, el., s while he was with his companions and the victory was for the Muslims. But when the Muslims got defeated I went towards the Messenger of Allah and I set out to fight and protect the Messenger of Allah with the sword, and I would throw with the bow, until I got wounded. ' Umm Sa'id Bint Sa'd Bin Ar-Rabi' said, "I saw her shoulder and it was hollow and had a depression. I said, 'Who hit you there?' She said, 'Ibn Qami'ah." End quote. This is the courageous Mujahidah, Umm 'Umarah. And truly! Who could endure what Umm 'Umarah could endure? The men cannot sustain her steadfastness and her patience with the Messenger of Allah, so how about the women? But as long as she is your example, O honorable sister, in her courage and sacrifice and boldness and steadfastness and patience upon this path, then you will be successful, by the Permission of Allah. And to you, my sister, is a clear example that exemplifies the sacrifice of the woman and the strength of her heart for the sake of the Victory of the Religion of Allah. She put herself in 7 danger and entered the battleground and prepared to fight the men - all of that because of her love for this Religion and for the Victory of Islam, and that example is: Umm Sulaym It was said about her in Hayat As-Sahabah [1/597] and in Sifat As-Safwah [2/66] that she entered the battleground on the day of Hunayn, to sacrifice for the Religion of Allah, and she had a dagger with her. Abu Talhah came on the day of Hunayn laughing to the Messenger of Allah about Umm Sulaym. He said, "O Messenger of Allah, do you not see that Umm Sulaym has a dagger?" The Messenger of Allah said to her, "What will you do with it, O Umm Sulaym?" She said, "I wanted to stab with it anyone who came near me." And in a narration she said, "If any one of the Mushrikin came near me; I would take it and I would slice his belly." So the Messenger of Allah began to laugh." End quote. Here, my sister Al-Mujahidah, is another example that contains the strength of heart that we are in need of in our women, and we do not think that a man would retreat from Jihad and from having courage if he knew there was a woman like her behind him. And this example is that of: Safiyyah Bint Abdil-Muttalib, the paternal aunt of the Prophet It was said about her in Al-Isabah [7 / 744] that she said, "When the Messenger of Allah went out to Al-Khandaq, he left the women in a fortress called Fari', and he left Hassan Bin Thabit with them." She said, "A man from the Jews came and climbed the fortress until he appeared to us, so I said to Hassan, 'Go and kill him.' He said, 'If I had that in me, I would have been with the Messenger of Allah' - because he was an old man." She said, "So I veiled myself, and I took a pole and came down from the fortress to him, and I hit him with the pole until I killed him and cut off his head. And I said to Hassan, 'Stand up and cast his head to the Jews while they are below the fortress!' He said, By Allah, not that!" She said, "So I took his head and threw it to them, so they said, 'We knew that he [i.e. the Prophet] would not leave his family without anyone [i.e. without men to protect them]' and they left." And she was the first woman to kill a man from the Mushrikin. This was narrated by Ibn Sa'd from Abu Salamah. End quote. As for her incitement of the men to fight, then she never fell short in inciting them with her tongue. And she did not [just] incite those who remained behind; rather, she incited the fighters who were not victorious over their enemies. And this incitement was with her limbs also. It was said in Al-Isabah from Hammad from Hisham from his father, that Safiyyah came on the day of Uhud when the people were defeated and she had a spear with her that she would use to hit their faces, so the Prophet said, "O female Zubayr!" As for her patience during calamities and her contentedness [with Allah's Decree], then she was a towering mountain. It was said in Al-Isabah in the Sirah from the narration of Yunus Bin Bukayr that he said, "Hamzah was killed, so Safiyyah Bint Abdil-Muttalib approached to see her brother. Az-Zubayr met her and said, 'O mother, the Messenger of Allah orders you to go back.' She said, 'Why, when it has reached me that they mutilated my brother? That was for the sake of Allah, so what will make us more pleased than this? I will have patience and be content, In Sha Allah.' So Az-Zubayr went and informed the Prophet and he said, 'Leave her be.' So she went to [Hamzah] and asked Allah's Forgiveness for him. Then it was ordered that he be buried." End quote. 8 And this is another role model for you, my sister in Islam, so when will our women reach their level of sacrifice and courage? And this role model is: Asma' Bint Yazid Bin As -Sakan, the cousin of Muadh Bin Jabal, may Allah be pleased with them both. It was said about her in Siyar A' lam An -Nubala' [2/297], that she was, "From the Mujahidat who gave Bay'ah to the Prophet, and she killed nine Romans on the day of Al-Yarmuk with a pole from her tent." End Quote. And also from the Mujahidat that you must take as a role model, my sister, especially with regards to her assistance to the Religion and her defense of the Muslims, is the heroic: Umm Musä Al-Lakhamiyyah, the wife of Nusayr Al-Lakhami, who was the father of Musa Bin Nusayr, the man who conquered Al-Andalus. It was said in Al-Isabah [4/501] that she witnessed Al-Yarma with her husband, and that day she killed an infidel and took his spoils. Abdul-Aziz Bin Marwan would ask her about that story, and she would describe it to him saying: 'We were a group of women, and while the men were undertaking an excursion, I saw an infidel dragging a Muslim man. So I took a pole from a large tent, then I approached him and I smashed his head with it! And I approached