This article is a translation of selected passages from the book Ḥuqūq al Marʾah fī Ḍawʾ al Sunnah al Nabawiyyah “Women’s Rights in Light of the Prophetic Sunnah” by Dr. Nawāl bint ʿAbd al ʿAzīz al ʿĪd.
Navigation Menu For The Summary
False Claims About Evil Omen
The Meaning Of Decrease In Mind And Religion
Women’s Rank Is Not Reduced By These Texts
Testimony Is A Duty, Not A Personal Honour
Why Two Women Are Mentioned In Financial Testimony
The Main Rulings Of Testimony
Understanding Reports That Mention Women And Satan
Hawwa And The First Sin
The Hadith Of The Woman Coming In The Form Of Satan
The Rib Hadith Is About Kindness, Not Insult
The Prayer Hadith Is A Specific Ruling, Not A Comparison Of Rank
Washing The Urine Of A Young Girl And Sprinkling The Urine Of A Young Boy
Navigation Menu For The Full Article
The Doubt About A Woman Being An Evil Omen
The Doubt About A Woman’s Decrease In Mind And Religion
The Doubt About A Woman’s Testimony
The Rulings Of Testimony
The Doubt About The Woman And Satan Being Mentioned In The Prophetic Hadith
The First Hadith: “Were It Not For Hawwa, No Woman Would Have Betrayed Her Husband For All Time”
The Second Hadith: “The Woman Comes In The Form Of A Satan And Goes Away In The Form Of A Satan”
The Doubt About The Woman Being Created From A Bent Rib
The Hadith Came For The Command To Take Care Of Women
The Doubt About The Woman Being Mentioned With The Donkey And The Black Dog In The Prophetic Hadith
The Ruling On Passing In Front Of The Praying Person, And Does It Cut The Prayer?
Washing From The Urine Of A Young Girl And Sprinkling From The Urine Of A Young Boy
Summary
False Claims About Evil Omen
The claim that Islam described women as an evil omen is answered by joining all the relevant narrations together. The hadith, “Evil omen is only in three: the horse, the woman, and the house,” is authentic, reported from Ibn ʿUmar and Sahl ibn Saʿd. Another wording says, “If there is evil omen in anything, then it is in the woman, the horse, and the dwelling.” This second wording shows that the hadith is not affirming tayarah (belief in evil omens), but explaining what people most often take as an omen because of constant attachment to these matters. (Sahih al Bukhari 2703, 4805, 4807; Sahih Muslim 2225, 2226.)
Ibn Hajar explained that al Bukhari’s headings show careful fiqh: the wording is not taken generally, nor necessarily upon its apparent meaning. By bringing Sahl’s narration after Ibn ʿUmar’s, al Bukhari pointed out that the restriction is not absolute. By mentioning that horses are of different types, he showed that any mention of “evil omen” is specific, not general. (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 6/60.)
The hadith must also be understood with the hadith, “There is no contagion and no evil omen.” The meaning is not that Islam permits superstition, but that if a person’s heart becomes attached to fear of a house, woman, or horse, he may leave that matter to cut off the cause of false belief and protect himself from falling into tayarah. The Prophet ﷺ told a man who complained that his household and wealth decreased after moving house: “Leave it, for it is blameworthy.” This was not because the house itself causes harm, but because remaining there could strengthen false belief in omens. (Sahih al Bukhari 5421; Sahih Muslim 2220; al Adab al Mufrad 918; Taʾwil Mukhtalif al Hadith by Ibn Qutaybah 1/105; Sunan Abi Dawud 3924; al Sunan al Kubra by al Bayhaqi 16306, 8/140; al Mukhtarah by al Maqdisi 1529, 4/364.)
Ibn al ʿArabi explained that the Prophet ﷺ ordered them to leave the house because they believed harm came from it. In reality, harm and benefit occur only by Allah’s decree. Calling the house “blameworthy” was permissible because it described what occurred there, without believing the house caused it. (al Qabas Sharh Muwatta Malik ibn Anas by Ibn al ʿArabi 4/352.)
Another explanation is that “evil omen” here means hardship, lack of harmony, or bad qualities: a narrow house and bad neighbours, a horse that is not useful, and a woman with bad character. This meaning is supported by the hadith, “Four things are from happiness: a righteous woman, a spacious dwelling, a righteous neighbour, and a comfortable mount.
And four things are from misery: a bad neighbour, a bad woman, a narrow dwelling, and a bad mount.” (Musnad Ahmad 1445, 3/55; Sahih Ibn Hibban 4032, 9/340; al Mustadrak by al Hakim 2640, 2/157; al Mukhtarah by al Maqdisi 1048, 3/240.)
The conclusion is that Islam does not affirm evil omen in women. Rather, it protects women from being blamed through superstition.
If a man’s heart becomes corrupted by such thoughts, separation may be permissible, not because she is an omen, but to prevent harm, hurtful speech, and false blame.
The Meaning Of Decrease In Mind And Religion
The hadith about women being “deficient in mind and religion” is authentic, but its meaning is restricted by the Prophet’s own explanation. The Prophet ﷺ said to the women: “O women, give charity, for I saw that you are the majority of the people of the Fire.” #When asked why, he mentioned frequent cursing, ingratitude to the husband, and their ability to take away the core of the mind of a firm man. When they asked about the decrease in mind and religion, he explained: “Is the testimony of a woman not like half the testimony of a man?” and “Is it not that when she menstruates, she does not pray and does not fast?” (Sahih al Bukhari 298; Sahih Muslim 79.)
The hadith itself prevents an unrestricted meaning. In Muslim’s wording, the woman who questioned the Prophet ﷺ was described as jazlah (a woman of strong mind and sound judgement). This shows that the hadith is not saying women lack thinking ability in an absolute sense. (Jamharat al Lughah by Ibn Durayd 2/102; Mashariq al Anwar by al Qadi ʿIyad 1/148; Sharh al Nawawi 2/66.)
The Prophet’s words also contain a form of wonder at women’s influence, not simple blame. Al ʿAyni explained that the meaning is amazement: despite the stated decrease, women can overcome the core of a firm man’s mind. Ibn Hajar explained that “the core of the mind” is more specific than the mind itself, and the firm man is one who controls his affairs. (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/405; ʿUmdat al Qari by al ʿAyni 3/272.)
The decrease in mind is restricted to testimony in financial matters, as explained by the verse of debt:
وَاسْتَشْهِدُوا شَهِيدَيْنِ مِنْ رِجَالِكُمْ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُونَا رَجُلَيْنِ فَرَجُلٌ وَامْرَأَتَانِ مِمَّنْ تَرْضَوْنَ مِنَ الشُّهَدَاءِ أَنْ تَضِلَّ إِحْدَاهُمَا فَتُذَكِّرَ إِحْدَاهُمَا الْأُخْرَى
“And call two witnesses from your men. If there are not two men, then one man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses, so that if one of the two women forgets, the other may remind her.” (al Baqarah 282)
Ibn Taymiyyah, as quoted by Ibn al Qayyim, explained that two women are required in place of one man only where forgetfulness and lack of precision normally occur. In matters women directly see, touch, or hear, such as childbirth, breastfeeding, and hidden bodily matters, their testimony may be accepted alone. (al Turuq al Hukmiyyah by Ibn al Qayyim 221.)
Al Maziri also explained that the Prophet ﷺ connected the decrease in mind to the Qur’an’s explanation: “so that if one of them forgets, the other may remind her.” Therefore, the meaning is reduced precision in certain testimony contexts, not an absolute lack of intellect. (al Muʿlim by al Maziri 1/85.)
The decrease in religion is also specific. It refers to the fact that a menstruating woman leaves prayer and fasting by command of Sharia, without sin. Al Nawawi explained that religion increases and decreases by acts of worship, and this decrease may occur without blame. Ibn Hajar questioned the claim that she receives no reward, because leaving what Allah forbids is itself obedience. (Sharh Sahih Muslim by al Nawawi 2/68; Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/406.)
Ibn Baz clarified the balance: a woman may surpass many men in mind, religion, precision, knowledge, taqwa (piety), and rank in the Hereafter. This specific decrease does not prevent reliance on women in narration, nor does it prevent a woman from being among the best servants of Allah. (Majmuʿ Fatawa Ibn Baz 24/101.)
Women’s Rank Is Not Reduced By These Texts
The meaning of these narrations cannot be used to claim that men are always superior to women in religion and understanding. Otherwise, one would have to claim superiority over Maryam, the mother of Musa عليه السلام, ʿAʾishah, Fatimah, and the wives and daughters of the Prophet ﷺ, which is false.
The Qur’an itself gives examples of iman (faith) through women, such as the wife of Firʿawn and Maryam bint ʿImran:
وَضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا امْرَأَتَ فِرْعَوْنَ إِذْ قَالَتْ رَبِّ ابْنِ لِي عِنْدَكَ بَيْتًا فِي الْجَنَّةِ
“And Allah gave an example for those who believe: the wife of Firʿawn, when she said, ‘My Lord, build for me near You a house in Paradise.’” (al Tahrim 11)
Umm Salamah also gave the Prophet ﷺ the correct advice at Hudaybiyah when the Companions hesitated to shave their heads and slaughter their sacrificial animals. The Prophet ﷺ acted upon her advice, and the people followed him. This is a clear example of sound judgement from a woman. (Sahih al Bukhari 2731.)
Testimony Is A Duty, Not A Personal Honour
Shahadah (testimony) in Islam is not a status people compete for. It is a heavy responsibility connected to people’s rights. The witness carries a burden, while someone else receives the right. For this reason, Allah forbade witnesses from refusing when called and forbade concealing testimony:
وَلَا يَأْبَ الشُّهَدَاءُ إِذَا مَا دُعُوا
“And the witnesses must not refuse when they are called.” (al Baqarah 282)
وَلَا تَكْتُمُوا الشَّهَادَةَ وَمَنْ يَكْتُمْهَا فَإِنَّهُ آثِمٌ قَلْبُهُ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ عَلِيمٌ
“And do not conceal testimony. Whoever conceals it, then his heart is sinful. And Allah is Knowing of what you do.” (al Baqarah 283)
Testimony requires resisting desire, family pressure, emotion, and bias. Allah commanded believers to stand firmly for justice, even against themselves, parents, and relatives, and not to let hatred prevent justice. (al Nisa 135; al Maʾidah 8.)
Islam strengthened testimony in general. Even a man’s testimony is strengthened by another man, and no one considers that an insult to men. In financial matters, where two men are not available, one man and two women are used for added verification, due to the reason given in the verse: one may remind the other if she forgets. (al Baqarah 282.)
Why Two Women Are Mentioned In Financial Testimony
The reasons given for the possibility of forgetfulness are linked to ordinary social roles and experience. Women were usually less present in financial transactions, buying, selling, and contracts. A person is more likely to forget what he or she does not commonly witness or practise. In matters of women’s affairs and household matters, women may surpass large numbers of men in accuracy and experience.
The explanation also connects forgetfulness to emotional and bodily states, such as menstruation, pregnancy, and post childbirth changes, which may affect mood, focus, or short term memory. Dr Muhammad Biltaji connected this to the woman’s nature and her possible focus on details rather than the complete transaction, as well as hormonal and emotional changes that can affect the carrying and delivery of testimony. (Makanat al Marʾah fi al Qur’an wa al Sunnah al Sahihah by Muhammad Biltaji 482–483.)
Al Zindani also offered a physiological explanation related to speech and memory centres, arguing that testimony requires careful preservation of information. He connected that to the verse of debt. (al Marʾah wa Huququha al Siyasiyyah fi al Islam by al Zindani 73–74.)
The aim is not to degrade women, but to protect rights. Through testimony, blood, lives, honour, and wealth may become lawful or protected, so Sharia requires strong verification.
The Main Rulings Of Testimony
The rulings of testimony vary by subject. In zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), four upright, free, Muslim male witnesses are required by agreement, based on the verse:
لَوْلَا جَاءُوا عَلَيْهِ بِأَرْبَعَةِ شُهَدَاءَ
“Why did they not bring four witnesses over it?” (al Nur 13)
Ibn Qudamah quoted agreement that less than four witnesses are not accepted in zina, and that the majority require them to be free men. (al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 10/155; al Umm by al Shafiʿi 7/44; al Kafi by Ibn ʿAbd al Barr 462; al Bahr al Raʾiq by Ibn Nujaym 7/55.)
In hudud (fixed punishments) and qisas (legal retaliation), Ibn Qudamah explained that only two male witnesses are accepted according to the major view, because these rulings are repelled by doubts and require strong caution. (al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 10/156; Rawdat al Talibin by al Nawawi 11/252; al Sharh al Kabir by Ibn Qudamah 4/184; al Bahr al Raʾiq by Ibn Nujaym 7/55.)
Mustafa al Sibaʿi explained that crimes such as murder are usually outside women’s normal setting, and the shock of such scenes may affect the ability to remain firm and describe the crime accurately. Since hudud are repelled by doubts, this supports caution. (al Marʾah bayn al Fiqh wa al Qanun by Mustafa al Sibaʿi 32.)
In marriage, return after divorce, and divorce, the jurists differed. Malik, al Shafiʿi, Ahmad, al Nakhaʿi, and al Zuhri held that only two male witnesses are accepted. Others, including Jabir ibn Zayd, Iyas ibn Muʿawiyah, al Shaʿbi, al Thawri, Ishaq, the people of opinion, and Ibn al Qayyim, held that two men or one man and two women are accepted. (al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 10/157–158; al Mudawwanah al Kubra by Sahnun 13/162; al Umm by al Shafiʿi 7/49; al Bahr al Raʾiq by Ibn Nujaym 7/60; Hashiyat Ibn ʿAbidin 7/75; al Turuq al Hukmiyyah by Ibn al Qayyim 227.)
In financial transactions, such as sale, lease, endowment, gift, settlement, partnership, and debt, testimony is not accepted with less than two men, or one man and two women, based on the verse of debt. Ibn Qudamah quoted agreement on this. (al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 10/158.)
There are also matters where men’s testimony is not heard while women’s testimony is heard, because they concern women specifically. These include childbirth, the newborn’s cry, breastfeeding, hidden bodily defects, and the end of the waiting period. The stronger view mentioned is that one upright woman may be enough in such cases. (al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 10/158; Fatawa al Saʿdi 2/781; al Nukat wa al Fawaʾid al Saniyyah 2/328.)
The hadith of ʿUqbah ibn al Harith is central here: one woman testified that she had breastfed him and his wife, and the Prophet ﷺ said, “How can you keep her when it has been said?” So he separated from her. This shows that the testimony of one woman may decide a serious matter affecting lineage and marriage. (Sahih al Bukhari 2497, 2/934; Sunan al Tirmidhi 3/457.)
Women are also equal to men in liʿan (mutual oath of accusation) by the clear text of the Qur’an. The overall point is that testimony in Islam is built on precision, experience, and the type of matter being testified about, not on a blanket lowering of women.
