HAYATI Allah. As Nuh’s (as) wife is described as one of the two worse women who betrayed her husband (Qur’an 66:10), it is not surprising that her son would also follow in his mother’s footsteps in disbelieving in his father’s message. Through these examples and illustrations, a connection can be drawn between motherhood and prophethood. These are the only two professions that are described in the Qur’an as difficult and requiring an enormous amount of patience, endurance, and unselfish love. While a Prophet has the role to educate and guide the contemporary society to the truth, the mother has the role of ensuring that her own children are rightly guided and educated. Given the heavy responsibility of bringing life to the world and raising her children for the sake of Allah, Allah (swt) did not burden women further with the role of prophethood, military expeditions, or financial responsibility. Yet the Prophet ﷺindicated that by caring for her husband and their children, the mother is equal to the role and rewards of a ruler guarding the country’s interests or a husband providing and guarding his family’s interests since without the mother’s care, the latter two would probably not have achieved their own positions:
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father. Yet Umar became one of the best Muslims after accepting Islam, unlike his father. And Hazrat Ali’s mother was one of the first to accept the message along with her son, while her husband Abu Talib died without pronouncing Shahada (the declaration of faith). Fatima bint Asad loved and took care of the Prophet ﷺwhile he was living with them as a young orphan boy and the Prophet ﷺcalled her mother and named one of his own daughters after her. When she died, he placed her in her grave with his own hands and used his shirt for her shroud, showing mercy and love to her as she showed him when he was a child.
Another famous story is that of the grandmother of Caliph Umar bin Abdul Aziz, who became a wise and righteous Caliph after the four rightly guided Caliphs. His grandmother was a milkmaid’s daughter who refused to adulterate the milk with water in the absence of the Caliph’s presence, saying if the Caliph is absent to witness it, Allah is not. Upon learning of her high moral character and faith, Umar ibn alKhattab married her to his third son Asim, saying about her “such a girl would become a great mother. Her integrity is not to be weighed with few coins; it is to be measured in the scale of national values. I shall offer her the highest award in my gift, which shall Ibn `Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: also be in the highest interest of the nation.” The Prophet ﷺsaid, “All of you are guardians and are responsible for your subjects. The ruler is a guardian While history books unfortunately ignore to mention of his subjects, the man is a guardian of his family, the day-to-day sacrifices of parents who raised the the woman is a guardian and is responsible for her great men and women of their time, we all know that husband’s house and his offspring; and so all of you people do not achieve greatness in a vacuum. They are guardians and are responsible for your subjects.” had to learn to walk and talk like each one of us, and [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] those initial early stages of their lives set the stage for their greater achievements and characteristics later. Thus we can surmise that in almost all of the historical accounts of great men and women, there is usually More contemporary examples of the connection an untold story of a wise, strong, and loving mother. between mother and child include Stalin and Hitler. At The stories of the Sahaba (Companions of the Prophet an older age when Stalin asked his mother, “Why did )ﷺalso demonstrate this. Sumayya radi Allahu `anha you beat me so hard?” Stalin’s mother replied, “That’s (may Allah be pleased with her) was not only the first why you turned out so well.” While her intentions martyr of Islam but she was a strong mother who were to have him become a priest, her own actions as raised her son Ammar to be among one of the first an adulteress and also living in a broken and violent people to accept Islam. While little is written about family situation led Stalin to go on a different path. Hazrat Abu Bakr’s mother, we know she was called A similar case was with Hitler’s mother and father, Umm Khayr (the mother of goodness) and the Prophet which started with adultery and poor parental role ﷺmade a special prayer for her to become Muslim. modeling. Yet these two infamous men were close to Almost nothing is written about Umar Ibn Khattab’s their mothers who were their main caretakers as their mother, yet we know he had an idolatrous and cruel fathers passed away or left early from their lives. Continue on p.62 HAYATIONLINE.COM
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