 The companion of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, who was from Medina, from Medina, the women of Medina were known to have very assertive personalities, very dynamic personalities, so much so. But Omar, who said that when the women from Mecca migrated to Medina, they started to take the habits of the women from Medina of being really like intense in marriage. And Khawla, radiAllahu anha, one day, there's different narrations of exactly what took place, but she had an argument with her husband, Aus, radiAllahu anha. And he said to her, he said, you are like my mom's back to me. That kind of sounds strange, but what the intention of that time meant, you're like my mom, so I no longer, basically, he no longer wants to be married to her. And when he said this to her, he then left the home and he came back later. When he came back later, he tried to initiate contact in a very G-rated way, I'm going to say that because of the different ages in the room. And when that happened, she said no and she physically pushed him and then went to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now she's with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and she is trying to understand whether or not she is still married to this man because this is before the verses surrounding Islamic law and divorce came down and the explanation in the Sunnah. And so at this time, this is how divorce was initiated, but she did not want that. And she went to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and she explained what happened. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, because he didn't have revelation yet about what to do, he basically said it's as it was. And she was upset, she was very upset by this. She said that her husband is the most beloved man to her. Her husband was the most beloved man to her. And so she started to make dua. Her dua was very intense. She kept praying to Allah SWT. She turns towards the qiblah and she started to make dua for Allah that she's complaining. She brings her sadness, she brings her depth of pain to Allah SWT, hoping for some guidance from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And when you look at the way that she makes this statement, that she asks Allah, she goes to Allah. It's very similar, SubhanAllah, that conversation with Allah. It's very similar to the way that I heard a sheikh making dua, where I saw that dua is different when you go to it with so much pain. There's a difference between, O Allah, give me good in this life, give me good in the hereafter. O Allah, make me successful. O Allah, help me with my test. And O Allah, if you do not answer me, who is going to answer me? O Allah, if you turn me away, where am I going to go? O Allah, if you do not do something, who's going to do something? Help me, O Allah, help me. That call from the depth of her heart. When you have a loved one that you're worried about, when you have a child that you're torn apart over, and you go to Allah with that emotion and your heart breaking apart, this is how she went to Allah SWT. And in this intensity of emotion, sitting with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, Allah SWT revealed Qur'an. He revealed. He revealed. Now Allah SWT has heard the one that comes to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, arguing with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and mentioning, that she's complaining, she's coming to Allah with this pain. Allah has heard their conversation and indeed Allah is the one who hears and he sees. Here's and sees. Is that Adalia Ayoub? She's doing her PhD of women in the Qur'an. She said there are 26 women in the Qur'an and in every single case of women mentioned, Allah acknowledges their emotional reality. Now Allah SWT recognized, he heard and he saw. Why is Samir and Basir so important in this circumstance? When you're having a conversation in the depth of your home, it can very easily turn to he said this and she said this and he said this and she said this. And sometimes you just want someone to acknowledge what happened. You just want someone to acknowledge your pain. You're just seeking a safe space, a refuge where you know that you are heard. Allah didn't just hear, he also saw. He's not just validating what he heard of their conversation, but also what he saw of her pain. And this is very similar to when the mother of Maryam alayhi salam, who Dr. Rania just so beautifully spoke about. When she makes dua to Allah SWT, she had wanted to have a baby after all of these years of struggling and infertility, which is a very real, real struggle for so many women. And she went through this and she's so excited to become a mother and all of a sudden her husband passes away. And she goes from the joy of having her first child to the fear of suddenly becoming a widow and not knowing how she's going to raise a child by herself. And what does she do? She calls out to Allah SWT and she says, And when the wife of Imran said, I have given you what is in my heart. And you are the one who hears, but instead of seeing, Allah SWT uses his name, Alim. The one who knows. In the circumstance of the mother of Maryam, she doesn't know how she's going to become a single mom. She doesn't know the future of this child, who she was waiting for so many years for. She doesn't know what to do. So who assures her, who reassures her, who comforts her? Alalim. The one who hears her dua to him, the one she's calling out to in pain and