Women in Muslim History

This session was taught by Ustadha Noura and helped bring to light how women have played a crucial role in the spread of Islam. Some of the sources she used were Muslim Women: A Biographical Dictionary by Aisha Bewley, The Women of Madina translated by Aisha Bewley and Al-Sakhawi’s Kitab-al-Nisa. There were too many wonderful women (may Allah be pleased with them) to describe in detail. However, Ustadha Noura mentioned that in the isnad of Ibn Hajar there were 53 women which reflected how influential women were in the scholarly tradition. In addition, as-Sakhawi had ijazas from 68 women and as-Suyuti studied with 33 women (a quarter of his teachers). Among the sciences of Islam, many women ended up becoming scholars of Hadith. There were over 800 women scholars, but there were a plethora of women in all fields including Qur’an and fiqh and some women were even patrons and rulers.

Ustadha Noura discussed how from the onset of Islam women were crucial (the first Muslim Companion was a woman, the first martyr was a woman, the only isnad back to the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) contains his daughter Fatima, etc). There is no reason that women should feel that they are subordinate to men because when we look at Islamic history we can see that that is clearly not true. Insha’Allah anyone that has the means to should go out and read the books Ustadha Noura mentioned or try their best to find out about the Female Companions and important women in Islamic history (like Huda bint Sarma al-Fasi, Nurbanu, Umm al Darda, Umm Musa, and Rabia al-Adawiyya amongst others).

Personally, I would definitely recommend taking the class Women and Men around the Messenger (may peace and blessings be upon him) with Ustadha Noura because not only is she a wonderful teacher but there is so much information that we can learn from the Companions and their knowledge of the Sunna (may peace and blessings be upon him). There are especially many things we can learn from the wives of the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) because they were the ones the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) used to live with and turn to for support and they were the ones who narrated many ahadith that male companions could not have.

The Prophet’s Love for Women

This session was begun by Shaykh Abdul Kareem but due to technical difficulties could not be finished. Insha’Allah he will be recording the session so that we may benefit insha’Allah. Ustadha Noura did take over the session and again reemphasize how high the status of women in Islam truly is.

Overall, alhamdulillah the conference went very well. I definitely would like to see more things like it in the future. I think most of the participants would agree that this conference was a great rejuvenator and truly did help us reconnect with our purpose in life. We do need a reminder now and then to keep us on track and to remind us that in the balancing act of life we can find peace and tranquility when we put Allah before all else.

May Allah help us all become better servants and draw us closer to Him. Insha’Allah may He also reward everyone that helped to put together this conference and attended it. Insha’Allah may Allah accept our efforts towards coming closer to Him and forgive us our shortcomings.