Umm Emarah – a woman of courage !

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

How can we forget her whose name was Umm Emarah رضي الله عنها ? Umm Emarah رضي الله عنها , a woman from Banu Najjar tribe, the mother of two martyrs and the sister of a companion of the Prophet , Abdullah bin Ka’b  رضي الله عنه

She appeared to pledge allegiance to Allah and His Messenger ﷺ along with about seventy two men and two women including herself, the other woman being Umm Munee Asma bint Amr bin Adi.

Umm Emarah رضي الله عنها  had two sons from her first marriage by the names of Abdullah and Habib. From her second marriage she had a son called Tameem and a daughter called Khawlah.

The battle of Uhud arrived and there was Umm Emarah رضي الله عنها , the brave and believing woman with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. Umm Emarahرضي الله عنها  stood firm in defending her beloved Prophet ﷺ such that the Prophet ﷺ said that in whichever direction he turned in the battlefield he could see her defending and protecting him. Subhaan Allah, look at the concern she had for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ! Where is her concern and the concern of her likes, and our concern? Yesterday Umm Emarah رضي الله عنها  was there defending the Messenger ﷺ, today those brothers who defend the sunnah of that same Messenger ﷺ with their blood and life are slandered.

Furthermore, Nabi ﷺ said about Umm Emarah رضي الله عنها :

“From where can anyone get courage like you, O Umm Emarah?”

After all, Umm Emarah رضي الله عنها  was a woman who gave blood for this religion! In the battle of Uhud she sustained at least twelve wounds. One of them was so deep that she fainted. She also participated in the battle against Musailmah alKathaab. She sustained eleven wounds and her arm was cut. Furthermore, she was also among the twenty women who took part in the  battle of Khaybar.

Her son, Habib bin Zayd رضي الله عنه  , was martyred by Musailmah alKathaab and her other son, Abdullah bin Zayd  رضي الله عنه  became a martyr in the battle of Harrat and the giving of life for the Religion of Allah hasn’t stopped today, just look to our honorable brothers in Afghanistan and Syria for example.

وَلَا تَقُولُوا لِمَنْ يُقْتَلُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَمْوَاتٌ ۚ بَلْ أَحْيَاءٌ وَلَٰكِنْ لَا تَشْعُرُونَ

And do not say about those who are killed in the way of Allah, “They are dead.” Rather, they are alive, but you perceive [it] not.

Surah Baqarah, verse 154

So, not only was Umm Emarah رضي الله عنها a woman of great courage but she also the mother of men who sacrificed themselves for the Religion of Allah.

All the while the disbelievers today continue to parrot their propaganda against the woman of Islam even though among her predecessors were women who sacrificed their blood for the very religion which is supposedly an “oppression” for women.

They foolishly continue in trying to force the Muslim woman into believing that she is either oppressed by somebody else or that she is oppressing herself.

Anyway, may Allah allow us to walk in the footsteps of those great men and women from our Islamic history, ameen. We do not need other female role models which the West puts forth for its women, we do not need to take inspiration from makeup covered, mini-skirt wearing pop-stars or actresses. When noble female companions the likes of Umm Emarah رضي الله عنها decorate the pages of our history, why do we look to disbelieving women for inspiration? We only embarrass ourselves by doing so.

May Allah be pleased with Umm Emarah and make us like her, ameen.

“O Allah! Make this family my friends in Paradise.”

-Nabi Muhammad ﷺ

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم How can we forget her whose name was Umm Emarah رضي الله عنها ? Umm Emarah رضي الله عنها , a woman from Banu Najjar tribe, the mother of two martyrs and the sister of a companion of the Prophet , Abdullah bin Ka’b رضي الله عنه She appeared to pledge allegiance to […]

via Umm Emarah رضي الله عنها- a woman of courage — Bintul Ummah

 

Wearing hijab helps body confidence

British Muslim women who wear the hijab feel generally better about their body image than those who don’t wear the hijab suggests research published in the British Journal of Psychology.

The research, conducted by Dr Viren Swami from the University of Westminster and colleagues looked at body image issues amongst British Muslim women.

Dr Swami explained: “In the West anxiety about body image, for women, is so prevalent it’s considered normal. This study aimed to explore how these attitudes differ within a British Muslim community.”

A total of 587 Muslim women aged from 18 to 70 years from London participated in a number of tests. From this group 218 women stated they never used the hijab and 369 women said they used some form of the hijab at least now and then.

Participants undertook a number of questionnaires that asked them to rate their own feelings of body dissatisfaction, how much pressure the media put on them to be attractive and how religious they were. They were also asked to match their own figure to a set of female silhouette images that ranged from emaciated to obese.

The results showed that women who wore the hijab generally had a more positive body image, were less influenced by the media’s beauty ideals and placed less importance on appearance.

Dr Swami said: “Although the results showed only a small difference between those who wear or don’t wear the hijab it does suggest the hijab offers Muslim women a small protective effect in terms of feeling positive about their body image. It appears that those who choose to wear it are better able to distance themselves from the Western thin ideal.

