SHAFAQNA- Islam Revolutionized the Position of Women
The Quanic Word, Kawthar كوثر
Muhammad (PBUH) was heir to all of the family’s honors, inheritor of a new kind of wealth based not upon blood, not land nor money but upon the phenomenon of revelation. Born of faith, struggle in God’s Way (Jihad), revolution, thought and sensitivity, he was beautifully woven. He received the highest spirit. Muhammad (SAW) was joined to the history of mankind, not to that of Abdul-Muttalib, Abd Manaf, the Quraysh nor the Arabs.
He was the inheritor of Abraham (AS), Noah (AS), Moses (AS) and Jesus (AS). Fatimah (SA) was his only heir. “We gave you Kawthar, oh Muhammad. For your Creator, establish the prayer and sacrifice a camel. It is he, that very hated enemy of yours who is cut-off’ [108]. His enemy with ten sons was cut-off. He was useless, cut-off without the highest form of inheritance. “We gave you Kawthar,” Fatimah.’ It was in this way that revolution appeared in the depths of the conscience of time.
Now, a daughter became the owner of the values of her father, the inheritor of all the honors of her family. She was the continuation of the chain of great ancestors, the continuation which began with Adam and passed through all of the leaders of freedom and consciousness in the history of mankind. It reached Abraham (AS) and joined Moses (AS) and Jesus (AS) to itself.
It reached Muhammad (PBUH). The final link in this chain of divine justice, the rightful chain of truth was Fatimah (SA), the last daughter of a family who had anticipated a son. Muhammad (PBUH) had known what the hands of fate had in store for him. And, Fatimah (SA), also, had known who she was. Yes! This school of thought created such a revolution. A woman, in this religion, was freed like this. Isn’t this the religion of Abraham (AS) and of them, his heirs?
The Honor Bestowed on a Female
Nobody had the right to be buried in a Mosque. The greatest Mosque in the world was the Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah. The Kabah. This house belonged to God. It was devoted to God. It was the direction to which all of the prescribed prayers were oriented. The house was ordered by God and Abraham (AS) built it. It was a house which the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) honored with the mandate of freedom. He freed this ‘House of Freedom’, circumambulated it and went down in prostration towards it. All of the great prophets of history were servants of this house.
But no prophet had the right to be buried there. Abraham (AS) built it, but he is not buried there. Muhammad freed it, but he was not buried there. In the whole history of humanity, there was one, and one person only, who had been given this privilege. The God of Islam allowed one person to be buried in this way. Who? A woman. A slave. Hagar, the second wife of Abraham and mother of Ishmael. God ordered Abraham to build the greatest house of worship of humanity and, alongside it, the grave of this woman. Humanity must forever gather around the tomb of Hagar and circumambulate it
The God of Abraham chose a woman from among this great human society as his unknown soldier. God chose a mother and a slave. In other words, The God of Abraham chose a creature who, in all systems of humanity, lacked nobility and honor.
The Honor Bestowed Upon the Prophet’s (PBUH) Daughter
Yes, in this school of thought such a revolution took place. A woman was freed in this manner in this religion. This is how Islam appreciated the position of womanhood. The God of Abraham has chosen Fatima. Fatima, a girl, replaced a son as the inheritor of the glory of her family, maintaining the honorable values of her ancestors and continuing the family tree and prestige.
In a society that felt the birth of a daughter to be a disgrace which only burying alive could purify, where the best son-in-law a father could hope was called ‘the grave’, Muhammad (PBUH) knew what fate has done to him. Fatimah (SA) knew who she was. This is why history looked in amazement at the way Muhammad (PBUH) behaved towards his young daughter, Fatima, at the way he spoke with her and at the way he praised her.
We see that the house of Fatimah (SA) was next to the house of Muhammad (PBUH). Fatimah (SA) and her husband, Ali (AS), were the only people who lived next to the Prophet’s (PBUH) Mosque. Only a courtyard of two meters separated the two houses. Two windows faced each other, one from the house of Muhammad (PBUH), the other from the house of Fatima. Every morning the Prophet (PBUH) opened his window and greeted his young daughter.
We see that whenever the Prophet (PBUH) went on a journey, he knocked at the door of Fatimah’s (SA) house and said good-bye to her. Fatima was the last person who bade farewell to him. Whenever he returned from a journey, Fatimah (SA) was the first person he sought out. He knocked on the door of her house and he asked how she was.
It is recorded in some of the historic documents that the Prophet (PBUH) would kiss the face and hands of Fatimah (SA). This sort of behavior was more than just the relationship of a kind father and his daughter a father kissed the hands of his daughter, his youngest daughter! Such behavior struck a revolutionary blow against the inhumane relationships of that time. “The Prophet of Islam kissed the hands of Fatimah (SA).” Such a relationship opened the eyes of important people and politicians. The majority of the Muslims gathered around the Prophet in amazement at the greatness of Fatimah (SA).