Understanding Reports That Mention Women And Satan
Reports that mention women and Satan must be understood with the whole religion, not by isolating single phrases. Misreading one verse or hadith without the surrounding evidence leads to error, like someone quoting only:
فَوَيْلٌ لِلْمُصَلِّينَ
“So woe to those who pray.” (al Maʿun 4)
while ignoring the next verse:
الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ
“Those who are heedless of their prayer.” (al Maʿun 5)
The Prophet ﷺ warned against following unclear matters for fitnah (trial) and false interpretation after reciting the beginning of Al ʿImran 7. (Sahih al Bukhari 4273, 4/1654; Sahih Muslim 2053, 4/2053.)
Hawwa And The First Sin
The hadith says, “Were it not for the Children of Israel, meat would not have spoiled. Were it not for Hawwa, no woman would have betrayed her husband for all time.” (Sahih al Bukhari 3218, 3/1245; Sahih Muslim 1470, 2/1092.)
Ibn Hajar explained that “betrayal” here does not mean immorality. It refers to Hawwa accepting what Iblis beautified and then making the eating from the tree seem good to Adam عليه السلام. The purpose includes comforting men when mistakes occur from their wives, so they should not go beyond limits in blame, especially when the matter happened without intent or rarely. (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 6/368; Sharh al Nawawi 10/59.)
The Qur’an does not place the first sin upon Hawwa alone. It speaks of Adam عليه السلام and Hawwa together:
فَوَسْوَسَ لَهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ
“Then Satan whispered to both of them.” (al Aʿraf 20)
فَأَزَلَّهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ عَنْهَا
“Then Satan caused both of them to slip from it.” (al Baqarah 36)
In other verses, Adam عليه السلام is addressed directly and corrected directly. This shows that the responsibility was not placed on the woman alone. (Ta Ha 117–122; al Aʿraf 19–22; al Baqarah 36.)
This differs from altered Jewish and Christian accounts, which placed the blame on the woman and treated childbirth and male authority as punishment. The Qur’an restored fairness by joining Adam عليه السلام and Hawwa together in the sin and in repentance. (Book of Genesis, chapter 3; Ecclesiastes, chapter 7; Huquq wa Qadaya al Marʾah fi ʿAlamina al Muʿasir by ʿAbd Allah Marʿi 53–54; al Marʾah fi Mukhtalif al ʿUsur by Ahmad Khaki 33.)
Allah accepted the repentance:
فَتَلَقَّى آدَمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ
“Then Adam received words from his Lord, so He accepted his repentance. Indeed, He is the One who accepts repentance, the Most Merciful.” (al Baqarah 37)
Adam عليه السلام and Hawwa said:
قَالَا رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنْفُسَنَا وَإِنْ لَمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
“They both said: Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will surely be among the losers.” (al Aʿraf 23)
The hadith of Adam عليه السلام and Musa عليه السلام also shows that Adam عليه السلام defeated Musa عليه السلام in proof, because the matter had been decreed before Adam عليه السلام was created. (Sahih al Bukhari 4459, 4/1764; Sahih Muslim 2652, 4/2042; Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 11/510.)
The Hadith Of The Woman Coming In The Form Of Satan
The hadith says that the woman comes and goes “in the form of a Satan,” and that when a man sees a woman and desire enters his heart, he should go to his wife, because that repels what is in himself. (Sahih Muslim 1403, 2/1021; Sahih Muslim 1404.)
Al Nawawi explained that the meaning is not that the woman is Satan. Rather, the hadith speaks about desire and the way Satan beautifies temptation. A woman may be a cause of fitnah when tabarruj (displaying beauty unlawfully) occurs, just as Satan calls to evil through whispering. (Sharh Sahih Muslim by al Nawawi 9/178.)
This is also supported by the hadith, “The woman is a private matter, so when she goes out, Satan looks up at her,” meaning he beautifies her in the sight of men and seeks to tempt people through her. (Jamiʿ al Tirmidhi 1173, 3/476; Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah 1685, 3/93; Sahih Ibn Hibban 5598, 12/412; al Muʿjam al Awsat by al Tabarani 8096, 8/101; al Muʿjam al Kabir by al Tabarani 10115, 10/108; al Silsilah al Sahihah by al Albani 2688, 6/424.)
The wider meaning is the command to lower the gaze and guard chastity:
قُلْ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ
“Say to the believing men that they should lower their gazes and guard their private parts.” (al Nur 30)
Ibn al Qayyim described the glance as the messenger of desire. A look produces a passing thought, then a thought, then desire, then firm resolve, then action, unless Allah protects the person. (al Jawab al Kafi by Ibn al Qayyim 107.)
The word “Satan” can also be used for a human being who behaves in a Satanic way. A man who insists on passing in front of a praying person is called “a Satan” in the hadith, showing that the wording is about action and meaning, not literal identity. (Sharh Ibn Battal 2/142.)
The Rib Hadith Is About Kindness, Not Insult
The hadith says: “Treat women well, for the woman was created from a rib, and the most bent part of the rib is its upper part. If you try to straighten it, you will break it, and if you leave it, it will remain bent. So treat women well.” Muslim added: “And breaking her is divorcing her.” (Sahih al Bukhari 3153, 3/1212; Sahih Muslim 1468, 2/1091.)
The hadith begins and ends with the command to treat women well. Al Bukhari placed it under headings about gentle handling and taking care of women. Therefore, the purpose is not to shame women, but to command men to be patient, gentle, and realistic. (Sahih al Bukhari 4890; Sahih al Bukhari, marriage section, 5/1987.)
Ibn Hajar explained that “treat women well” means accepting the Prophet’s counsel, acting upon it, being kind to women, and living with them well. (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 6/368.)
The hadith addresses men, not women. If a man expects complete perfection, he will hold the woman to account for every small matter and ruin family life. The hadith of Samurah ibn Jundub states: “Indeed, the woman was created from a rib. If you want to straighten her, you will break her. So be gentle with her and you will live with her.” (al Mustadrak by al Hakim 7333, 4/192.)
The meaning is to correct with gentleness, not harshness. Ibn Hajar explained that a woman should not be left upon sin or abandonment of obligations, but in permissible matters patience and gentle handling are required. Seeking complete straightening may lead to losing the benefit of marriage itself. (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 9/254.)
The reminder that Hawwa was created from Adam عليه السلام also means that the man should not fault what came from himself. Some writers reflected that the rib is close to the heart, pointing to affection, mercy, and tenderness in marriage. (Min Akhlaqiyyat al Islam by Yasin Rushdi 49–50.)
The Prayer Hadith Is A Specific Ruling, Not A Comparison Of Rank
The hadith of Abu Dharr says that if a praying person has no sutrah (prayer barrier), his prayer is cut by “the donkey, the woman, and the black dog.” Abu Dharr asked about the black dog, and the Prophet ﷺ said: “The black dog is a Satan.” (Sahih Muslim 510, 1/365.)
ʿAʾishah objected when this was mentioned and said: “You have made us dogs?” She then mentioned that the Prophet ﷺ prayed while she was lying between him and the qiblah, and when she needed to leave, she slipped away quietly. (Sahih al Bukhari 489, 1/192; Sahih Muslim 512, 1/366.)
The answer is that the hadith does not make these things equal in worth or rank. It only joins them in one specific ruling: passing in front of the praying person. Similar joining occurs in other hadiths where different people share one ruling, such as the widow and the poor person both deserving support. (Sahih al Bukhari 5038, 5/2047.)
Women are also joined with perfume in another hadith as something made beloved to the Prophet ﷺ: “Women and perfume were made beloved to me, and the coolness of my eye was placed in prayer.” (Musnad Ahmad 12293, 19/305; Sunan al Nasaʾi 3939, 7/61; Musnad Abi Yaʿla 3482, 6/199; al Mustadrak by al Hakim 2676, 2/174; al Sunan al Kubra by al Bayhaqi 13232, 7/87; al Mukhtarah by al Maqdisi 1736, 5/112.)
Passing in front of the praying person is forbidden by agreement when it occurs between the person and his sutrah, or close in front of him when no sutrah exists. The Prophet ﷺ ordered the praying person to push back the one who tries to pass, and if he refuses, to stop him firmly, “for he is only a Satan.” (Sahih al Bukhari 487, 1/191; Sahih Muslim 505, 1/362; Maratib al Ijmaʿ by Ibn Hazm 30; al Mabsut by al Sarakhsi 1/192; al Kafi by Ibn ʿAbd al Barr 1/209; al Majmuʿ by al Nawawi 3/249; al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 2/245.)
The scholars differed over whether a woman passing actually invalidates the prayer. The majority of the Salaf and Khalaf, and the Hanafis, Malikis, Shafiʿis, and a narration from Ahmad, held that it does not invalidate the prayer. They carried “cutting” upon decreasing the prayer by distracting the heart. (Sahih al Bukhari 493, 1/92; Sharh al Nawawi 4/227; Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/588; ʿUmdat al Qari by al ʿAyni 4/298.)
Others, including al Hasan al Basri, Ibn Hazm, a narration from Ahmad, Ibn Taymiyyah, and Ibn al Qayyim, held that a woman passing in front of the praying person invalidates the prayer. Ibn al Qayyim argued that the reports supporting this are clear, while the opposing reports are either authentic but not clear, or clear but not authentic. (al Muhalla by Ibn Hazm 4/8; al Mubdiʿ by Ibn Muflih 1/491; al Insaf by al Mardawi 2/107; Majmuʿ al Fatawa by Ibn Taymiyyah 21/14; Zad al Maʿad by Ibn al Qayyim 1/306–307.)
The selected conclusion is that the majority held that a woman does not invalidate the prayer, and the issue is a fiqh ruling about passing before a praying person, not an insult to women.
Washing The Urine Of A Young Girl And Sprinkling The Urine Of A Young Boy
The hadith of Abu al Samh states that al Hasan or al Husayn, may Allah be pleased with them both, urinated on the chest of the Prophet ﷺ. Abu al Samh came to wash it, but the Prophet ﷺ said: “The urine of a young girl is washed, and the urine of a young boy is sprinkled.” (Sunan Abi Dawud 376, 1/102; Sunan Ibn Majah 526, 1/175; Sunan al Nasaʾi 304, 1/157; Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah 283, 1/143; al Muʿjam al Kabir by al Tabarani 958, 22/384; al Mustadrak by al Hakim 589, 1/271; al Sunan al Kubra by al Bayhaqi 3959, 2/415.)
The hadith was authenticated by Ibn Khuzaymah, al Hakim, al Qurtubi, Ibn al Mulaqqin, and al Albani, and the majority of scholars acted upon it. The ruling is that sprinkling is enough for the urine of a young boy who has not begun eating food, while the urine of a young girl is washed. (al Mufhim by al Qurtubi 2/643; al Badr al Munir by Ibn al Mulaqqin 2/304; Sahih al Nasaʾi by al Albani 2/62; al Awsat by Ibn al Mundhir 2/142; al Muhalla by Ibn Hazm 1/105; al Majmuʿ by al Nawawi 2/589; al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 2/91.)
The scholars mentioned several wisdoms. Some said the urine of the female has a stronger smell and is heavier. Some connected it to the different way urine exits: the boy’s urine spreads and is harder to wash, while the girl’s urine gathers in one place. Others said people carry young boys more often, so easing was suitable to remove hardship. (al Mufhim by al Qurtubi 1/547; Ihkam al Ahkam by Ibn Daqiq al ʿId 1/82; al Majmuʿ by al Nawawi 5/590; Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/325; Iʿlam al Muwaqqiʿin by Ibn al Qayyim 2/59.)
The final principle is submission to Sharia. When a ruling is established by a sound text, seeking the wisdom may increase certainty, but the ruling does not depend on discovering that wisdom. The Muslim accepts what Allah made pure or impure, lawful or forbidden, and says: “We hear and obey. Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return.”
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The Doubt About A Woman Being An Evil Omen
Among the things that make one wonder, while praising his Lord for saving him from what He tested some people with, is to see a small group claiming that Islam held women back, humiliated them, and described them as an evil omen. Some people from our own people repeat this, speaking with our own tongue, and they mention the hadith of the beloved ﷺ: “Evil omen is only in three: the horse, the woman, and the house.”
Some ignorant people then take one of the worst two positions: either weakening the hadith, or calling for the Sahih collections and Sunan collections to be sifted through. May such faces be disgraced, and such tongues be silenced. The matter, by the praise and favour of Allah, is easier than that. Here is the answer to the doubt.
- Al Bukhari (d. 256AH) and Muslim (d. 261AH) reported the hadith from Ibn ʿUmar and Sahl ibn Saʿd. The wording of Ibn ʿUmar’s hadith is: “Evil omen is only in three: the horse, the woman, and the house.” The wording of Sahl’s hadith is: “If there is evil omen in anything, then it is in the woman, the horse, and the dwelling.” Al Bukhari placed both under the heading: “What is mentioned about the evil omen of the horse.” (Sahih al Bukhari 2703, 4805, 4807; Sahih Muslim 2225, 2226.)
Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar (d. 852AH) said: “His saying, ‘Heading: What is mentioned about the evil omen of the horse,’ means: is this general, or specific to some horses? Is it upon its apparent meaning, or is it interpreted? By bringing the hadith of Sahl after the hadith of Ibn ʿUmar, he pointed out that the restriction found in Ibn ʿUmar’s hadith is not upon its apparent meaning. And by the next heading, ‘Horses are for three,’ he pointed out that evil omen is specific to some horses and not others. All of that is from his fine insight and precise thinking.” (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 6/60.)
- The statements of the hadith scholars varied in combining this hadith with the hadith: “There is no contagion and no evil omen.” (Sahih al Bukhari 5421; Sahih Muslim 2220.) Perhaps the most important of them are the following.
A. His saying ﷺ, “Evil omen is only in three,” does not permit tayarah (belief in evil omens) from them. Rather, the meaning is that these things are the matters through which people most often fall into evil omen. So if something enters a person’s heart regarding one of them, it is permissible for him to leave it and replace it with something else, cutting off the cause and closing the means, so that if something from the decree happens to match it, he does not then believe in evil omen and fall into the belief that he was forbidden to believe, while his distress continues because of it.
A similar case is the command to flee from the person with leprosy, while the negation of contagion remains sound. Al Bukhari reported in al Adab al Mufrad, Ibn Qutaybah (d. 276AH) in Taʾwil Mukhtalif al Hadith, Abu Dawud (d. 275AH) in al Sunan, al Bayhaqi (d. 458AH) in al Kubra, and al Maqdisi (d. 643AH) in al Mukhtarah, through routes from ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAmmar, from Ishaq ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Talhah, from Anas ibn Malik, who said: A man said: “O Messenger of Allah, we were in a house where our number was many and our wealth was much. Then we moved to another house, and our number became few and our wealth became little.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Leave it, for it is blameworthy.” The wording is that of Abu Dawud. (al Adab al Mufrad 918; Taʾwil Mukhtalif al Hadith by Ibn Qutaybah 1/105; Sunan Abi Dawud 3924; al Sunan al Kubra by al Bayhaqi 16306, 8/140; al Mukhtarah by al Maqdisi 1529, 4/364.)
Al Albani (d. 1420AH) graded its chain hasan in al Silsilah al Sahihah, and he graded it hasan in Sahih al Adab al Mufrad. (al Silsilah al Sahihah by al Albani 790, 2/418; Sahih al Adab al Mufrad 918.)
