WOMEN IN ISLAM — An Intellectual Role

Then Khadijah hastened to Waraqah ibn Nawfal, a Christian convert who had translated part of the Bible into Arabic. When she had finished telling him of what Muhammad had seen and heard, Waraqah exclaimed, “Holy, holy! By the Master of my soul, if your report be true, O Khadijah, this must be the great spirit who spoke to Moses. This means that Muhammad must be the Prophet of this nation.” On a subsequent visit, Khadijah brought Muhammad to meet Waraqah ibn Nawfal. Muhammad related the events exactly as they had taken place and, when he had finished, Waraqah said, “By the Master of my soul, I swear that you are the same Prophet whose coming was foretold by Jesus, son of Mary.” But then Waraqah sounded a note of warning: “You will be denied and you will be hurt. You will be abused and you will be pursued.” He nevertheless immediately pledged himself to the Prophet: “If I should ever live to see that day, I should surely help you.” The reason that Khadijah was able to arrive at a correct judgment in such delicate situations was that she was detached from it and therefore, in a position to offer objective opinions. If she too had been seriously involved, she might have been too subjective in her thinking. Hajira We find from a prayer offered by Prophet Abraham that the culture prevalent in his times (4,000 years ago) had totally corrupted people’s minds and they practiced nature worship or Shirk. As a result such practices had become a part of their unconscious minds. It had become almost impossible for a person born in these urban centres to keep himself untainted by this corrupting influence (THE QURAN 14: 36). Studies in biology and psychology show that the sexes are different in nature, each being designed for a different purpose. At this juncture, God commanded Prophet Abraham to devise a historic plan of founding a new generation of people who would be followers of Monotheism; a step that has no precedent in ancient history. According to this plan, Prophet Abraham was to settle his wife Hajira (Hagar) and son Ishmael in the desert in Arabia at a place now known as Mecca. It was at that time an uninhabited valley far away from the centres of civilization. There, the environment was totally natural. Thus, it was possible to raise a generation, cut off from the atmosphere of corrupt civilization, which would retain its God-given nature intact.