The Message of the Prophet (PBUH) for Today’s Girls

Mohammad Bagher Aminpour

Translated by: Behrouz Khorram

Is the message of the Prophet exclusive to men?

Are women the addressees of the Prophet (PBUH) too?

The Prophet of Islam, similar to other divine prophets, started and continued his invitation and guidance for two reasons:

1)   To familiarize the people with divine knowledge

2)   To complete the beliefs, morals and ethics of the people

Those are the teachings of the Book and wisdom on the one hand, and the purification of the souls of the people on the other hand, the way the Holy Qur'an says “Allah certainly favoured the faithful when He raised up among them an apostle from among themselves to recite to them His signs and to purify them, and to teach them the Book and wisdom, and earlier they had indeed been in manifest error.” [Surah Al-i-Imran, verse: 164].  Therefore the appointment of the Prophet can be explained as:    He came for education, training and purification to lead society to divine knowledge and to correct people's behavior. He came to help the people achieve purification of spirit in a practical sense. The addressee of such guiding movement is the soul of the human, and not his body. Therefore the addressees of the Prophet’s message are both men and women.  

The center for the human’s education and training is the soul of the human, not his body, and not his body and soul together. That which becomes educated is his spirit, and spirit is neither masculine nor feminine. Therefore whatever that goes back to human perfection, including science, beliefs and morals is common to men and women. However, in administrative matters and labor, because of their respective bodily and natural traits, there are common and exclusive duties. But, the difference in their duties will not make difference in their level of perfection.    

The woman is as able to reach perfection as a man is, and the Holy Qur'an, wherever discussing high human values, mentions women as equal to men, meaning that women can reach high a spiritual and human status just as men. Faith, obedience, honesty, patience, fear of God, fasting, self-control, and remembrance of God are achievable for every woman. And obviously, her virtuous deeds, just like a man’s, have worldly and after-worldly effects. “Whoever acts righteously, [whether] male or female, should he be faithful, We shall revive him with a good life and pay them their reward by the best of what they used to do.”  [Surah Al-Nahl, verse: 97].  With this introduction, we discuss “The message of the Prophet for Muslim girls” in the points below:   

Be proud of being a girl

When society regarded being a girl as embarrassing and there was hatred towards girls to such an extent that they buried girls alive, in such an environment Islam renewed the position of girls and introduced girls as “Reihanah” that means a juvenile rose. One of the gifts of the Prophet is valuing the woman’s personality, to such an extent that the Prophet says:

Girls are benedictory and sweet.

-      Your best children are your daughters.

-      A sign of a woman’s fortune is that her first child is a girl.

-      A good daughter is a girl that is kind, helpful, friendly, and fortunate and takes away sorrow.

-       Parents who have a daughter will have God’s help, benediction and blessing.

When they informed the Prophet of the birth of a daughter, he used to say: “she is a flower that God feeds.”

Be proud of yourselves and be among the girls about whom the Prophet said: "What a good children are girls who wear proper Hijab and are unobtrusive."         

Take your chances

Youth is a temporary opportunity. In every moment there is a death and return for you. In a narration we read: "The world is but an hour."

Life is too short and at the same time too valuable to be underestimated. The Great Prophet (PBUH) used to say: "On the Judgment Day, for every day of the lives of the people, there will be opened 24 files equal to the hours of a day."

The pious find a file full of light and happiness, and experience such great happiness and delight that if it was offered to the dwellers of hell, it would take away all the hardships of the fire. And this is the reward for obeying their Creator.

Safeguard unobtrusiveness

Unobtrusiveness is the source of every beauty, and in the absence of unobtrusiveness no beautiful deed takes place and no immoral deed get avoided. Unobtrusiveness is chastity and modesty and avoidance of immoral deeds, especially when one feels that someone is watching. The Prophet of God said: “Be careful today for God is aware of all of your deeds.”

Pondering about the way Moses encountered the daughter of Shoaib and the way the daughter of Shoaib walked – which was unobtrusive – can be very inspiring to you.        

Choose the correct clothing

The Prophet of Islam has stressed the importance of women’s clothing and prohibited unlawful exhibition and obtrusiveness. And the Holy Qur'an – while advising men to avoid staring at women and to wear proper clothes in front of them – advises women to not look at men for pleasure and to protect themselves. Notice the two verses below:

1-    O Prophet! Tell your wives and daughters to wear long clothing.

2-    Tell faithful women to turn away their eyes and protect themselves. Cover their skirts from outsiders and never expose their beauties to men except to their husbands and other legitimate insiders, except what is inevitably exposed, and wear their scarves so that their heads and necks and chests and ears are covered, and not to beat their feet on the ground as they walk to show what beauties they are hiding.

With regard to the necessity of hijab, The Qur'an says that “Thus the nobles will not be exposed to the harassments.”

Always seek knowledge

Always be interested in learning and knowledge, because “God elevates those who have faith and seek knowledge.” Never get tired of studying and education, and never think about graduating. Remember the advice of the Prophet (PBUH) who said:

Four things are what every smart and wise person must be loyal to: "Receiving knowledge, preserving it, spreading it, and putting it into practice.

Every bowl loses its capacity when they put something in it, except the bowl of knowledge that gains more capacity when they add to it.

The Prophet (PBUH) said: "The Ansar women are good women. Shyness does not impede them from obtaining knowledge about religion."

The best knowledge that the youth should learn is what will be useful in their adulthood and can be used by them in life.

Be thankful toward your parents

Don’t hesitate to do favors toward your parents and be humble and modest to them. Lucky is the one who does favor to her parents!

Someone asked the Prophet about the best deed. He answered: "First performing the Salat at an early time and then comes doing favors towards parents."

One day the Prophet’s foster sister came to him. When he saw her, he became delighted and spread a sheet and seated her on it. Then he turned to her and spoke to her and smiled. After she left her brother came, but he was not treated as his sister was. They asked His Holiness about the reason behind the different treatments. He answered: "Because she was more kind toward her parents than her brother was."

Someone came to the Prophet and asked about doing favors to parents. He replied: "Do favors to your mother. Do favors to your mother. Do favors to your mother. And he added once: Do favors toward your father too."

He started with advising to do favors to mothers first.

And you daughters of the Prophet! Always analyze yourselves before being criticized by others. And value the message of the Prophet.

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