By Imam Murtadha Gusau
In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy. Praise be to Gracious Allah, who honoured us by sending Prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (Peace be upon him) as a teacher, educator, leader and guide.
As Allah Almighty said in the Qur’an: “Certainly did Allah confer [great] favour upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book [i.e., the Qur’an] and wisdom, although they had been before in manifest error.” [Qur’an, 3:164]
And blessings and peace be upon the most noble and purest of creation, our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), a role model and leader of the righteous, seal of the Prophets and Messengers and a mercy for all the worlds.
He was chosen by Allah, who said: “And your Lord creates what He wills and chooses.” [Qur’an, 28:68]
And He the Most High said: “Allah chooses Messengers from among the angels and from among the people.” [Qur’an, 22:75]
So, He sent him: “As a witness, a bringer of good tidings, a Warner, one who invites to Allah, by His permission, and an illuminating lamp.” [Qur’an, 33:45-46]
And Allah, (the Exalted), has decreed honour, contentment and distinction for those who follow his path and decreed humiliation, misery and degradation for those who go against his order. So may the blessings and peace of our Lord be upon him as often as the righteous mention him and as long as night follows day.
Dear brothers and sisters! The enemies of Islam never tire of repeating the claim that Islam is unjust to women, oppresses them, deprives them of their rights and considers them no more than servants and a means of enjoyment for men.
But this is a falsehood refuted by what has been authentically narrated about the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) regarding the honour he accorded women and his concern for their condition. He (Peace be upon him) used to consult women, deal with them gently, support them in all situations and give them their complete rights in a way never dreamt of before.
Before Islam, the Arabs disliked having daughters and considered them a source of shame. Some of them were even known to have buried their female children alive. The noble Qur’an describes it as follows:
“And when one of them is informed of [the birth of] a female, his face becomes dark, and he suppresses grief. He hides himself from the people because of the ill of which he has been informed. Should he keep it in humiliation or bury it in the ground? Unquestionably, evil is what they decide.” [Qur’an, 16:58-59]
And in the pre-Islamic days of ignorance when a woman’s husband died, his sons and relatives inherited her as property; if they wished they would marry her to one of them and if they wished they could prevent her from remarrying and keep her thus until death.
Islam did away with all that through its just rulings which guarantee the rights of women as well as those of men. The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) declared that women are equal to men in all aspects of humanity, saying: “Women are but sisters of men.” [Ahmad, Abu Dawud and at-Tirmidhi]
So in Islam there is no conflict between the two sexes as its opponents imagine; rather, a brotherly relationship of mutual cooperation exists between them.
The noble Qur’an has confirmed the equality of men and women in the realms of faith, action and compensation in the Hereafter, for as Allah Almighty stated: “Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so – for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward.” [Qur’an, 33:35]
And He the Most High said: “Whoever does an evil deed will not be recompensed except by the like thereof; but whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer – those will enter Paradise, being given provision therein without account.” [Qur’an, 40:40]
Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) mentioned his love for women, saying: “Beloved to me from your world are women and pleasant scent, and my greatest pleasure is in prayer (Salah).” [Ahmad and an-Nasa’i – graded as sahih by al-Albani]
So, if the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) loved women, how could he belittle or oppress them?
And while the Prophet (Peace be upon him) abolished the customary hatred of daughters and the terrible practice of burying them alive, he encouraged raising them well and treating them kindly.
He (Peace be upon him) said: “Whoever cares for two girls until they reach puberty will come with me thus on the Day of Resurrection,” and he brought together his two fingers.” [Muslim]
This shows that one attains high position and nearness to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) owing to his care and protection of his daughters until they reach the age of puberty and responsibility.
He (Peace be upon him) also said: “Whoever has three daughters or three sisters or two daughters or two sisters and lives with them in kindness, fearing Allah in regard to them, will enter Paradise.” [At-Tirmidhi – graded as sahih by alAlbani]
And the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was concerned with educating women. He even appointed a day for them to assemble and would come to teach them from that which Allah had taught him. [Muslim]
He (Peace be upon him) did not make woman a prisoner within the house, as they claim, but allowed her to go out to take care of her needs, visit her relatives and visit the sick.
