Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 377
! ! 377 W e Should Pay Great Attention to Reformation Friday Sermon Delivered by Hazrat Mirza Bashir - ud - D in Mahm u d Ahmad, Khalifat - ul - Masih II ra April 1 , 1938 … Hazrat A’isha h ra always safeguarded the rights of women. When women would bring complaints against their husbands before the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa , Hazrat A’isha h ra would fervently back these women and repeatedly state that their rights were being violated and this should not be so. Even the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa said, “ A’isha h ra you greatly favor the women , ” but she continued to involve herself in [advocating for] their affairs. On c e the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa decided to perform Itika f When Ha z rat A’isha h ra came to know of this, she immediately put up a tent in the mo sque for Itikaf. Upon seeing this, the other Umm ah a tul - Mu’minin [ the m others of the b elievers, i. e. , the Holy P rophet’s sa wives] also put up their individual tents. When the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa saw that tents were set up as though an army had come to station itself at the m osque, he i nquired as to what was going on. The companions ra of the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa replied that the tents belong ed to the m others of the b elievers which were set up to isolate themselves from each other [for It i kaf ]. The Holy Prophet Muhammad sa ordered that they be removed at once, for if these tents were left up, there would be no room for people to pray. Haz rat A’isha h ra always took great care to safeguard t he rights of women , but it is also narrated that on one occasion, after the demise of the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa , she stated that if the condition of women in the time of the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa wa s as it was when she was saying this [i. e. , after the demise of the Holy Prophet sa ] , he sa would have forbid den women from coming to the m osque. Now, this narration is from a time not too far removed from the demise of the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa. At the most, only thirty to forty years had passed. However, Haz rat A’isha h ra revealed