Four Amazing Women In Islam Made History
Susan notes: I asked Twitter friends to recommend women in Islam to honour during the Holy Month of Ramadan and the Eids that follow. Below are four they suggested.
I would love to have the profiles of more contemporary Muslim heroines to post on the site….
Aisha bint Abu Bakr (died 678) “she who lives”, also transcribed as A’ishah, Ayesha, ‘A’isha, Aishah, or ‘Aisha) was the last wife of Muhammad. In Islamic writings, she is thus often referred to by the title “Mother of the Believers” per the description of Muhammad’s wives as “Mothers of Believers” in the Qur’an, and later, as the “Mother of Believers”, as in Qutb’s Ma’alim fi al-Tariq.
She is quoted as source for many hadith, sacred traditions about Muhammad’s life, with Muhammad’s personal life being the topic of most narrations. She narrated 2210 hadiths out of which 316 hadiths are mentioned in both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
According to the traditional sources, Aisha was six or seven years old when betrothed to Muhammad, to whom she was married at the age of nine or 10.
Aisha on Wikipedia
Khadijah bint Khuwaylid or Khadījah al-Kubra (Khadija the great) (555–619 CE) was the first wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. She was the daughter of Khuwaylid ibn Asad and Fatimah bint Za’idah and belonged to the clan of Banu Hashim. She is important in Islam as Muhammad’s first wife, and one of the “mothers of the believers” (Muhammad’s wives).
Khadijah earned three titles: Ameerat-Quraish (Princess of Quraish) and al-Tahira (the Pure One), and Khadija Al-Kubra (Khadija the Great) and was said to have had an impeccable character. She used to feed and clothe the poor, assist her relatives financially, and provide for the marriage of those of her kin who could not otherwise have had the means to marry.
Khadijah bint Khuwaylid on Wikipedia
Narjis was the mother of Muhammad al-Mahdi the twelfth and last Imam of Shi’a Islam and the grand-daughter of Bardas (The Byzantine regent). There are two traditions regarding her ancestry, one saying that she is African while the other saying she is Greek.
She is reportedly the descendant of the disciple Simon Peter, the vicegerent of Jesus. Narjis was a Roman princess and it was via a miracle in by which she became married to Hasan al-Askari (the eleventh Shi’ah Imam), and to subsequently become the mother of the last Imam.
She was born in the Byzantine Empire and as she narrated she turned to Islam because a special dream. Then she was taken captive in a battle between Muslims and Byzantium and became a slave. Then Ali al-Hadi (the tenth Shi’ah Imam) bought her and married her to his son Hasan al-Askari.
Zaynab bint Ali was the daughter of the Islamic caliph, Ali (Ali ibn Abu Talib), and granddaughter of Islamic prophet, Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah. In Shia Muslim views, she is a great figure of sacrifice and strength. In Iran, her birthday is recognized as Nurse’s Day.
Zaynab was the third child of Ali and Fatimah. She was born in Medina on the 5th of Jumada al-awwal (although some traditions say she was born on the 1st of Sha’aban) (of the Islamic calendar). Zaynab was named by Muhammad just as with her two elder brothers, Imam Hassan and Imam Hussain. Zaynab means “the adornment of her father” as a reference to Imam Ali.
