Before the advent of the Prophet Muhammadﷺin the 6th century CE., different kinds social evils were prevalent in the Arab society of Jahiliyyah (Ignorance) and even beyond. These evils were the part of their social tradition and ethos. Among these, one of the extreme and intensified evilwas to believe “birth of a female childas misfortune”. Whenever a female child was born, people used to consider her birth as an awful and inauspicious event. This is the reason why we get to hear many such incidents of that era which tell us how people used to kill and bury their daughters alive, out of disgrace and embarrassment. In today’s world, whenever a child is born to someone, be it a male child (son) or a female child (daughter), usually the parents show extreme happiness and joy, but even today in some societies the birth of a daughter receives the same awful reaction like the era of Jahiliyyah. The difference is, today people don’t kill or burry their daughters after the birth, they just don’t let them be born and hence they kill them through abortion, which is not only a crime according to the law but also one of the greatest sins as per Islam. The Qur’an describes this shameful attitude as: “Whenever one of them is given the good news of a baby girl, his face grows gloomy, as he suppresses his rage.He hides himself from the people because of the bad news (as per them) he has received. Should he keep her in disgrace, or bury her ˹alive˺ in the ground? How evil indeed is their judgment!”(Surah An-Nahl, 58-59). Expressing regret or displeasure at the birth of a female child is against the teachings of Islam and hence it’s surely unpleasing to Almighty Allah. Those who adopt this attitudeare completely ignorant of religious teachings and have a very less educational exposer. When Prophet Muhammadﷺinitiated hisefforts of reforming that society by calling people towards the divine guidance and preaching them the teachings of Islam; he tried his best to eliminate all the evils and unethical practices. In this regard, heﷺtold people that their children whether sons or daughters, both are the blessings of Almighty Allah and are indeed an honour for them. Heﷺ explained and made people understand the prestige of children, especially the virtues of a female child. We find many narrations of the Prophetﷺ, where he has described the birth of daughters as a special bounty and blessing of God; and ordered to adopt a kind, caring and merciful conduct towards daughters. Being grateful to Almighty God for the birth of a daughter and considering her birth as mercy is a part of the teachings of Islam. The Holy Prophetﷺ said:”When a daughter is born, Allah sends to her an angel who hastened to bring good news and blessings and says: A weak (innocent) soul has come out of the womb of a weak human being, and help will be given toits guardian until the Day of Judgment” (Majma Al-Zawa’id, 13483). During the Jahiliyyah period, people considered the birth of daughters as a bad omen, an adversity and a source of embarrassment for them. Prophet Muhammadﷺ condemned this behaviour and forbade them to express disapproval or any shameon having daughters, Heﷺsaid: “Do not disapprove of having daughters, surely they are sympathizers (of parents) and are worthy of respect” (Musnad Ahmad, 17411).The Prophetﷺgave the good news of paradise to those who treat their daughters well, adopt an attitudeof mercy and kindness towards them and educate and nurturethem well. The Prophetﷺsaid: “There is no man whose two daughters reach the age of puberty and he treats them kindly for the time they are together, but they will gain him admittance to paradise” (Sunan Ibn Majah, 3670).Heﷺfurthersaid, “Anyone who has three daughters and provides for them, clothes them and shows mercy to them will definitely enter the garden.” A man from the people asked, “And two daughters, O Messengerﷺ of Allah?” Heﷺreplied, “And two (as well).” (Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, 78). The Prophet said: “No one has three daughters or three sisters and is good to them but that he will enter the garden” (Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, 79).There’s another narration in which the Prophetﷺhas said:”He who brings up three daughters, educates them well, then marries them and treats them well, paradise is obligatory for him” (Sunan Abi Dawud, 5147).
In another hadith, Allah’s Messenger said, “If a person has three daughters or three sisters or two daughters or two sisters, if he treats them well and fears Allah regarding them, he will have Paradise” (Tirmidhi, 1916). Parents should not consider it a burden to spend on the upbringing and education of their daughters; instead, they should consider doing these things as a source of blessings and good fortune for themselves, because the one who perform all these responsibilities happily has received the good tidings of companionship of the Prophetﷺ on the Day of Resurrection. Allah’s Messengerﷺ said: “Who ever brought up two girls properly till they grew up, he and I would come (together) on the Day of Resurrection like this (and he interlaced his fingers, for explaining the point of nearness between him and that person) (Sahih Muslim, 2631).Holy Prophetﷺ not only explained all this verbally, but he himself demonstrated it through his conduct and behaviour towards his daughters. His giving exceptional respect and showing utmost compassion, mercy and a loving attitude to his beloved daughter Sayyidah Fatimah (ra) is a proof of this. The Mother of the Believers, Sayyidah Ayesha (ra) narrates that “When she (Fatimah) came to visit him (Prophet) he got up to (welcome) her, took her by the hand, kissed her and made her sit where he was sitting; and when he went to visit her, she got up to (welcome) him, took him by the hand, kissed him, and made him sit where she was sitting” (Sunan Abi Dawud, 5217). Therefore, respecting one’s daughter, accommodating her, showing benevolence and mercy to her, expressing love for her, all these are the Sunnahs of Allah’s Messenger(SAW). It’s clear from the mentioned narrations that for a Muslim parent it is a religious duty to raise and educate their daughters better and it is also a rewarding act. It also contains the wisdom that a daughter’s bosom is a place of teaching for the future generations. If the upbringing and education of the daughter is done in a right and sincere way, she will be able to fulfill responsibilities towards society more efficiently and will also carry the legacy forward. In addition to all this, we should also keep in mind that practicing any type of discrimination between sons and daughters is completely against the teachings of Islam. Extreme care should also be taken that all the children are treated equally by the parents; justice and impartiality should be there between sons and daughters. Holy Prophetﷺ also disliked discrimination among children and instructed people to be fair in dealing with their children. Hazrat Anas bin Malik (ra) narrated that, “Once a person was sitting in the presence of Allah’s Messenger, the son of that person came there, the man kissed him and made him sit in his lap. Then his daughter came and he made her sit by his side. On this Holy Prophet said: “Why did you not do justice between them?” because he kissed his son and made him sat on his lap, whereas did not treat his daughter in the same manner. Now just imagine to what extent the Islam orders to be careful of justice among the children. So, if today there exist some sort of negative attitude toward daughters in our society and especially in the Muslim society, then it should be well understood that such ignorant and corrupt attitude has nothing to do with Islam because Quranic injunctions and Prophetic narrations completely reject it. This adverse thinking towards daughters is certainly an external interference that has entered in our society from other cultures or traditions. Those people who have corrupted their thinking in this regard and exercise negative attitude toward daughters, should leave this behaviour and adopt the true teachings of Islam. A Muslim parent, especially a father should treat his daughter the way Holy Prophetﷺ used to treat his daughters, as heﷺ is the definite role model for all of us. We need to understand and further propagate it to the common masses that as per Islam, the birth of a female child, is a special blessing of Almighty God furthermore respecting her, treating her well, educating her and showing a kind and merciful behaviour to her; are obligations on parents for which they would certainly be rewarded!
(Author is a research scholar in the department of Islamic Studies at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU), Rajouri. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are author’s own and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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