The Womb

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱتَّقُوا۟ رَبَّكُمُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍۢ وَٰحِدَةٍۢ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًۭا كَثِيرًۭا وَنِسَآءًۭ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ٱلَّذِى تَسَآءَلُونَ بِهِۦ وَٱلْأَرْحَامَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًۭا

“O humanity! Have taqwa [reverence, respect, high regard, awe, mindfulness, consciousness, fulfilling the commandments and staying away from the prohibitions] of your Lord [the nurturing, sustaining] Who created you from one essence [nafs-al-wahidah], and from it created its mate, and through both He dispersed countless men and women. And be mindful of God—in Whose Name you appeal to one another—and honour the womb [وَٱلْأَرْحَامَ]. Surely God is ever Watchful over you.

[Surah Nisa/Women, Verse 1].

ٱلرِّجَالُ قَوَّٰمُونَ عَلَى ٱلنِّسَآءِ بِمَا فَضَّلَ ٱللَّهُ بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍۢ وَبِمَآ أَنفَقُوا۟ مِنْ أَمْوَٰلِهِمْ ۚ فَٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتُ قَـٰنِتَـٰتٌ حَـٰفِظَـٰتٌۭ لِّلْغَيْبِ بِمَا حَفِظَ ٱللَّهُ ۚ

“The men are the guardians [protectors, caretakers, advocates] of the women because men have been provisioned over women and tasked with supporting them financially. Verily the righteous women are devout, guarding in the unseen that which [God] has ordered them to guard…”

[An-Nisa/Women, Verse 34]

Abdullah ibn Mas’ud reported: The Messenger, ﷺ, narrated to us, for he is the truthful and the trusted, “Verily, the creation of each one of you is brought together in his mother’s womb for forty days as a drop [nutfa], then he is a clot [a’laqa] for a similar period, then a morsel [mudgha] for a similar period, then there is sent to him the angel who blows the spirit [ruh] into him and he is commanded regarding four matters: to write down his provision, his life span, his deeds, and whether he is blessed or wretched.

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِن كُنتُمْ فِى رَيْبٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْبَعْثِ فَإِنَّا خَلَقْنَـٰكُم مِّن تُرَابٍۢ ثُمَّ مِن نُّطْفَةٍۢ ثُمَّ مِنْ عَلَقَةٍۢ ثُمَّ مِن مُّضْغَةٍۢ مُّخَلَّقَةٍۢ وَغَيْرِ مُخَلَّقَةٍۢ لِّنُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ ۚ وَنُقِرُّ فِى ٱلْأَرْحَامِ مَا نَشَآءُ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍۢ مُّسَمًّۭى ثُمَّ نُخْرِجُكُمْ طِفْلًۭا ثُمَّ لِتَبْلُغُوٓا۟ أَشُدَّكُمْ ۖ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُتَوَفَّىٰ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُرَدُّ إِلَىٰٓ أَرْذَلِ ٱلْعُمُرِ لِكَيْلَا يَعْلَمَ مِنۢ بَعْدِ عِلْمٍۢ شَيْـًۭٔا ۚ وَتَرَى ٱلْأَرْضَ هَامِدَةًۭ فَإِذَآ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْهَا ٱلْمَآءَ ٱهْتَزَّتْ وَرَبَتْ وَأَنۢبَتَتْ مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍۭ بَهِيجٍۢ ٥

"O People, if you should be in doubt about the Resurrection, then [consider that] indeed, We created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then from a clinging clot, and then from a lump of flesh, formed and unformed - that We may show you. And We settle in the wombs whom We will for a specified term, then We bring you out as a child, and then [We develop you] that you may reach your [time of] maturity. And among you is he who is taken in [early] death, and among you is he who is returned to the most decrepit [old] age so that he knows, after [once having] knowledge, nothing. And you see the earth barren, but when We send down upon it rain, it quivers and swells and grows [something] of every beautiful kind.

[Al-Hajj, Verse 22]

Abu Huraira reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, the womb derives its name from the Merciful (Ar-Rahman)”. God said: I will keep good relations with one who keeps good relations with the womb, and I will severe relations with one who severs relations with the womb.”

Salman al-Farisi reported: The Prophet,ﷺ , peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, on the day Allah created the heavens and the earth, He created one hundred parts of mercy. Each part can fill what is between the heavens and the earth. He made one part of mercy for the earth, from which a mother has compassion for her child, animals and birds have compassion for each other. On the Day of Resurrection, He will perfect this Mercy.”

Reflections:

1. Life in this world begins with the prologue in the womb of the mother. The prologue is the period of gestation and what affects the mother, affects the new life she is carrying in her womb.

2. Traditionally, women were well taken care of during this time by other women, who made sure she was in a state of physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological well-being. The loss of the village has caused the loss of this sacred prenatal and postnatal care.

3. Women are the guardians of the unseen; the womb is the gateway to human existence in this world. Within the womb are matters of the unseen, where new life is nurtured and nourished.

4. At 120 days after conception, an angel will come down to blow the spirit [ruh] into the foetus and four things will be determined for the child - its deeds, its livelihood, its date of death, and whether it will be blessed or wretched in faith. It is only God who knows what every female hides in her womb from the moment of conception.

5. The significance of the womb is immense and the name of the womb, [rahm], is derived from God’s Attribute Ar-Rahman, the Entirely Merciful to all of His Creation.

6. When a woman becomes pregnant, no one know whom she carrying and what blessing and mercy is going to descend to the earth through the womb. Inside the womb, a newly formed earthly being will connect to a heavenly being, when the spirit is blown in at 120 days.

7. Men are the maintainers, guardians and protectors of women because God commanded them to be so. What does the woman have that is worthy of protection? She has the womb, the rahm, a space of mercy. She has the guardianship of the womb and of the unseen that occurs in the womb (the blowing of the spirit), and therefore he has the guardianship of her and what she carries. And so back to the verses that explains this oh so comprehensively.

“O humanity! Have taqwa [reverence, respect, high regard, awe, mindfulness, consciousness, fulfilling the commandments and staying away from the prohibitions] of your Lord [the nurturing, sustaining] Who created you from one essence [nafs-al-wahidah], and from it created its mate, and through both He dispersed countless men and women. And be mindful of God—in Whose Name you appeal to one another—and honour the womb [وَٱلْأَرْحَامَ ]. Surely God is ever Watchful over you.

[Surah Nisa/Women, Verse 1].

“The men are the guardians [protectors, caretakers, protectors] of the women because men have been provisioned by Allah over women and tasked with supporting them financially. Verily the righteous women are devout, guarding in the unseen that which [God] has ordered them to guard…”

[An-Nisa/Women, Verse 34].

8. I’m sorry to have to say that abusive and oppressive men in the Muslim community are failing dismally at adhering to these commandments of Surah An-Nisa, the Chapter on Women in the Qur’an. And the other men in the community are failing dismally at playing their part in advocating for women and holding their fellow brethren responsible and accountable for the terrible treatment of women happening behind closed doors in the Muslim Community. It’s all swept under the rug because it is, oh so very uncomfortable, isn’t it? When you are silent when there is injustice happening in your community, you are complicit because you are a vicegerent.

I, for one, will hold the men, especially the imams of my community (who preach on the pulpit but don’t practice what they preach), accountable on the Day of Reckoning.

And Allah and the Messenger know Best