the one who knows her circumstance. So when Khawla, radiAllahu anha, receives this verse, the set of verses, the next few verses as well, address her circumstance. Ibn Ashur mentions it wasn't just for her, it was for every believing woman who's seeking justice, that she sought to seek justice, and that she fought, she went, she didn't simply say okay, she asked. radiAllahu anha. This is the only surah, surah al-Mujadilah. This is the only surah in which Allah's name is mentioned in every single verse of the entire surah. Not in an incredibly amazing surah like which is all about Allah swt. So short Allah swt could have chosen that his name is in every verse. But the only verse he chose for his name to appear sometimes multiple times is this surah, which was revealed, the sebab of the revelation, the reason for the revelation was this woman's desperate cry. Some of the scholars of Tafsir mentioned that this surah, and this ayah, Allah's name is mentioned four separate times in the very first ayah of that surah, that it is a Tafsir of the verse in the Quran that says he is with you wherever you are. If he is with you in his knowledge, in his sight, in his hearing, wherever you are, it means no matter what you're going through, you are never alone. It means that whether it's the pain or the joy or the loneliness or the confusion of your life, that Allah swt is always with you. That he's never, doesn't leave you for the blink of an eye. He is so close to you. Per example in the Medinan society is actually not that well documented. We don't have so much information about her life. But what we have is her example as one of many women of the companions of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, who actively were part of interacting with, were the reasons for, and who gave the narrations of the revelation of the Qur'an. Umaymin radiallahu anha, after the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam passed away, Umaymin radiallahu anha said, let's go visit her. They went to go visit her. They went to visit her and she was crying. She started to cry. And they said, why are you crying? Don't you know that what is with Allah is better for the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam? And she responded by saying, I'm not crying because I don't know what is with Allah. It's better for the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. I'm crying because the revelation has been cut off from the heavens. And then Abu Bakr and Umar radiallahu anha both began to cry. Um Hisham bint Haritha, she memorized Surah Qaf by sitting in the Masjid of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and hearing him recite Surah Qaf when he would recite in the Qur'an or give sermons when he would lead Salah, she memorized this Surah from the lips of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam by being present in the Masjid. We have women companions who discuss different aspects of the sunnah or different aspects of the revelation because they were actively interacting with the revelation. And that interaction sometimes as women is one that maybe we don't completely see in the same way. Because we read the Qur'an for sure. We sometimes read the translation which we should do if we don't understand the Arabic. We memorize it and we review it and we teach it to our kids. But sometimes do we look at the Qur'an as not just a friend or a book but a best friend? Do we look at the Qur'an as a refuge? Because looking at the Qur'an as a refuge is a journey. Just like you have a best friend. Who's here with their best friend? Anyone raise your hand? Did you meet and in that exact moment where you're like, we're best friends? Or was it actually like, I really don't like her? And now you're best friends. Sometimes it's a journey to get to the point where you feel close to someone, including your own siblings. Your best friend could be your own sister. But you don't necessarily love for every single second of the day. That journey is a process. But how did you get to that process? You built a relationship. You got to know one another. You learned each other's love languages even if that wasn't an explicit conversation. But you realize every time you get her a gift she doesn't thank you and that's it. She doesn't return them. But she always wants to hang out because her love language is actually quality time. So you see that friendship develop over time. Why don't we do that with the Qur'an? The Qur'an is the ultimate best friend. The Qur'an is the book that we can hug, literally hug when we are heartbroken. It's the book that we can take to a cafe and sit and drink our coffee and open it. My sheikh, sheikh mahibfuda, what he does, masha'Allah, his memorization is on such another level that he never looks at the Mus'haf to review. He says it confuses him to look at the Mus'haf to review. But he keeps it open to Surat al-Baqarah while he's reviewing Surat al-Ma'idah and he just looks at the pages. Why? Because he said it's abad to just long at the pages. Long for the pages. Look at the pages. Touch the pages. Hold the Qur'an. That example is one we see from the women companions. Why? We have to recognize the space in which the women companions receive the revelation. In pre-Islamic Arabia, women were being inherited like property. Their baby girls were being buried alive. So we know that women didn't hold the greatest space in society. Omar said we used to think of women as nothing. We used to think of women as