Authors: Vincent J. Cornell
Voices of Islam (150 page)
Both Tabari and Qurtubi mention that verse 46:15 was revealed for Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (d. 634
CE
, the first successor to the Prophet Muhammad as leader of the Muslim community). According to (the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law) ‘Ali (d. 661
CE
), both of Abu Bakr’s parents became Muslims. This did not happen in any of the families of the
Muhajirin,
except that of Abu Bakr; thus, Allah advised him about his parents, and this became obligatory on all Muslims afterward.
10
The last part of Qur’anic verse 46:15 means, ‘‘Make my descendents pious; make them successful in doing good works so that You may be satisfied with them.’’
11
This provides a guideline for the mother in her responsibility of rearing her children. The Hadith clarifies her role of providing her children with religious knowledge, piety, good conduct, and morals. In addition, a mother must discipline her children and teach them obedience. At the same time, she should be a good companion to them—sharing, understanding, and generous. One very important factor in child rearing is the equal treat- ment of children.
Ibn ‘Abbas narrated that the Prophet said: ‘‘Pronounce as the first words to your children, ‘There is no God but Allah,’ and recite to them at death, ‘There is no God but Allah.’’’
12
The Prophet’s wife ‘A’isha narrated that the Prophet said: ‘‘Allah will not call to account the person who brings up a small child such that he says, ‘There is no God but Allah.’’’
13
Ibn ‘Umar narrated that the Prophet said: ‘‘What does a parent leave as an inheritance for his child that is better than good morals?’’
14
Anas ibn Malik narrated that the Prophet said: ‘‘Be generous to your children, and excel in teaching them the best of conduct.’’
15
Ibn ‘Abbas narrated that the Prophet said: ‘‘There is no Muslim, whose two daughters reach the age (of maturity), and he is good to them as a companion, that do not cause him to enter Paradise.’’
16
Abu Hurayra narrated that the Prophet said: ‘‘Set your children’s eyes on piety; whoever wants to can purge disobedience from his child.’’
17
Jabir ibn Samra narrated that the Prophet said: ‘‘If one of you disciplines his child it is better for you than if you give half a
sa‘
(a measure of grain equivalent to a large basket) in charity to a poor person.’’
18
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Voices of Life: Family, Home, and Society
Ibn Qayyim discusses the matter of children’s obedience in the context of explaining the Qur’anic verse: ‘‘Oh you who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a fi (Qur’an 66:6). He includes a statement of ‘Ali: ‘‘Teach them and train them in good conduct.’’ He also mentions a state- ment by al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 728
CE
): ‘‘Command them with obedience to Allah and teach them what is good.’’ Then, he mentions the following hadith, which he says describes three kinds of moral conduct. ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb narrated on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grand- father, who said: The Messenger of Allah said: ‘‘Order your children to pray at seven, beat them about it at ten, and in sleeping separate them.’’
19
The final counsel is that of equal treatment of children: al-Nu‘man ibn Bashir narrated that the Prophet said, ‘‘Fear Allah and treat your children equally.’’
20
In another narration the wife of Bashir said: ‘‘Make a gift of your slave to my son and have the Messenger of Allah bear witness for me.’’ Bashir went to the Messenger of Allah and said, ‘‘The Daughter of So-and-So (that is, my wife) asked that I make a gift of my slave to her son and said, ‘Have the Messenger of Allah bear witness for me.’’’ Then [the Prophet] said, ‘‘Does your wife’s son have any brothers?’’ ‘‘Yes,’’ Bashir said. ‘‘Have you given to each of them the like of that which you gave to him?’’ asked the Prophet. ‘‘No,’’ he said. Then the Prophet said: ‘‘This is not fair. I do not bear witness except to what is just.’’
21
Ibn Qayyim argues that unequal treatment of children is morally forbidden (
haram
), based on the Prophet’s refusal to bear witness in the above hadith, and on the fact that he said three times, ‘‘Treat your children equally,’’ thus making equal treatment a required duty (
wajib
).
22
In summary, although in Islam there are many ways to open the doors of Paradise, the vehicles especially chosen for the woman are those of pregnancy, childbirth, nursing, and the conscientious rearing of her children. The commentaries clearly point out the great effort and struggle these involve. However, for every ounce of effort exerted in this direction—be it physical, emotional, or mental—the mother is elevated to a higher position of esteem in the eyes of her family and society and has thereby gained a place for herself amongst the successful in the Hereafter.
NOTES
This chapter first appeared as a chapter in Aliah Schleifer,
Motherhood in Islam
(Louisville, Kentucky: Islamic Texts Society and Fons Vitae, 1996). It is reproduced here with minor modifications by permission of the publisher. The editor thanks Yulia Uryadova Salamo of the University of Arkansas for transcribing this chapter from the original.
