Lost in the Folds of History

On the Topic of Women in Islam

I believe it is important to learn about the women who have shaped Islam. Reaching back into the 7^th and 8^th century to listen for the Uluma's own voices emitted only a faint whisper.

We have clear and wonderful stories relating to the Mothers of Islam, but there are others who have been lost in the folds of history. Women like Fatimah al Batayahiyah 8^th century scholar, Zainab ibn Kamal 12^th century scholar, Fatimah bint Muhammad al-Samarqandi and Umm al-Darda.

As Shaykh Akram Nadwi describes, “when I started, I thought there may be thirty to forty women,” but as the study progressed, the accounts of female scholars kept growing and growing, until eventually there were no less than 8,000 biographical accounts to be found.

It isn't surprising that women tend to disappear from history. The same phenomenon occurs across cultures and religions. I'm not crying oppression. I am crying DIG. What I mean is that without these contributions, the Ummah looses.

Important work has been done to uncover the contributions of women in Islam, but there is more to be done. We must first become aware to become woke.

Scholars Fighters Writers

There are many women who have influenced and impacted lives of modern Muslims. Sometimes they are scholars, sometimes fighters, sometimes writers and sometimes a mixture of all these. Uncovering hidden gems that are not generally taught, can bear beautiful pearls of wisdom.
The woman I have chosen to examine is Amina bint al-Huda.
My two reasons for choosing her are firstly, because I have been moved by her compilation of short stories and secondly, because her experiences as a Muslim woman inform us in this century.

Who was Amina bint al-Huda?

Amina Haydar al-Sadr, known as Bint al-Huda, was an Iraqi educator and political activist who was executed by Saddam Hussein along with her brother, Ayatullah Sayyid Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, in 1980.
Amina Haidar as-Sadr was born in 1938 in Kazimiyah, Baghdad where she would eventually establish several religious schools for girls. Bint al-Huda played a significant role in creating Islamic awareness among the Muslim women of Iraq. She was in her twenties when she began writing articles in al-Adwaa, the Islamic magazine printed by the religious intellectuals of Najaf, Iraq in 1959. She was also well known for her participation in the Safar Uprising in 1977.
Bint al-Huda grew up with a serious love of learning. She soon became aware of what she perceived to be the Muslim women’s sufferings and the great disasters which were damaging Islamic ideology in her country.
In 1980, the religious leader Ayatollah Sayyid Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister, Bint-al-Huda, were arrested and later executed by the Iraqi regime. The regime never returned her body, but her burial site is said to be in Wadi AlSalam, Najaf.

Her Writing

Her short stories are vignettes of every day life and every day problems. Together they form a beautiful compilation addressing themes of marriage, spirituality, death and day of judgement. Each fable deals with one issue and shows us a solution or a method of management grounded in sound Islamic teaching. She never leaves us without an exciting “twist” to the storyline.
Her writing is effective because it is easily digestible. In the story Spiritual Surgery, we come across a teacher and student scenario. The love of the student for her teacher compels her to inquire into her teacher's illness. Her teacher tells her that she needed surgery. The concerned student assumes the surgery was literal. To her surprise, the teacher explains that she was performing it on herself. Shocked, the student asks: "When did you become a surgeon? We know you as our spiritual guide." The teacher responds: "Life's incidents have helped me to recognize the disease and it’s cure. Don't you see that these incidents are the experimental tools which operate upon the human personality?"
For the curious reader, the stories act as a launch pad into the science of Ruqyah (spiritual healing) and point us in the direction of Imam Al Ghazali's teachings.

She was one of the exceptional women who not only actively participated in society but also actively reformed it.

Conclusion

Mehrunisha Suleman and Afaaf Rajbee analysed the lost legacy of women scholars and its impact on today's world:

Islam was not revealed as a bundle of doctrines delineating women’s rights, human rights or animal rights. Islam confers all of these rights and duties on us when we sincerely accept Allah’s rights. Faith, and not bare-knuckled rationality, permits us to create a society where everyone can have their rights upheld through submission to His Word and His messengers.

Shaykh Akram’s research should present us with some confidence in the justice of Islam. Not because it proves that Islam has had many women scholars – but that there were many great scholars that happened to be women.

Call to Action

Read and share Amina bint al-Huda's stories at Al-Islam.org

Works Sited

Mehrunisha Suleman and Afaaf Rajbee. “Muslim Lifestyle.” Emel Magazine RSS, 8 Oct. 2017, www.emel.com/article?id&a_id=828.

“Amina Al-Sadr.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Sept. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amina_al-Sadr.

al-Huda, Amina Bint. “Short Stories.” Al-Islam.org, Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project, 1995, www.al-islam.org/short-stories-amina-bint-al-huda.

Sayeed, Asma. Women and the Transmission of Religous Knowledge in Islam. Cambridge.

Augustus R. Norton (19 January 2009). Hezbollah: A Short History. Princeton University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-691-14107-7. Retrieved 9 August 2013.