It also has a supporting report narrated by Maʿmar (d. 153AH) in al Jamiʿ, and by al Bayhaqi through his route in al Kubra, through ʿAbd Allah ibn al Harith ibn Nawfal, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Shaddad, that a woman from the Ansar mentioned a similar report. (al Jamiʿ by Maʿmar 19526, 10/411; al Sunan al Kubra by al Bayhaqi 16305, 8/140.)
It is mursal (a report with a missing Companion link), and its narrators are trustworthy. In it, the complainant is a woman. Perhaps the complaint occurred from more than one person: the man complained, and the woman complained. In Sahl’s narration, which will come, a group complained.
It also has another supporting report narrated by Ibn Abi ʿAsim (d. 287AH) in al Ahad wa al Mathani, and al Tabarani (d. 360AH) in al Kabir, both through Sahl ibn Harithah al Ansari, who said: A group complained to the Prophet ﷺ, and he mentioned the hadith. (al Ahad wa al Mathani by Ibn Abi ʿAsim 2160, 4/180; al Muʿjam al Kabir by al Tabarani 5639, 6/104.)
It is mursal, and its narrators are trustworthy. Al Hafiz said about Sahl ibn Harithah in al Isabah: “Ibn Mandah said: his companionship is not authentic, and he is counted among the Tabiʿin.” (al Isabah by Ibn Hajar 3524, 3/195.)
Ibn al ʿArabi (d. 543AH) said in his explanation of the hadith: “He only ordered them to leave it because they believed that this came from it. It was not as they thought, but the Creator, Mighty and Majestic, made that coincide with the appearance of His decree. He ordered them to leave it so that nothing would happen to them after that, causing their belief to continue. The description of it as ‘blameworthy’ shows that this is permissible, and that mentioning it with the disliked events that occurred in it is permitted, without believing that this came from it.” (al Qabas Sharh Muwatta Malik ibn Anas by Ibn al ʿArabi 4/352.)
B. His saying ﷺ, “Evil omen is only in three,” does not affirm tayarah (belief in evil omens). The proof is the wording of Sahl’s hadith: “If there is evil omen in anything, then it is in the woman, the horse, and the house.” Rather, the meaning is that if evil omen were valid, it would be in these three things, because of how long a person stays attached to them, and because they are the things through which people most often fall into evil omen.
C. It was also said: the evil omen of the house is its narrowness and bad neighbours; the evil omen of the horse is that it is not used for battle; and the evil omen of the woman is her bad character. So evil omen is understood here as lack of harmony and bad nature.
This is like the hadith narrated by al Tayalisi (d. 204AH) in al Musnad, Ahmad (d. 241AH) in al Musnad, al Bazzar (d. 292AH) as in Kashf al Astar, Ibn Hibban (d. 354AH) in his Sahih, al Hakim (d. 405AH) in al Mustadrak, and al Maqdisi in al Mukhtarah, through routes from Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad ibn Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas, from his father, from his grandfather, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Four things are from happiness: a righteous woman, a spacious dwelling, a righteous neighbour, and a comfortable mount. And four things are from misery: a bad neighbour, a bad woman, a narrow dwelling, and a bad mount.” The wording is that of Ibn Hibban, and the chain of Ibn Hibban is authentic upon the condition of al Bukhari. (Musnad Ahmad 1445, 3/55; Kashf al Astar by al Bazzar; Sahih Ibn Hibban 4032, 9/340; al Mustadrak by al Hakim 2640, 2/157; al Mukhtarah by al Maqdisi 1048, 3/240.)
Al Hakim said: “Authentic in chain, and they did not report it.” Al Dhahabi (d. 748AH) agreed with him, and al Diyaʾ (d. 643AH) authenticated its chain in al Mukhtarah.
Other meanings were mentioned regarding the hadith, but the strongest views have been mentioned. (Taʾwil Mukhtalif al Hadith by Ibn Qutaybah 102–109; Sharh Mushkil al Athar by al Tahawi 1/218; Maʿalim al Sunan by al Khattabi 4/218; al Tamhid by Ibn ʿAbd al Barr 4/238; al Muntaqa by al Baji 9/452; al Qabas by Ibn al ʿArabi 4/352; Ikmal al Muʿlim by al Qadi ʿIyad 7/148; al Mufhim by al Qurtubi 5/629; Sharh al Nawawi 14/316; Bahjat al Nufus by Ibn Abi Jamrah 4/132; Sharh al Kirmani 6/139; Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 6/76; ʿUmdat al Qari by al ʿAyni 14/149; Sharh al Zurqani 4/486.)
From here it becomes clear that their doubt is false. Islam does not affirm evil omen in a woman. Rather, it protects the woman from being taken as an evil omen. To negate tayarah and warn against it, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ made clear that if evil omen were true, it would be in these three things: the woman, the horse, and the house.
For further protection of the woman, safeguarding her feelings from being hurt, and guarding her reputation from being wounded, a man may see that some of his conditions changed after being attached to a woman. He may think that his affairs worsened and declined. In that case, it is legislated for him to separate from her, not because she is an evil omen, but so that she does not hear what harms her, such as being told that her arrival caused misfortune, or that she brought evil omen. Some scholars carried the hadith upon the meaning that the evil omen of the woman is her bad character, just as part of a man’s happiness is a righteous woman.
The Doubt About A Woman’s Decrease In Mind And Religion
Rarely does one find a man or a woman except that he has memorised this phrase: “The woman is deficient in mind and religion.” Then he twists the text in order to attack women and accuse Islam of oppressing women and lowering their status. His condition fits the saying of the poet:
How many people criticise a correct statement, while the problem is only their diseased understanding.
Islam has faced many hostile campaigns from its enemies, or from the tails of its enemies, claiming that it lowers the woman’s mind and religion.
To answer this statement, the following matters are mentioned.
- Al Bukhari and Muslim reported from Abu Saʿid al Khudri that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out on Adha or Fitr to the prayer place, and he passed by the women. He said: “O women, give charity, for I saw that you are the majority of the people of the Fire.” They said: “Why, O Messenger of Allah?” He said: “You curse often, and you are ungrateful to the husband. I have not seen anyone among those deficient in mind and religion more able to take away the core of a firm man’s mind than one of you.”
They said: “What is the decrease in our religion and our mind, O Messenger of Allah?” He said: “Is the testimony of a woman not like half the testimony of a man?” They said: “Yes.” He said: “That is the decrease in her mind. Is it not that when she menstruates, she does not pray and does not fast?” They said: “Yes.” He said: “That is from the decrease in her religion.” The wording is that of al Bukhari. In the wording of Muslim: “A woman among them, who was sensible and firm in mind, said: ‘Why are we the majority of the people of the Fire, O Messenger of Allah?’” (Sahih al Bukhari 298; Sahih Muslim 79.)
The hadith is established, reported by the two Shaykhs. Understanding it cannot be separated from the verse of debt, which contains the required number for testimony. Allah, Most High, said:
وَاسْتَشْهِدُوا شَهِيدَيْنِ مِنْ رِجَالِكُمْ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُونَا رَجُلَيْنِ فَرَجُلٌ وَامْرَأَتَانِ مِمَّنْ تَرْضَوْنَ مِنَ الشُّهَدَاءِ أَنْ تَضِلَّ إِحْدَاهُمَا فَتُذَكِّرَ إِحْدَاهُمَا الْأُخْرَى
“And call two witnesses from your men. If there are not two men, then one man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses, so that if one of the two women forgets, the other may remind her.” (al Baqarah 282)
Wrong understanding, together with contradiction, causes these learners to fall into errors and many traps. They take from the wording of the hadith, after cutting it short, that the woman’s decrease in mind means a decrease in thinking ability, that her ability to think is less than the man’s ability, and that the structure of her mind differs from his, so she is lower and more deficient than him. Had they reflected on the hadith, they would have found that this understanding cannot be correct, and that it contradicts the reality of the hadith itself, for the following reasons.
A. In the wording of Muslim, a woman among them stood, a woman described as jazlah, to question the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Jazlah, as the scholars said, means a woman of full mind and correct judgement. So how can this woman be deficient in mind and at the same time a woman of mind and judgement? (Jazlah, with a fathah on the jim and sukun on the zay, means a woman of mind and judgement. Ibn Durayd said: jazalah means mind and dignity. Jamharat al Lughah by Ibn Durayd 2/102; Mashariq al Anwar by al Qadi ʿIyad 1/148 under the root j z l; Sharh al Nawawi 2/66.)
B. The hadith came in praise of women and their ability to influence. If it were a blameworthy deficiency, the man would be more deserving of blame and more fitting for that description, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ expressed wonder at the woman’s ability to take away the core of the firm man’s mind.
Consider the Prophetic wording: “more able to take away the core of the firm man’s mind.” The meaning of “more able to take away” is stronger in taking away. The core of the mind is more specific than the mind itself; it is its purest part. The firm man is the one who controls his affair. This is an emphatic way of describing women with that ability, because if the one who controls his affair is led by them, then the one who does not control his affair is even more likely to be led. (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/405.)
Al ʿAyni (d. 855AH) said: “If you say: is this not blame of them? I say: No. Rather, it is in the meaning of wonder, for despite being described with this condition, they do this and that to the firm man.” (ʿUmdat al Qari by al ʿAyni 3/272.)
If the woman who is deficient in mind takes away the core of the minds of firm men, is that perfection for him or deficiency? Is there not in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ a sign of the woman’s ability, and a sign of the man’s deficiency, whose core of mind is taken away despite his intelligence?
- Anyone who takes the apparent wording of this hadith in an unrestricted way must then say that he is more complete in mind and religion than Maryam, the mother of Musa عليه السلام, ʿAʾishah, and Fatimah. Saying otherwise means that some men are more deficient in religion and mind than women. By this it is known that this decrease does not require a decrease in virtue. The wives of the Prophet ﷺ and his daughters are greater in religion and rank with Allah than every Tabiʿi and every man who comes after them until the Day of Resurrection.
- Islam makes the woman and the man equal before Sharia duties in performance and punishment. If the woman were deficient in mind in that unrestricted sense, how could her performance and punishment be at the same level as the man? That would oppose the justice Islam calls to. A person with deficient mind is not legally charged with the same duties as one who is more complete in mind, nor is he held accountable to the same degree, if it were assumed that the man is more complete in mind than the woman.
- The Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself explained the decrease in mind and religion in the hadith, so it must be restricted to his explanation and not extended beyond it. The highest level of explaining a hadith is the hadith itself. The female Companions accepted what was attributed to them of three matters: frequent cursing, ingratitude, and taking away the core of the man’s mind. Then they asked about being deficient in mind and religion. How gentle was his answer ﷺ when he explained the decrease in mind by saying: “Is the testimony of a woman not like half the testimony of a man?” (Ibn Hajar said: “Ibn al Tin quoted from some that he carried the word ‘mind’ here upon the meaning of blood money, but this is far fetched. I say: rather, the flow of the speech rejects it.” Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/406.)
Al ʿAyni said: “If you say: what is the subtle point in his wording it this way, and why did he not say: is not the testimony of two women like the testimony of one man? I say: because his wording clearly states explicit deficiency, unlike what you mentioned, for it only indicates it indirectly. Understand this, for it is precise.” (ʿUmdat al Qari by al ʿAyni 3/272.)
Ibn al Qayyim (d. 751AH) said: “Our Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said regarding the saying of Allah, Most High:
فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُونَا رَجُلَيْنِ فَرَجُلٌ وَامْرَأَتَانِ مِمَّنْ تَرْضَوْنَ مِنَ الشُّهَدَاءِ أَنْ تَضِلَّ إِحْدَاهُمَا فَتُذَكِّرَ إِحْدَاهُمَا الْأُخْرَى
‘If there are not two men, then one man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses, so that if one of the two women forgets, the other may remind her.’ (al Baqarah 282)
In it is proof that calling two women to testify in place of one man is only so that one of them may remind the other if she forgets. This only occurs in what usually involves forgetting and lack of precision. The Prophet ﷺ pointed to this meaning when he said: ‘As for the decrease in their mind, then the testimony of two women is like the testimony of one man.’ So he explained that half of their testimony is only due to weakness of mind, not weakness of religion. By that it is known that the uprightness of women is like the uprightness of men, but her mind is less than his. So whatever type of testimony usually has no fear of forgetting, she is not half of a man in it.
As for the matters in which their testimony is accepted alone, they are things she sees with her own eye, touches with her own hand, or hears with her own ear, without depending on mind, such as childbirth, the newborn’s cry, breastfeeding, and defects beneath clothing. Such a thing is usually not forgotten, and knowing it does not require applying the mind, unlike the meanings of statements that she hears, such as acknowledgement of debt and similar matters, for these are understood meanings, and time can become long regarding them overall.” (al Turuq al Hukmiyyah by Ibn al Qayyim 221. More will come on the study of a woman’s testimony on p. 347.)
Based on this, whoever brings the evidence must explain it and restrict it to the meaning that the woman’s decrease in mind is that her testimony is half the testimony of a man. We do not generalise what Sharia restricted.
Imam al Maziri (d. 536AH) said: “His saying ﷺ, ‘As for the decrease in mind, then the testimony of two women equals the testimony of one man,’ is a pointing from him ﷺ to what lies behind it, which is what Allah pointed out in His Book when He said: ‘So that if one of the two women forgets, the other may remind her,’ meaning: they are fewer in precision.” (al Muʿlim by al Maziri 1/85.)
So whoever understands decrease in mind unrestrictedly has not taken the hadith as a whole, and has not connected it to what explains it from the Book of Allah. The hadith explains the decrease in mind among women by the fact that the testimony of two women equals the testimony of one man. The verse explains that by forgetting and reminding. The verse did not clearly say that women are deficient in mind, nor that the need for this testimony number is because the woman’s thinking is less than the man’s thinking.
ʿAziz Abu Khalaf said: “The word ‘mind’ was not used in the Qur’an nor in the purified Sunnah to point to the organ of thinking at all. The word ‘mind’ did not appear as a verbal noun in the Qur’an. Rather, this word was used in verb forms: they reason, you reason, we reason, they understood it, and he reasons it. This occurs in forty nine places. It only came in the past tense once, and in the rest of the places it came in the present or future sense.
The meaning taken from these forms most often is drawing attention to thinking in order to understand the outcome and take a step toward action. In this way, its meaning is wider than mere thinking. When we think, we produce a thought. But when we reason, we understand what lies beyond this thought of matters connected to belief and action.
The main feature of mind according to the terminology of the Book and Sunnah is understanding the desired outcome, acting for it, and remaining firm upon that.
Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728AH), may Allah have mercy on him, summarised the linguistic and Sharia meaning of mind in the best way. He said in al Fatawa: ‘Mind in the language of the Muslims is the verbal noun of “he reasoned, he reasons, mind.” What is meant by it is the faculty through which one reasons, and the knowledge and actions that come through that. It is knowledge acted upon. So the one who knows evil and seeks it, and knows good and leaves it, is not called reasonable.’ (Majmuʿ al Fatawa by Ibn Taymiyyah 1/244.)