He (Peace be upon him) allowed her to buy and sell in the marketplace as long as she adhered to modest conduct and proper dress. He (Peace be upon him) also allowed her to attend the Mosque and forbade preventing her, saying: “Do not prevent your women from [coming to] the Mosques.” [Ahmad and Abu Dawud]
And he (Peace be upon him) urged kindness toward her with the words: “Be advised to be good to women.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
This involves good treatment, respect for her rights, concern for her feelings and avoidance of any kind of harm.
The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) encouraged husbands to spend on their wives. He (Peace be upon him) said:
“You will not spend any expenditure seeking the approval of Allah but that you will be rewarded for it – even the bite of food you put into the mouth of your wife.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
And he (Peace be upon him) said that what is spent on the family is the best expenditure, saying:
“The best dinar is the one a man spends on his dependants.” [Muslim]
He (Peace be upon him) also said: “When a man gives his wife a drink of water he is rewarded.” [Ahmad – graded by al-Albani as hasan]
When Irbadh Ibn Sariyah heard this Hadith he hastened to bring some water to his wife to drink, telling her what he had heard from the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him).
Respected brothers and sisters! This is how the Prophet Muhammad taught his companions good treatment of women, affection and sympathy towards them, providing them with all kinds of benefit and spending on them appropriately.
The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) made clear that good treatment of women is a sign of the nobility of a man’s soul and generosity of his nature. He (Peace be upon him) stated: “The best of you is the best of you to your wives.” [Ahmad and at-Tirmidhi]
And he (Peace be upon him) forbade hatred of one’s wife, saying: “Let not a male believer hate a female believer; if he dislikes one trait of hers, he will be pleased with another one.” [Muslim]
Thus, the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ordered men to look for the positive aspects and praiseworthy actions in women and overlook the errors and negative aspects, because looking for bad behaviour and dwelling upon it leads to aversion and dislike between the spouses.
He (Peace be upon him) prohibited beating women, saying: “Do not strike the female servants of Allah.” [Abu Dawud]
And he (Peace be upon him) threatened those who harm them with the words: “O Allah, indeed, I make binding the right of the two vulnerable ones: the orphan and the woman.” [Ahmad and Ibn Majah]
It meant that he would not make lawful the harming of either of them, and whoever does so has exposed himself to difficulty and punishment in this world and the next.
He (Peace be upon him) also prohibited husbands from exposing the secrets (private aspects) of their wives, as he prohibited wives from exposing the secrets of their husbands. He said: “The worst of people in position before Allah on the Day of Resurrection will be a man who has intercourse with his wife and then spreads her secret.” [Muslim] i.e., describes it to others.
The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) also honoured women by prohibiting husbands from assuming evil about their wives or suspicion of them. Jabir (RA) reported: “The Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) prohibited men from surprising their wives by night, suspecting betrayal or seeking to catch their faults.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
As for the conduct of Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) with his own wives, it was of the utmost sensitivity and kindness. Al-Aswad reported: “I asked Aisha how the Prophet (Peace be upon him) was with his wives. She said, ‘He (Peace be upon him) was in the occupation of his wife,’ meaning that he assisted her in her work. ‘But when it was time for the prayer he would get up for prayer.” [Al-Bukhari]
He (Peace be upon him) would try to please his wives and amuse them with pleasant conversation and sweet words. An example is when he said to Aisha, “I know your anger and your contentment.” She said, “How do you know that, O Messenger of Allah?” He (Peace be upon him) said, “When you are content you say, ‘Yes, by the Lord of Muhammad.’ But when you are angry you say, ‘No, by the Lord of Ibrahim.'” She said, “Yes, by Allah, O Messenger of Allah; I do not abandon except your name.” [AlBukhari and Muslim]
She meant that her love of him was firm in her heart and did not change.
The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) never forgot his wife, Khadijah after her death. Anas (RA) reported:
“When the Prophet (Peace be upon him) got a gift he would say, ‘Take it to so-and-so, for she was a friend of Khadijah.” [At-Tabarani]
Dear servants of Allah! This is how our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) honoured women, so how do those who call for the “liberation of women” compare to it?
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. Prayers, peace and mercy are upon our beloved master, Muhammad, the son of Abdullah (Peace be upon him), his family and Companions.
This Jumu’ah Khutbah (Friday sermon) was prepared for delivery today, Friday, Muharram 16, 1447 AH (July 11, 2025).
Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of Nagazi-Uvete Jumu’ah and the late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okene’s Mosques, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com or +2348038289761.
