A few days ago, I received an email that upset me. The sender was responding to one of my previous articles titled: "Women cannot compete with men in leadership or decision-making, and the proof is that all the prophets and messengers, according to the consensus of all laws and religions, are exclusively men. There is no record throughout history that God ever sent a woman among the prophets or messengers," Moreover, the world’s great figures in all fields, throughout all eras and civilizations, have been men, and all the heads of religious denominations worldwide have been exclusively men—from the popes of the Vatican and the patriarchs of the Eastern Orthodox Churches to the Dalai Lama in Tibet and the Buddhist monks in Japan and Vietnam.
So I said to him: Women were not among them, but they gave birth to all of these men and raised them to grow up to be strong, formidable men whose names would be recorded in history and celebrated by those who came after them, and a woman’s role as a mother was not limited to raising children and caring for her home; in ancient times, she would go out on military campaigns and into battle to treat the wounded and tend to the injured, And in our modern era, she has assumed the highest positions and achieved great results and accomplishments, matching and sometimes surpassing those of men.
Over time, women’s determination and enthusiasm have never waned; they have spared no effort and spared no expense in constantly proving and affirming that they are capable of navigating the trials of life, and to forge ahead through its trials as a safety valve, serving her home, her family, and her community. Women have never abandoned their role as a pillar of support for men in the crucible of life, standing side by side with them to support and assist them.
Have these people forgotten our master Ishmael, the sacrificial son, or Lady Hagar, who, out of dignity for herself and her son, caused the well of Zamzam to gush forth—a spring from which we still drink to this day, and Asia bint Muzahim, the wife of Pharaoh’s son Moses, and other great and virtuous women too numerous to mention here.
It is enough honor for a mother to recall what the Noble Prophet said in a hadith: “When a mother dies, a caller from heaven proclaims, ‘She has died—the one for whom we honored you; so do something for which we may honor you.’” Truly, how exalted is the status of our mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters—may Allah grant them long lives.
