Alimahs, Zalimahs, and Lazymas

Female Muslim Scholars: Past vs. Present (Alimahs, Zalimahs, and Lazymas)

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim

My wife is an ‘alimah.

For the major part of my life I had assumed that her humility, respect, patience, tolerance, love, piety, attachment to the Qur’an, the quality of her khidmah towards myself and my parents, her wonderful rearing of our children, the support she gave me and the great advice and guidance that she offered when it was needed was all a result of her studies in becoming an ‘alimah.

It was only much later on in life that I realised my monumental mistake and profound error.

Open Your Eyes!

 In this world there are many performers who work as magicians. Before a mesmerized audience, they can seemingly pull rabbits out of hats, coins from behind peoples’ ears, as well as seemingly make objects disappear. However, the reality is that there is no actual magic in the act – it is a simple case of misdirection and manipulation, also known as sleight of hand.

Through hours and hours of practice, the performer has mastered the art of manipulating the audience, by drawing their attention in one particular direction, while on the opposite side, he is subtly carrying out his trick, unnoticed. In essence, through distracting the audience, he deceives them and makes them believe that which is unreal and untrue. Hence, if the method of the trick is thereafter revealed, it will seem so simple and obvious, and each person will think to himself, “If only I had opened my eyes to what was really going on!”

Strangled by Sin

 Sayyiduna ‘Uqbah bin ‘Aamir (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) reports that he heard Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) mention, “Indeed, the example of the one who commits sins, and thereafter carries out good deeds, is like the example of a man on whom there was tight armour which was strangling him. Thereafter, he carried out a good deed, so one ring (from the chainmail armour) opened, and thereafter he carried out another good deed, so another ring opened, (and he continued carrying out good deeds) until it came off (and fell) to the ground.” (Musnad Ahmad #17307)

In the above hadeeth, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) resembled the person who leads a life of sin, but thereafter changes his life and carries out righteous deeds, to a person who was wearing tight armour which made him feel very uncomfortable on account of being tight and squeezing his neck, but thereafter, one-by-one, the links in the armour opened, gradually becoming more and more comfortable, until the entire armour fell off, giving him complete relief.

Six Powerful Questions

 ‘Ubaid bin ‘Umair (rahimahullah) was among the senior Tabi‘een who lived in Makkah Mukarramah. He had the blessed opportunity of learning from the likes of Sayyiduna ‘Umar, Sayyiduna ‘Ali, Sayyidah ‘Aaishah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) amongst many others. Such was his greatness that Sayyiduna ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar (radhiyallahu ‘anhuma) would even attend his gathering. (Siyaru Aa’laamin Nubalaa vol. 4, pg. 156)

On one occasion, a very beautiful woman of Makkah Mukarramah was admiring herself in the mirror and asked her husband, “Do you feel that there is a man who will see this (beautiful) face and not be tempted by it?” He replied, “Yes.” When she enquired who that person was, he answered, “‘Ubaid bin ‘Umair.” The woman thus requested her husband for permission to entice ‘Ubaid (rahimahullah). Her husband agreed and she set off with this shameless intention.