This sort of behavior on the part of the Prophet of Islam taught humanity to discard bad habits and fantasies of history and traditions. It taught man to come down from his Pharaoh like throne, to put aside his pride and rough oppression and to bow his head when meeting a woman. It taught women to aspire to the glory and beauty of humanity and to put aside old feelings of inferiority and baseness.
This is why the words of the Prophet not only show the kindness of a father but also bring out his responsibilities and strict duties. He showed his appreciation for Fatima and spoke about her in the following terms: “The best women in the world were four: Mary (SA), Asiyah (SA) [the wife of Pharaoh who brought up Moses] , Khadija (SA) and Fatimah (SA).” And, “God is satisfied with her contentment and becomes angry from her anger.”
Or, “The contentment of Fatimah (SA) is my contentment. Her anger is my anger. Whosoever loves my daughter Fatima loves me. Whosoever makes Fatima content makes me content. Whosoever makes Fatima unhappy makes me unhappy.” And, “Fatima is a part of my body. Whosoever hurts her, has hurt me, and whosoever hurts me has hurt God.”
Why all this repetition? Why does the Prophet insist upon praising his young daughter? Why does he insist upon praising her in front of other people? Why does he want all of the people to be aware of his special feelings towards her? And finally, why does he so emphasize the contentment and anger of Fatima? Why does he so often use the word ‘hurt’ in relationship to Fatimah (SA).
The answer to this is very sensitive and important. It is clear. History has answered it all: the secret of these wondrous actions was unveiled, in the few short months after the death of her father.
The Mother of Her Father
History not only speaks of the ‘great ones’, it also attends to them. Children were always forgotten. Fatima was the youngest child in the family. Her childhood passed in a storm. Her birth date is debated. Tabari, Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hashim give it as five years before the Prophet’s mission. Murravij Al-Zahib Masudi mentions it as five years after the Prophet’s mission. Yaqubi says, “After the revelation.” Thus, there is a difference of opinion among the recorders of the Traditions. The Hanafi, Malikis, Hanbalis and Shafiis, say, five years before the mandate of the Prophet, and the Jafari say five years after his mission.
We leave it to the scholars to enlighten us as to the exact date of her birth. We are concerned with Fatima herself and the reality of Fatimah (SA). Whether she was born before or after the mission of the Prophet does not concern us here
That which is clear is that Fatimah (SA) remained in Makkah alone. Her two brothers died as infants and Zaynab, her oldest sister, who acted as the mother of this beloved child, went to the home of Abi al-Aas. Fatima bitterly accepted her absence. Then Ruqiya and Umm Kulthum’s married the sons of Abu Lahab. Fatimah (SA) remained even more alone if we accept her birth as having been before the mission of the Prophet (PBUH).
If we accept the second date, then, essentially, from the time she opened her eyes, she was alone. At any rate, the beginning of her life coincided with the heavy mandate of the Prophet (PBUH. It was filled with great struggles, difficulties and punishments whose shadows fell upon the house of the Prophet.
While her father bore the mandate of consciousness for mankind upon his shoulders and suffered hatred from the enemies of the people, her mother consoled her beloved husband. Early in childhood, Fatima tasted the suffering, sadness and anger of life. Because she was very young, she moved about freely. She made use of this freedom to accompany her father. She knew her father had no life of his own, had no opportunity to take hold of his child’s hand and walk freely and easily down the streets and into the bazaar.
He always went alone. In the sea of the town’s enmity, he swam with dangers on all sides. The small girl, who knew her father’s fate, never let him go alone. Many times she saw her father standing amidst a crowd of people. He spoke to them softly and they, in turn, harshly sent him away. Their only answers were to mock him and show him enmity. He felt lonely and friendless again. But quietly and patiently he gathered another group. He began his speech all over again. At the end, tired and having achieved no result, like fathers of other children who returned home from their jobs, he also returned home seeking a bit of rest. He then returned once more to his work.
Once when he had gone into the Masjid Al-Haram, where he was vilified and beaten, Fatima, still a small child, stood alone a short distance from the scene. She watched and then returned home with her father.
One day while prostrating himself in the Mosque, his enemies threw the intestines of a sheep at him. Suddenly, little Fatima, reached towards her father, picked up the intestines and threw them away. Then with her small, loving hands, she cleaned her father’s head and face, comforted him and led him to their home .
People who saw this thin, weak girl, alone, beside her champion father, saw how she comforted him. She supported him through his troubles and sufferings. With her pure, child-like heart, she sympathized with him. It was because of this that she came to be called Umme-Abiha, the mother of her father.
Source: Shariati.com
Part of a Series: Fatemeh is Fatemeh by Dr Ali Shariati