A scholar of the 8th Century AH (14th Century AD)
A memoriser of more than 100,000 ahaadith and a skilled teacher in fiqh, she was a famous figure in her time period.
( A hadith has two parts – the text of the hadith and the chain of narrators of hadith. When it is said that a person has memorized a hadith, it is referring to the text as well as the chain of narrators.)
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said :
“Whoever wishes to marry a woman from Paradise should marry Umm Ayman.”
Umm Ayman cried profusely when the Prophet ﷺ passed away. So the people asked her why she was crying?
She replied:
“ By Allah, I certainly knew that he ﷺ would die one day. The only reason I am crying is because the revelation from the sky has now completely ceased [with his ﷺ passing]. ”
Look at the level of her Iman. She was distressed because the direct connection with Allah through revelation had now ceased completely, which had been ongoing since the time of Prophet Adam (alaihis salam) till the time of the Last Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
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Source: جامع أخبار النساء من سير أعلام النبلاء of Imam Dhahabi
Ranked 21st in the World’s Most Infuential Muslims.
Photographs of Sheikha Qubeysi are not available due to her adherence to the traditional prohibition of the use of images of people and her covert leadership style.
– themuslim500.com
Country: Syria
Born: 1933 (Age 79)
Source of Influence: Scholarly
Influence: More than 75 thousand students in Damascus alone
School of Thought: Traditional Sunni
2009 Rank: 31
2010 Rank: 24
2011 Rank: 24
2012 Rank: 21
Munira Qubeysi is the head of the largest women-only Islamic movement in the world. It offers Islamic education exclusively to girls and women. Qubeysi commands around 80 schools in Damascus alone, teaching more than 75,000 students. She is one of the most significant Islamic scholars in the world; her movement focuses on learning the Qur’an and six Hadith collections by heart. Qubeysi is arguably the most influential Muslim woman in the world, albeit in great discretion.
Female Muslim Order:
At a time when clandestine meetings of Islamic organizations are proscribed in Syria, Sheikha Qubeysi’s network, the Qubeysiat, has legally been permitted to host classes and meetings in mosques since 2006—although they had been operating as a secret society for long before that time. Members of the Qubeysiat identify themselves, and ranks within the group, based on specific colors and articles of clothing—headscarves knotted at the neck, and overcoats denoting membership status. Women within the network are provided a unique role within Arab society as scholars and teachers exclusively catering to the needs of Muslim women; they provide an open forum to address religious questions and discuss religious issues.
Milestones in Islamic Education:
Qubeysi is influential as the leader of an incredibly successful educational movement. The religious education of women had previously been neglected so the emergence of a female-specific educational initiative has become very popular, making the Qubeysiat, in numbers, the leading Islamic movement in Syria. Qubeysi’s students are also at the forefront of a significant achievement in Islamic history in regards to education—no less than 70 Qubeysiat have memorized nine canonical books of Hadith with extensive chains of narration. By training this sizeable group of female scholars, Sheikha Qubeysi has made Islamic knowledge widely accessible, and is credited for the resurgence of Islamic education in the country.
Leading an Islamic Revival in Syria:
Qubeysi’s influence in Syria is due to the fact that she has been able to develop a very large network of madrassas (religious schools) without attracting the criticism of the government, which has traditionally been dubious of large networks of Muslim organizations. The organization follows traditional Sunni practice, and follows the Shafi’i school of thought. Although member groups are found in Jordan, Kuwait and Lebanon, Damascus is the center of the revivalist movement.
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Source: http://themuslim500.com/
One Muslim woman is better than all of the disbelieving men in the world.
…regardless of whether she is practicing or not, regardless of whether she is a transgressor or not, because Allah Most High has chosen her and granted her the most precious gift which anyone can receive, Iman (faith in the Unity of Allah).
