^1 THE CHARACTER OF THE MUSLIM WOMAN Women’s Emancipation during the Prophet’s Lifetime Abd al-Halim Abu Shuqqah Translated by Adil Salahi r The Prophet established complete equality between men and t .. women as he said,“Women are full sisters of men”. Yet both have their respective special functions.This volume draws out the features of the Muslim woman’s character as outlined in the ■i Qur’an and Sunnah. It shows that much of what we imagine to be Islamic rulings are no more than social traditions. This Eight volume series is the author’s abridged version of his longer work with the same Arabic title, Tahrir al-Mar’ah fi ‘Asr al-Risalah spanning a twenty-five year study comprising fourteen great anthologies of ahadith, but in this book he only rarely includes hadiths from any anthology other than the two most authentic ones of al-Bukhari and Muslim. f > Abd al-Haleem Abu Shuqqah (d. 1995) was a great teacher and scholar. He had a real passion to revive the true Islamic spirit in the ummah and dedicated his life to learning and teaching. ’ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*---------------------------------------- He taught in Egypt, Syria, Qatar and Kuwait. His particular focus was ph Hadith studies. ISB■N 978-1-84774-146 -2i | US fS9.95 K> PUBLISHING 9 780860 371465* www.kubepublishing.com = 1 * women’s emancipation during the prophet’s lifetime THE CHARACTER OFTHE MUSLIM WOMAN Volume I Abd al-Halim Abu Shuqqah Translated and Edited by Adil Salahi KUBE PUBLISHING The Character of the Muslim Woman First published in England by Kubc Publishing Ltd Markfield Conference Centre, Ratby Lane, Markficld, Leicestershire, LE67 9SY, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 1530 249230 I Fax: +44 (0) 1530 249656 Email: info@ kubcpublishmg.com i Website: www.kubepublishing.com WOMEN’S EMANCIPATION DURING THE PROPHET’S LIFETIME Copyright © Adil Salahi 2021 All rights reserved. The right of Abd al-Halim Abu Shuqqah to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. CIP data for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN; 978-1-84774-146-2 Paperback ISBN: 978-1-84774-147-9 Ebook Translate and Edit by: Adil Salahi Cover Design by: Nasir Cadir Typeset by: [email protected] Printed by: Elma Printing, Turkey Contents Acknowledgement v Transliteration Table vii Translator’s Notes viii Foreword by Muhammad al-Ghazali xvi Foreword by Yusuf al-Qaradawi xix Introduction 1 CHAPTER 1: Woman’s Status as Outlined in the Qur’an Chapter Summary 25 The Same Origin 27 Removing Injustice 28 Women’s Role in the Family 30 Famous Women in the Qur’an 39 CHAPTER 2: Women’s Status as Portrayed in the Sunnah Chapter Summary 46 Women’s Independence of Personality 47 Islam urges taking good care of women 63 Mentioning Women’s Names, Descriptions and Stories 64 CHAPTER 3: Women’s Noble Attitudes Chapter Summary 66 Self-Sacrifice 67 i I Aspiring to Perfection 68 Sincere Devotion 68 Generosity and Charity 69 Dutifulness to Parents (Both During Their Life-Times and After Their Deaths) 69 Patience in Adversity 70 Preserving One’s Chastity 70 Admitting Faults 71 Keenness to Be Purged of Sin 71 CHAPTER 4: Examples of the Strong Character of Muslim Women and Their Awareness of Their Rights and Duties Chapter Summary 73 Requesting Special Time for Learning 74 Insisting on Full Rights 75 Earning Money and Donating to Charity 76 CHAPTER 5: Muslim Women of Distinction Chapter Summary 81 Khadijah bint Khuwaylid 82 Fatimah, the Prophet’s Daughter 84 ‘A’ishah, the Prophet’s Wife 87 Umm Salamah, the Prophet’s Wife 92 Umm Sulaym, al-Ghumaysa’ bint Milhan 94 Asma’ bint Abu Bakr 95 CHAPTER 6: Authentic Hadiths About Women That Are Wrongly Applied Chapter Summary 98 CHAPTER 7: Comments on the Status of Muslim Women Chapter Summary 113 Maintaining a Distinguished Status of Women 118 Factors Promoting Women’s Independent Status 120 Manners to be Observed in Male and Female Relations 124 Women and the Attainment of Perfection 132 iv The Character of the Muslim Woman Acknowledgement Ever since I began working on this book, I have tried co show completed parts co a number of scholars who are my friends, in order co benefit from their valuable knowledge. Their comments have indeed helped me co revise and improve upon what I have written. To all of them I am indebted. However, foremost among these is Dr Yussuf al-Qaradawi, who read the whole book, chapter by chapter, upon the completion of each. I am greatly indebted to him for his highly useful comments. Moreover, he has honoured me with writing a foreword in which he briefly refers to the many difficulties encountered by Muslim women in modern times. I sincerely hope that I live up co his expectations. Ocher friends and scholars who read some chapters of the book are numerous, and they belong to several Arab countries. The one who deserves special mention is my learned teacher, Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali, who read a large part of this study and who also honoured me with writing a foreword to the work. My full partner in completing this work is my life partner and beloved wife, Malakah Zain al-Deen. Her contribution was by no means limited to ensuring that I enjoyed the right atmosphere for research and writing. She often overcame her natural instinct to stay at home with our children in order to accompany me on long journeys so that I could be free to write without being interrupted. She also helped greatly by putting together the different versions related by al-Bukhari of the same Hadith and in looking up unfamiliar terms in dictionaries. She also copied out draft after draft, and added rhe details of numerous footnotes. Furthermore, she was always ready with a useful point of view during the many discussions we had on many aspects of the study. May God bless her with continued health and reward her richly for her dedicated efforts. I j ■ vi The Character of the Muslim Woman Transliteration Table Consonants. Arabic initial, unexpressed, medial and final: I a d d 21 k b dh t J 1 t J r z f m th z d n J C j s L gh h C h sh f w J c kh ? q <5 y Vowels, diphthongs, etc. short: a i u long: a u I diphthongs: aw ay