“These results may have useful implications for intervention programmes aimed at promoting healthier body image among Muslim women in the West. For example, by identifying those aspects of hijab use that are associated with more positive body appreciation in future studies, it might be possible to isolate factors that can be targeted in intervention programmes.”

The journal, entitled “Is the Hijab Protective? An Investigation of Body Image and Related Constructs Among British Muslim Women”, can be accessed here.

The Society publishes 11 academic journal titles in conjunction with our publishing partner Wiley-Blackwell. The British Journal of Health Psychology publishes original research on all aspects of psychology related to health, health-related behaviour and illness across the lifespan. Visit the Wiley online library for more information.

Society members can access via PsychSource, our searchable journals, books and multimedia database, developed in partnership with Wiley-Blackwell. Abstracts are free to all, full-text free to members.

http://www.bps.org.uk/news/wearing-hijab-helps-body-confidence

 

Father kills his daughter for converting to Islam

AMMAN — Police on Saturday were questioning a man and his brother in connection with the murder of a 26-year-old woman, who allegedly converted from Christianity to Islam, in Ajloun, 70km northwest of Amman.

The victim died after receiving several blows to the head with a wooden stick and a rock in a forest in Khirbet Wahadneh on May 1, a senior official source said.

“The victim’s father headed to a police station on Thursday evening and turned himself in, declaring that he killed his daughter,” the source told The Jordan Times.

In his initial confession to the police, the father reportedly said that “his daughter announced her conversion to Islam three months before the incident and therefore he murdered her.”

A second source told The Jordan Times that police are also questioning the victim’s uncle.

“Both men are in custody pending further investigation into the incident but the main suspect so far is the victim’s father,” the source said.

Pathologist Ali Shotar from Irbid’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine performed an autopsy on the victim and concluded that she died of a crushed skull that caused heavy bleeding, according to a medical source.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry on Friday said that calm was restored in Ajloun following the murder of the woman a day earlier, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

“Limited clashes erupted on Thursday following the woman’s death which caused the government to dispatch gendarmerie forces to contain the situation,” Petra reported.

Eye witnesses said the clashes took place between Muslim and Christian residents of Khirbet Wahadneh on Thursday, one day after the murder.

They said the clashes between a limited number of protesters were unprecedented in the town.

The ministry said community leaders in Ajloun intervened and contributed to calming the situation.

Source

 

Regina woman who converted to Islam celebrating Ramadan

Regina woman who converted to Islam celebrating Ramadan.

 

France: Pregnant Muslim woman loses baby after veil attack

A pregnant Muslim woman who was allegedly attacked in the suburbs of Paris by two ‘skinheads’ for wearing an Islamic face veil has suffered a miscarriage, it was reported on Tuesday.

According to reports in the French media, the woman, who was four months pregnant, was assaulted in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil on June 13th.

On Monday, the 21-year-old’s lawyer Hosni Maati told AFP that the woman had since suffered a miscarriage.

“Her husband called me this afternoon. She lost the baby,” the lawyer said, before adding that the family were devastated by the tragedy and would not be making any further comment.

A police source involved in the investigation also confirmed the miscarriage to AFP but did not confirm that the attack was the cause of her losing the baby.

In reporting the attack to police she described how she was set upon on Thursday morning by two men in the middle of the street, just after she had finished talking to her mother on the telephone.

She initially blamed the attack on two “skinheads”, saying the two men “ripped the veil” from her head and tore part of her clothing.

The prosecutor for Pointoise, Yves Jannier, also said the woman had been kicked in the hip before she managed to flee.

French daily Le Parisien said police sources had some concerns over “inconsistencies” in her account.

A contentious law banning the wearing in public of the full Muslim face veil, the niqab, was introduced in France in 2010. It did not however forbid the wearing of the hijab headscarf.

The alleged assault on the woman came just three weeks after another veiled Muslim woman in Argenteuil was targeted in a similar manner.

And last week, Muslims in the neighbourhood clashed with police after officers attempted to arrest a woman in the street who was wearing the full Islamic veil in public.

According to Le Parisien, officers “were attacked. They were insulted and beaten, including punches”. Police sources said they were forced to use tear gas to disperse the angry crowd.

In a statement the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) said everything would be done to “protect the rights of the victim”.

“We appeal to the authorities that their investigation into this incident is carried out quickly and that strong measures are taken to ensure justice,” the statement added.

The collective also called on residents of Argenteuil to show “restraint and calm” despite their “inevitable anger” over what happened.

The organisation also warned politicians against trying to use the Muslim community as a political pawn during next year’s local elections.

And the Coalition against Racism and Islamophobia expressed “condolences and solidarity with the family” and its “concern and great anger over the tragedy” in a statement sent to AFP on Monday.

“The wave of attacks and Islamophobic incidents require a strong and uncompromising response from the government, which must express its solidarity with all victims, not just those which the interior minister deems worthy to receive,” the statement added.

http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/news/islamophobia/france-muslim-woman-loses-baby-after-veil-attack/