As for the hadiths connected to the mind, nothing authentic has been reported from them. Ibn Hibban al Busti (d. 354AH) said: ‘I do not know any authentic report from the Prophet ﷺ about the mind.’ (Ibn Taymiyyah attributed this to him in al Radd ʿala al Mantiqiyyin 275.) Ibn Taymiyyah said: ‘As for the hadith of the mind, it is a fabricated lie according to the people of hadith knowledge. It is not in any of the relied upon books of Islam.’ (al Radd ʿala al Mantiqiyyin by Ibn Taymiyyah 275.)
The findings of knowledge connected to research on the brain, thinking, and learning do not indicate any essential difference between woman and man in thinking and learning. They also do not indicate a difference in the abilities of the senses and intelligence, nor in the structure of the nerve cells that make up the brain, nor in the ways of gaining knowledge. Research connected to the brain has not shown essential differences except in very narrow limits that do not go beyond a quarter of one standard deviation.
Many studies confirmed that the two halves of the brain are more similar in women than in men, but nothing has been confirmed which indicates a difference in thinking because of that. This means that woman and man are equal by natural disposition in the process of thinking. Neither is distinguished over the other except by individual differences, meaning in the level and degree of intelligence, not in its type.
Many medical studies have confirmed that the bodily changes a woman passes through during pregnancy, childbirth, and menstruation affect her psychological state, exposing her to frustration, lower focus, laziness, and an effect on short term memory. Then he said: what do you conclude from all of that?
There is nothing in the verse or the hadith that indicates that the woman’s thinking abilities are less than the man’s abilities, nor that the man thinks on behalf of the woman. This is general across the rest of the texts of the Book and Sunnah, as shown by the general address of iman to both man and woman. This confirms the shared human nature in mind, instincts, and bodily needs in both of them. This is in addition to many texts that show the woman’s ability to think and act in the most difficult situations. This is much in both the Book and the Sunnah.
As for the texts that give the man qiwamah (authority and responsibility) and other distinctions, they are Sharia rulings that fit the nature of the Muslim society and have no connection to thinking abilities.
The hadith points out that women are deficient in mind, but it explains that by the fact that the testimony of two women equals the testimony of one man. In this is a referral to the verse of debt, which explains the need for two women by forgetting and reminding. Forgetting is turning away from the straight way, and forgetfulness is from it and may lead to it. Reminding draws attention. It is affected by psychological state, which may completely veil a person from seeing the truth and reality. So whoever only sees one side of reality and does not see anything else, his thinking is deficient, whether male or female.
The speech in both the verse and the hadith is about Islamic rulings in a Muslim society. By her nature and her life in the Muslim society especially, the woman’s experience is generally less than the man’s regarding information and its connection to the specific reality, especially in fields where her presence is little. Therefore, there had to be extra verification in testimony, especially so that the owner of a financial transaction feels safe about guaranteeing his right.
When all these truths and realities are considered, then compared with the reality of mind and thinking, and the reality of the verse and the hadith, we conclude that the decrease in mind is not in thinking abilities, nor in the structure of the brain. Rather, it is in the factors that affect thinking and mind. More specifically, it is restricted to experience, including information, and the barriers that affect thinking. Since the Muslim woman is away from the reality of financial transactions, her experience must be less than men who are involved in these transactions. Also, the woman passes through bodily changes that affect her psychological state.
Rather, there is a Qur’an verse that negates mind from the chiefs and great ones among the disbelievers, hypocrites, and People of the Book.” Allah, Most High, said:
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّبِعُوا مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ قَالُوا بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَا أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ وَمَثَلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا كَمَثَلِ الَّذِي يَنْعِقُ بِمَا لَا يَسْمَعُ إِلَّا دُعَاءً وَنِدَاءً صُمٌّ بُكْمٌ عُمْيٌ فَهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ
“When it is said to them, ‘Follow what Allah has sent down,’ they say, ‘Rather, we follow what we found our fathers upon.’ Even though their fathers did not reason anything and were not guided? The example of those who disbelieve is like one who shouts at what hears nothing except a call and a cry. Deaf, dumb, blind, so they do not reason.” (al Baqarah 170–171)
This means that the matter is natural, and it does not mean that the woman’s thinking abilities are less than the man’s abilities, nor that she is deficient in mind in the common meaning.” (The Arab Centre for Sources and Information on Violence Against Women.)
As for the meaning of “deficient in religion”, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ explained it in the hadith itself when he said: “Is it not that when she menstruates, she does not pray and does not fast?” They said: “Yes.” He said: “That is from the decrease in her religion.”
Al Nawawi (d. 676AH) said: “As for his description ﷺ of decrease in religion due to their leaving prayer and fasting during menstruation, its meaning may seem difficult, but it is not difficult. Rather, it is clear. Religion, iman, and Islam share one meaning, as already mentioned in several places. We also mentioned in several places that acts of obedience are called iman and religion. Once this is established, it is known that whoever has much worship has increased iman and religion, and whoever has less worship has less religion.
Then the decrease in religion may be in a way by which a person sins, such as one who leaves prayer, fasting, or other obligatory acts of worship without excuse. It may also be in a way that carries no sin, such as one who leaves Jumuʿah, battle, or something else not obligatory upon him because of an excuse. It may also be in a way that he is legally charged with, such as the menstruating woman leaving prayer and fasting.
If it is said: if she is excused, is she rewarded for prayer during menstruation even though she does not make it up, just as the sick person and traveller are rewarded, and written for them during sickness and travel is the like of the voluntary prayers they used to do while healthy and resident?
The answer is: the apparent meaning of this hadith is that she is not rewarded. The difference is that the sick person and traveller used to do them with the intention of continuing upon them, while being fit for them. The menstruating woman is not like that.
Rather, her intention is to leave prayer during menstruation. In fact, it is forbidden for her to intend prayer during menstruation. So her likeness is a traveller or sick person who used to pray voluntary prayer at one time and leave it at another time, without intending to continue upon it. This person is not written during travel and sickness for the time in which he was not praying voluntary prayer. And Allah knows best.” (Sharh Sahih Muslim by al Nawawi 2/68.)
Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar responded to him and said: “I have some hesitation about whether this difference necessarily means that she is not rewarded.” (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/406.)
I say: the statement of al Hafiz is strong, because comparing the menstruating woman leaving prayer to the sick person and traveller is a comparison with a difference. The woman is addressed by Sharia with the prohibition of prayer and fasting during menstruation, unlike the traveller and sick person. Leaving the forbidden is rewarded by agreement among the scholars. So saying that her reward is not established separates between similar matters. Allah, Most High, knows best.
From here it is known that decrease in religion is not restricted to what brings sin. Rather, it is wider than that, because it is a relative matter. The complete one, for example, is deficient compared to the more complete one. From that is the menstruating woman: she does not sin by leaving prayer during menstruation. Rather, she is rewarded for obeying the prohibition. But she is still less than the one praying.
Shaykh ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Baz (d. 1420AH), may Allah have mercy on him, said regarding the meaning of the hadith: “But she may surpass him, meaning the woman may surpass the man, at times in many things. How many women have surpassed many men in their mind, religion, and precision.
She may do many righteous deeds and rise above many men in her righteous knowledge, her taqwa of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and her rank in the Hereafter. She may give great care to some matters and be more precise than some men in many matters that she gives care to, works hard to preserve, and keeps precisely. She may become a reference in history, Islam, and many matters. This is clear to whoever reflects on the conditions of women in the time of the Prophet ﷺ and after that.
By this, it is known that this deficiency does not prevent reliance on her in narration, nor in testimony when it is strengthened by another woman.
It also does not prevent her taqwa of Allah and her being among the best of the female servants of Allah, if she remains upright in her religion. So the believer should not accuse her of deficiency in everything, nor weakness in religion in everything. Rather, it is a specific weakness in her religion, and a weakness in her mind regarding precision in testimony and the like. So fairness must be given to her, and the words of the Prophet ﷺ must be carried upon the best and finest meanings.” (Majmuʿ Fatawa Ibn Baz 24/101.)
Let the one who cuts off the evidences fear Allah. Let him bring them fully and in their proper place of proof. Let him beware of distortion and denial, so that the saying of the Lord, Majestic and High, does not apply to him:
فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ زَيْغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَابَهَ مِنْهُ ابْتِغَاءَ الْفِتْنَةِ وَابْتِغَاءَ تَأْوِيلِهِ وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ
“As for those in whose hearts is deviation, they follow what is unclear from it, seeking trial and seeking its interpretation. And none knows its interpretation.” (Al ʿImran 7)
Let him ask if he does not know, for the cure of ignorance is asking.
I also whisper into the ear of my Muslim sister: do not be a mouthpiece for every caller, and do not be one who merely follows people, doing good if people do good and doing bad if they do bad. Rather, she must be distinguished by what she worships Allah upon and by what He honoured her with. Let her know that Allah gave the example of iman in His Book through the wife of Firʿawn and Maryam bint ʿImran. Allah, Most High, said:
وَضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا امْرَأَتَ فِرْعَوْنَ إِذْ قَالَتْ رَبِّ ابْنِ لِي عِنْدَكَ بَيْتًا فِي الْجَنَّةِ
“And Allah gave an example for those who believe: the wife of Firʿawn, when she said, ‘My Lord, build for me near You a house in Paradise.’” (al Tahrim 11)
Rather, when the matter became difficult for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at the treaty of Hudaybiyah, and the Companions held back from shaving their heads and slaughtering their sacrificial animals, he sought the advice of Umm Salamah. She gave him the correct view and said: “O Messenger of Allah, do not blame them, for the people have been struck by a great matter because of what they saw you carry upon yourself in the treaty. Go out, O Messenger of Allah. Do not speak to anyone among the people until you go to your sacrificial animal and slaughter it, then remove your state of ihram. When the people see you do that, they will do what you did.” (Sahih al Bukhari 2731.)
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ did what Umm Salamah advised him to do, and what she said was true. After that, can she be accused of absolute deficiency in mind?
The Doubt About A Woman’s Testimony
The enemies of the Ummah raise this doubt, repeat it, and make noise around it. They claim that Islam reduced women’s rights, and they use as proof the saying of Allah, Most High:
وَاسْتَشْهِدُوا شَهِيدَيْنِ مِنْ رِجَالِكُمْ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُونَا رَجُلَيْنِ فَرَجُلٌ وَامْرَأَتَانِ مِمَّنْ تَرْضَوْنَ مِنَ الشُّهَدَاءِ أَنْ تَضِلَّ إِحْدَاهُمَا فَتُذَكِّرَ إِحْدَاهُمَا الْأُخْرَى
“And call two witnesses from your men. If there are not two men, then one man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses, so that if one of the two women forgets, the other may remind her.” (al Baqarah 282)
Here is the refutation of this doubt.
First: testimony is the verbal noun of “to witness”. It was made singular while intending different types. Al Jawhari (d. 393AH) said: “Testimony is decisive information. The witness is the carrier of testimony and the one who performs it, because he has witnessed what was hidden from others.” (al Sihah by al Jawhari 2/68, under the root sh h d; al Mufradat by al Raghib 268; Lisan al ʿArab by Ibn Manzur 3/239, under the root sh h d; al Taʿarif by al Munawi 439.)
Second: testimony is a duty, not an honour.
In the Islamic understanding, testimony is not a right that people compete over. Rather, it is a heavy burden from which the witness may try to escape, because the witness testifies while someone else receives the right. For that reason, it would be expected that people would avoid testimony, so Allah forbade them from that and said:
وَلَا يَأْبَ الشُّهَدَاءُ إِذَا مَا دُعُوا
“And the witnesses must not refuse when they are called.” (al Baqarah 282)
Allah also forbade concealing testimony, and He threatened the one who conceals testimony with sin, because that causes the rights of servants to be lost. He said:
وَلَا تَكْتُمُوا الشَّهَادَةَ وَمَنْ يَكْتُمْهَا فَإِنَّهُ آثِمٌ قَلْبُهُ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ عَلِيمٌ
“And do not conceal testimony. Whoever conceals it, then his heart is sinful. And Allah is Knowing of what you do.” (al Baqarah 283)
Testimony, in all its situations, requires the witness to exert effort in resisting his desire and inclination, and in overcoming his feelings and emotions. About this, Allah, Most High, said:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ بِالْقِسْطِ شُهَدَاءَ لِلَّهِ وَلَوْ عَلَى أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَوِ الْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالْأَقْرَبِينَ إِنْ يَكُنْ غَنِيًّا أَوْ فَقِيرًا فَاللَّهُ أَوْلَى بِهِمَا فَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا الْهَوَى أَنْ تَعْدِلُوا وَإِنْ تَلْوُوا أَوْ تُعْرِضُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرًا
“O you who believe, stand firmly for justice, as witnesses for Allah, even against yourselves, parents, and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both. So do not follow desire, lest you swerve from justice. If you twist or turn away, then Allah is fully aware of what you do.” (al Nisa 135)
And He, Glorified is He, said:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ لِلَّهِ شُهَدَاءَ بِالْقِسْطِ وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَى أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا اعْدِلُوا هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَى
“O you who believe, stand firmly for Allah, as witnesses with justice. Do not let hatred of a people make you fail to be just. Be just. That is closer to taqwa.” (al Maʾidah 8)
This shows that carrying testimony is a burden upon the witness, not a favour for him. Whoever is excused from this responsibility has been relieved. The noble Qur’an has mentioned many concessions according to the needs of each situation, such as the concession of not fasting for the traveller, and shortening and combining prayers. This easing is not counted as humiliation. Rather, it is a blessing that requires thanking the One who gave it.
So all praise belongs to Allah, who lifted from us, the women, the burdens and consequences of testimony. For this reason, I did not mention testimony as a right of the woman, since it is a duty, not an honour.
Third: based on the Islamic understanding of testimony, and out of care that it be performed truthfully and honestly, Islam strengthened testimony in general. It strengthened the testimony of a man with the testimony of another man. Allah, Most High, said:
وَاسْتَشْهِدُوا شَهِيدَيْنِ مِنْ رِجَالِكُمْ
“And call two witnesses from your men.” (al Baqarah 282)
Despite that, no one considered this an attack upon the honour of the man. When two male witnesses are not present, and there is a need for the woman’s testimony, the testimony of the man is strengthened by two women. The verse explained the reason for requiring two women through the saying of Allah, Most High:
أَنْ تَضِلَّ إِحْدَاهُمَا فَتُذَكِّرَ إِحْدَاهُمَا الْأُخْرَى
“So that if one of the two women forgets, the other may remind her.” (al Baqarah 282)
Ibn al Qayyim said: “Our Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said regarding the saying of Allah, Most High:
فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُونَا رَجُلَيْنِ فَرَجُلٌ وَامْرَأَتَانِ مِمَّنْ تَرْضَوْنَ مِنَ الشُّهَدَاءِ
‘If there are not two men, then one man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses.’ (al Baqarah 282)
In it is proof that calling two women to testify in place of one man is only so that one of them may remind the other if she forgets. This only occurs in what usually involves forgetting, which is forgetfulness and lack of precision. As for the matters in which their testimony is accepted alone, they are things she sees with her own eye, touches with her own hand, or hears with her own ear, without depending on mind, such as childbirth, the newborn’s cry, breastfeeding, and defects beneath clothing. Such a thing is usually not forgotten, and knowing it does not require applying the mind, unlike the meanings of statements that she hears, such as acknowledgement of debt and similar matters, for these are understood meanings, and time can become long regarding them overall.” (al Turuq al Hukmiyyah by Ibn al Qayyim 221. More explanation will come on p. 668.)
