The great women of Islam

 [Islam is the only religion which has an unparalleled galaxy of pious men and women who have made left permanent footsteps in the shifting sands of time.  Herein we present some glimpses from the life of the great women of Islam with the hope that our women realize the heights to which they can ascend]

 

Hadhrat Mu’aadha (May Allah be well pleased with her)

 

When the day would dawn, she would say:  This is the day in which I will die. She wouldn’t sleep in it until nightfall.  When night came, she would say:  This is the night in which I will die.  She wouldn’t sleep in it.  Whenever sleep overwhelmed her, she would say stand up and stroll in the house.  She would tell her Self:  O Self, your sleep will come later.  She would stroll in the house until day dawned.  She would be afraid that her death would come while she was sleeping and was heedless (of Allah Most High).  She would offer 600 Raka’at of Salaat in day and night.  For 40 years, she never even looked at the sky.  From the time her husband passed away until her own demise, she never reclined on a bed.  Hadhrat Mu’aadha (May Allah be well pleased with her) had the honor of seeing Hadhrat ‘Aisha (May Allah be well pleased with her) and has even narrated Hadith on her authority.

 

Hadhrat Rabi’a (May Allah be well pleased with her)

 

She would cry a lot and would always remain sad.  Whenever she would hear the mention of hell, she would fall into a swoon and would say: Our repentance itself requires repentance.  Whatever people would give her, she would return it to them and say:  I have no need of this world.  Her shroud would always be lying in front of her i.e. at the place where she would prostrate and that place would be wet with her tears.  Once, she heard Hadhrat Sufyan Thauri (May Allah be well pleased with him) say:  Oh!  This sorrow!  She said:  Oh!  This lack of sorrow!  If you were sad, you wouldn’t like this life.  Her excellences are innumerable and are famous as well.  May Allah be well pleased with her.

 

Hadhrat Syeda’Aisha bint Ja’afar As Sadiq (May Allah be well pleased with them)

 

She is buried in the graveyard “Qarafa” of Egypt along its door.  She said: By thy honor and majesty!  If you cast me in hell, I will take my belief in Your Unity in my hands, tour the hell and say:  I believed that He is One, but He punished me.  She passed away in 145 Hijri.  May Allah be well pleased with her.

 

The wife of Hadhrat Rabaah Al Qaisi (May Allah be well pleased with her)

 

She would spend the whole night in prayer.  When 1/4^th of the night would pass, she would say:  O Rabaah!  Get up for Salaat.  If he wouldn’t get up, she herself would get up.  She would again return and say:  O Rabaah!  Please get up.

 

If he wouldn’t get up, then she would stand up in prayer in the last 1/4^th part of the night and again come to him and say:  O Rabaah!  Please get up.

 

If he wouldn’t get up, then she would come to him when the night ended and say:  O Rabaah!  Get up.  The army of the night has gone and you are still asleep.  Alas that somebody deceived me about you.  O Rabaah, you are rebellious and defiant.

 

She would pick up a speck from the ground and say:  By Allah!  With me, the world is much more debased than this.  When she would offer Salaat Ul ‘Isha, she would use fragrance and wear (beautiful) clothes and ask her husband whether he had any need.  If he would reply in the negative, she would change her clothes and offer Salaat until dawn.  May Allah be well pleased with her.

 

Hadhrat Fatimatun Nisa Booriya (May Allah be well pleased with her)

 

Hadhrat Dhun Noon Misri (May Allah be well pleased with him) said: Fatima is my teacher.

 

She said:  The person who doesn’t fear Allah in all conditions comes on his (or her) head everywhere and speaks all kinds of tongues and the person who fears Allah, Allah makes him (or her) dumb for all things except the truth and makes modesty before Himself and sincerity imperative for him.

 

She also said:  The person who, to gain the pleasure and approval of Allah, acts with the belief that Almighty Allah is seeing him (or her), that person is sincere.

 

Hadhrat Abu Yazeed (May Allah shower His mercy on him) says:  I have never seen a knowledgeable woman like Fatima.  Whatever station I told her about, she had the privilege of having seen it. 

 

She passed away into the presence of Allah Most High in 223 Hijri in Makkah while going for ‘Umrah.

 

 

Hadhrat Rabi’a bint Isma’eel (May Allah be well pleased with them)

 

She would stand in worship from the beginning of the night to its end.  She said:  When a slave obeys Allah Most High, the Lord Almighty makes that person aware of his/her shortcomings.  Thus, instead of the creation, that person busies himself/herself with his shortcomings (trying to remove them).  She would fast all the time and would say:  A person like me cannot break the fast (i.e. perform Iftaar) in this world.

 

She said:  Whenever I hear the Adhaan, I am reminded of the caller on the Day of Judgment……..Whenever I see heat, I am reminded of difficulties.

 

I frequently see the genies coming and going.  I see the damsels of paradise frequently who veil themselves against me with their sleeves.  Her excellences are innumerable.  May Allah be well pleased with her.

 

Watch out for the second part……….

 

[Excerpted from Tabaqaat Imam Sha’arani (May Allah shower His mercy on him)]