to take his spoils, and the men helped me take them.'" End quote. And I ask you by Allah, my noble sister, how many times have you seen pictures of your brothers, whether dead or injured or homeless or robbed? Did you ever think about assisting them with what you can so as to lift from them the harm that has befallen them? Do you not see what Umm Musa did when she saw one thing? She could not hold herself back, and she went forth and entered the battleground with a pole, while her enemy had a sword and was bristling with arms! And what prompted her to do this other than her Ghayrah (jealousy) for this Religion? So where is your Ghayrah? Or was it your Ghayrah that prompted you to keep your wealth from the Mujahidin, or to ward off your son or your husband from Jihad in the Path of Allah? And to you, my Muslim sister, is: Umm Hakim Bint Al-Harith, the wife of 'Ikrimah Bin Abi Jahl, may Allah be pleased with them, and how she rose above the calamity that befell her husband, all for the sake of the Jihad. It was said in Al-Isabah [4/443], "That she went out with her husband, 'Ikrimah, to fight the Romans. He was martyred, so Khalid Bin Sa'id Bin Al-As married her. And when it was the incident of Maraj As-Sufr, Khalid wanted to consummate the marriage with her. She said, 'Let us wait until Allah defeats these [enemies].' He said, 'My Nafs tells me that I will be killed.' She agreed, and he consummated the marriage with her at the archway, and it was named for her after that and it was called, 'Umm Hakim's archway.'" Then [Khalid] awoke and he hosted a Walimah for her, and they had just completed the meal when the Romans came to them, and the fighting began, and Khalid was martyred. Umm Hakim fastened her clothing and went out, and upon her were traces of perfume. They fought upon the river, and Umm Hakim fought that day and killed seven Romans with a pole from the tent in which Khalid consummated the marriage with her." End quote. 9 And this, my sister in Islam , is a role model for you, her story incites you to the love of Jihad just as the Sahabiyat loved it and longed for it. And in this example is a lesson for you, for how far away are our women from the love of Jihad? Rather, how close are they to hating this great rite? And this is only due to the lack of Iman, for if the love of Allah and His Messenger were above everything else, then our women would have been like: Umm Haram It was mentioned in Al-Isabah [4/441] that he said, "The Messenger of Allah said while in the house of Umm Haram Bint Milhan- he woke from his nap after Adh-Dhuhr laughing and said, 'Some people from my Ummah were shown to me, fighters in the Path of Allah. They were on barges and looked like kings sitting on their thrones.' She said, `so I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, ask Allah to make me one of them.' So he supplicated for them and laid his head and slept. Then he woke up laughing. She said, 'So I said, 'What makes you laugh, O Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'People from my Ummah where shown to me, fighters in Allah's Path,' as he said the first time. She said, 'I said, O Messenger of Allah, ask Allah to make me one of them.' He said, 'You are from the first group.' Umm Haram Bint Milhan embarked on the sea, and she fell from her beast when she stepped onto land, and she died, may Allah be pleased with her. Ibn Al-Athir said, "That conquest was the conquest of Cyprus, so she was buried there. And the commander of that army was Mu'awiyah Bin Abi Sufyan, may Allah be pleased with them, during the Khilafah of Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, in the year of 27H." End quote. This, my noble sister, is Umm Haram. She was not pleased with disgrace, but rather she longed to be among those who would mount the highest peak of Islam, and so she asked the Messenger of Allah to supplicate for her to be among the fighters in the Path of Allah. And that request of hers was due only to the fact that her heart was filled with the love for Allah and His Messenger and Jihad in His Path, so she considered her life as cheap in comparison. So may Allah have Mercy on her and grant her a home in His spacious Paradise. And to you, my sister, is a role model in women's patience and their incitement of their sons to fight, and she is: The Lady of the Two Belts, Asma Bint Abi Bakr As-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with them. It was said about her in Siyar A'lam An-Nubala' [2/293-395], "'Urwah said, 'I entered upon my mother with my brother (i.e. Abdullah Bin Az-Zubayr) 10 days before he was killed, and she was in pain. Abdullah said, 'How are you?' 'In pain,' she said. He said, 'Indeed there is a peace in death.' She said, 'Perhaps it is that you desire my death, so don't,' and she laughed. Then she said, 'By Allah, I do not wish to die until there comes one of your two ends - (i.e. in his fight with Al-Hajjaj) - either that you are killed and I remain patient after your death, or that you are granted victory and my eyes are delighted. And beware of accepting a plan you do not agree with only out of your hatred of death."Urwah said, 'My brother meant by his previous words that if he was killed it would grieve her, as she was a hundred years of age.' When Ibn 'Urnar, may Allah be pleased with them, came to console her for the death of her son, Abdullah Bin Az-Zubayr, may Allah be pleased with him, he found her in the corner of the mosque, and at the time her son was crucified. So he leaned towards her and said, 'Indeed these bodies are nothing, but the souls are with Allah. So fear Allah and be patient.' She said, 'And what would prevent me [from being patient] when the head of Yahya Bin Zakariyyah was given as a gift to one of the prostitutes of Bani Isra'il?'" End quote. 10