Looking after and respecting the womenfolk
After praising God and bearing witness to the Unity of God, that our Master Mohammad is God’s slave and messenger, sending salutations of peace & blessing upon him and advising the servants of God to be conscious of God. The Sermon begins with:
O brothers and sisters: Islam has shown huge concern for women, insuring their rights are protected, and preserving their honour, the woman has been given security and protection under Islam, it has given her the status of an honoured daughter, a precious sister, a trusted wife, and a nurturing mother.
Know that if God has given you the gift of a daughter that she is trust in your care, and if you nurture her well, look after her, and teach her good manners, she will be an immense door for your entry into paradise, Abu Said al-Khudrī narrated that the Messenger of God r said: “whoever looks after three sisters, or three daughters, or two sisters, or two daughters, teaches them good manners, marries them of and treats them well, will attain paradise”[1].
All the fathers should know: that when a woman reaches the age of marriage, that her family should seek to marry her of to someone compatible and without coercing her to marry someone she has no desire to marry, our lady Aisha said: “A young lady came to me and said: my father married me off to his brothers son to put an end to an issue between them, but I do not want this marriage, I said: sit down and wait until the Prophet r comes back, the Messenger of God r arrived back home and I informed him, he called for the young lady’s father, and her father then agreed to leave the affair in the young lady’s hand, so she said: “Messenger of God r, I permit what my father has done, but I wanted other women to know what they can do”[2].
Servants of God: After marriage it is necessary to look after the woman, for she was respected and honoured in her father’s home, she should now be protected in her husband’s, God has enjoined being good spouses on both the husband and wife, as well as tenderness and deep love, He reveals U:۩ live with them on a footing of kindness and equity ۩[3] the Messenger of God’s r advice in the farewell sermon was: “be conscious of God in regard to the womenfolk, for you are with them based on having given them God’s pledge”[4].
Islam gives the husband a great reward for spending on his wife, the Messenger of God r said: “truly anything you spend for the sake of God will be rewarded, including what you spend on your wife”[5].
O Muslims: when God honours the women with children her care for them becomes an expression of goodness and the fulfilment of a covenant, Islam enjoins the child to be good to the mother, and it will increase her share of goodness, paradise is under her feet, her being pleased is from the pleasure of God, Abu Huraira y who said: “a man came to the Messenger of God r and said: Messenger of God r who has the greatest right to my companionship? He r replied: your mother. The man then asked: then who? He r replied: your mother, The man then asked: then who? He r replied: your mother, the man then asked: then who? And he r replied: your father”[6].
In the area of social engagement Islam allows the woman to work (suitable work) and to innovate in order to help herself and her society, and in order to help her society to flourish, Islam encourages her to learn and to teach, and has given her the opportunity to prove herself and take her rightful place in society. May God be pleased with the Mother of the mumineen Aisha, about whom Abu Musa al-Ashari y said: “every tradition of the Messenger of God r which we the companions found difficult to understand we found that Aisha had some knowledge of”[7].
O bro. and sis.,: how great is the woman she is the nurturer of generations and the maker of men, she inculcates morality and makes a human being.
Who noble is the woman when she is a pure, walks on the path of learning, and contributes alongside men in serving society, building a civilization, and making her country flourish, while maintaining her chastity, her sense of modesty, and preserving her purity. When God honors a man with a righteous wife, who maintains his family’s stability and cohesiveness, with her profundity of understanding, her tolerance, worshipping her Lord, doing her obligatory worship, and her obedience to her husband, as has been soundly related from the Prophet r who said: “the believer benefits from nothing more after being God conscious than he does from a righteous wife, when he asks her she does it, when he looks at her she makes him happy, when he make a promise with her she fulfills it, and when he is absent from her she looks after him in regard to herself and his wealth”[8].
I said this and I ask allah to forgive you and I .