So the next time you look at a Muslim woman with contempt, just remember that you do not know whether your deeds have been accepted by Allah, and you certainly do not know whether you will die in a state of Iman.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Paradise lies at the foot of the mothers.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“I will open the gate of the Garden, and see a woman precede me. I will ask her, “Who are you?” She will reply, “I am a widow, mother of an orphan.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“She who lowers her gaze before ghayr mahram (men from whom a Muslim women must veil) is rewarded with the wisdom, she did not have so far.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Blessed is the woman who gave birth to a baby girl in her first delivery.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“The widow who is wealthy and attractive but does not remarry for the sake of her orphan children (and brings them up) will be so near to me, on the Day of Judgment as two fingers are. She would be rewarded like the warrior of Islam.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“The mother while laying the bed for her child touches underneath to make sure lest there should be some thorn or insect (so that it should harm her if someone is to be harmed). Allah will show more clemency towards humankind than that mother on the Day of Judgment.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“A woman who used to clean the Masjid Nabawi died and the Prophet ﷺ was not informed. When the Prophet ﷺ inquired of her absence, he was told about her death. He ﷺ felt grieved. He ﷺ visited her grave and said, “The women who devote themselves and leave the homes in the way of Allah are like mothers of the Muslims.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Allah rewards a suckling mother as if she is saving one life for every mouthful of milk the baby drinks.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“A pregnant woman is rewarded like a holy warrior who also keeps fast and performs prayers at nights. He ﷺ said, “As no one can imagine the ordeal a woman endures while delivering a baby so her rewards are even beyond human imagination. Only Allah knows.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“During pregnancy and feeding, the mother is considered like a fighter in the way of Allah and if she dies during this, she will get the status of a martyr.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“When a mother is awakened by the crying of her baby at night, she is rewarded (for each awakening) like manumitting seventy slaves. Allah considers house keeping by women equal to Jihad (holy war).”
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Source: Leading Ladies
Appreciate [your wife] because of the Deen. Both of you are Muslims. Like you, she also performs Deeni actions and one does not know who among you has been more accepted by Allah. This is not a general rule that a woman is lower than a man in every aspect. It is highly possible that by Allah she holds the same position as the man or even higher! Do not think low of the womenfolk. Allah Ta’aala accepts the seemingly small and insignificant deeds of the helpless, broken hearted person and raises her status through it (more than the husband).
– Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi
إِنَّ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَالْمُسْلِمَاتِ وَالْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ وَالْقَانِتِينَ وَالْقَانِتَاتِ وَالصَّادِقِينَ وَالصَّادِقَاتِ وَالصَّابِرِينَ وَالصَّابِرَاتِ وَالْخَاشِعِينَ وَالْخَاشِعَاتِ وَالْمُتَصَدِّقِينَ وَالْمُتَصَدِّقَاتِ وَالصَّائِمِينَ وَالصَّائِمَاتِ وَالْحَافِظِينَ فُرُوجَهُمْ وَالْحَافِظَاتِ وَالذَّاكِرِينَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَالذَّاكِرَاتِ أَعَدَّ اللَّهُ لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةً وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًا
– Quran
– Surat Al-‘Aĥzāb (The Combined Forces) S33-v35
Sometimes when we had nothing to eat, she would say, “Today we are guests of Allah”, and always some unknown person would come with a plentiful supply of food, enough for the months ahead.
– Nizamuddin Awliya
Bibi Zulaykha, a woman of great purity, had complete faith in Allah. Shaykh Nizamuddin says, “Whenever a need arose, my mother would seek divine direction and she was guided in a dream whereupon she proceeded unhesitant and it never so happened that she got undesired results. To such an extent that even after her death, whenever I am troubled by things, not under my control, I visit her tomb and pray to Allah. My purpose is served within a week. It seldom takes one month or more.
It was the practice of my mother that in case of necessity, she would recite the Durud Sharif five hundred times and then extend an edge of her Dupatta (the muslin or some other light cloth, the Muslim women place upon their heads) in front of her and beg with utmost humility. It was certain that she would get what she had needed within no time.
