Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
2. The qualities of a believing woman
~ 32 ~
with all matters in the manner approved of by
Islam.
Next in importance to these feminine duties is the
training and nurturing of children. Most women
become mothers, and the relationship between
mother and child is of the utmost importance,
because the mother’s influence can be used for ends
which may be good or evil depending upon the
mother’s own proclivities. As a Muslim of course, it
is clearly her duty to use her maternal influence to
bring her children up as moral beings. If they have
deviated from the path of moral rectitude, it is her
duty to reform them. Everything that she does, in
fact, should be for their betterment.
Another domestic imperative is that the woman
who is both wife and mother should organize her
own and her family’s lives in such a way that they
are free of problems. She herself should never create
difficulties for her husband and children. In many
cases, knowing “what not to do” is more important
than knowing “what to do.” In such matters,
women are liable to err because they are more
emotional by nature. By creating unnecessary
