Daughters of Eve

And lo! I have named her Mary,
and lo! I commend her and her offspring to Your protection
from Satan, the Outcast.’
So did her Lord accept (Mary) with a good acceptance and
caused her to grow a good growth (in body and spirit)...”
Qur’\n, 3:35-37
There are unending reports of acts of generosity from many of the
female companions of the Messenger r. All of which astonish the
reader of their selflessness. One incident is that of `¬’ishah who would
spend all of whatever she would receive on the poor, often
disregarding her own needs in the process. Once she gave away
100,000 dirhams in a single day, and in her eagerness to help others
did not leave even one dirham for her own meal.
al-*\kim
As mentioned previously, both man and woman stand absolutely
equal in the eyes of All\h, it is only by virtue of greater faith and
devotion to one’s Maker that any one excels another, regardless of race
or gender. Therefore, verses in the Qur’\n that praise believers and
speak of their reward with All\h apply equally to believing men and
women. However, since the gender used in the wording is masculine
(as is the usual case when speaking generally of both male and female
in languages which have gender distinctions in nouns and verbs), some
of the female companions of the Messenger of All\h r wanted to make
completely sure. (Isl\m had its feminists long before the West did!)
An An]\r| lady by the name of Umm `Amm\rah y came to the
Prophet r and said, “It seems to me that everything belongs to
the men – I do not see women being mentioned with
anything!”
All\h I subsequently revealed in the Qur’\n for the peace of
mind of women everywhere:
“Lo! men who surrender (unto All\h) and women who surrender,
and believing men and believing women,
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