Chapter 1: Are Women Wise?

Are Women Wise?

All Thanks to the Omnipotent Lord who feeds, clothes and shelters us!

          Recently I had gone to a women’s university in Melappalayam, Tirunelveli. The educational standards were exemplary. I had asked the college students “Is the woman’s intelligence backwards?.” Without understanding my question many students answered “No” while a few answered “Yes”. But, in reality it is not incorrect to state that woman’s intelligence is retrospective.

           I would like to explain this statement based on a few historical anecdotes. Valluvar and his wife Vasuki lived a happy life. When Valluvar took his meals, he asked his wife for a needle and a mug of water. Vasuki complied with this every day. Never once had she asked him “Why do you ask for a needle and a mug of water?”. 

           When Vasuki was on her deathbed, Valluvar perceived that she wanted to ask him something. When Valluvar remarked, “Vasuki...you are thinking of asking me something... don’t hesitate... ask me”, she replied, “Everyday you asked me for a needle and a mug of water when you took your meals… May I know why you did that?”.

    Valluvar explained emotionally, “Vasuki... you never spilt I never picked …when you served me food... had you served me without attention you would have spilt rice and I would have had to pick it using the needle. But you never served me without attention... you took care of me well”.

    What devotion to husband! What an honourable woman that for so many years she lived with and served her husband without raising a question! So, Vasuki was a woman whose intelligence was not regressive but progressive that forethought about a future good. A similar and wonderful anecdote is found in the annals of Islamic history.

    When the prophet Ibrahim (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ) left his wife Haajira and infant son Ismaeel in the desert of Makkah, Hajira inquired “Why are you leaving us here…?”. The prophet Ibrahim did not even return his glance on them. As he did not want to show his empathy towards their plight, he did not look back on them and kept walking ahead away from them in slow but tired steps. 

 

          Hajira questioned again “Are you leaving us here because of your own volition … or because of the Lord’s commandment? The prophet Ibrahim replied “This is not my own wish ...but the Lord’s commandment” and he walked faster.

         “If that is the case, certainly the Lord will protect us”, Hajira comforted herself.

         The heat of the desert sands scorched them; the infant cried in thirst. The mother ran hither and tither in search of water... water is found nowhere. She cries and pleads to the Lord “Lord... please grant me water to quench the thirst of my child” .

A miracle happened then.

         The infant laying on the desert, kicked his flower-soft feet on the desert sands; from the rough, rocky sand spring water gushed like the milk that secretes and gushes from the breasts of a mother. The spring water quenched the thirst of the hungry wailing infant and he laughed happily at the skies above.

         Ecstatic on witnessing this spectacular scene, Hajira thanked the Lord joyously. Later, both the mother and the infant drank their fill from that sweet water and shelter near that well of water. Flocks of birds on spotting the water in the desert flew towards the source of water. Traders who spotted the flock of birds from far came to the same spot.

         The traders woke the mother up and offered her a generous price for the well. “Honorable Lady, it looks like this fountain of water belongs to you... if you would sell this fountain to us, we will offer you the gold you demand. And with that you could live comfortably ”

         Mother Hajira who was not bedazzled by the desire of wealth, replied wisely and sensitively “You and your families can use this water for all your need. But I cannot sell the rights to this water exclusively to you. This water was given by the Almighty. It belongs to all people”.

It was because of Mother Hajira's reply that the city of Makkah developed- and many houses were built. Today millions of people gather in Makkah to perform their pilgrimage; hundreds of thousands of pilgrims drink the holy waters of Zamzam. Research informs us that the holy Zamzam water has the characteristics to cure many diseases. Had the mother, in her desire for wealth, sold the rights to the well to a single family, the well would have been owned by that family alone. But it was Mother Hajira's carefully considered actions that has benefited all of us by giving us the holy water. Therefore I state: A woman’s intelligence is not regressive but reflective; it considers the future and therefore visionary.

Friends, women are not to be thought of as mere cooks: we appreciate the intelligence and capabilities of our mothers, sisters and daughters and honor them. There’s a woman behind every man’s success. In this world no man is luckier than one who is married to a good wife. 

A child brought up by a good mother will achieve fame in the world. Respecting women's thoughts and feelings will serve as rungs of ladder to reach a life of bliss.