Women’s Spiritual Role in Muslim History

to the standard of the time. One of these was Maryam Zamani, Emperor Akbar’s mother. Once, Mulla Abdun Nabi, Akbar’s teacher, insulted the emperor in the court. Akbar was enraged and wanted to punish him, which could even have been a death sentence. However, his mother, Maryam Zamani, intervened and calmed him down. She told him his pardon would go down in history in these words. “An emperor having all the power at his disposal forgave the offender.” Such incidents abound in history, but usually, these are related to either a ‘mother’ like Maryam Zaman, a ‘daughter’ like Jahan Ara, or a wife like Noor Jahan. This is why people fail to see these roles beyond this framework. They could not extend their roles to general situations in society. Studies in biology and history show that women have been specially gifted with the qualities required for establishing normal relations. What are the traits of exemplary Muslim women? Let us first consider their everyday level of existence on