On the status of woman in Islam

First Sermon

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. He granted the greatest of honour to women and raised their status in His righteous religion. I praise Him, the Most Exalted, as befitting to His Sublime Countenance and Supreme Status. I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master and Prophet Muhammad is the Servant of Allah and His Messenger. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, his family and all of his companions, and those who follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.

As to what follows,

I urge you and myself, O Servants of Allah, to be aware that you are asked to obey Him the Most Exalted and Sublime, in line with His orders, “O you who have believed, fear Allah. And let every soul look to what it has put forth for tomorrow - and fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what you do.” (Al-Hashr: 18).

O Worshipers,

Allah, the Most Exalted and Sublime, has raised the status of women and honoured them. As an indication of their elevated standing, the Almighty has mentioned them in many places in the holy Quran. For instance, in the beginning of Surat An-Nisaa, Allah the Almighty says, “O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women.” (An-Nisaa: 1). In this verse, Allah the Most Wise has placed both men and women in equal position in terms of the origin of human beings. This is a fact that the Messenger of Allah pbuh has also accentuated as he said, “Indeed, women are the partners of men.”

In the sight of Allah the Almighty, women are counterpart of men in rulings, duties, performing righteous deeds and attaining their rewards. This can be illustrated in this verse: “and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so - for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward.” (Al-Ahzab: 35). In another verse in the holy Book, Allah the Almighty says in this regard, “whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer - We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do.” (An-Nahl: 97).

Moreover, in the holy Quran, Allah the Almighty has dedicated several Ayas for explaining the rulings related to women and their rights. In Surat An-Nisaa, the Most High emphasises this fact, for He says, “and they request from you, [O Muhammad], a [legal] ruling concerning women. Say, ‘Allah gives you a ruling about them’.” (An-Nisaa: 127). 

Islam has attributed many special privileges to woman. One such honour is that it gave her the right to benefit from her financial earnings. On this account, Allah the Almighty says, “for men is a share of what they have earned, and for women is a share of what they have earned.” (An-Nisaa: 32). Furthermore, Islam has made it an obligatory right for women to attain a share of the inheritance of their parents and relatives, be it little or much. The Most Beneficent says, “for men is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, and for women is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, be it little or much - an obligatory share.” (An-Nisaa: 7).

Indeed, all these rights are but few of the aspects of the honouring that Allah, the Exalted is He, has attributed to women. Umar Ibn Al Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said in this regard, “When Islam came and Allah mentioned women, we (men) realised that they had rights on us.”

O Worshipers,

Please know that amongst the other rights that Islam has safeguarded for women is their right to education. The Prophet pbuh was keenly interested in affirming such right for them. An illustration of this can be seen in the following Hadith. It was narrated that Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “The Messenger of Allah pbuh offered Eid prayer, then he delivered the sermon. And he thought that the women had not heard him, so he went over to them and reminded them (of Allah) and preached to them and enjoined them to give in charity.”  

On the same matter, it was narrated that Abu Saeed Al Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “Some women said to the Prophet pbuh, ‘Men (only) benefit by your teachings, so please devote to us from (some of) your time.’ On that he promised them one day on which he met them for religious lessons and commandments.” So, the Prophet pbuh used to preserve women’s right in preaching and guidance and advised them on their life matters. For instance, he pbuh said, “O Muslim women! None of you should look down upon the gift sent by her female neighbour even if it were the trotters of the sheep (fleshless part of legs).” This also means that a woman should not refrain from giving a gift to her woman neighbour even if the gift was as little as a sheep bone with very little flesh.

Being keen to educate women, the Prophet pbuh would also offer them advices related to their religious affairs. A good example on this is the following Hadith in which he pbuh said, “O Muslim women! Hold fast to Tasbih (exalting Allah), Tahlil (saying there is no deity save Allah), and Taqdis (sanctifying Allah), and do not become heedless, so that you forget about the Mercy (of Allah). And count them (mentions of Allah) upon the fingertips, for indeed they shall be questioned, and they will be made to speak.”

For their part, women showed keen interest to learn about their religious matters so that Sayida Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, praised them for diligently seeking to acquire knowledge about Islam’s teachings. To this, she said, “The best of the women are the women of the Ansar (supporters of the Prophet pbuh). Shyness would not prevent them from inquiring about religion and acquiring deep understanding in it.”

