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Women Around the Messenger
Description from the publisher: This is the "women's lib" age as the West preferm to term it. But is it true? Is it not a lip-service age turning women practically to "dolls" or something like "real-life dolls"? Women entering the fold of Islam played an enviable prominent role, side by side their counterparts, in shaping and developing the Muslim society as a model from the onset, emancipating humanity, men and women, from the shackles of deep-rooted ignorance. Women in Islam have a very special place, status, and dignity that is unknown to mankind before or after. The life sketches of the early female believers, in this book, stand as beacon and outstanding models for the so-called "weaker sex" and call for the revival of the pristine, lofty, high position of women in the society once again. The women in this book are listed in categories, such as "Mothers of the Prophet", "Wives of the Prophet", "The Prophet's Daughters", and many more categories. Some women included in this book are: Aminah Bint Wahb Haleema as-Sa'diyah Barakah Fatiman bint Asad Khadeedjah bint Khuwaylid Sawdah 'Aishah Maymoonah Hafsah Zaynab bint Khuzaymah Safiyyah bint Huyy ibn Akhtab Umm Habeebah Umm Salamah Mariyah Juwayriyah bint al-Harith Umm Hani and Nab'ah Asma' bint Abu Bakr Safiyah bint 'Abdul-Muttalib Umm al-Fadl Asmaa' bint Umays Umm Ma'bad Umm 'Ammarah Naseebah bint Ka'b Rufaydah al-Aslamiyah Umm Waraqah Umm Kulthoom Umm Sulaym Umm Haram bint Milhan Fatimah bint al-Khattab Umm Manee' Al-Khasna' Shaymaa' Ruqayyah IIPH *Indian Printed BEST Quality +91 9945744117
350 pages, Hardcover
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 3, 2025
★★★★☆ (4/5)
A selection of my favourite passages
Interesting Gems
• Breast-feeding of babies by women who are not their biological mothers and allowing such babies to grow up in the deserts are some of the signs of nobility and high status among the Arabs of pre-Islamic era.
• On Aisha (R)’s room: First and foremost, it is the noble Prophetic room that shelters the Prophet's grave and his noble body. It is the only room that still exists of the rooms of the Prophet's wives. It was the room that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) wished that he should be nursed while he was sick of fever. It is the room that shelters the remains of two leaders: Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them).
• On Hafsa (R): Another quality you can add to her credit is the fact that she could read and write, a quality that was very rare among womenfolk then, even among men. The new thing that attracts our attention here is that her house was the place in which the revealed verses of Qur'an written on palm branches, slates and other materials were kept. She was the custodian of the Book of Allah. She preserved it in her heart and in her house.
• The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) disliked that a man should praise himself, for the name 'Barrah' is derived from birr which means righteousness. How then can a person claim to be righteous and strut about with that name?
• Umm Sulaym was the first Muslim woman to accept a suitor's embrace of Islam as mahr (bridal money).
Important Dua and Ahadith
• “O' Allah! It is from You that I seek the reward of this calamity of mine. O' Allah! Provide a better substitute for me”
• The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "My Ummah shall continue to be blessed as long as the love of this world has not prevailed among them, and as long as there is no prevalence of corrupt scholars, ignorant reciters of the Qur'an and tyrants. If all that prevails among them, I fear that Allah may include them all in punishment."
• On Ruqayyah’s (R) death, the Prophet (S) said: "Whatever tears shed by the eyes and however much the heart grieves, that is from Allah. It is actions of the hands and words uttered by the tongue that come from Satan."
Points to Deliberate Upon
• After Khadija (R), many women embraced Islam, not in compliance with their husbands' will or out of tribal solidarity or in obedience to their fathers' command. Rather, these women, in most cases, embraced Islam independently, out of conviction and in demonstration of their right of choice
• On the demise of Prophet (S), Barakah Umme Ayman said "I am crying because the revelation from the heaven has stopped."
