A Woman’s Greatest Weakness

A woman’s greatest weakness is her excessive attachment to her children.

In literature, woman is often presented as a symbol of love. But this is true only in a limited sense. In practical life, she is more often a symbol of motherly love than of love for humanity as a whole. God has placed a deep capacity for love in a woman’s heart. This love should ideally expand to embrace all humanity. In practice, however, it often remains confined to her own children.

This weakness is referred to in a well-known hadith, commonly known as the Hadith of Gabriel. According to this narration, the Angel Gabriel came to the Prophet Muhammad in human form. His purpose was to teach people the religion. He did this by asking questions, while the Prophet answered them according to the knowledge given to him by God.

One of Gabriel’s questions was about the signs of the Last Hour. In reply, the Prophet mentioned several signs. One of them was:

“When a woman will give birth to her master.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 50)

The phrase “a woman will give birth to her master” means that a mother will become so overcome by love for her son that she will begin to obey him as though he were her master and she his servant. This tendency has always existed, but near the Last Hour it will become much stronger.

This nearness to the Last Hour may perhaps refer to the age that began after the Industrial Revolution. After the Industrial Revolution, new conditions arose in which children gained an unusually central place in family life. Parents, and especially mothers, became more attached to their children than ever before. They became willing to spend all their wealth and resources on them alone.

This situation, especially in the modern age, has taken away from woman her greatest distinction. Because of her special qualities, woman is capable of rendering a great service to wider humanity. She can become a teacher and builder of humanity. But excessive love for children—or more accurately, misplaced love—has prevented her from playing this universal role. In practice, her life begins with affection for her son and, in many cases, ends there. As a result, she remains unable to make the higher contribution to humanity of which she is capable.

The woman who was described as a symbol of love has thus become only a symbol of love for her son, not a symbol of love for humanity in the broader sense.