nothing. Until what? Until Allah revealed what he revealed and he divided what he divided. How do you think that's going to impact the self-esteem of women who come from a society where women didn't matter? And now suddenly Allah is bringing women into spaces in which women never were before. Then we see, for example, in the Qur'an, there are two daughters of the Qur'an mentioned like an elder man. Some say it's the Prophet Shu'a Ibrahim. There's a discussion on who he was. But these two women went to get the water for the flock of sheep that they were taking care of. When do they show up in the Qur'an? They show up after Mousa, the Prophet Moses peace be upon him, calls out to Allah and makes a du'a. رب إني لما زلت إلي من خير يسنقير I need anything you can send down. The next verse, they show up. And what happens when we talk about the women in the Qur'an? Because often our community very beautifully and very importantly, and of course it's such a beautiful aspect of our religion, talks about modesty and discusses the importance of modesty and the beauty of modesty absolutely. But sometimes that can become a little obsessive and it can be stifling and it can be a place of immense judgment. And so when we talk about this part of the Qur'an, the Qur'an describes that one of the women speak to Mousa and Allah says, She is basically walking on modesty. She's so modest. And then the Qur'an mentions something else about her. And this aspect of what is mentioned is honestly never really discussed. She goes to her father and she says, Oh my father, hire him. What do the scholars of Tifseer mention about this verse? Allah did not have to include her statement of oh Allah, hire him. Why did Allah include a literal statement of her conversation? It could have just said Allah could have said and then Mousa went to the family and then he was hired. Or he went through a process and this is why and how it happened. Allah recorded her voice. Why? Because this is a society in which women were not actively involved in financial transactions. Prior to the revelation, prior to Islam, women were not actively involved in economic affairs. Yes, Khadija radi allahu anhu was a business woman. But that wasn't the norm for women prior to Islam. So scholars of Tifseer say that Allah brought women who quoted a woman in financial matters to affirm women in the space of economics and finances. There's another verse in the Quran in which Allah talks about loans, financial loans. And many women ask about this verse because the verse says that there are two men who need to be seen to be used as witnesses. And if two men cannot be found, then one man and two women. So many women have asked, why does it need to be two women to one man? Why not just one woman and one man? Let's consider again the society in which this verse is revealed. Women were not actively involved in financial transactions. So if we're going to talk about only this circumstance, let's only focus on this because the rulings for all sorts of witnessing are different depending on the issue. But in loans, in the issue of taking a loan, it's recommended to have it written down and to have the debt contract witnessed. One man's testimony is not enough on his own. He needs another man. If another man is not present, then two women, why, why two? Because Allah says if one of them forgets, the other one can remind her, why this is the first time they may be exposed to this language in that society. This is the first time they may be being exposed to this conversation. We're not talking about women who have their PhDs in economics, nor women who actively were involved with the stock market or credit cards or anything like that. We're talking about a society in which women's arena is often poetry, sometimes lineage, sometimes medicine, but not necessarily financial transactions. So when we are reading this verse here today in 2023, sometimes we say, well, why wouldn't Allah say just one woman and one man? Why does it need to be two? We're often reading that verse with our own lens, sometimes with our own trauma, absolutely understandable. But in the society it was revealed in, scholars mentioned that this is Allah's panawatsa'ala elevating women into a space that they were not before, and Allah is the one who brings them into that space. Not men. Not men who govern a society that Allah is the one who brings women into this space. And that it's not about her not having enough intelligence because like Dr. Amina so beautifully spoke about the Queen of Sheba, that she talks and asks advice from the advisors as the Queen. And after she has this conversation on what to do from Suleyman A.S. as she explained, what is the next part of that? وكذالك يفعلون And that is how it is. وكذالك يفعلون. That's what they do. That's what they do. Scholars of Tafsir of Quran say that is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala affirming her intelligence. So when we look at a verse like this, ابن تيمين ابن القيم, they both have a discussion that modern day scholars build on today. And they say that if a woman has the qualification of being involved in these transactions, one woman's testimony is enough. But the important point is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows every society from the time of revelation from before the revelation until the end. And he acknowledges that. And in that, every woman who is mentioned in the Quran has a space, a different type of personality so that every single