Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
3. Womanhood in Islam
~ 43 ~
If knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them
friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.
In this last line the poet does not mean that the
world is physically tethered to the feet of God by
chains, but merely wishes to indicate the
unbreakable bonds that exist between God and this
world. In referring to the chains as “golden,” he
suggests the very great beauty and value of these
bonds. By referring to the “feet” of God, rather than
any other part of Him, he suggests the humble
position of man in God’s divine scheme. It is,
indeed, a very rich metaphor. To return to the
metaphor of the rib, in saying that if one tries to
straighten a woman one will break her, the Prophet
was referring to her delicate nature. Physically,
women are weaker than men: psychologically, they
are more highly strung, more prone to emotional
upset. This is a fact of life which everyone realizes,
irrespective of whether he is educated or not. A
father, for instance, will not be as hard on a
