Daily Times

The Women of the Arabs is written by missionary and author Henry Harris Jessup. He was born in Montrose, Pennsylvania, in 1869. He wrote many books one of which is The Women of the Arabs, in which he has beautifully described how Islam was like a light for that period, a time when people used to bury their daughters alive.

That era was a dark one, especially for women because of the social norms. They were considered as heavy burden, and it is widely known that they was buried alive. One of the tribes that held a prominent position at that time was the tribe of Temim who encouraged people to bury their daughters alive. This tradition was later eradicated by the influence of Islam.

The Arabs of Kinanah believed that angels were the daughters of God and did not wish one for themselves. Therefore, it was deemed praiseworthy to bury a girl because according to them, “To send women earlier to the next world, was beneficial for them.” As the holy Quran puts it, “certain men hide themselves upon hearing about the birth of a daughter from the people because of the ill-tidings.”

So it has become a very common practice among the Arabs, and they had become so cruel that nobody even shed a tear while they buried their daughters. It is said that only Othman shed a tear, when he was burning his daughter and she wiped the dust of the grave-earth from his beard.

The Arabs of Kinanah believed that angels were the daughters of God and did not wish one for themselves. Therefore, it was deemed praiseworthy to bury a girl because according to them, ‘To send women earlier to the next world, was beneficial for them.’ As the holy Quran puts it, ‘certain men hide themselves upon hearing about the birth of a daughter from the people because of the ill-tidings’

However, a few women were exempted from the disrespect and slander, and these were poetesses who wrote poems filled with passion and grief. El Khunsa was one of these women and she began to be called the “Princess of Arab Poetesses”

She has written many renowned verses, including, “Ah time has its wonders; it changes amaze, it leaves us the tail while the head it slays, it leaves us the low while the highest decays; it leaves us obscure, the despised, and the slave. But of honoured and loved ones, the true and the brave It leaves us to mourn o’er the ultimately grave. The two new creations, the day and the night, though ceaselessly changing, are pure as the light: but man changes to error, corruption and blight.”

They also used deprecating words for women. According to them, women were “the whips of Satan”. They never gave women the respect they deserved but all of that changed with the emergence of Islam. Women began to be treated with respect and Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) taught the people exactly how important and valuable they were.

Allah says in the Holy Quran, “They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them.” (Qur’an 2:187) This verse explains that both women and men are equal in every way. The real teachings of Islam are free from any prejudice and only encourage love and compassion towards everyone, irrespective of their gender.

The writer is a student at International Islamic University, Islamabad. He can be reached at abbas.naveed2017@gmail.com