Wanita Istimewa

Last Sunday, I attended a talk by Ustazah Zainab with the above title. I usually heard complaints from cik tutor,on how her housemate, an Australian, sympathised the muslim women around the world. Almost all non-muslims think that women in Islam are second class and the media takes the opportunity to downgrade Islam further.

Next time, if they raise the issue again, then here are some facts and figure for you to defend Islam.

1. Allah creates man and he also creates women. It is unthinkable if Allah as the most compassionate would create women as a lesser being.

2. Allah in his power has made Sayyidatina Khadijah as the first believer, Siti Hajar wife of prophet Ibrahim as the first occupant of Mecca and Sumayya as the first syaheed in Islam.

3. In surah Qashas, Allah told the story of two women who helped save the life of Moses( Nabi Musa a.s.), Asiah and Moses's mother. Please read the tafseer of Ibn Kathir for this surah.

4. As for the single ladies, the example that they can look up to is, Maryam daughter of Imran. How she lived the life of chastity, away from worldly gain. She was unmarried and served to worship Allah for the rest of her life. (Ustazah cerita, ketika Maryam dalam kandungan, ibunya bernazar bahawa anak yang bakal dilahirkan, akan diserahkan untuk beribadah sepenuhnya kepada Allah. Bila lahir bayi perempuan(Maryam) , ibunya terpaksa menunaikan nazarnya. Maryam adalah perempuan yang sangat mulia dan sentiasa beribadah. Bila dia mengandungkan nabi Isa tanpa ayah, maka timbullah fitnah dan tohmahan dari masyarakat sekeliling .)

Advice for Men

"They ask your legal instruction concerning women, say: Allah instructs you about them..." [Qur'an 4:127]

The Prophet said:

"The best among you is the one who is the best towards his wife"

5. From the quranic verse and hadith above, Allah would elevate the position of men if they treat their wife kindly. That means, the muslim men are encouraged to be gentlemen to their wives!

I think most muslim men are good. Maybe they are just too shy to open the doors, to help their wives and to show their love openly in public.