Lobna Mulla – #2 Keeping A Promise to God The Mother of Maryam Upheld Allah Women in the Quran
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Have you ever wanted something so badly that
you made du'a to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
A'la that if you got this one thing,
then you would do XYZ,
change this habit or start increasing your Ibadah.
And then after getting what you wanted, did
you ever feel like you wanna go back
on that verse of enthusiasm?
Like for example, if I pass this important
final exam, I'll start praying fajr or I'll
put on the hijab or stop being so
quick to get angry and so on. And
then when you finally pass that exam, you
now all of a sudden think of several
reasons why you shouldn't or couldn't fulfill your
promise to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la. Many
of us have been there before. So how
do we strengthen our resolve?
Let's meet someone who made an oath to
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la and fulfilled it
despite several difficult obstacles that came her way.
Meet the wife of Imra Alayhi Salaam, the
mother of Maryam Alaihi Salaam. Hannah bintufaqut,
may Allah be pleased with her.
Hinnah Radilu Anha was a pious woman who
was married to Imran Alayhi Salaam. They were
not able to have children. So Hinnah turned
her focus to Allah. She repeatedly made dua
to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la to grant
her a child, even though she and her
husband were both older and had not previously
had any children. Then miraculously,
Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala answered her prayer. And
when Hinnah found out the blessed news of
her pregnancy,
she expressed her deep gratitude
by dedicating her child to the worship of
Allah and in service to Baytul Maqdis. Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la says in the Quran,
remember when the wife of Imran said, my
Lord, I dedicate what is in my womb
entirely to your service. So accept it from
me. You alone are truly the all hearing,
all knowing.
This was a very happy moment for Hannah
and Imran Alayhi Salaam, as well as for
their people. Yet shortly thereafter, Imran Alayhi Salaam
passed away. Let's pause here for a minute.
Imagine how Hannah must have felt. She wanted
her child for so long, and after so
many years, she finds out she was expecting.
Imagine the elation, the excitement, the gratitude.
Masha'Allah Hinnah immediately expresses her gratitude with the
dedication of her unborn child.
Now with the tragic timing of her husband's
death, there is such a stark change in
her reality.
Imagine the pain, the sadness,
and all of the unknowns that come along
with death. Yet despite this loss, Hinnah doesn't
waver her commitment to Allah, and she doesn't
now take back her oath to him. And
when Hinnah Radu'anha finally gives birth, she says,
as is mentioned in the Quran,
when she delivered she said, my Lord, I
have given birth to a girl. And Allah
fully knew what she had delivered. And the
male is not like the female.
This statement of surprise is not one of
dismay in having a girl, but rather out
of her desire to be able to fulfill
her oath, as it was not customary in
Judaic law for women to worship in the
temple.
And for a child to be dedicated to
the dawah of Allah, this also was customarily
more practical for men. So when hinna Radu'an
has says, the male is not like the
female, she's expressing her wish to continue her
oath, despite it being against societal norms.
How amazing is it that Hinnah radi Lu'Anha
notices this challenge yet continues in her commitment.
To further establish this dedication of her daughter
to the service of Allah, she names her
daughter Maryam, which comes from the Aramaic language,
Meri, meaning rabbi, my Lord and M, female
servant.
Even with the seemingly simple action of naming
her daughter in the way she did, henna
radiAllahu Anha teaches us what it means to
have tawakkul.
This shows a level of optimism in Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la. There was no question
of, should I still go through with my
oath or hesitation on her part? She could
have easily tried to rescind her oath and
justify it by saying, well, I just lost
my husband and can't bear to also have
my future child be away from
me. And again, when she discovered that she
gave birth to a girl, Hindna could have
also justified going back on her oath by
saying, well, girls are not allowed to worship
in the temple. She had two moments where
her commitment could have wavered, but she persevered
instead.
She trusted in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la
and stamped it with her certainty in Allah's
mercy by literally naming her daughter after her
intention. If we look at it this way,
before birth, Hannah made the intention to dedicate
her child to the service of Allah.
After birth, despite it being against the norm,
she still decided to fulfill her oath to
dedicate her child to the worship of Allah,
and then sealed it by naming her daughter,
Maryam, the servant of my Lord.
When you think about it, so much goodness
comes from these heartfelt and sincere duas,
all stemming from the dua for a child,
and dua asking her child and progeny to
be protected from Shaytan. I have named her
Mariam, and I seek your protection for her
and her offspring from Shaytan the accursed, as
she says in the Quran.
Never underestimate how far your dua can go.
Allah gives with endless generosity beyond our imagination.
Remembering that answering our dua sometimes is generously
answered by not being fulfilled in the way
we asked. This is one of the most
difficult aspects
of Allah's wisdom to accept at times. Why
aren't we getting married to that individual? Why
aren't I able to have children? Why am
I not able to get into this university
or get this job and so on? Although
Hannah did not explicitly make dua for a
son, it is what she wanted so that
she could dedicate him to the service of
Allah, which again was more practical for men
at the time. But Allah gave her much
more than what she expected. A righteous daughter
in her own right, miracles being bestowed upon
her, forever memorializing the Quran and then A'is
Alaihi Salam, one of the most righteous men
to ever walk this earth, bestowed with miracles
upon miracles
and set to come back to this earth.
So since her grandson's book is not yet
sealed, therefore hers is not either. Himna radiAllahu
Anha got so much more than she could
have ever imagined.
So what about us? Can we make du'a
to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la with full
yaqeen that He will answer our prayers in
the best way possible for us? Can we
remember that not having our duas answered is
in and of itself, a blessing and mercy
since it is what is best for us?
Can we ask of Allah without holding back
thinking that it is not possible to get
what we want? We can.
All we have to do is believe
and ask.