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2. Reward and Punishment of the Sexes by God as Prescribed by the Quran
- State University of New York Press
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13 2 Reward and Punishment of the Sexes by God as Prescribed by the Quran The following verses of the Quran deal with reward and punishment by God. They clearly demonstrate the Quran’s equal treatment of male and female in this sphere. They refer neither to male nor female but to people irrespective of their sex. • “Who can be better in religion than one who submits his whole self to God, does good, and follows the way of Abraham, the true in faith?” (4:125) • “To those who believe and do deeds of righteousness has God promised forgiveness and a great reward. Those who reject faith and deny Our signs will be Companions of Hell-fire.” (5:10–11) (The expression, Our signs, refers to God’s revelations.) • “Those who believe (in the Quran), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians and the Christians—and who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteousness, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.” (5:72) • “For those who believe and do righteous deeds, for them are Gardens as hospitable homes, for their (good) deeds. As to those who are rebellious and wicked, their abode will be the Fire . . .” (32:19–20) 14 THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN ISLAM • “God created the heavens and the earth for just ends, and in order that each soul may find the recompense of what it has earned and none of them be wronged.” (45:22) • “ . . . Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you . . .” (49:13) Yusuf Ali wrongly puts the expression ‘he who is’ in parenthesis as part of his translation of the above verse. This expression is not in the original Arabic of 49:13 of the Quran. It is perhaps because of this that he has entered this in parenthesis. There are other Quranic verses for example, 4:1 and 7:189, which although meant for both sexes, refer specifically to men. The exclusion of women from the wording of these verses caused great distress to Muslim women during the Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) lifetime. The revelation of verse 35 of Sura Ahzab removed to a great extent the grievances of the Muslim women caused by the men only verses of the Quran. Verse 33:35 was just the beginning of a new trend in Quranic revelations and many succeeding verses of the Quran deal with both men and women using separate expressions for both the sexes. Tabari (1979), the great historian and mufassir gives the background of the revelation in 33:35 in the following words. “Hazrat Umme Salama, one of the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) asked the Prophet (pbuh) one day. ‘Why are men mentioned in the Quran and why are we (the women) not?’ In those days men and women expected a response from Allah on the question of their status in the newly emerging Islamic Umma (the Muslim Community) and therefore Hazrat Umme Salama awaited anxiously for an appropriate revelation in reply to her specific question to the Prophet (pbuh).” From the study of the history of the life of the Prophet (pbuh), we learn that whenever confronted with a difficult question, the Prophet (pbuh) thought deeply about the same and prayed earnestly for God’s guidance through His revelation dealing with that particular question. One such revelation of God that answered the Prophet’s (pbuh) prayer was 33:35 of the Quran. This verse addresses the complaint of Hazrat Umme Salama. Tabari (1979) mentions the very words of Hazrat Umme Salama on the occasion of the first recitation of 33:35 by the Prophet (pbuh) in a public place (the mosque). According to Tabari, Hazrat Umme Salama said: “I had asked the Prophet (pbuh), ‘why the Quran did not speak about us as it did of men,’ and what was my surprise one afternoon when I was combing my hair, to hear his (the Prophet’s pbuh) voice from the mimber. I hastily did up my hair and ran [3.236.214.123] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 23:12 GMT) 15 REWARD AND PUNISHMENT OF THE SEXES to one of the apartments from where I could hear better. I pressed my ear to the wall and here is what the Prophet (pbuh) said! “O People! Allah has said in his Book’ and then he recited the verse 35 of Sura Ahzab (33:35) in...