MOTHERS OF THE BELIEVERS
The Extraordinary Role of Muslim Women
IT is stated in the Quran that the wives of the Prophet are the mothers of the believers (33: 6). This title of the Prophet’s spouses shows how much they are to be respected and honoured by the Muslims.
The words that appear in the Quran about the wives of the Prophet, on the one hand, describe the status of the spouses themselves, and on the other hand, through these words, it is made manifest what place they should have among the Muslims.
When the Prophet migrated from Makkah to Madinah, it was no ordinary journey. It destroyed his as well as his Companions’ economy. In these dire circumstances, it became very difficult to provide the necessary financial means for his family. This was the time when Prophet’s spouses asked for financial support to care for their essential expenses.
Under normal circumstances, it is not objectionable for women to seek
and demand material help. But this demand was inappropriate to the
historic role that the wives of the Prophet had to play in his mission.
Therefore, the Quran addressed them in these reprimanding words:
O Prophet, say to your wives, ‘If you seek the life of this world and all
its finery then come, I will make provision for you, and release you
honourably. But if you seek God and His Messenger and the abode of
the Hereafter, then know that God has prepared a great reward for
those of you who do good deeds.’ Wives of the Prophet! Any one of you
who commits a flagrant act of misconduct shall be doubly punished.
That is easy enough for God.
But those of you who obey God and His Messenger and do good deeds shall be doubly rewarded. For them, We have made an excellent provision. Wives of the Prophet, you are not like any other women. If you fear God, do not be too soft-spoken in case the ill-intentioned should feel tempted. Speak in an appropriate manner.
Stay in your homes and do not flaunt your charms as in the former times of ignorance. Attend to your prayers, pay the zakat and obey God and His Messenger. Women of the [Prophet’s] Household, God seeks only to remove all impurity from you, and to make you completely pure. Bear in mind all that is recited in your homes of the revelations of God and of wisdom. God is all-pervading and all-aware. (33: 28-34)
In these verses of the Quran, all necessary directives about the Prophet’s wives are very clearly stated. These verses enumerate their responsibilities and the duties of the believers towards them.
It is clear from these verses that the Prophet’s wives did not get the status of Umm-ul-Mumineen, i.e. Mothers of the believers only as a title. This title was granted to them for their pious deeds and exemplary sacrifices. The fact is that they fully deserve to be given the status of Mother of the Believers till the Day of Resurrection.
According to some Hadith reports, when the above-mentioned verses were revealed in which the wives of the Prophet were given the option to stay with the Prophet if they wished and to separate if they wished. Then the Prophet entered the house and said to his wife Aisha: “O Aisha, I would like to talk to you about one matter. Regarding this option, you should not be in a hurry to decide unless you consult your parents on this matter. Aisha replied: “O Prophet of God, I will not consult my parents in this matter. Rather, I prefer God and His Messenger and his house.”
Similar was the response of all of his wives. None of them decided to separate from the Prophet based on the option provided by the Quran. Under the circumstances, the decision of the spouses to stay with the Prophet was an extraordinary sacrifice. Because at that time the situation was that apart from other facilities of life, even simple food was not available for two meals a day.
The condition of the Prophet’s wives at that time can be gauged from an incident. Aisha narrates that once an Ansari (a Muslim of Madinah) sent a goat to her house. They struggled to make proper pieces of the meat at night. Someone said, “Why didn’t you light a lamp so that you could chop the meat in the light of the lamp?” Aisha replied that if we had oil to light a lamp, we would drink this oil owing to the intensity of hunger.
The fact is that the difficult situation in which the Prophet’s wives decided to stay with him is a unique example and only one of its kind in history. This was great planning of God Almighty. Due to this, the uncommon and extraordinary greatness of the spouses was established so that people would consider them as role models for themselves. It is mentioned in the above verses that if the Prophet’s wives do good deeds and adopt the method of obedience, they will be rewarded twice as much as others.
This double reward was exactly in accordance with their privilege. One reward was for their good deeds. The second reward was because they performed good and pious deeds at the level of sacrifice. The Prophet’s wives were destined to play the role of guides for society. It would not have been possible for the wives of the Prophet to play a leading role in society unless people considered them superior in morals and character. The Prophet’s wives paid this price through extraordinary sacrifices. Therefore, they deserved a double reward.,/p>
In the above-mentioned verse of the Quran, while addressing the wives of the Prophet, they are commanded that they should not adopt a soft tone while talking to the people. (33: 32)
The Prophet’s youngest wife Aisha's role in this regard is very special. All the biographers of the Prophet are in unison that the benefits bestowed on the ummah by Aisha in teaching, training, and propagation of Islam were more than most of the male Companions of the Prophet.
This directive indicates that there was a special plan in giving the status of Mothers of the Believers to the wives of the Prophet. They were expected to work and guide the believers in dawah (missionary) activity and training them. According to God’s plan, believers were to come to the wives of the Prophet to discover the teachings of Islam and find solutions to their religious questions.
Among those who would come would not only be women but also men. Therefore, the said order was given so that there would be no possibility of any psychological complication while talking to the men. Thus, history has shown that it was in the time of the Prophet, and even after his death, many men and women kept coming to his wives to enquire about Islamic injunctions about various matters.
This shows that it was of special interest that the Prophet was allowed to keep more than four wives. This arrangement was essential to expedite the purpose of the training. It is clear that one woman alone could not be enough to serve the needs of training and education of a society. This required a number of women to whom people could turn and then discover Islamic injunctions. The wives of the Prophet belonged to different tribes and different families. In this way, they became a source of reference for the tribe and family. Thus, history shows that men and women of every tribe and every family used to come to the houses of the Prophet’s wives and ask them for rules and issues according to their needs.
In the above verses, the wives of the Prophet are commanded to stay in their homes and bear in mind all that is recited in their homes of the revelations of God and of wisdom. (33: 32-33)
This verse shows that the Mothers of the believers were specially trained for the task of reforming the Muslim community, i.e. ummah. They were instructed to put an end to all irrelevant interests and activities and focus all their attention to gain learning and wisdom from the Prophet. This arrangement was put in place because the teachings of the Prophet had to be preserved so that during and after the life of the Prophet they could convey these teachings to the ummah.
The Prophet’s youngest wife Aisha’s role in this regard is very special. All the biographers of the Prophet are in unison that the benefits bestowed on the ummah by Aisha in teaching, training, and propagation of Islam were more than most of the male Companions of the Prophet. The simple reason was that Aisha was the youngest of all the wives.
Coupled with it, she was very intelligent and had an extraordinary memory. Because of her great mental abilities, she memorized everything she heard from the Prophet in its most correct and perfect form. She fully understood and kept in mind every deed of the Prophet. Aisha lived for about fifty years after the death of the Prophet. She became a means of conveying the teachings of the Prophet to the next two Muslim generations. It would be correct to say that Aisha was a great mercy for the Muslim ummah due to her special attributes. She became a kind of living tape record and a source of blessings for the Muslim community for almost half a century.
The best of you is one
who is best for his
family, and I am best of
all of you for my family.
—Prophet Muhammad