The Ideal Muslim Woman - The Quran Blog - Enlighten Yourself

The Ideal Muslimahthat her daughter has to face some strictness, because justice demands that of every woman who believes inAllah (SWT) and the Last Day.25Just as the Muslim mother-in-law will criticize her daughter-in-law if necessary for any extravagance that she maynotice, out of compassion towards her son, she will also criticize her own daughter if she oversteps the limits, inorder to be fair and just, and in obedience to the words of the Qur'an: Whenever you speak, speak justly, even ifa near relative is concerned . . .(Qur'an 6:152)She deals with problems wiselyA son-in-law may be of a certain mentality with which his wife and mother-in-law do not feel at ease, which mayresult in mutual dislike and arguments. In such cases, the duty of the mother-in-law who understands theteachings of Islam is to approach her son-in-law in a sensitive manner, taking into account his particular mentalityand nature, to deal with him wisely, and never to despair of reaching her goal with a measure of patience andpersistence.She is always very careful never to exaggerate her son-in-law's negative points to her daughter; rather, so long asthose negative aspects do not affect his religion or moral character and do not warrant the end of the marriage,she tries to make them look as small as possible, whilst striving to deal with them by legitimate means and wisemethods.Thus the mother-in-law who is truly guided by Islam becomes a blessing and a source of goodness for herdaughter and her husband, offering solid support to their marriage and proving by her fairness and piety that sheis indeed a second mother to the husband, not the traditional enemy of the couple, as she is often described inbackward, jahili societies where comedians tell funny stories of that everlasting enmity which in fact is the resultof the Muslims' failure to properly apply the laws and values of their religion.Dr. Muhammad Ali Al-Hashimi