Early Muslim Women as Moral Paragons in Classical Islamic Literature

Abstract

Abstract Early Muslim women, especially from the first generation, are regarded as exemplary figures and role models for later Muslim generations. As a result, the lives of the Ṣaḥābiyyāt (female Companions) and the Prophet’s female family members were studied extensively, so that the examples they set could be emulated by later Muslims. Out of this large group of women, this chapter focuses specifically on the Mubashsharāt bi-l-janna, a reference to women who were given glad tidings of paradise by Prophet Muḥammad. Among the reasons for their being singled out in this manner are their precedence in faith that was praised in the Qur’ān; their migration to Medina from Mecca, during which they endured considerable hardship and/or persecution, and the fact that they pledged their allegiance to the Prophet in the very early days of Islam. Despite their status as moral paragons for later generations of Muslims and their prominence in their own lifetimes, medieval as well as modern scholarship has not devoted much attention to these women as a collective, although they are mentioned individually in biographical dictionaries, sīra works, history books, and ḥadīth collections.