Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
5. Muslim women
~ 101 ~
Believers, when believing women seek refuge
with you, test them. Allah best knows their
faith. If you find them true believers do not
return them to the infidels.
93
Many incidents have been recorded of women
managing to free themselves from the clutches of
the Quraysh, coming to Medina, and then not being
returned to the Quraysh in spite of the latter
invoking the terms of the peace treaty. For example,
when Umm Kulthum bint ‘Uqbah ibn Abu Mu’ayt
escaped to Medina, she was not returned even
when two of her brothers came to take her back.
94
The Quraysh considered this refusal a violation of
the pact and quickly seized this opportunity to
defame the Prophet. It is remarkable, however, that
they soon ceased to protest on this score and,
considering that they were the Prophet’s direst
enemies, it is difficult to understand how this came
about. No satisfactory answer is to be found in the
books of
Sirah
and Commentaries on the Qur’an.
Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-’Arabi writes that the
Quraysh ceased to protest because God had
miraculously silenced their tongues.
95
There can be
no doubt about it: it was one of God’s miracles.