one of us, no matter what we're going through, no matter what our background is, we all can connect to the woman in the Quran. When we look at Khawla's story, رضي الله عنها, what's so fascinating is that her name is not mentioned. In fact, women's names are often not mentioned. Maryam A.S. name is mentioned. But this opens the door for us to be able to connect to the woman without needing to be all of her personality. Women who are going through issues with their husband can understand this part of the verse. Women who are in spaces of leadership can understand the Queen of Sheba. Women who are in different spaces can connect to different women because every example is for us to take and to worship Allah SWT differently. Just like Allah SWT tells us when he says وَلْئِنَّ صُلَاتِ وَنُسُكِ وَمَحْيَا يَوَمَ مَا تِيْلِ اللَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَلَمِينَ That's my prayer. My sacrifice. My life and my death is all for Allah. So what is that? It's broad. It's not only if I'm this particular type of woman. Only if I have this particular role. Only if I do this or don't do this am I concluded as someone that Allah SWT speaks to. Sometimes as women we may not understand certain aspects because we may not see ourselves in those aspects. And we need to take a step back and ask is that the Qur'an or is that maybe the way a particular community is set up in the infrastructure, the architecture and the policies. What does my Lord say to me? And when we see that women are elevated into spaces in which women were not before we have the example of Maryam alayhi salam but Dr. Rania just so beautifully talked about. But Maryam alayhi salam she was brought into the space of Betul Meqdis as the very first woman. And when she was brought into the space she said, yes, she worshipped. She fasted and she prayed and she did all of the aspects of ritual worship. But when a man was in her quarters, her private quarters which no one should have been able to access that she didn't expect. And the Tafsira mentions he's a well proportioned man. He's a very good looking man, masha'Allah. And she sees this man. Her immediate reaction is to make dawah to him. She doesn't scream and run out of the room when she has every right to do. She called him back and she says if you fear Allah, if youth, no. No, she didn't say Allah. Who does she call upon? Who? Ar-Rahman. Why would she call upon Ar-Rahman? Because if he had a bad intention she's reminding him go back to the one who will forgive you before you even do it. Her worship prepared her for action and calling people to Allah's panel with Ta'ala. And when she responded in that way Ibn Qidbir mentions that Ibn Jura'il al-Islam got so scared that he immediately flipped into an angel. He flipped back into his form and immediately he says I'm just a messenger. I'm just a messenger to give you the glad tidings of a son. But in this space Allah brought her in, where a woman had never been. In this space he shows us our role in calling people to Allah through the example of Maryam alayhi salam. And when she has her baby and she goes out holding that baby and bringing that baby to the people Allah's panel with Ta'ala didn't order her uncle Zakiriyah, a prophet alayhi salam to take that baby. Allah didn't make Jibril alayhi salam appear as a person or even an angel and take that baby. She had had a baby and Allah ordered her to go out to her people. That's how important her presence is. That's how important her role is in calling people to Allah. Every single one of us plays a different role. But what we see from the time of the companions is that their interaction with the Qur'an allowed for the stepping stones of the woman's scholarship throughout history that we have until today. Right now if you go to Mecca or if you go to Medina have you been to Mecca or Medina some of you? Have you seen a woman scholar teaching? Raise your hand if you have. Yes. Yes. Two, three. So you see the chairs in the woman section. Those chairs are there and the woman will sit and they will teach courses. Yes. But you can hear over the speaker that the men are having halakas, right? You can hear the sheikh and you hear all the men being able to ask questions and you wonder what if I have a question that I want to ask this sheikh. That setup of how Masjid-e-Nabawi is is very different how it was historically. I was speaking to a woman who grew up in Saudi Arabia. She said when she was six, as a six-year-old girl, she could run around Masjid-e-Nabawi with no barriers. She went to every single part of Masjid-e-Nabawi and explored all of it. But when we don't know how the setup of the Masjid was decades ago and what we see today if we don't know how the society of the prophet was, we may think this is all of Islam. It's a beautiful practice of Islam. It's certain opinions that we take and we follow that might be best for our community or the community of Medina right now. But just as a woman to take a step back and recognize that this isn't necessarily how even this Masjid looked throughout history and we don't know what it's going to look like in 20 to 30 years. We may be the ones who have stories of we could go there or maybe we couldn't go there and now it's open. Recognizing that there's a difference between the infrastructure and revelation is so important. Especially when we look at the reality of who women scholars were. Because in these holy spaces, in Masjid al-Aqsa, we have Umad Darudat who was a scholar. Who