O Believers,

Another aspect of Islam’s honouring to women is that the holy Quran has celebrated the mention of some women whose righteous deeds and haste for performing acts of kindness became ever-remembered. One such woman is Sayida Mariam (Mary) the mother of Isa (Jesus) pbuh, may Allah be pleased with her. She was described in the holy Book as the supporter of truth, a description that has not been attributed to any of the other women that have been mentioned in it. Another example is the one of Queen Balqees (the queen of Sheba) who was known for her wisdom and rigorous decisions, so she submitted to Allah the Lord of the World, following Prophet Suleiman (Solomon) pbuh.

Amongst the first women who were mentioned in the history of Islam and remembered in the Prophet’s biography is Khadija Bint Khuwailid, may Allah be pleased with her. She was the first to believe in the Messenger of Allah pbuh, helped him in his cause and supported him with her wealth. Her daughter, Fatima Bin Muhammad, may Allah be pleased with her, set another example in defending her father and supporting her husband.

Amongst the Muslim women, there also outstood scholars who were honourable, such as Sayida Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her. She was the most knowledgeable of people that the most noble of the Prophet’s companions used to seek her advice regarding religious matters. 

In fact, throughout history, we have seen several female scientists who out mastered in grammar, language fundamentals, logic, poetry, jurisprudence and inheritance law, leaving behind a lot of study papers and interpretations. History has also had records about many women of wisdom, respectable opinion, knowledge, virtue and religious understanding. Such women constituted a reference for their fellow women concerning serious matters and set righteous patterns for them to follow.

Amongst women were also the preachers who conducted assemblies for preaching and scholarly lessons. Furthermore, Muslims women have also excelled in Hadith sciences with proper chain of authority, attracting many scholars who sought to attain deep knowledge about and license in this discipline. In fact, women have outshined as well in domains as poetry and literature, leaving elite literary creations.

O Servants of Allah,

Islam has opened for women all the doorways of goodness for them to play a positive role in building the society. Women seized the opportunity and many of them became innovators. One example of such innovation is that the idea of the first pulpit that was made for the Prophet pbuh came from one of the women at that time.

Al-Bukhari narrated on the authority of Jabir bin Abdullah, may God be pleased with him, that a woman from the Ansar said to the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him: O Messenger of God, should I not make anything for you to sit on? He said: If you like. So I worked for him for the pulpit, and when it was Friday, the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, sat on the pulpit that was made for him. Ibn Bishkwal said: The name of this boy is Amin. Thereafter, the pulpit became an integral part of the mosque.

On another level, women also had their share in the economic field. In this context, there used to be a noble female companion who was so respected by Umar Ibn Al Khattab that he used to prefer her opinion over others and assign to her some of the financial tasks related to the market. Amongst the other fields in which women excelled were medicine and surgery. So, the history has known many women who were well versed in medical work and experts in treating and curing eye infections.

Women have really left their remarkable footprints in every walk of life. So, let us pray to Allah the Almighty to bless our women, protect and honour them in this world and in the Hereafter.

Bearing this in mind, we seek Allah’s favour to guide us all to obey Him and obey His Messenger Muhammad pbuh and obey those He has commanded us to obey in line with Your orders: “O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority amongst you.” (An-Nisaa: 59).

May Allah direct us all to the blessings of the Glorious Quran and the Sunna of His Messenger pbuh.

I say this and ask Allah for forgiveness for me and you, so invoke Him for forgiveness, for He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

Second Sermon

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. To Him all the good praise and the worthy gratefulness is due. I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon ou­­r Master Muhammad, his pure family, companions, and all those who follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.

I urge you, O Servants of Allah, and myself to be aware that you are asked to obey Him, the Most Exalted and Sublime.

O Worshipers,

Please be aware that part of the guidance of the Messenger of Allah pbuh is to honour women and take good care of them as well as treat them in kindness, both in words and in deeds. He pbuh said, “I advise you to take care of the women.” He pbuh even associated kindness to woman with the good nature and virtuousness of man as he said, “The best of you are those who are best to their women.” Undoubtedly, such care given to women has produced magnificent models in giving.

O Allah, please confer Your blessings and grant peace upon our Prophet Muhammad pbuh, his family and all of the companions.