Sometimes when we had nothing to eat, she would say, “Today we are guests of Allah” and always some unknown person would come with a plentiful supply of food, enough for the months ahead.”
It was reported that Sultan Qutbuddin ibn Sultan Alauddin Khilji developed a discord with Shaykh Nizamuddin Awliya. The origin of the discord was that the king built a grand mosque and ordered all religious leaders including the Shaykh to pray the Friday prayer in the newly built mosque. The Shaykh refused to go on the ground that to perform Jumuah prayer in the mosque close to his home was more likeable. His refusal caused king’s displeasure but he gulped in wisely.
Meanwhile however, another incident revived the king’s fury. The detail of which is that the king had ordered that all the leading religious scholars and the dignitaries of the city and the state would come to the court on every first night of lunar month to congratulate the king and celebrate the event.
The Shaykh would not attend the festivity himself but he delegated one of his trusted devotees, Muhammad Iqbal to represent him. His opponents drew king’s attention to the matter and urged him to take action against the insulting attitude of the Shaykh.
The king who already was bent upon punishing him announced that who did not attend the next court reception, would be dealt with severely. As the matter came into the Shaykh’s knowledge, he went straight to his mother’s tomb and said, “The king has decided to punish me and if he succeeds, I would never come to visit your grave.”
He waited till the first night of the next month, when one of king’s trusted courtier Khusro Khan killed the king and his dead body was thrown outside.
It has been further narrated by Nizamuddin Awliya that his mother had commended her soul to Allah on 1st Jamadi al-Thani. Giving details, he say, “It was my practice that I would fall at my mother’s feet on every first day of the new month. Once, after I had sighted the moon, I fell at her feet and she said, “On whose feet will you fall the next month?” I understood what she meant that she would be no more the next month.
My heart filled with grief and I began to weep and asked her, “In whose protection are you leaving me?” “You will be told tomorrow.” She answered and further said that I should stay that night with Shaykh Najibuddin Mutawakkil. So I went to his house, as my mother had ordered. Just before dawn I was summoned by my mother. When I reached, she held my hand and raised it upwards and said, “Almighty Allah! I commit my son in Thy protection.” And by that she passed away.
Her tomb lies near that of Shaykh Najibuddin Mutawakkil. The women frequently visit Bibi Nur Jahan’s tomb. My mother’s tomb is situated just behind of it. May Allah bless them all.
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Source: Leading Ladies by Mufti Abdul Qadir, page 235-236.
The shaikh Shihab ad-din as-Suhrawardi quotes the following verses of hers in the Awarif al-Maarif:
“I reserve my heart for thy converse, (O Lord !) and leave my body to keep company with those who desire my society. My body is thus the companion of the visitor, but my dearly beloved is the companion of my heart.”
– Ibn Khallikan’s Wafayat al-Ayan
(Translated by: B Mac Guckin De Slane)
AL-ADAWIA
Umm al-Khair (1) Rabia, the daughter of Ismail, a woman celebrated for her holy life, and a native of Basra, belonged to the tribe of Adi (Adawia), and was allied by enfranchisement to the family of Atik. She was one of the most eminent among the holy persons of the time, and the anecdotes related of her sanctity and piety are generally known. Abu ‘l-Kasim al-Kushairi says, in his treatise (on Sufism) (2) : “She used to say, when holding converse with God :
“Consume with fire, O God, a (presumptuous) heart which loveth thee !”
And on one of these occasions, a voice spoke to her and said : “That we shall not do ! think not of us an ill thought.”
— Sofyan ath-Thauri exclaimed one day in her presence: “O, what anguish is mine !” on which she said: “Speak not a lie, but rather say : O, how little anguish is mine ! If thou wert really in affliction, thou couldst not sigh.”
— One of the sufi brethren relates as follows: “In my prayers I used to invoke Rabia al-Adawia [most likely for Isaal al-sawab – blog author], and she appeared to me in a vision and spake: “Thy offerings were presented to us on trays of light and covered with napkins of light.”