• They were then blessed with al-Qasim and 'Abdullah, at-Tayyib, who was otherwise known as at-Tahir. But for some Divine Wisdom all of them died in their infancy. And that was before he was commissioned as a Prophet. After he was commissioned as a Prophet, he was blessed with girls successively in the following order: Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthoom and Fatimah.
A selection of my favourite passages
Interesting Gems
• Breast-feeding of babies by women who are not their biological mothers and allowing such babies to grow up in the deserts are some of the signs of nobility and high status among the Arabs of pre-Islamic era.
• On Aisha (R)’s room: First and foremost, it is the noble Prophetic room that shelters the Prophet's grave and his noble body. It is the only room that still exists of the rooms of the Prophet's wives. It was the room that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) wished that he should be nursed while he was sick of fever. It is the room that shelters the remains of two leaders: Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them).
• On Hafsa (R): Another quality you can add to her credit is the fact that she could read and write, a quality that was very rare among womenfolk then, even among men. The new thing that attracts our attention here is that her house was the place in which the revealed verses of Qur'an written on palm branches, slates and other materials were kept. She was the custodian of the Book of Allah. She preserved it in her heart and in her house.
• The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) disliked that a man should praise himself, for the name 'Barrah' is derived from birr which means righteousness. How then can a person claim to be righteous and strut about with that name?
• Umm Sulaym was the first Muslim woman to accept a suitor's embrace of Islam as mahr (bridal money).
Important Dua and Ahadith
• “O' Allah! It is from You that I seek the reward of this calamity of mine. O' Allah! Provide a better substitute for me”
• The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "My Ummah shall continue to be blessed as long as the love of this world has not prevailed among them, and as long as there is no prevalence of corrupt scholars, ignorant reciters of the Qur'an and tyrants. If all that prevails among them, I fear that Allah may include them all in punishment."
• On Ruqayyah’s (R) death, the Prophet (S) said: "Whatever tears shed by the eyes and however much the heart grieves, that is from Allah. It is actions of the hands and words uttered by the tongue that come from Satan."
Points to Deliberate Upon
• After Khadija (R), many women embraced Islam, not in compliance with their husbands' will or out of tribal solidarity or in obedience to their fathers' command. Rather, these women, in most cases, embraced Islam independently, out of conviction and in demonstration of their right of choice
• On the demise of Prophet (S), Barakah Umme Ayman said "I am crying because the revelation from the heaven has stopped."
• They were then blessed with al-Qasim and 'Abdullah, at-Tayyib, who was otherwise known as at-Tahir. But for some Divine Wisdom all of them died in their infancy. And that was before he was commissioned as a Prophet. After he was commissioned as a Prophet, he was blessed with girls successively in the following order: Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthoom and Fatimah.
June 8, 2022
A part from a few spelling, grammar mistakes that made reading it a little confusing at times this is such a beautiful book that everyone should read in order to take as an example the female companions (May Allaah be pleased with them) 💖
January 2, 2026
I had to sit with this book before I wrote this review. It took me about a year to finish reading as I would get tired of the writing style and leave it for months before picking it back up again. While I did learn a lot about Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and his companions (RA), I really struggled with the flowery writing, long and clunky sentences, and some of the author's commentary. The odd writing style and vocabulary choices are likely because the book was translated from Arabic but it seemed as if no one then edited the English translation. The commentary I specifically disagreed with was related to the author's praise of Safiyah bint 'Abdul-Muttalib's (RA) mistreatment to her son, Az-Zubayr (RA) (pages 172-173).
I would not recommend this book to non-Muslims or brand new reverts/converts. It contains a lot of good information but there are parts that I believe need to be questioned, looked at critically, and compared with other scholarly interpretations. For that reason, I don't think this is a good book for someone who has little or no background knowledge about early Muslims or Islamic theology.
I would not recommend this book to non-Muslims or brand new reverts/converts. It contains a lot of good information but there are parts that I believe need to be questioned, looked at critically, and compared with other scholarly interpretations. For that reason, I don't think this is a good book for someone who has little or no background knowledge about early Muslims or Islamic theology.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews