The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 356
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 356 has no brothers then two-thirds or half (depending on the circumstances); and a mother is entitled to a sixth portion of the inheritance of her son, if he has children, and a third if her son does not have any children. Similarly, the portions of other heirs were also fixed 1 and in this way the natural right of a woman, which had been snatched from her was returned. At this occasion, it would not be irrelevant to note that from among the salient features of the teaching of the Holy Prophet sa , one distinction is that he fully safeguarded all the rightful and legitimate rights of women. As a matter of fact, the truth is that before and after the Holy Prophet sa , there has been no individual in the history of the world who safeguarded the rights of women as he did. In matters of inheritance, marriage, spousal relations, divorce, in the right of owning personal estate, in the right of using one’s personal estate, in the rights of education, in the rights of child custody and upbringing, in the right of participating in national and domestic affairs, in the matter of individual freedom, in religious rights and obligations; in every religious and worldly field where a woman can possibly tread, the Holy Prophet sa has accepted all her legitimate rights and has proclaimed that the protection of her rights is a sacred trust and duty vouchsafed to his community. It is for this very reason that the women of Arabia considered the advent of the Holy Prophet sa to be a message of salvation. I am compelled to digress from my subject matter, otherwise, I would have elaborated that the teaching of the Holy Prophet sa with respect to women truly stands upon such a lofty pedestal that no religion and no civilization has been able to reach it. Most definitely, this beautiful statement of the Holy Prophet sa is based on such a deep truth that: ِ حُبِّب َ اِلَی َّ مِن ْ دُنْیَاكُم ُ النِّسَاء ُ وَالطِّیْب ُ وَجُعِلَت ْْ قُرَّة ُ عَیْنِی ْ فِی الصَّلوٰة “Among the things of this world, the things for which my disposition has been leavened with love are women and fragrance, but the delight of my eye is in Ṣalāt, i. e. , the worship of Allāh. ” 2 1 An-Nisā’ (4:12, 177) 2 Al-Jāmi‘uṣ-Ṣaghīr Fī Aḥādīthil-Bashīrin-Nadhīr, By Imām Jalāluddīn As-Suyūṭī, Volumes 1-2, p. 223, Ḥarful-Ḥā’i, Ḥadīth No. 3669, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon (2001)