— She often said : “If my (good) works appear (to the world), I count them as nought.”
— And one of her counsels was: “Hide thy good deeds as closely as thou wouldst hide thy sins.”
— The shaikh Shihab ad-din as-Suhrawardi quotes the following verses of hers in the Awarif al-Maarif:
I reserve my heart for thy converse, (O Lord !) and leave my body to keep company with those who desire my society. My body is thus the companion of the visitor, but my dearly beloved is the companion of my heart.
She died A. H. 135 (A. D. 752-3), according to Ibn al-Jawzi in the Shuzur al-Okud, but in A. H. 185 (A. D. 801), according to another authority. Her tomb, which is situated on the mount of Tor, on the eastern side of Jerusalem, is an object of pilgrimage.
Ibn al-Jawzi has an article on Rabia in his Safwat as-Safwat, and he there gives the following anecdotes respecting her, the authenticity of which is certified by a list prefixed to them, in which he enumerates the names of the persons through whom they passed down successively from Abda the daughter of Abi Shawwal to himself.
He says : “(Abda), one of God’s excellent handmaids and the servant of Rabia relates as follows: ‘Rabia used to pass the whole night in prayer, and at morning dawn she took a slight sleep in her oratory till daylight; and I have heard her say, when she sprang in dread from her couch: O my soul ! how long wilt thou sleep ? When wilt thou awake ? Soon thou shalt sleep to rise no more, till the call shall summon thee on the day of resurrection !
This was her constant custom till the time of her death. On its approach she called me and said: O Abda ! inform none of my death and shroud me in this gown. This was a gown of hair-cloth which she wore when praying, at the time in which the eyes of others were closed in sleep. I shrouded her in that gown, and in a woollen veil which she used to wear; and about a year afterwards, I saw her in a dream clothed in a gown of green satin and a veil of green silk, the like of which for beauty I never beheld. And I said: ‘O Rabia ! what has become of the gown in which I shrouded thee, and of the woollen veil ?’ To which she answered : ‘By Allah ! it was taken off me and I received in exchange what thou seest on me; my shroud was folded up, a seal was put upon it, and it was taken up to the highest heaven, that by it my reward might be complete on the day of resurrection.’ ‘It was for this,’ I observed, ‘that thou didst work when in the world.’ — ‘And what is this,’ she rejoined, ‘compared with what I saw of Almighty God’s bounty to his saints !’
I then asked her in what state was Obaida (3), the daughter of Abu Kallab, and she replied : ‘It cannot be described ! by Allah ! she has surpassed us, and reached the highest place in paradise.’ — ‘And how so ?’ said I, ‘when the people considered thee far, far above her.’ To which she answered : ‘Because, when in the world, she cared not what her state might be on the next morning or the next night.’ — ‘And what doeth Abu Malik Daigham ?’ — ‘He visiteth Almighty God when he pleaseth.’ — ‘And Bishr Ibn Mansur (4) ?’ — ‘Admirable ! admirable ! he hath received a recompense far beyond his hopes.’ I then said to her: ‘Tell me a means by which I may approach nearer to Almighty God.’ And she answered : ‘Think on him often, and by that thou wilt, after a little while, be happy in thy tomb.’ ”
(1) Omm al-Khair means the mother of Khair or of good.
(2) See note (2), page 422.
(3) Obaida, the daughter of Kallab, a celebrated saint, wept for her sins during forty years, and then lost her sight. (Siyar as-Salihat MS. No. 855, f. 28.)
(4) Abu Muhammad Bishr Ibn Mansur as-Sulami (belonging to the tribe of Sulaim) was celebrated for his intense application to the practice of devotion. As a Traditionist he is considered a sure authority, and is cited as such by Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. He died A. H. 209 (A. D. 824-5). —(Mirat az-Zaman, No. 640, fol. 69.)
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