‘Ala’ al-Din ibn Husam al-Din al-Hindi,
Kanz al-‘umal fi sunan al-aqwal
(Hyderabad, India: Da’irat al-Ma‘arif al-‘Uthmaniyya, 1364/1945), vol. 16, 271 (hadith no. 44,403).Pregnancy and Childbirth in Islam
111Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari,
Jami‘ al-Bayan ‘an ta’wil ay al-Qur’an
(Cairo: Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi, 3rd printing, 1388/1968), vol. 21, 69; ‘Imad al-Din Abi’l- Fida’ Isma‘il Ibn Kathir,
Tafsir al-Qur’an al-‘azim
(Cairo: Dar al-Qutub al-‘Arabiyya, n.d.), v. 3, 445; Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Qurtubi,
al-Jami‘ li-ahkam al-Qur’an
(Cairo: Dar al-Kitab al-‘Arabi li-al-Taba‘ wa al-Nashr, 1387/ 1967), vol. 14, 64; Muhammad Siddiq Khan,
Husn al-Uswa bi-ma thabita min Allah wa Rasulihi fi al-niswa
(Beirut: Mu’assasa al-Risala, 1976), 159.Ibn Kathir,
Tafsir al-Qur’an al-‘azim,
vol. 3, 445.Qurtubi,
al-Jami‘,
vol. 14, 65.Ismail Abdul Razack and Abdul Jawad al-Banna,
Women and Family in the Sunnah of the Prophet
(Arabic text included), International Centre for Population Studies and Research, Al-Azhar University (Cairo: Dar al-Kutub, n.d.), 15.Sahih Muslim
(Cairo: 1924) vol. 16, 181; see also, Khan,
Husn al-uswa,
471 and 392.Sahih Muslim,
1924, 181.Khan,
Husn al-uswa,
493; according to Nawawi, Malik ibn Anas in the
Muwatta
includes a hadith that the martyrs are seven, one of which is the mother who dies in childbirth, i.e., together with her child. See
Sahih Muslim bi-sharh al- Nawawi
(Cairo: 1924), vol. 13, 62–63.Tabari,
Jami‘ al-Bayan,
vol. 16, 15–17.The
Muhajirin
were the emigrants from Mecca who came with the Prophet Muhammad to Medina in 622
CE
. (Ed.)Qurtubi,
al-Jami‘,
vol. 16, 194; see also, Tabari,
Jami‘ al-Bayan,
vol. 16, 17.Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya,
Tuhfat al-mawdud bi- ahkam al-mawlud
(Cairo: Maktabat al-Qima, 1977), 176.Hindi,
Kanz al-‘umal,
vol. 16, 456 (hadith no. 45,408). 14. Ibid., 460 (hadith no. 45,435).
15. Ibid., 456 (hadith no. 45,410).
16. Ibid., 448 (hadith no. 45,370).
17. Ibid., 457 (hadith no. 45,419).
Ibid., 461 (hadith no. 45,438); see also, Ibn Qayyim,
Tuhfat al-mawdud,176.
Ibn Qayyim,
Tuhfat al-mawdud,
176; see also,
Sunan Abi Dawud,
vol. 1, 51.Hindi,
Kanz al-‘umal,
vol. 16, 445 (hadith no. 45,353);
Sahih Muslim,
vol. 11, 67; see also, Ibn Qayyim,
Tuhfat al-mawdud,
178. In the version given by Ibn Al-Qayyim, the command ‘‘Treat your children equally’’ is repeated three times.Sahih Muslim,
69. In another narration, the Messenger of Allah said: ‘‘Then get someone else to bear witness for this.’’ See also, Abu Zakariyya Yahya al-Nawawi,
Riyad al-Salihin
(Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, n.d.), 433.See Ibn Qayyim,
Tuhfat al-mawdud,
178–179. Nawawi adds that equal treat- ment includes equal treatment of both girls and boys. However, he considers a breach of equal treatment as
makruh
(disapproved but not forbidden). Concurring with Nawawi’s opinion are the jurists Shafi‘i, Malik, and Abu Hanifa. See Nawawi,
Sahih Muslim bi-sharh al-Nawawi,
vol. 11, 66–67.
T
HE
B
IRTH OF
A
LIYA
M
ARYAM
•
Seemi Bushra Ghazi
Gracious are the gardens in which in winter New fruits ripen for every Mary
—Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi
My lineage goes back to Adam (upon him be peace). In this respect, I am no different from anyone. I read once in a family manuscript, flowing in rivulets of elegant
nastaliq
script, about the threads of reputed origin, Prophets, scholars, pilgrims, and holy men, who moved from Yemen to Yathrib (present-day Medina) before the coming of Islam, who hosted the Prophet at their table in Medina, and arrived in India soon after the first Arab merchants. There they dispersed, taught, and preached, and established religious schools or
madrasas.
When I think of these men in my father’s family as I encountered them in visits to India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, they bore no resemblance to the wild-eyed mullahs of CNN with their hate- ful small-time religion. My ‘‘uncles’’ seemed powerful and delicate, majestic and fluid, with features of perfect Chinese brushwork and the poise of the blue heron on our shoreline at low tide.
The shoreline where my family and I live is the coast of British Columbia, where a renegade tropical current moderates the frigid Pacifi as it narrows into the Burrard Inlet entering the city of Vancouver. It is a long way from the steppes of my Central Asian forebears, the dry riverbeds of Yemen, the mustard fields of Haryana. It is far even from the London of my birth, and the Boston and Chicago of my childhood. Mostly it is far from the cities that had always seized my imagination—Damascus, Cairo, Istanbul. I arrived here nine years ago wondering how it came to be that this ancient soul had been flung out onto the furthest rim of the newest world.
It was a question but not a complaint. I’d been forbidden complaint by my Turkish spiritual master, Sherif Baba, who, at the least sign of lament in any of his dervish students, would kiss whatever garment he happened to be wearing and sing, ‘‘ I like my shirt,’’ a reminder of the Prophet Muhammad’s
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Voices of Life: Family, Home, and Society