Among The Reasons For A Woman Forgetting In Her Testimony
- The woman’s role in her daily life usually requires her to remain in the home for most of the time, especially during the times of buying and selling. Her presence where financial transactions take place between people only occurs rarely. When something is like that, it is not usually from her concern to be careful to remember it when she sees it, because she usually passes by it without paying attention to it. So when she comes to testify, the possibility of forgetting is present. If another woman testifies with her, the possibility of forgetting is removed.
- The verse of debt guides to the most complete ways of certainty and verification. It is known that the woman, in most cases, does not occupy her mind with financial transactions. So what she is not used to, or does not work with, has the possibility of being forgotten by her. This is unlike the matters that concern her from the affairs of women and the home. For that reason, one of us, the women, surpasses thousands of men in this field.
- Forgetfulness may come from the woman’s bodily and biological make up, which affects her emotional state. This makes her quick in emotional response and reaction. This make up is suitable for fulfilling the needs of her child quickly and actively, without returning to slow thinking. This is from the favour of Allah, Most High, upon the woman and the child. Testimony over contracts needs great freedom from emotional reaction, and standing upon the facts without being affected or influenced. The presence of two women is a guarantee that one of them will remind the other.
- Dr Muhammad Biltaji returned the cause of the woman’s forgetfulness to her nature, in that some details of the matter seen may sometimes occupy her from the overall view of it, and from the links between these details. It is also due to what affects her in certain states, such as menstruation, pregnancy, and after childbirth, which none denies except an ignorant person or one who argues with falsehood, such as hormonal imbalance or special mood disturbance. This certainly affects the carrying of testimony and its performance. (Makanat al Marʾah fi al Qur’an wa al Sunnah al Sahihah by Muhammad Biltaji 482–483.)
- Al Zindani (d. 1445AH) said: “Today the secret behind that has become clear, and the wisdom behind this legislation, when it became known that the man has a centre in his brain for speech in one of the lobes, and a centre for memory in the other lobe. So if the speech centre works when giving testimony, it does not affect the centre specialised for memory. But the woman has two centres in the two lobes of the brain, mixed together, working to direct speech and memory. So when the woman speaks, the two centres work with speech, and that may affect the part of memory in which the information needed for testimony is found. We see a sign of that in His saying:
فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُونَا رَجُلَيْنِ فَرَجُلٌ وَامْرَأَتَانِ
“If there are not two men, then one man and two women.” (al Baqarah 282) (al Marʾah wa Huququha al Siyasiyyah fi al Islam by al Zindani 73–74.)
By testimony, blood, lives, honour, and wealth become lawful. So is it surprising that Islam ordered certainty and verification in it?
The Rulings Of Testimony
I am certain that whoever raises this doubt has little understanding of the religion and is ignorant of the rulings of testimonies in the Sharia. Here is their explanation according to the stronger view from the statements of the people of knowledge.
- The testimony of four upright, free, Muslim men is required for seeing zina, by agreement, due to the saying of Allah, Most High:
لَوْلَا جَاءُوا عَلَيْهِ بِأَرْبَعَةِ شُهَدَاءَ
“Why did they not bring four witnesses over it?” (al Nur 13)
It says in al Mughni: “The Muslims agreed that less than four witnesses are not accepted in zina. The majority of the scholars held that it is a condition that they be free men, so the testimony of women and slaves is not accepted. This is said by Malik (d. 179AH), al Shafiʿi (d. 204AH), and the people of opinion. Abu Thawr (d. 240AH) held an isolated view.” (al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 10/155; al Umm by al Shafiʿi 7/44; al Kafi by Ibn ʿAbd al Barr 462; al Bahr al Raʾiq by Ibn Nujaym 7/55.)
- Matters that men usually see are not accepted with less than two men. This category has two types.
A. Punishments, namely hudud (fixed punishments) and qisas (legal retaliation). Ibn Qudamah (d. 620AH) said in al Mughni: “Hudud and qisas are not accepted except with the testimony of two men, except what is reported from ʿAtaʾ (d. 114AH) and Hammad (d. 120AH), that they said: one man and two women are accepted in it, by analogy with testimony in wealth. Our proof is that this is from what caution is taken to repel and drop, and for this reason it is repelled by doubts. There is no need that calls for proving it. In the testimony of women there is a doubt, due to the saying of Allah, Most High:
أَنْ تَضِلَّ إِحْدَاهُمَا فَتُذَكِّرَ إِحْدَاهُمَا الْأُخْرَى
“So that if one of them forgets, the other may remind her.” (al Baqarah 282)
Their testimony is not accepted, even if they are many, unless there is a man with them. So their testimony must not be accepted in it. It is not correct to compare this with wealth, because of the difference we mentioned. What we mentioned was said by Saʿid ibn al Musayyib (d. 94AH), al Shaʿbi (d. 104AH), al Nakhaʿi (d. 96AH), Hammad, al Zuhri (d. 124AH), Rabiʿah (d. 136AH), Malik, al Shafiʿi, Abu ʿUbayd (d. 224AH), Abu Thawr, and the people of opinion.” (al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 10/156; Rawdat al Talibin by al Nawawi 11/252; al Sharh al Kabir by Ibn Qudamah 4/184; al Bahr al Raʾiq by Ibn Nujaym 7/55.)
Note
If it is said: why is the woman’s testimony not accepted in crimes?
Shaykh Mustafa al Sibaʿi (d. 1384AH) said, explaining the reason for that: “The testimony of women is not accepted in crimes because she is usually occupied with the affairs of her home, and it is not usually easy for her to attend gatherings of disputes that end in murder crimes and the like. If she attends them, she will rarely be able to remain until she sees the murder crime with her own eyes, while staying firm hearted. Rather, what is most common is that if she cannot flee at that moment, she will close her eyes, cry out, scream, and she may faint.
This goes back to what is placed in her nature, for she is strong in emotion, quick in reaction, and soft in feeling, so that she may fulfil her main role in the most complete way, the role of motherhood. So how can she be able to perform the testimony, then describe the crime, the criminals, the instrument of the crime, and the manner in which it took place? It is accepted that hudud are repelled by doubts, and her testimony in murder and the like is surrounded by doubt, the doubt of her inability to be certain of the description of the crime because of her emotional state when it occurs.” (al Marʾah bayn al Fiqh wa al Qanun by Mustafa al Sibaʿi 32.)
B. Matters that are not punishments, such as marriage, return after divorce, and divorce. The statements of the jurists differed regarding this. Al Nakhaʿi, al Zuhri, Malik, al Shafiʿi, and Ahmad (d. 241AH) held that nothing is accepted in it except the testimony of two men. Ibn Shihab said: “The Sunnah from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and from the two caliphs after him has passed upon this, that the testimony of women is not valid in marriage, divorce, or hudud.” (Ibn Qudamah attributed this to al Nakhaʿi and al Zuhri in al Mughni 10/157; al Mudawwanah al Kubra by Sahnun 13/162; al Umm by al Shafiʿi 7/49; al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 10/157; reported from him by Ibn Abi Shaybah in al Musannaf 20708, 4/329, and Malik attributed it to him in al Mudawwanah 13/162, but it is mursal.)
Jabir ibn Zayd (d. 93AH), Iyas ibn Muʿawiyah (d. 122AH), al Shaʿbi, al Thawri (d. 161AH), Ishaq (d. 238AH), the people of opinion, and Ibn al Qayyim (d. 751AH) held, and he preferred this view, that the testimony of two men, or one man and two women, is accepted in it. They used as proof that it is not dropped by doubt, so it may be established by one man and two women, like wealth. (Ibn Qudamah attributed this to those already mentioned in al Mughni 10/158; al Bahr al Raʾiq by Ibn Nujaym 7/60; Hashiyat Ibn ʿAbidin 7/75; al Turuq al Hukmiyyah by Ibn al Qayyim 227.)
Ibn Qudamah said: “Our proof is that it is not wealth, nor is wealth the purpose of it, and men usually see it, so women have no entrance into testimony about it, like hudud and qisas. What they mentioned is not correct, because doubt has no entrance into marriage.” (al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 10/157.)
- Financial transactions, such as sale, endowment, lease, gift, settlement, crop sharing, profit sharing, present, and debt, are not accepted with less than two men, or one man and two women. Ibn Qudamah quoted agreement upon that, due to the verse of debt in Surat al Baqarah. (Ibn Qudamah attributed agreement to this in al Mughni 10/158.)
- There are matters in which the testimony of a man is not heard, while the testimony of a woman is heard. These are cases specific to women. Ibn Qudamah said: “The judge said: The matters in which their testimony is accepted alone are five things: childbirth, the newborn’s cry, breastfeeding, defects beneath clothing such as closure of the private part, bony obstruction, virginity, previous marriage, leprosy, and the end of the waiting period.”
Then they differed over the number of female witnesses according to two views.
The first view: the testimony of one upright woman is enough in what has passed. This was held by Tawus (d. 106AH), Abu Yusuf (d. 182AH), Muhammad (d. 189AH), and Imam Ahmad in one narration from him. (Ibn Qudamah attributed this to Tawus in al Mughni 10/158; Fatawa al Saʿdi 2/781; al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 10/158; al Nukat wa al Fawaʾid al Saniyyah 2/328.)
The second view: nothing is accepted in it except two women. This is the statement of al Hakam (d. 115AH), Ibn Abi Layla (d. 148AH), Ibn Shubrumah (d. 144AH), and it was held by al Thawri and Malik. They said: because every category through which a right is established is sufficient with two, like men.
Ibn Battal (d. 449AH) quoted agreement that the testimony of one woman is not valid in breastfeeding, but he went far from correctness, may Allah have mercy on him, because what has passed overturns it. (Ibn Qudamah attributed this to al Thawri in al Mughni 10/158; al Kafi by Ibn ʿAbd al Barr 469; al Taj wa al Iklil by al Mawwaq 6/182; Sharh Ibn Battal 4/48.)
The stronger view is the first view. Its proof is what al Bukhari reported in his Sahih through the route of ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Mulaykah, from ʿUqbah ibn al Harith, that he married the daughter of Abu Ihab ibn ʿAziz. Then a woman came to him and said: “I breastfed ʿUqbah and the one whom he married.” ʿUqbah said to her: “I do not know that you breastfed me, and you did not tell me.” He then sent to the family of Abu Ihab, asking them.
They said: “We do not know that she breastfed our companion.” So he rode to the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah and asked him. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “How can you keep her when it has been said?” So he separated from her, and she married another husband. (Sahih al Bukhari 2497, 2/934.)
Al Tirmidhi (d. 279AH) also reported it and said: “Acting upon this hadith is held by some of the people of knowledge from the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ and others. They permitted the testimony of one woman in breastfeeding. Ibn ʿAbbas said: the testimony of one woman is valid in breastfeeding, and her oath is taken. This is said by Ahmad and Ishaq. Some of the people of knowledge said: the testimony of one woman is not valid until there are more, and this is the statement of al Shafiʿi.” (Sunan al Tirmidhi 3/457.)
They differed over separating the spouses due to the testimony of the breastfeeding woman according to several statements. Whoever did not accept the testimony of the breastfeeding woman alone carried the prohibition in the hadith of ʿUqbah, “so he forbade him from her,” upon recommendation, and carried the command in his saying, “Leave her,” upon guidance. (See the statements and their examination in Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 5/268 and ʿUmdat al Qari by al ʿAyni 13/224; Sahih al Bukhari 2516, 2/941; Sahih al Bukhari 2517, 2/941.)
Whoever accepted the testimony of one breastfeeding woman carried it upon its apparent meaning. Al Sanʿani (d. 1182AH) said: “They said: this hadith is carried upon recommendation and keeping away from places of doubt. The answer is that this is contrary to the apparent meaning, especially since his question to the Prophet ﷺ was repeated four times, and he answered him with his saying: ‘How can you keep her when it has been said?’
In some of its wordings: ‘Leave her.’ In the narration of al Daraqutni: ‘There is no good for you in her.’ If it were from the path of caution, he would have ordered him to divorce her, while in all the narrations divorce is not mentioned. So this ruling is specific from the general rule of testimony in which number is considered. You already considered that in the private parts of women, so you said that the testimony of one woman is enough. The reason according to them is that men rarely see that, so necessity calls for considering it. Likewise here.” (Subul al Salam by al Sanʿani 3/218.)
- The woman is equal to the man in testimonies of liʿan (mutual oath of accusation) by the clear text of the Qur’an. (See p. 92 and what comes after it.)
O noble reader, I believe that any fair person who reads what has passed will see that lineage, which is one of the five necessities that Islam came to preserve, is established by the testimony of one woman. Likewise, separation between spouses is established by the testimony of the breastfeeding woman. So which is greater in matter: that she testifies over a handful of small coins, or that she testifies over serious cases that determine the fate of people? In Islam, testimony takes into account practice and experience, because they affect precision and the absence of forgetfulness. For that reason, Islam distributed roles and clarified the special field of each gender according to what it does well. All praise and favour belong to Allah.
The Doubt About The Woman And Satan Being Mentioned In The Prophetic Hadith
Some people attack the Prophetic hadith because it connected the woman with Satan in some hadiths. They think that fitnah (trial) comes through the woman and occurs through her. They raise proofs from the authentic Sunnah regarding that. The problem with such people is that they strip the texts of their meaning and understand them in a partial way, not a complete way, since the religion is one whole, parts of it being joined to other parts, so that it may be understood and acted upon.
I fear that a time may come upon people when one of them warns against prayer and says: I read in the Book of Allah:
فَوَيْلٌ لِلْمُصَلِّينَ
“So woe to those who pray.” (al Maʿun 4)
He does not know, may Allah guide him, that if he looked carefully, the verse after it explains it:
الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ
“Those who are heedless of their prayer.” (al Maʿun 5)
For that reason, Allah blamed those who search for unclear matters and cling to them. He said:
فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ زَيْغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَابَهَ مِنْهُ ابْتِغَاءَ الْفِتْنَةِ وَابْتِغَاءَ تَأْوِيلِهِ
“As for those in whose hearts is deviation, they follow what is unclear from it, seeking trial and seeking its interpretation.” (Al ʿImran 7)
Unclear matters are several categories. Among them is that whose meaning is not known until it is joined with something else. This has different types. One of them goes back to quantity, such as general and specific, as in:
الْحُرُمُ فَاقْتُلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ
“The sacred months, then kill the polytheists.” (al Tawbah 5)
The second is from the way of ruling, such as obligation and recommendation, as in:
فَانْكِحُوا مَا طَابَ لَكُمْ
“Then marry what is pleasing to you.” (al Nisa 3)
The third is from the way of time, such as abrogating and abrogated, as in:
وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا وَصِيَّةً لِأَزْوَاجِهِمْ مَتَاعًا إِلَى الْحَوْلِ غَيْرَ إِخْرَاجٍ
“Those among you who die and leave wives behind should make a bequest for their wives: provision for one year without being removed.” (al Baqarah 240)
The fourth is from the way of place and the matters for which they were sent down, as in:
وَلَيْسَ الْبِرُّ بِأَنْ تَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ ظُهُورِهَا
“Righteousness is not that you enter houses from their backs.” (al Baqarah 189)
And other than that. (al Mufradat by al Raghib 254; al Itqan fi ʿUlum al Qur’an by al Suyuti 2/13.)
