Salaam Alaykum everyone, I’d like to share some stories of the women of Jannah:

Women who were given the glad tidings of Paradise: Ever since Allah gave me a new role of motherhood, I’ve been in the search of role models before me who were given His amaanah and they succeeded in this journey that Allah bestowed upon them. And which better women to study the life of than the ones who were given the glad tidings of Jannah or they were among the best of generations. Starting with these 4 women 1) Maryam السلام‎ عليها – a single mother When we think of successful mothers, we usually feel that they must have everything in life to be able to achieve great heights and great kids as a result. As a single mother, you may be asking yourself if you would be able to raise your beautiful amaanah entrusted to you as righteous Muslims. History tells us over and over how these women made the best out of what they were given – even if all they were given were really hard challenges upon challenges. Maryam السلام‎ عليها was not any ordinary single mother. When our society sees a single mother, they have empathy for her. But Maryam was a single mother who was under the scrutiny of people – which meant that initially, she had no help from anyone because no one supported her or even believed in her. They doubted her chastity. They called her all kinds of names. Imagine having to go through the physical difficulties of childbirth only to have emotional difficulties waiting for you on the next turn. And even though she wanted to die at that moment of extreme physical and emotional pain, she pushed through for the sake of Allah and raised an amazing human being with all the love despite the hatred surrounding her. “And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said, “Oh, I wish I had died before this and was in oblivion, forgotten.” But he called her from below her, “Do not grieve; your Lord has provided beneath you a stream. And shake toward you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates. So eat and drink and be contented. And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, ‘Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to man.’ “Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said, “O Mary, you have certainly done a thing unprecedented. O sister of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste.” So she pointed to him. They said, “How can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?” said, “Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet. And He has made me blessed wherever I am and has enjoined upon me prayer and zakah as long as I remain alive. And dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me a wretched tyrant.” [Quran; 19:23-32] 2) Asiya السلام‎ عليها – a foster mother Asiya السلام‎ عليها did not have children of her own. And the fact that the most ruthless man on planet earth spared one child out of all the other children based on her request tells us that she lived a great life as a Queen – until she denounced the religion of her husband, after which her torturous life began. She raised Musa السلام‎ عليه like her own son and the fact that he was such a gem of a man despite having a horrible foster father, also tells us the power of a kind mother against all odds. We usually want to give up on our children because we alone can’t raise them well. They surely need a good role model in a father too (which is true indeed), but we also learn from the stories of these great women that a woman alone can raise amazing human beings too. Irrespective of how their husbands were. Irrespective of their husband’s parenting visions and perspectives. It takes just one parent to make that bold step to change their parenting approach and go back to our roots to embrace the Sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ) in parenting. The Prophet (ﷺ) was known for his kindness. His attitude towards children was always compassionate and merciful. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “Those who do not show mercy to our young ones and do not realise the right of our elders are not from us.” [Hadith; Sunan Abi Dawud 4943] Continued in the next post