Nusaybah bint Ka’b, seeing the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) unprotected during the Battle of Uhud, ran to shield him with her sword alongside her husband and son. She received many wounds, and the Prophet (PBUH) himself said that wherever he turned, whether to the right or to the left, he saw her defending him. She was present at a number of battles and, at the age of 60, fought at al-Yamama, receiving 11 wounds and also losing her hand.

When Khawla bint al-Azwar’s brother was taken captive by the Byzantines, she put on armour and charged into the Byzantine troops to rescue him. Taken captive at the Battle of Marj al Saffar, she fended off the Byzantines with a tentpole, killing seven.

Muslim women were an important part of every battle — rallying their men or tending to the wounded, sometimes taking up arms or composing taunting poetry. Ghazala al-Haruriyya called out to the fleeing Umayyad general during a battle, “You are a lion against me but were made into an ostrich which spreads its wings and flees on hearing the chirping of a sparrow.”

The first Muslim martyr was 65-year-old Abyssinian Sumayyah binte Khabbat, who refused to curse the Prophet (PBUH) despite being severely tortured by Abu Jahl. She spat on him saying, “You are smaller to me in my eyes than a beetle that I would step on in the ground.” The enraged Abu Jahl impaled her on his spear.

Reductionist Western perceptions view Muslim women as being oppressed. However, across history, Muslim women were, and still are, a force to be reckoned with

The Prophet’s (PBUH) wives, his daughter Fatima, granddaughter Zainab, and even his great-great-granddaughter Nafisa — whose students included the founders of the Shafai and Hanbali school of thought — earned great respect, not simply because of their lineage but their strength of character.

There were hundreds of learned women from Spain to Samarkand, whose knowledge was sought after by men and women. Umm al-Darda as-Soghra and Fatima al-Samarqandi were renowned jurists, while Fatima al-Fihri established the first Muslim university. Imam Abu Hanifah took the name of his daughter after she solved a problem he could not. Rbi‘a Basri was the first to introduce the Sufi concept of “Divine Love”.

There was even a pirate queen, Sayyida al-Hurra who, alongside the famous Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa, protected Morocco from the Spanish fleet. Malahayati, appointed admiral in 16th century Indonesia, commanded a fleet that included war widows as warriors, protecting the kingdom from the Portuguese and the Dutch.

Muslim women played a significant role in the Freedom Movement of India and Pakistan, during which over 200 lost their lives at the hands of the British. Many are well known, such as Hazrat Mahal and Bi Amma. Less known is the courtesan Azizan, who organised and trained a battalion of women fighters. The wives of Maulana Muhammad Ali, Hasrat Mohani, Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Shafi, Liaquat Ali Khan, the sister of Jinnah, and many others, were fearless activists.

Today, once more, women are proving their mettle, participating in political movements, enduring imprisonment, rejecting the image of the weak, powerless woman.

All early societies, while dividing work between men and women, gave each equal value, reflecting the Taoist principle of Yin and Yang. However, influential thinkers like Confucius declared women were subordinate to men, and Aristotle promoted the idea that “the male rules and the female is ruled.” Church Law adopted this belief, although The Bible states, “There is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

19th century Western society accepted Darwin’s conclusion that the male was superior in the survival of the fittest. According to scholar Siran Hovhannisyan, the Western feminist backlash imposed their ‘gender’ politics on non-Western cultures. As a consequence, Tanzanian scholar Norah Hashim Msuya says, “Women have been left with the unpleasant situation of choosing between their rights or their culture.”

In the Quran, Surah al-Ahzab makes clear that men and women are equally and independently responsible for their actions. But local cultures resurface. In India, the ancient Manusmriti code, defining Hindu family life, dictates a woman must be secluded, serving only her husband, father or son.

Seen through Western eyes, Muslim women are oppressed. But in the light of history, Muslim women were, and still are, a vibrant, active force, “holding up half the sky” in the words of Chairman Mao.

Durriya Kazi is a Karachi-based artist. She may be reached at durriyakazi1918@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, July 9th, 2023