Woman Between Islam and Western Society
5. Position of Woman in the Islamic Shari‘ah
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affords them for the performance of noble and
heroic deeds, but also the exaltedness of the
position accorded to women in Islamic society.
Within the sphere of Islam, ‘Aishah, the daughter of
Abu Bakr and wife of the Prophet, stands out as a
woman of notable intelligence, whose intellectual
gifts were fittingly utilized in the service of Islam.
Very young in comparison with the Prophet, she
survived him by almost half a century, during
which period she became a great and authentic
source of religious learning for the
ummah
(community). This was largely thanks to the
accuracy with which she had preserved in her
memory the speeches, conversations and sayings of
the Prophet. In all, she related about 2210 of his
sayings and was extraordinarily gifted in being able
to formulate laws from them. It is said that no less
than one quarter of the
shari’ah
injunctions have
been derived from her narrations. Her knowledge
and deep perception in religious matters was so
established that whenever the Companions of the
Prophet found themselves in disagreement over any
religious matter, they would come to her to seek her
assistance. According to Abu Musa ‘Ashari,