used to teach in Masjid al-Aqsa itself. And if you go today to Masjid al-Aqsa, you see there that there are the Imam, Sheikh Yusuf Abu Sinana. Mashallah, he's so accessible. He's there sitting there. You can have a woman scholar teaching with him. People are taking classes. Everything is open. The infrastructure is different. Does that make it better or worse? No. It's just different and it works for that culture but it's the third holiest space in Islam. And this is acceptable in their scholarship. Then we go to Medina. In Medina, there is a sheikh. Her name is Sheikh Fatima. Umm al-Khayr al-Sheikh Fatima. You know where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is buried? There's kind of like a gate. She used to sit with her back reclining on that gate and men and women scholars would sit and she would teach them. And then she would hand write Ijazah for them. In Mecca, we have women who would come who were scholars. They would come for Hajj and they would sit in Mecca in different circles and they would teach Sahih al-Bukhari because they were some of the greatest contributors to Sahih al-Bukhari, the greatest memorizers and narrators of Sahih al-Bukhari. Zitt al-Wuzara in Cairo, she was invited to come from Syria and hundreds of men and women filled the hall in the masjid where she would lecture to them. These are examples we don't really see today honestly, not somewhere that we hear maybe used to seeing. But it's part of our history and it's taking place in different parts of the world. Of course with all the proper Islamic guidelines, of course with all the etiquette, of course with all of the important things to make sure that it's appropriate to Allah s.a. But what we see in the time of the women companions until now is that women were teaching women women were learning from men or teaching men or only focusing on women. But we have the narration so many narrations from the women companions because they were present, because they were accessible and because they accessed the Prophet s.a. That's why when Dr. Akram Nadoui has so much scholarship on the issue of women scholars, it's because they were there. Thousands of women throughout history teaching our religion and we have their example set from the pillars of the women companions themselves. When Khawla radiallahu anha when she was an older lady, an older woman and Umar radiallahu anhu was the Khalifa at the time. She came to Umar radiallahu anhu and she stopped him while he was walking with a man named El-Jarud. She stopped him and she said that she remembers when he was Ya'umar, this little boy Umar and now you're a big Khalifa and you used to go and you used to attend in the markets of our caz with the sheep. Fear Allah s.w. And El-Jarud is like do you know who this is? You're talking to the Khalifa? Why would you let a woman talk to you? You're the Khalifa. And Umar radiallahu anhu do you know who this is? Allah s.w. from the Allah s.w. he is the one who listened to her and he revealed revelation because of her. If she was going to stand all day and talk to Umar radiallahu anhu the only time he would have left is to praise Allah and come back. This is Umar radiallahu anhu today we used to think nothing of woman. Look at how Islam impacted the way that he saw woman in society. Look at how the revelation was given because one woman went to Allah pleading and asking for her circumstance with her husband. Aisha radiallahu anhu when her husband passed away he was buried in her home. When Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu passed away he was buried next to the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam now she is thinking about her own death. Where is she planning to be buried? Where does she hope to be buried? Next to her husband Sallallahu alayhi wasallam and her father radiallahu anhu but when Umar radiallahu anhu was passing away he had a request. Could he be buried there? Could he be buried with his best friends Sallallahu alayhi wasallam and out of her sincerity out of her love out of her sisterhood she allowed for Umar radiallahu anhu to be buried there and if he wouldn't have said yes today we would be visiting Umar and Abu Bakr and the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam Aisha radiallahu anhu and Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu and the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam but instead we have the honor of visiting Umar and Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu and why I want to end with that note is because we live in a time right now where sometimes when it comes to men and women there's a lot of confusing issues there's a lot of tension there can be a lot of arguments but go back to the women companions go back to Aisha radiallahu anhu she didn't do this act as a political act she didn't do this act because of controversy she did this act out of love for her brother radiallahu anhu which is us that as women we are seen we are heard that Allah is with us that He knows what we're going through and that when we carry this message we are insha'Allah the embodiment of the people who are those who are the servants of the most merciful calling others like Maryam alayhi salam did to the most merciful and may Allah honor us with being all of those people who are the most merciful we have the immense honor of having Dr. Hayfah here I'm so excited to hear her talk subhanakAllah Wa bi hamdakina sh-shara'u anna ilaha illa anastaghfir minutubu alaykum