Likewise are many of the hadiths around which they raise doubts. If you asked one of them about some of the clear verses, he would not be able to answer you. Allah is the One whose help is sought.
Al Bukhari and Muslim reported from the hadith of ʿAʾishah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited:
هُوَ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ مِنْهُ آيَاتٌ مُحْكَمَاتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ
“He is the One who sent down to you the Book. From it are clear verses. They are the foundation of the Book.” (Al ʿImran 7)
She said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “When you see those who follow what is unclear from it, then they are those whom Allah has named, so beware of them.” The wording is that of Muslim. (Sahih al Bukhari 4273, 4/1654; Sahih Muslim 2053, 4/2053.)
Under this doubt, I will present different hadiths that are joined, in the understanding of the one who raises the doubt, by the woman’s link to Satan and fitnah.
The First Hadith: “Were It Not For Hawwa, No Woman Would Have Betrayed Her Husband For All Time”
This is what al Bukhari and Muslim reported from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Prophet ﷺ said: “Were it not for the Children of Israel, meat would not have spoiled. Were it not for Hawwa, no woman would have betrayed her husband for all time.” The wording is that of al Bukhari. (Sahih al Bukhari 3218, 3/1245; Sahih Muslim 1470, 2/1092.)
Some use this hadith as proof that Hawwa was the cause of the first sin. I will mention the following points in understanding the hadith and answering the doubt.
- Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar (d. 852AH) said: “His saying, ‘No woman would have betrayed her husband,’ contains a sign to what occurred from Hawwa in beautifying for Adam عليه السلام the eating from the tree, until he fell into that. The meaning of her betrayal is that she accepted what Iblis beautified for her, until she beautified it for Adam عليه السلام. Since she is the mother of the daughters of Adam عليه السلام, they resembled her through birth and inherited nature. A woman hardly remains free from betraying her husband in action or speech. What is meant by betrayal here is not committing immoral acts, far from it and never.
Rather, when she inclined toward the desire of the self in eating from the tree, and made that seem good to Adam عليه السلام, that was counted as betrayal of him. As for those women who came after her, the betrayal of each one of them is according to her own case. Close to this is: Adam عليه السلام denied, so his descendants denied. In the hadith is a sign of comforting men regarding what occurs to them from their women, because of what occurred from their great mother. This is from their nature, so one should not go beyond limits in blaming one from whom something occurred without intent or rarely. Women should not use this as a means to continue freely in this type of matter. Rather, they must restrain themselves and struggle against their desires.” (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 6/368; Sharh al Nawawi 10/59.)
Reflections On The Words Of Al Hafiz About The Meaning Of The Hadith
From the words of al Hafiz, the following becomes clear.
A. The hadith did not give detail about the matter of Hawwa beautifying for Adam عليه السلام the eating from the tree. Rather, it pointed to it briefly, and the explainers of hadith understood from it that Hawwa had a role in Adam عليه السلام eating from the tree, but it did not clarify that role.
B. In light of the words of al Hafiz, it appears that the purpose of the hadith is firstly in the interest of the wife. This is by acting upon what al Hafiz advised the husband with: that he should not go beyond limits in blaming his wife for what happened from her without intent or rarely.
C. Adam عليه السلام was also affected by the whispering of Satan, and he obeyed him, by the clear text of the Qur’an, as will come.
- Is Adam عليه السلام, the father of mankind, not the man whom the Lord, Majestic and High, addressed, saying:
فَقُلْنَا يَا آدَمُ إِنَّ هَذَا عَدُوٌّ لَكَ وَلِزَوْجِكَ فَلَا يُخْرِجَنَّكُمَا مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ فَتَشْقَى إِنَّ لَكَ أَلَّا تَجُوعَ فِيهَا وَلَا تَعْرَى وَأَنَّكَ لَا تَظْمَأُ فِيهَا وَلَا تَضْحَى
“So We said: O Adam, this is an enemy to you and your wife, so do not let him remove you both from Paradise, lest you suffer. Indeed, for you there is that you will not hunger therein nor be unclothed, and that you will not thirst therein nor be exposed to heat.” (Ta Ha 117–119)
So why did he obey Hawwa and not stop her or correct her? Who is to be blamed: the caller or the one who responds? The Lord, Majestic and High, made clear in His Book that the disobedience was not from Hawwa alone. Rather, it was from Adam عليه السلام and Hawwa together.
The whispering of Iblis happened to both of them together, not to Hawwa alone. In fact, verses came making the correction specific to Adam عليه السلام alone. Therefore, the responsibility for eating from the tree was shared.
Allah, Most High, said:
فَقُلْنَا يَا آدَمُ إِنَّ هَذَا عَدُوٌّ لَكَ وَلِزَوْجِكَ فَلَا يُخْرِجَنَّكُمَا مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ فَتَشْقَى إِنَّ لَكَ أَلَّا تَجُوعَ فِيهَا وَلَا تَعْرَى وَأَنَّكَ لَا تَظْمَأُ فِيهَا وَلَا تَضْحَى فَوَسْوَسَ إِلَيْهِ الشَّيْطَانُ قَالَ يَا آدَمُ هَلْ أَدُلُّكَ
“So We said: O Adam, this is an enemy to you and your wife, so do not let him remove you both from Paradise, lest you suffer. Indeed, for you there is that you will not hunger therein nor be unclothed, and that you will not thirst therein nor be exposed to heat. Then Satan whispered to him. He said: O Adam, shall I show you.” (Ta Ha 117–120)
وَيَا آدَمُ اسْكُنْ أَنْتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ فَكُلَا مِنْ حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا وَلَا تَقْرَبَا هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ فَتَكُونَا مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ فَوَسْوَسَ لَهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ لِيُبْدِيَ لَهُمَا مَا وُورِيَ عَنْهُمَا مِنْ سَوْآتِهِمَا وَقَالَ مَا نَهَاكُمَا رَبُّكُمَا عَنْ هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةِ إِلَّا أَنْ تَكُونَا مَلَكَيْنِ أَوْ تَكُونَا مِنَ الْخَالِدِينَ وَقَاسَمَهُمَا إِنِّي لَكُمَا لَمِنَ النَّاصِحِينَ فَدَلَّاهُمَا بِغُرُورٍ فَلَمَّا ذَاقَا الشَّجَرَةَ بَدَتْ لَهُمَا سَوْآتُهُمَا وَطَفِقَا يَخْصِفَانِ عَلَيْهِمَا مِنْ وَرَقِ الْجَنَّةِ وَنَادَاهُمَا رَبُّهُمَا أَلَمْ أَنْهَكُمَا عَنْ تِلْكُمَا الشَّجَرَةِ وَأَقُلْ لَكُمَا إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لَكُمَا عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ
“And, O Adam, live, you and your wife, in Paradise, and eat from wherever you both wish, but do not come near this tree, lest you both become among the wrongdoers. Then Satan whispered to both of them, to reveal to them what had been hidden from them of their private parts.
He said: Your Lord did not forbid you both from this tree except that you might become angels or become among those who live forever. And he swore to both of them: Indeed, I am surely among the sincere advisers to you both. So he lowered them by deception.
When they both tasted the tree, their private parts became apparent to them, and they began covering themselves with leaves from Paradise. Their Lord called out to both of them: Did I not forbid you both from that tree and say to you both that Satan is a clear enemy to you both?” (al Aʿraf 19–22) (This wording was mentioned in passing to answer the doubt. Otherwise, Allah forgave our father Adam عليه السلام and our mother Hawwa. The one who repents from a sin is like one who has no sin, so he is not blamed for it. Also, proper conduct with the rank of the prophets is obligatory, so pay attention.)
Allah, Mighty is He who spoke, said:
فَأَزَلَّهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ عَنْهَا فَأَخْرَجَهُمَا مِمَّا كَانَا فِيهِ وَقُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا بَعْضُكُمْ لِبَعضٍ عَدُوٌّ وَلَكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مُسْتَقَرٌّ وَمَتَاعٌ إِلَى حِينٍ
“Then Satan caused both of them to slip from it, and he removed both of them from what they had been in. And We said: Descend, some of you as enemies to others, and for you on earth is settlement and enjoyment for a time.” (al Baqarah 36)
In another verse, He, Glorified is He, said:
فَوَسْوَسَ إِلَيْهِ الشَّيْطَانُ قَالَ يَا آدَمُ هَلْ أَدُلُّكَ عَلَى شَجَرَةِ الْخُلْدِ وَمُلْكٍ لَا يَبْلَى فَأَكَلَا مِنْهَا فَبَدَتْ لَهُمَا سَوْآتُهُمَا وَطَفِقَا يَخْصِفَانِ عَلَيْهِمَا مِنْ وَرَقِ الْجَنَّةِ وَعَصَى آدَمُ رَبَّهُ فَغَوَى ثُمَّ اجْتَبَاهُ رَبُّهُ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ وَهَدَى
“Then Satan whispered to him. He said: O Adam, shall I show you the tree of everlasting life and a kingdom that does not decay? So they both ate from it, and their private parts became apparent to them, and they began covering themselves with leaves from Paradise. Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred. Then his Lord chose him, accepted his repentance, and guided him.” (Ta Ha 120–122)
By this, the act of whispering from Satan was directed to both together, due to the saying of Allah, Most High:
فَوَسْوَسَ لَهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ
“Then Satan whispered to both of them.” (al Aʿraf 20)
Likewise is His saying:
فَأَزَلَّهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ
“Then Satan caused both of them to slip.” (al Baqarah 36)
Its root is from slipping, which is the stumbling of the foot. It is said: “his foot slipped,” meaning it slipped away. Then it came to be used for committing a sin. It is said: “the man slipped,” when he erred and did what he should not have done. That was the cause of both of them being removed from Paradise and distanced from it. It was also recited:
فَأَزَالَهُمَا
“He removed both of them.” (al Baqarah 36)
Upon this, both readings have the same meaning.
Allah attributed the slip and the removal to Satan because they happened through his call and whispering, and he was the cause of both.
Dr Asʿad al Humrani said: “This descent from Paradise was not because of Hawwa’s temptation. The Qur’an wording used the address with the dual form in order to remove every uncertainty about the temptation and attach it to Adam عليه السلام and Hawwa together. Had the Qur’an wording ‘Then Satan whispered to both of them’ come for Adam عليه السلام and Hawwa, or Hawwa and Adam عليه السلام, the reader of the wording might have thought that the one whose name came before the other was the one who first fell into Satan’s temptation. But the wording came in this way and removed every confusion.” (al Marʾah fi al Tarikh al Islami by Asʿad al Humrani 102.)
It is enough for the Muslim woman that Islam came to lift from her the oppression of the people who accused her of the first sin and attached it to her. Their hands reached the sacred books and altered them. It came in the Torah: “The serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals. He said to the woman: Did Allah really say: Do not eat from every tree of the garden? The woman said to the serpent: We eat from the fruit of the trees of the garden. But as for the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, Allah said: Do not eat from it and do not touch it, lest you die. The serpent said to the woman: You will not die.
Rather, Allah knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Allah, knowing good and evil. So the woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable to look at. She took from its fruit and ate, and she also gave her man with her, so he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.” Then it said that Allah said to Adam عليه السلام: “Did you eat from the tree which I commanded you not to eat from? Adam عليه السلام said: The woman whom You placed with me, she gave me from the tree. Then the Lord God said to the woman: What is this that you have done?
The woman said: The serpent deceived me, so I ate.” It also said to the woman: “I will greatly increase the pains of your pregnancy. With pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your man, and he will rule over you.” (Book of Genesis, chapter 3.)
So look at how the altered Torah made the woman the cause of the sin and cleared Adam عليه السلام from it. Childbearing was written upon her as a punishment for her, and it was joined with hardship and pain. So how can motherhood be a punishment upon Hawwa because of disobedience, while this role is among the greatest things that women desire and hope for?
Do not be surprised when you read in the altered Torah the harsh position toward the woman, branding her with defects and misfortune. In the Old Testament, the following came about the woman: “I turned, I and my heart, to know, to search, and to seek wisdom and mind, and to know evil, that it is ignorance, and foolishness, that it is madness. I found more bitter than death: the woman, she is nets, her heart is snares, and her hands are chains.” (Ecclesiastes, chapter 7.)
For that reason, the Jews see the woman as being behind every situation of disagreement, disobedience, humiliation, or shame.
Altered Christianity is not in a better condition than Judaism. Rather, there came in a wording of Paul: “Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and fell into transgression.” Because Satan was able to tempt Hawwa, and after that she caused Adam عليه السلام to fall, the life of a man as unmarried became a path to the pleasure of the Lord and righteousness, while marriage may lead to other than that. (Huquq wa Qadaya al Marʾah fi ʿAlamina al Muʿasir by ʿAbd Allah Marʿi 53–54.)
For that reason, Tertullian held that the woman is the helper of Satan on earth. Is she not the one who obeyed Satan and disobeyed the word of Allah? This view, which Tertullian went far in explaining and spreading its results, affected the history of the Christian woman. At the same time, one finds that the Qur’an made them equal in the sin, so all praise and favour belong to Allah. (al Marʾah fi Mukhtalif al ʿUsur by Ahmad Khaki 33.)
- Adam عليه السلام and Hawwa repented to their Lord, so Allah accepted their repentance and guided them. Allah, Most High, said:
فَتَلَقَّى آدَمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ
“Then Adam received words from his Lord, so He accepted his repentance. Indeed, He is the One who accepts repentance, the Most Merciful.” (al Baqarah 37)
The meaning of receiving the words is that he received them by taking them, accepting them, and acting upon them. The repentance of Adam عليه السلام alone was mentioned without mentioning the repentance of Hawwa, because she followed him in that. (Tafsir al Tabari 1/243; Tafsir al Qurtubi 1/324; Jawamiʿ al Jamiʿ fi Tafsir al Qur’an al Majid by al Tabarsi 1/51.)
His Lord guided him and his wife to say:
قَالَا رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنْفُسَنَا وَإِنْ لَمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
“They both said: Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will surely be among the losers.” (al Aʿraf 23)
A sin that Allah forgave for Adam عليه السلام and Hawwa, and whose burden He lifted from them, why should we raise it and occupy ourselves with it in blame? Is the one who repents from sin not like one who has no sin? Adam عليه السلام overcame Musa عليه السلام in proof when Musa عليه السلام blamed him for being the cause of people being removed from Paradise, because this was a matter that had been written. So Adam عليه السلام defeated him in proof.
