Women in Islam

An Anthology from the Qu'ran and Hadith

Nicholas Awde

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9781138159969
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136808289
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

Collection of major references to women in the Quran and Hadiths, the two central Pillars of Islam on which Islamic legislation and social practice are based. Topics covered include Hygiene, Divorce, Marriage, Sex and Chastity, Inheritance, and Status and Rights.

1

Hygiene

The case of a woman having three periods in a month

How are women who say that they are menstruating or pregnant to be held trustworthy? God has covered the topic of menstruation in the following words:

For it is not lawful for women to hide what God might have created in their wombs.

(Q2:228)

^cAlī and Shuraiḥ say that:

If a woman brings clear proof that she has three periods a month through the witness of members of her most intimate familv who have proved themselves to be good Muslims, then she is to be believed.

^cAṭā adds:

One should also look at her previous cycles.

Ibrāhim agrees with this. ^cAṭā also says:

Menstruation can last from one day to 25 days.

Mu’tamar’s father said:

I asked Ibn Sīrīn about the woman who said that she saw blood five days after her cycle had finished, and he replied: “Women know best about this sort of thing.”

(1/193)

Abū ’l-^cĀliya says:

Paradise is free from menstruation, urine and sputum.¹

(4/304)

Umm ^cAṭiyya said:

We never counted for much any yellow or dark-coloured discharge (from our vaginas).²

(1/194)

^cĀ’isha said:

We all set out to Mecca to do the ḥājj,³ but before we arrived there I started menstruating. The Prophet came to me as I was weeping, and he asked: “What is the matter?”

“I am menstruating!”

He replied: “This is something which God has ordained for the daughters of Adam. Undo your hair and comb it. Then carry out all the rituals which any ḥājj pilgrim would usually perform—except for circumambulating the Ka^cba—until after you are clean.”

^cĀ’isha also said:

The Prophet sacrificed cows on behalf of his wives.

(1/177,183,187)

The Prophet said: “Menstruation is something which God has ordained for the daughters of Adam.”

Some say that the first people to be sent menstruation were the Tribe of Israel, but the Prophet’s explanation is the more plausible.

(1/177)

^cĀ’isha said that Fāṭima bint Abū Ḥubaish asked the Prophet:

“I do not become clean,⁴ so should I pray or not?”⁵

And the Prophet replied: “In this case it is a vein which is causing this bleeding, and not menstruation. So only when your real period begins should you stop your prayers, and when its power has gone, then wash the menstrual blood from you and pray.”⁶

Ibn ^cAbbās says that the husband of such a woman is allowed to have sex with her.⁷

(1/183,194,196)

A woman asked the Prophet: “What do you think any one of us ought to do if blood from her period stains her garment?”

He replied: “If the garment of any one of you is stained by the blood of her period, then she should get rid of the dried blood with her fingers and fingernails, and then sprinkle the cloth with water⁸ and then pray in it.”

(1/183)

^cĀ’isha said:

A woman asked the Prophet about washing to purify oneself after one’s period had finished.

His reply was: “Take a cloth scented with musk and wash yourself three times with it.”

The Prophet then turned his head away in embarrassment, so I had to explain to her precisely what he meant: “Wash away the traces of blood with it!”

(1/186,187)

The Prophet was asked: “Is it required of a woman to wash her whole body if she has had a sexual emission while asleep?”

He replied: “Yes, if she notices any discharge.”

He was then asked: “Oh Messenger of God, does a woman experience such sexual emissions in her sleep?”

He replied: “Yes.”

(1/97)

2

Divorce

^cĀ’isha said:

When the Prophet was ordered by God to give his wives the choice of being divorced, he began with me, and he said: “I have something to say to you, but you do not have to hurry to make your mind up until you have consulted your parents.”

He knew, however, that my parents would never have ordered me to leave him. He then said: “God has said:

‘O Prophet! Say to your wives: ‘lf you desire this worldly life and its attractions, then I shall surely provide for you and set you free in a becoming manner.’”

(Q33:28)

To this I replied: “If that is so, then should I really consult my parents? For truly, my desire is for God and His Messenger and the Final Resting Place!”

And all the Prophet’s wives then did what I had done and they refused to accept the option of divorce from him.

(6/291, 293)

^cAbdullāh ibn ^cUmar said that he divorced his wife while she was still menstruating. His father mentioned this to the Prophet, who at once became angry with ^cAbdullāh, and he exclaimed: “He must allow her to return to him and then allow her to stay as his wife until she has become clean, menstruated a second time and then again become clean. If it then seems fit to him to divorce her, then let him do it while she is still clean and before he has had sexual intercourse with her.

“That is the special period of waiting as laid down by God for the procedure of divorce!”

(6/401)

Chapter of when an oppressed person exonerates his oppressor, there is no going back on this

^cĀ’isha said about this:

And if a woman fears that her husband shall ill-treat her or desert her, then they shall incur no sin if they both come to a fair and peaceful arrangement between themselves; and such a peaceful settlement is best, through selfishness is forever in men’s souls.

(Q4:128)

This is about a man who has a wife and who has no more use for her, and he wishes to divorce her irrevocably, and she therefore says to him: “I surrender all my rights up to you, provided that you do not divorce me.”

And that is what this verse of the Qur’ān is about.

(3/378)

Hilāl ibn ^cUmayya accused his wife of adultery, so he went to the Prophet and presented his version of what had happened to him.

The Prophet then said: “Truly God knows which of you two is the liar—so will one of you repent and admit that he¹ is lying?”

The woman then stood up and gave her version of what had happened.²

The interpretation of this is that it is the husband who initiates ‘li^cān’.³

(7/172)

The matter of li^cān was mentioned in the Prophet’s presence, and ^cĀṣim ibn ^cAdī made some comment about this before departing angrily.

A man from his tribe later came to him and complained that he had found another man with his wife. ^cĀṣim replied: “I can only comment on this—I cannot judge.”

So he took the man off to the Prophet, and this man told the Prophet about the man on whom he had found his wife.

Now, the husband of this woman was a pale and skinny man with lank hair, whereas the other man he claimed to have found with his wife was a brown-skinned, well-built and fleshy man with short, curly ha...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Table of transliteration
• Introduction
• Notes on the selections
• The Family of the Prophet
• 1. Hygiene
• 2. Divorce
• 3. Widowhood & Death
• 4. The Day of Judgment
• 5. Heaven & Hell
• 6. Justice & the Law
• 7. Modesty & Clothing
• 8. Marriage
• 9. Prayer
• 10. Religion
• 11. Sex, Unlawful Sex & Chastity
• 12. Status & Rights
• 13. Travel
• 14. Inheritance
• 15. Family & Care
• 16. Property, Possessions & Wealth
• 17. Social Conduct
• 18. Mothers & Children
• 19. General
• 20. Islamic Women
• Appendix 1: Further Selections from the Qur’ān
• Appendix 2: Women in the Qur’ān
• Appendix 3: Glossary of Names
• Notes
• References
• Index
• Index of Qur’ānic Selections