Islam & the Modern World · Men, Women & Gender
Motherhood is not a lesser life
Handle with care. Handle with care: do not present paid work as un-Islamic. It is permitted, and the Prophet's (SAW) first wife was a businesswoman.
In short
- 1.The Prophet, peace be upon him, named the mother three times before the father when asked who deserves best treatment.
- 2.Islam does not forbid a woman working; Khadijah (RA), may Allah (SWT) be pleased with her, was a merchant and the Prophet's (SAW) employer.
- 3.The point is that motherhood is honoured as work, not tolerated as a gap in a career.
The claim being examined
Modern culture measures a woman's worth largely by paid work, and treats full-time motherhood as a waste of potential.
The Islamic position
Islam gives the mother a rank the culture cannot match, and treats raising children as one of the highest works a person can do.
Analysis
Two established reports carry this. al-Bukhari 5971 gives the threefold naming of the mother. The widely quoted phrase that Paradise lies at the feet of mothers comes through Sunan al-Nasa'i 3104 and Sunan Ibn Majah 2781 in the form "stay with her, for Paradise is beneath her feet" — its chains have been discussed by scholars with differing gradings, so cite the Bukhari narration as your proof and mention the other as a well-known report rather than resting the argument on it. On employment, the Islamic tradition is not restrictive in the way people assume: Khadijah (RA) bint Khuwaylid, may Allah (SWT) be pleased with her, ran a trading business and employed the Prophet (SAW), peace be upon him, before their marriage; al-Shifa bint Abdullah was appointed by Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA) to a market supervisory role; women in classical societies worked as scholars, midwives, traders and property owners. What Islam does is remove the financial compulsion: because maintenance is the husband's legal duty, a woman's income is discretionary rather than necessary. Present this as expanding her options rather than closing them, and do not tell any woman what to do with her life — that is not dawah, and Islam does not authorise it.
From the Qur'an
حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ كُرْهًا وَوَضَعَتْهُ كُرْهًا
Hamalathu ummuhu kurhan wa wada'athu kurha
His mother carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship.
حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ وَهْنًا عَلَىٰ وَهْنٍ
Hamalathu ummuhu wahnan ala wahn
His mother carried him, weakness upon weakness.
From the Sunnah
Your mother, then your mother, then your mother, then your father.
Sources
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