CHAPTER 4

WOMEN FROM MUSLIM HISTORY

There are innumerable examples of exemplary women in Muslim history. A notable example is that of Hazrat Aisha, a brilliant woman who was one of the Prophet’s wives. Being much younger than he was, she survived him by about fifty years and, with her excellent and almost photographic memory, could she continue to communicate in great detail everything she had learned from him during their close companionship. So, she could fulfill a highly informative role for about half a century. In short, she became a living cassette recorder for the ummah. Abdullah ibn al-’Abbas, a Companion of great stature and one of the Quran’s best commentators, was one of Aisha’s pupils. The more significant part of his knowledge of religion was learned from her. Similarly, many other Companions of the Prophet and Tabi’un (companions of the Sahaba) acquired their religious knowledge from her. So here we have one excellent example of a Muslim woman imparting to others the religious knowledge she had imbibed directly from the Prophet. In this way, innumerable Muslim women contributed to the Islamic cause.