Sometimes...

Sometimes, the chain of narrators (sanad) has been called into question, and sometimes the explanation of the text has been discussed such that the smallest amount of filth of weakness can be attributed to women. Another one of the plots has been to go to an extreme (in discussing this sermon) such that some state that women in general are the complete totality of deficiencies and incompetency!

However, in the midst of this discussion, there are two things which we cannot deny – the first is that this sermon was delivered after The Battle of Jamal and we know that the person who was at the centre of that war was the wife of the Noble Prophet (S) - ‘A’ysha who had been encouraged by two companions of the Prophet (S) - namely Talha and Zubayr and in an unprecedented move entered the battlefield, resulting in the spilling of the blood of many innocent and uninformed individuals.

Some scholars state that the number of people killed in this one battle exceeded 17,000! Indeed it is true that after the army of ‘A’ysha , Talha and Zubayr lost the war, this wife of the Prophet expressed her remorse (at what she had done), and that the Commander of the Faithful ‘Al i (a.s.), simply due to the respect [which he had for] the Prophet (S) honourably returned her back to Madina, however the ill-effects which this war left on the Muslim society will remain forever in the annals of history.

The second point which must be mentioned is that in many of the verses of the Qur’an we see that humanity on a whole has been condemned – for example: إِنَّ الْإِنْسَانَ خُلِقَ هَلُوعًا ۝ إِذَا مَسَّهُ الشَّرُّ جَزُوعًا ۝ وَإِذَا مَسَّهُ الْخَيْرُ مَنُوعًا Indeed man has been created covetous: anxious when an ill befalls him and grudging when good comes his way .

[^3] In another place in the Qur’an we read: ...إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُوماً جَهُولاً …Indeed he (the human being) is most unjust and senseless. [^4] In yet another place in the Qur’an we read that the human being is one whose rejection of the bounties of God is transparent and apparent for everyone to see: إِنَّ الإِنْسَانَ لَكَفُورٌ مُبِينٌ Man is indeed a manifest ingrate.

[^5] In one more place, the human being has been considered as a creation that anytime a blessing reaches him, he goes into a state of rebellion: إِنَّ الإِنْسَانَ لَيَطْغَى أَنْ رَآهُ اسْتَغْنَى Indeed man becomes rebellious, when he considers himself without need. [^6] There are many more such verses as well in the Qur’an.

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