Al Bukhari and Muslim reported from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Adam and Musa argued. Musa said: O Adam, you are our father. You disappointed us and removed us from Paradise. Adam said to him: You are Musa. Allah chose you with His speech and wrote for you with His hand. Do you blame me for a matter that Allah had decreed upon me forty years before He created me? The Prophet ﷺ said: Adam defeated Musa in proof, Adam defeated Musa in proof.” The wording is that of Muslim. (Sahih al Bukhari 4459, 4/1764; Sahih Muslim 2652, 4/2042. Ibn Hajar said in Fath al Bari 11/510: “Adam defeated Musa in proof” means: he repelled the proof by which Musa عليه السلام made blame binding upon him.)
The Second Hadith: “The Woman Comes In The Form Of A Satan And Goes Away In The Form Of A Satan”
Muslim reported in his Sahih from the hadith of Jabir that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw a woman, so he came to his wife Zaynab while she was rubbing a tanned hide of hers. He fulfilled his need, then went out to his Companions and said: “The woman comes in the form of a Satan and goes away in the form of a Satan. So when one of you sees a woman, let him go to his wife, for that repels what is in himself.” (Sahih Muslim 1403, 2/1021. “Rubbing a tanned hide”: the people of language said: rubbing means kneading and working by hand. The hide is the skin when it is first placed for tanning. al Nihayah by Ibn al Athir 4/342 under the root m ʿ s; Sharh al Nawawi 9/178.)
The Meaning Of The Hadith
- This hadith is explained by its other narrations. Al Nawawi (d. 676AH) said: “In the other narration: ‘When one of you is impressed by a woman and she falls into his heart, let him go to his wife, for that repels what is in himself.’ This narration explains the first one. The meaning of the hadith is that it is recommended for the one who sees a woman and his desire is stirred to go to his wife or his slave woman, if he has one, and have relations with her, so that his desire is repelled, his self becomes calm, and his heart gathers upon what he is engaged in.” (Sahih Muslim 1404; Sharh Sahih Muslim by al Nawawi 9/178.)
- The scholars said regarding the meaning of the hadith: it is a sign to desire, because of what Allah, Most High, placed in the souls of men of inclination toward women, pleasure in looking at them, and what is connected to them. So she resembles Satan in his calling to evil through his whispering and beautifying it.
Al Nawawi said: “From this it is taken that she should not go out among men except for a need, and that the man should lower his gaze from her clothing and turn away from her completely.” (Sharh Sahih Muslim by al Nawawi 9/178.)
So the woman is not a Satan. Rather, she resembles Satan if she goes out displaying herself and not staying within the Sharia limits, because both share in temptation: Satan through his whispering, and the woman through her display. This hadith is explained by what al Tirmidhi reported in al Sunan, Ibn Khuzaymah (d. 311AH) in al Sahih, Ibn Hibban (d. 354AH) in al Sahih, al Tabarani (d. 360AH) in al Awsat and al Kabir, and Ibn Hazm (d. 456AH) in al Muhalla, through routes from Abu al Ahwas, from ʿAbd Allah, from the Prophet ﷺ: “The woman is a private matter, so when she goes out, Satan looks up at her.” The wording is that of al Tirmidhi, and he said: “A hasan gharib hadith.” (Jamiʿ al Tirmidhi 1173, 3/476; Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah 1685, 3/93; Sahih Ibn Hibban 5598, 12/412; al Muʿjam al Awsat by al Tabarani 8096, 8/101; al Muʿjam al Kabir by al Tabarani 10115, 10/108; al Muhalla by Ibn Hazm 4/201.)
Al Mundhiri (d. 656AH) said: “Al Tabarani reported it in al Awsat, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.” (al Targhib wa al Tarhib by al Mundhiri 1/141.)
Al Haythami (d. 807AH) said: “Al Tabarani reported it in al Kabir, and its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.” Al Albani (d. 1420AH) authenticated it in al Sahihah. (Majmaʿ al Zawaʾid by al Haythami 2/34; al Silsilah al Sahihah by al Albani 2688, 6/424.)
The meaning of “Satan looks up at her” is that he beautifies her in the sight of men. The root meaning of looking up is raising the sight to look at something and placing the palm above the eyebrow.
The meaning is that when the woman goes out, especially while displaying herself, the man looks closely at her so that Satan may tempt her through others and tempt others through her, causing both of them, or one of them, to fall into fitnah.
Some held that what is meant by Satan is the human Satan from the people of sin, so he was named Satan by way of resemblance. (Tuhfat al Ahwadhi by al Mubarakfuri 4/283.)
From here it becomes clear that the meaning of “she comes in the form of a Satan” is as follows.
- It is resemblance to Satan in temptation, especially if she is not chaste, because of what is known of the man’s inclination toward the woman. He longs for her and is not patient away from her. For that reason, Islam forbade him from being alone with her, made marriage to four permissible for him, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ expressed wonder at her taking away the core of the mind of the firm man, let alone others.
ʿAbd Allah ibn al Aʿwar al Aʿsha al Mazini spoke truthfully when he recited:
“And you threw me among thick trees mixed together,
and they are the worst conqueror for whoever is conquered.” (Ibn al Athir said: “The mixed one means thick and intertwined, and the root of trees means the base of trees.” al Nihayah by Ibn al Athir 1/51 under the root a sh b; reported by ʿAbd Allah in his addition to al Musnad 6885, 11/478, in a long hadith at the end of which the Prophet ﷺ kept saying: “and they are the worst conqueror for whoever is conquered.” Its chain is weak due to the unknown condition of Sadaqah ibn Taysalah and Maʿn ibn Thaʿlabah. See al Ikmal by al Husayni 202–348.)
May Allah have mercy on Jarir (d. 110AH) when he said:
“They overcome the one of core mind until he cannot move,
while they are the weakest creation of Allah as humans.” (Diwan Jarir 108.)
- Or the meaning is that Satan beautifies her in the eyes of men. The meaning of the hadith, then, is urging the lowering of the gaze and warning against continued looking. The Prophet ﷺ made the first accidental glance for the man, but not the second. The Qur’an ordered the believers to lower their gazes. Allah, Most High, said:
قُلْ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ
“Say to the believing men that they should lower their gazes and guard their private parts.” (al Nur 30)
Reflect on the amazing link between lowering the gaze and guarding the private part.
Ibn al Qayyim said: “The glance is the scout and messenger of desire, and guarding it is the foundation of guarding the private part. Whoever lets his sight loose brings it to places of destruction. Looking is the root of most events that affect the human being, because the look gives birth to a passing thought, then a thought, then a desire, then a will that grows strong, then it becomes a firm resolve, and then the act happens without doubt unless something prevents it. About this it was said: patience in lowering the gaze is easier than patience over the pain of what comes after it.
For this reason, the poet said:
All events begin from looking,
and most fire comes from a small spark.
How many looks reached the heart of their owner,
like the reach of an arrow between the bow and the string.
As long as the servant has an eye that he turns,
among the eyes of the fair, he is held upon danger.
His eye is pleased by what harms his heart,
so no welcome to a joy that returns with harm.
Among the strange matters is that the glance of the looker is an arrow that does not reach the one looked at until it first settles in the heart of the looker. I have from a poem:
O you who throws the arrows of glances with effort,
you are the one killed by what you throw, so do not hit.
More strange than that is that the look wounds the heart, one wound, and then wound follows wound, and the pain of the wound does not stop him from calling for it again. I also have regarding this meaning:
You kept following look after look,
after every beautiful woman and handsome man.
You think that is medicine for your wound,
while in reality it is wound upon wound.
So you slaughtered your eye through glances and crying,
and your heart from you is slaughtered, what a slaughtered one.
It has been said: restraint over glances is easier than lasting regrets.” (al Jawab al Kafi by Ibn al Qayyim 107.)
Whoever looks at the condition of women today and what has happened to men will see that the statement of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is true, and that he ﷺ does not speak from desire. It is only revelation sent down. The glances are unrestricted, and the woman, except those upon whom Allah has mercy, displays herself. This is a matter that wounds the heart of the pious person. There is no might and no power except with Allah.
Among the benefits in the hadith is the humanity of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and teaching by example.
- In some hadiths, the man is described as Satan because he did the act of Satan. Al Bukhari and Muslim reported from the hadith of Abu Saʿid al Khudri, raised to the Prophet ﷺ: “When one of you prays toward something that shields him from the people, and someone wants to pass in front of him, let him push him back. If he refuses, then let him fight him, for he is only a Satan.” (The referencing will come on p. 390 and what comes after it.)
Ibn Battal said: “In this hadith is the permissibility of applying the wording Satan to one who causes fitnah in the religion, and that the ruling is for meanings, not names, because it is impossible that the passer becomes a Satan merely by passing.” (Sharh Ibn Battal 2/142.)
The Doubt About The Woman Being Created From A Bent Rib
The Wording Of The Hadith
Some people often shame the woman and brand her as bent because she was created from a bent rib. They use as proof what al Bukhari and Muslim reported from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Treat women well, for the woman was created from a rib, and the most bent part of the rib is its upper part. If you try to straighten it, you will break it, and if you leave it, it will remain bent. So treat women well.” Muslim added: “And breaking her is divorcing her.” (Sahih al Bukhari 3153, 3/1212; Sahih Muslim 1468, 2/1091. The word “rib” is with kasrah on the letter dad and fathah on the letter lam, and the lam may also be silent. Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 9/253.)
The Hadith Came For The Command To Take Care Of Women
Using this hadith as proof for the lowering of the woman’s status in Islam shows ignorance of language, the meaning of the hadith, and the context in which it came, due to what follows.
- The hadith began with the command to take care of women and ended with the command to take care of them as well. “So treat women well” was repeated. In the narration of Maysarah, from Abu Hazim, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ, it begins: “Treat women well,” and at its end: “So treat women well.” (Sahih al Bukhari 4890.)
Upon this, al Bukhari placed headings in his Sahih: “Gentle handling with women, and the saying of the Prophet ﷺ: ‘The woman is like a rib,’” and: “Taking care of women.” (Sahih al Bukhari, marriage section, 5/1987.)
All of this shows that the hadith came in favour of the woman, and the material from which she was created was mentioned so that kindness may be shown to her.
Al Hafiz noticed the wording of the counsel, “treat women well,” and said: “It was said: its meaning is: counsel one another regarding them, and the letter ba is for transitivity, and seeking here is with the meaning of doing, like seeking a response with the meaning of answering.
Al Tibi said: the letter sin is for seeking, and it is for emphasis, meaning: seek counsel from yourselves regarding their right, or seek counsel from others regarding them, like one who visits a sick person and it is recommended for him to urge him to make a bequest. Counsel regarding women is more emphasised due to their weakness and their need for someone to take care of their affairs. It was said: its meaning is: accept my counsel regarding them, act upon it, be kind to them, and live with them well. I say: this is the strongest of the explanations in my view, and it does not oppose what al Tibi said.” (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 6/368.)
I say: upon the explanation preferred by al Hafiz, we, the women, are the counsel of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to men. So all praise and favour belong to Allah.
- The hadith is guidance and address to men, not to women. In the hadith, those being counselled are men, and those being counselled about are women. Counsel is usually only for the benefit of the one being counselled about. Here it is also for the benefit of the man, the family, and the society. If the man assumes perfection in the woman, that will lead him to call her strictly to account for every shortcoming, which turns the atmosphere of family life into misery. For this reason, in the hadith of Samurah ibn Jundub reported by al Hakim, it says: “Indeed, the woman was created from a rib. If you want to straighten her, you will break her. So be gentle with her and you will live with her.” He said it three times. Al Hakim said: “A hadith authentic upon the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not report it.” (al Mustadrak by al Hakim 7333, 4/192.)
The meaning of “be gentle with her” is from gentle handling, which means giving of the life of this earth for the rectification of the life of this earth, the religion, or both together. (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 10/454.)
- In the hadith is a clear indication of kindness when dealing with the woman, and an alert to the softness of her nature. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ clarified the material of her creation, “from a rib,” so that the man would be kind to her and not break her. Al Hafiz said regarding the meaning of “the most bent thing in the rib is its upper part”: “It was said: in it is a sign that the most bent part of the woman is her tongue. The use of ‘most bent’ is the use of a comparative form in defects, which is uncommon. The benefit of this introduction is that the woman was created from a bent rib, so her bent nature should not be rejected, or it is a sign that she does not accept complete straightening, just as the rib does not accept it. His saying, ‘If you try to straighten it, you will break it,’ was said to be an example for divorce.” (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 6/368. Regarding the meaning of “from a rib,” there are other interpretations that I turned away from mentioning due to their weakness, so review them in al Mufhim by al Qurtubi 4/102; Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 6/368; ʿUmdat al Qari by al ʿAyni 3/104.)
He also said in another place about the benefit of this introduction, which is the alert to the material of creation: “His saying, ‘So treat women well,’ is as though it contains a sign to straightening with kindness, in such a way that one does not go beyond limits and break it, nor leave it so that it continues upon its bent nature. From it is taken that she should not be left upon bent conduct if she goes beyond the natural shortcoming she was created upon into committing sin, taking part in it, or leaving an obligation.
What is meant is that she is left upon her bent nature in permissible matters. In the hadith is recommendation of gentle handling to win over souls and bring hearts together. In it is managing women by accepting what is easy from them, being patient with their bent nature, and that whoever seeks to straighten them will miss benefiting from them. At the same time, a person has no independence from a woman with whom he finds calm and through whom he is helped in his living. So it is as though he said: enjoyment of her is not complete except by patience with her.” (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 9/254.)
- Whoever faults the woman because she was created from a bent rib is to be told: this rib was part of you, so do you fault part of yourself?
Reflect on the wisdom of the Lord, Majestic and High, in creating Hawwa from Adam عليه السلام, and from the rib in particular, near the heart. Yasin Rushdi said: “Whoever reflects on the way the woman was created will find that she was created from the rib of Adam عليه السلام, and it is the closest place to the heart.
It is as though this is her natural place with her husband: to be in his heart, so he deals with her with emotion, love, and tenderness. If the woman had been created from the head of the man, she would have been his thinking mind, which governs and leads him. If she had been created from his hand, he may have struck with her or earned through her. But she was created from the closest place to his heart, so that she would be the spring of strong emotions and beautiful feelings, and so that we may know that the man is the root and the woman is a branch, and that he is the whole and she is the part. There is no life for the whole except with all its parts, and there is no life for the part except by belonging to its root.” (Min Akhlaqiyyat al Islam by Yasin Rushdi 49–50.)
The Doubt About The Woman Being Mentioned With The Donkey And The Black Dog In The Prophetic Hadith
The Wording Of The Hadith
Some people raise a question and an objection around what Muslim reported in his Sahih from the hadith of Abu Dharr, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “When one of you stands to pray, he is shielded if there is in front of him something like the back of a saddle. If there is not in front of him something like the back of a saddle, then his prayer is cut by the donkey, the woman, and the black dog.” I, meaning ʿAbd Allah ibn al Samit, said: “O Abu Dharr, what is the matter with the black dog compared to the red dog and the yellow dog?” He said: “O son of my brother, I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as you asked me, and he said: ‘The black dog is a Satan.’” (Sahih Muslim 510, 1/365.)
