Woman Between Islam and Western Society
5. Position of Woman in the Islamic Shari‘ah
~ 301 ~
miraculous in nature as the Prophet Jesus, on whom
be peace. God had ordained that the final prophet
of the Jewish people was to be born without a
father: the character of his mother had, therefore, to
be one of irreproachable innocence and chastity.
Mary, who subsequently became known as the
Virgin Mary, was found to have lived her life
according to this exacting standard, and, by her
extraordinary chastity, had proved herself fit to be
chosen as the mother of Jesus.
In one of the most authentic collections of the
hadith
by Bukhari, the Prophet is recorded as saying, “The
best woman out of all of them (the Jewish people)
was Mary (mother of Jesus), the daughter of ‘Imran,
and the best woman out of all of my own people was
Khadijah bint Khuwaylid.”
64
(This saying was
passed on by ‘Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-
law.) The special historical status that both Khadijah
and Mary enjoyed was due to their both having
given themselves up entirely to God: they both
subordinated their own wills to that of the Almighty.
In the case of Khadijah, she was chosen by God to
be the life partner of the final Prophet,
