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Thought of the Day: HOW FAR ARE WE FROM ORIGINAL
ISLAM?
Women's
Essential Role in the Community's Core:
"Aisha, r.a. narrates that the messenger of
Allah, peace and blessings of
Allah be on him, prayed the morning prayer (so
early) so that women wrapped
in their outer coverings who returned (after
praying with him) could not be
recognized owing to the dark." (Hadith, Muwatta
of Imam Malik)
"From Ibn ‘Umar, r.a., The Prophet (peace and
blessings be on him) permitted
women to go forth and take part in fajr and ‘Isha
prayers. (Hadith, Musnad of
Imam Abu Hanifa.)
Here the women are well integrated into the core
activity of the Islamic
community, the obligatory prayers in the mosque.
[Note: The first Hadith
negates the use of face veils. The women could
not be recognized because it
was too early in the morning, not because they
were wearing face veils.] As
the second Hadith indicates, the Prophet (pbuh)
had to give permission to
women to participate in the two prayers which are
most difficult to be
fulfilled in the mosque. One reason for the
"permission" was the prevalent
pagan idea that women should not participate in
sacred rites which were only
for men.
Note on narrators: Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, passed
away in year 11 of Hijra.
Hazrat ‘Ayesha (r.a.) died in year 58 after
Hijra. Her Hadith were often
narrated by Urwa, the son of her sister Asma
(r.a.). Urwa died in the year
94. These are Hadith narrators in the FIRST
CENTURY of Islam. From Urwa,
‘Ayesha's (r.a.) hadith was narrated by Urwa's
son Hisham who died in the
year 144. His narrations were received and
collected by Imam Malik who died
in the year 179. These are narrators of the
SECOND CENTURY.
Thus Hadith has been an essential text of
Islam, with the
Qur'an,
since
the beginning.
The Qur'an too was transmitted by the Sahaba
(companions of the Prophet). It
was not received from the heavens all a once in
book form, complete with
binding and hard cover.
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2003-05-20 Tue 17:42ct