This hadith was mentioned before ʿAʾishah, may Allah be pleased with her, and she rejected it. Al Bukhari and Muslim reported through the route of Masruq, from ʿAʾishah, that what cuts the prayer was mentioned in her presence. They said: “The dog, the donkey, and the woman cut it.” She said: “You have made us dogs? I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ praying while I was between him and the qiblah, lying on the bed. I would have a need, and I disliked facing him, so I would slip away quietly.” The wording is that of al Bukhari. (Sahih al Bukhari 489, 1/192; Sahih Muslim 512, 1/366.)
Answering This Doubt
To answer this doubt, here is what follows.
- The hadith is established. Muslim reported it in his Sahih, as has passed. Joining these three together is not from the way of making them equal in general. Rather, the equality between them is only in one specific ruling, which is cutting the prayer.
The hadith joined matters that are not equal in rank. They are only equal in the ruling of one specific case, which does not go beyond it to anything else: passing in front of the praying person. Joining them is like joining the widow and the poor person from the way of them sharing one ruling, which is deserving help, in his saying ﷺ: “The one who works for the widow and the poor person is like the one who strives in the path of Allah, or the one who stands at night and fasts during the day.” (Sahih al Bukhari 5038, 5/2047.)
- If the woman was joined with the donkey and black dog in this hadith, she was also joined with perfume in another hadith, and both were made beloved to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Imam Ahmad, al Nasaʾi (d. 303AH) in al Mujtaba, Abu Yaʿla (d. 307AH) in al Musnad, al Tabarani in al Awsat, al Hakim (d. 405AH) in al Mustadrak, al Bayhaqi (d. 458AH) in al Kubra, and al Maqdisi (d. 643AH) in al Mukhtarah reported through routes from Thabit al Bunani, from Anas, that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Women and perfume were made beloved to me, and the coolness of my eye was placed in prayer.” The wording is that of Ahmad. (Musnad Ahmad 12293, 19/305; Sunan al Nasaʾi 3939, 7/61; Musnad Abi Yaʿla 3482, 6/199; al Muʿjam al Awsat by al Tabarani 5203, 5/241; al Mustadrak by al Hakim 2676, 2/174; al Sunan al Kubra by al Bayhaqi 13232, 7/87; al Mukhtarah by al Maqdisi 1736, 5/112.)
Al Hakim said: “Authentic upon the condition of Muslim, but they did not report it.” Al Dhahabi (d. 748AH) agreed with him. I say: in it is Sayyar ibn Hatim, who is not from the narrators of Muslim. “Truthful, with some mistakes,” as al Hafiz said in al Taqrib. Al Maqdisi said: “Its chain is authentic.” Al ʿIraqi (d. 806AH) graded its chain good, al Dhahabi strengthened it, al Hafiz graded the chain of al Nasaʾi hasan in al Talkhis, and al Albani said: “Hasan sahih.” (al Taqrib by Ibn Hajar 2729; al Mizan by al Dhahabi 2/177, and he quoted the statement of al ʿIraqi from him; al Talkhis al Habir by Ibn Hajar 3/116; Sahih Sunan al Nasaʾi by al Albani 3939, 7/61.)
Likewise, after the category of women, nothing was more beloved to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ than horses. Al Nasaʾi reported with a hasan chain through the route of Qatadah, from Anas: “Nothing was more beloved to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ after women than horses.” (Sunan al Nasaʾi 3564, 6/217.)
The Ruling On Passing In Front Of The Praying Person, And Does It Cut The Prayer?
O noble reader, I must address two matters.
The first: the ruling on passing in front of the praying person.
The second: the prayer being cut by passing.
As for the first matter, I have not found any difference over the fact that it is not permissible to pass between the praying person and his sutrah (barrier), nor in front of him close to him if he has no sutrah, though they differed in defining the distance of prohibition when he has no sutrah. If someone passes in front of the praying person, he has committed something prohibited, and he is sinful by agreement. (Maratib al Ijmaʿ by Ibn Hazm 30; al Mabsut by al Sarakhsi 1/192; al Kafi by Ibn ʿAbd al Barr 1/209; al Majmuʿ by al Nawawi 3/249; al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 2/245.)
The people of knowledge used many proofs. Among them is what al Bukhari and Muslim reported through the route of Abu Salih al Samman, who said: I saw Abu Saʿid al Khudri on a Friday praying toward something that shielded him from the people. A young man from Banu Abi Muʿayt wanted to pass in front of him, so Abu Saʿid pushed him in his chest. The young man looked and did not find any way except in front of him, so he returned to pass. Abu Saʿid pushed him harder than the first time. He then spoke badly to Abu Saʿid, then entered upon Marwan and complained to him about what he received from Abu Saʿid. Abu Saʿid entered after him upon Marwan. He said: “What is between you and your brother’s son, O Abu Saʿid?” He said: I heard the Prophet ﷺ saying: “When one of you prays toward something that shields him from the people, and someone wants to pass in front of him, let him push him back. If he refuses, then let him fight him, for he is only a Satan.” The wording is that of al Bukhari. (Sahih al Bukhari 487, 1/191; Sahih Muslim 505, 1/362.)
Al Hafiz said: “His saying, ‘for he is only a Satan,’ means that his action is the action of Satan, because he refused except to disturb the praying person. Applying the word Satan to the rebellious one from humans is common and permissible.” (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/584.)
There is no doubt that the man or woman who passes between the praying person and his sutrah has done the action of Satan and opposed the command of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
The second matter: the prayer being cut by passing. As for the prayer being cut by a man passing, I have not found anyone from the people of knowledge who says that the praying person’s prayer is cut if a man passes in front of him. Rather, Ibn Hazm quoted their agreement upon that, while they agreed that passing in front of him is not permissible. (Maratib al Ijmaʿ by Ibn Hazm 29; al Mudawwanah by Sahnun 1/114; Sharh Maʿani al Athar by al Tahawi 1/463; al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 2/248; al Majmuʿ by al Nawawi 3/250; Bidayat al Mujtahid by Ibn Rushd 1/180.)
As for the woman cutting the prayer if she passes in front of the praying person, there are two views.
The first: the prayer of the praying person is not invalidated by the woman passing. This is the statement of the general body of the people of knowledge from the Salaf and Khalaf. It is the madhhab of the Hanafis, Malikis, and Shafiʿis, and a narration from Ahmad chosen by most of his companions. Al Bukhari chose it and placed a heading upon it: “Whoever said nothing cuts the prayer.” (See the previous sources; Sahih al Bukhari, headings of the sutrah of the praying person, 1/192.)
They used as proof the hadith of ʿAʾishah already mentioned, in which she said: “You have made us dogs? I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ praying while I was between him and the qiblah, lying on the bed. I would have a need, and I disliked facing him, so I would slip away quietly.” (This was mentioned on p. 391; Sahih al Bukhari 493, 1/92.)
The nephew of Ibn Shihab asked his uncle: “Can anything cut the prayer?” He said: “Nothing cuts it.” Then he used the hadith of ʿAʾishah as proof. (Sahih al Bukhari 493, 1/92.)
The majority answered the hadith of Abu Dharr with several answers, including the following.
- They interpreted the meaning of cutting as decreasing the prayer because the heart is occupied by these things. What is meant is not invalidating it. This is supported by the fact that the Companion who narrated the hadith asked about the wisdom of restricting it to the black dog, and he was answered that it is a Satan. It is known that if Satan passed in front of the praying person, his prayer would not be invalidated, due to the proof: “When the call to prayer is given, Satan turns away. When the call is finished, he comes forward until he whispers between a person and his self.” Also, due to the hadith: “Satan came before me and attacked me.” It cannot be said: this hadith mentions that he came to cut his prayer, because in the narration of Muslim he explained the cause of cutting, which is that he came with a flame of fire to place it in his face. Mere passing had occurred from him, and the prayer was not invalidated by it. (Sahih al Bukhari 583, 1/220; Sahih al Bukhari 1152, 1/405; Sahih Muslim 542, 1/384; Sharh al Nawawi 4/227; Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/588; ʿUmdat al Qari by al ʿAyni 4/298.)
- Al Tahawi (d. 321AH) and others leaned toward the view that the hadith of Abu Dharr and what agrees with it is abrogated by the hadith of ʿAʾishah and others. This was answered by saying that abrogation is not taken unless the date is known and joining between the narrations is impossible. The date here is not confirmed, and joining is not impossible. (Sharh Maʿani al Athar by al Tahawi 1/466; Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/583.)
The second view: they held that the praying person’s prayer is invalidated by the woman passing in front of him. This was said by al Hasan al Basri (d. 110AH), Ibn Hazm, and it is a narration from Imam Ahmad. A number of his companions chose it, and it is from the individual positions of the madhhab, as the poet said:
“The fully black dog among dogs,
cuts if it passes, without doubt.
Likewise the woman and the donkey,
the prayer of the one before whom they pass.” (Al Nawawi attributed it to al Hasan al Basri in al Majmuʿ 3/250; al Muhalla by Ibn Hazm 4/8; al Mubdiʿ by Ibn Muflih 1/491; al Insaf by al Mardawi 2/107; al Nazm al Mufid 19.)
Shaykh al Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728AH) and Ibn al Qayyim chose it. (Majmuʿ al Fatawa by Ibn Taymiyyah 21/14; Zad al Maʿad by Ibn al Qayyim 1/307.)
They used as proof the hadith of Abu Dharr already mentioned, and the raised hadith of Abu Hurayrah reported by Muslim: “The woman, the donkey, and the dog cut the prayer, and something like the back of a saddle protects from that.” (Sahih Muslim 511, 1/365.)
Ibn al Qayyim said after mentioning that the woman, the donkey, and the black dog cut the prayer: “That is established from the narration of Abu Dharr, Abu Hurayrah, Ibn ʿAbbas, and ʿAbd Allah ibn Mughaffal. What opposes these hadiths is of two types: authentic but not clear, and clear but not authentic. So acting upon them is not left for an opposing proof of this nature. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to pray while ʿAʾishah, may Allah be pleased with her, was asleep in the direction of his qiblah, but that was not like passing. A man is forbidden to pass in front of the praying person, but it is not disliked for him to remain still in front of him. Likewise, the passing of the woman cuts the prayer, not her remaining there.” (Zad al Maʿad by Ibn al Qayyim 1/306. In the sources there are other evidences and examinations that may be reviewed.)
From here it becomes clear that the majority of the scholars from the Salaf and Khalaf held that the woman does not cut the prayer. I chose brevity in this study. Whoever wants more may review what has been referred to, and whoever is referred to one who is able should follow that reference.
Washing From The Urine Of A Young Girl And Sprinkling From The Urine Of A Young Boy
The Wording Of The Hadith
In the time of trials, distance from the Sharia texts, and weakness in submission and obedience, do not be surprised when you see someone following the Prophetic hadiths in order to snatch the hearts of those weak in iman, create doubt among ordinary Muslims, and raise the doubt of distinction between male and female in the Prophetic hadith. He uses as proof what Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah (d. 273AH), al Nasaʾi, Ibn Khuzaymah, al Tabarani in al Kabir, al Hakim in al Mustadrak, and al Bayhaqi in al Kubra reported from the hadith of Abu al Samh, who said: I used to serve the Prophet ﷺ. When he wanted to wash, he would say: “Turn your back to me.” So I would turn my back to him and screen him with it. Al Hasan or al Husayn, may Allah be pleased with them both, was brought to him and urinated on his chest. I came to wash it, but he said: “The urine of a young girl is washed, and the urine of a young boy is sprinkled.” The wording is that of Abu Dawud. (Sunan Abi Dawud 376, 1/102; Sunan Ibn Majah 526, 1/175; Sunan al Nasaʾi 304, 1/157; Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah 283, 1/143; al Muʿjam al Kabir by al Tabarani 958, 22/384; al Mustadrak by al Hakim 589, 1/271; al Sunan al Kubra by al Bayhaqi 3959, 2/415.)
Ibn Khuzaymah, al Hakim, al Qurtubi (d. 671AH), Ibn al Mulaqqin (d. 804AH), and al Albani authenticated it. (al Mufhim by al Qurtubi 2/643; al Badr al Munir by Ibn al Mulaqqin 2/304; Sahih al Nasaʾi by al Albani 2/62.)
It has other supporting reports in al Fath and al Talkhis al Habir. (Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/325; al Talkhis al Habir by Ibn Hajar 1/38.)
The majority of scholars acted upon this hadith. They said: sprinkling is enough for the urine of a young boy who has not eaten food, unlike the young girl, whose urine must be washed. (al Awsat by Ibn al Mundhir 2/142; al Muhalla by Ibn Hazm 1/105; al Majmuʿ by al Nawawi 2/589; al Mughni by Ibn Qudamah 2/91.)
To answer this doubt, O noble reader, one must search for the secret behind this distinction, so that the truth becomes clear and must be followed.
The Wisdom Behind The Distinction Between The Urine Of The Young Boy And The Young Girl
The scholars differed over the wisdom behind the distinction between the urine of the young boy and the young girl.
- Some of them returned that to the nature and composition of the female’s urine and its difference from the male’s urine. They say: the female’s urine has a stronger smell and is heavier than the male’s urine. For that reason, washing it was ordered, unlike the urine of the young boy.
Included in this is what Abu al Hasan ibn Salamah said: Ahmad ibn Musa ibn Maʿqil told us: Abu al Yaman al Misri told us: I asked al Shafiʿi about the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ: “The urine of a young boy is sprinkled, and the urine of a young girl is washed,” while both waters are one. He said: “Because the urine of the young boy is from water and clay, while the urine of the young girl is from flesh and blood.” Then he said to me: “Did you understand?” Or he said: “Were you taught?” He said: I said: “No.” He said: “When Allah, Most High, created Adam عليه السلام, Hawwa was created from his short rib. So the urine of the young boy became from water and clay, and the urine of the young girl became from flesh and blood.” He said: He said to me: “Did you understand?” I said: “Yes.” He said: “May Allah benefit you through it.” (Reported by Abu al Hasan ibn Salamah in his additions to Sunan Ibn Majah, as in al Sunan 1/175.)
- Some of them returned that to the way the urine comes out from each of the male and the female. The urine of the young boy comes out with force and spreads, making it difficult to wash, so leniency was given in it. As for the urine of the female, it gathers in one place, so it is easy to wash.
- Contact with the young boy happens more, because men and women usually carry him, while the young girl is usually only carried by women. So contact with the young boy is greater, and therefore easing regarding his urine was suitable in order to lift hardship. (al Mufhim by al Qurtubi 1/547; Ihkam al Ahkam by Ibn Daqiq al ʿId 1/82; al Majmuʿ by al Nawawi 5/590; Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar 1/325; Iʿlam al Muwaqqiʿin by Ibn al Qayyim 2/59.)
When a ruling is established by text, seeking its reason is not necessary. The foundation is worshipping Allah, Mighty and Majestic, by declaring lawful what He declared lawful, declaring forbidden what He declared forbidden, believing in the purity of what the Sharia came with as pure, and the impurity of what the Sharia came with as impure. If a clear reason becomes apparent, this is a cause for greater certainty and comfort of the chest. If not, then the Muslim is always obedient to the rulings of Allah, his chest being open to them, while his tongue constantly says: “We hear and obey. Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return.”
