WOMEN IN ISLAM — An Intellectual Role

one of irreproachable innocence and chastity. Mary, who subsequently became known as the Virgin Mary, was found to have lived her life according to this exacting standard, and, by her extraordinary chastity, had proved herself fit to be chosen as the mother of Jesus. In one of the most authentic collections of the Hadith by Bukhari, the Prophet is recorded as saying, “The best woman out of all of the (the Jewish people) was Mary (mother of Jesus), the daughter of ‘Imran, and the best woman out of all of my own people was Khadijah bint Khuwaylid.” The special historical status that both Khadijah and Mary enjoyed was due to their both having given themselves up entirely to God: they both subordinated their own wills to that of the Almighty. Perhaps there could be no better demonstration of a woman’s greatness than God’s command to men (during Haj) literally, to follow in the footsteps of Hajira. In the case of Khadijah, she was chosen by God to be the life partner of the final Prophet, Muhammad, because the circumstances of his life were such that he needed someone of superlative virtue, who would put herself and her property entirely in his hands without ever raising her voice in complaint. She did, indeed, give up everything—her life, her property, her leisure and her comfort—for the sake of the Prophet. The projection of woman as the most honourable human being in the form of a mother (Al Bukhari, Sahih, Kitab al-Adab, 10/329-330) makes it quite clear what sort of society Islam wants to create. It is one in which a woman is accorded the maximum honour and respect. A member of such a society, who shows full respect to a woman as a mother will, of necessity, become more and more caring with regard to other women. With the creation of such a mentality, women in general will share the status accorded to a mother at home. Women in every field In the later period of Islam, we find a number of Muslim women playing a very important role in the history of Islam. For example, in the 12th century A.D., Chengiz Khan and Hollagu attacked the Abbasid Caliphate and destroyed it from Samarkand to Alleppo. In the aftermath, it was the Muslim women who became active in missionary work among the victors. The result was miraculous. Within 50 years, the majority of