Tesneem Alkiek – Inspirational Muslim Women #06 Sutayta AlMahmali
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the story of Suthaytan Mah stance, a woman who was a famous mathematician and a scholar. She was a teacher and a student of mathematics, and had a reputation for her knowledge and leadership in the field. She was a woman of influence and had a desire for knowledge and scholarship. She advises the audience to read books on a topic and challenge their limits of knowledge.
AI: Summary ©
Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu and welcome back to
another episode of Sayi Dettii in which we
discuss lives of some incredible Muslim women throughout
history.
Today I want to share the story of
a scholar and mathematician, Suthaytan Mahamani.
She lived during the 10th century in Baghdad
and was a daughter of the famous judge,
Aba Abdul Al Hussain.
I mention this because in a lot of
sources you might find her under the title
of the daughter of Al Husayn and Muhammedi
or Bint al Muhammedi.
Her uncle was also a prominent hadith scholar
and her son eventually became a judge as
well.
According to Advihabi's biographical collection, Sutaita was not
only a scholar but also a jurist and
nofti.
That's quite a full plate right there. She
was taught and guided by a handful of
scholars including her father.
Plus, a lot of scholars recalled that she
was among the most knowledgeable scholars of Fiqh
and famous historians like Al Baghdadi and Ibn
Yawzi praised her expertise.
Ibn Kathir for example states that she was
among the most knowledgeable people of her time
in regard to the school of law
and she issued fatwas in this madhab alongside
Sheikh Abu Adi the son of Abu Huraydah
the famous companion
he even goes on to say that she
was honorable and very generous and a person
who would rush to carry out good deeds
Besides the fact that she was an incredible
scholar, Sotaydah's fame really stems from her expertise
in mathematics.
For one, she was an extra in Rahm
Al Far'al or the signs of inheritance shares.
Now, if any of you are not familiar
with that it's pretty complicated figuring out how
much each cousin and sister and son receive
according to Islamic law when someone passes away.
So that signs is a math in and
of itself.
It's also mentioned that she invented solutions to
equations cited by other mathematicians
which demonstrate her skills and aptitude in Algebra.
She wasn't simply solving problems, she was creating
solutions.
Her knowledge in math was so impressive that
she was the go to person for all
the scholars in Baghdad when they couldn't solve
a mathematical problem.
Imagine that, a female genius in the sciences
of religion and mathematics
who scholars and people of the community look
to for advice and sound knowledge.
There was no hesitation involved whatsoever because she
was a female.
Her scholarship is what defined her. There are
a lot of lessons that we can take
away from the accomplishments of Soteta.
As a self identified nerd I'm obsessed not
only with Soteta's knowledge and religion, but the
fact that she went beyond that as well
to be a scholar in another field. On
top of that, she didn't even limit herself
to simply being a student of knowledge or
even a scholar.
She was out there working in the fields.
As a Mufti she was dealing with day
to day problems of the community.
She was interacting with her society at a
basic level and serving as an example of
leadership
knowledge
and good character.
And when it came to math solving problems
didn't suffice her. Again, she pushed herself beyond
what was expected by being an innovator in
her field and an authority amongst all the
other scholars.
This is your opportunity to think about the
life of Suteta and challenge your own expectations.
Don't limit yourself to studying one field over
another.
Run after knowledge wherever you can find it
and in pursuit of scholarship
remember that Sutta's knowledge was defined by her
good character
the 2 come hand in hand.
Without the characteristics of respect, generosity, humility among
so many others, your knowledge will have served
you nothing.
So push through your workloads read a book
on a topic you've never read before
and challenge your limits of knowledge.
Rabbanazinnaalmanu
ikhlasan
may Allah subhanahu wa'ala increase us in our
knowledge and our sincerity
and may He grant us the desire for
knowledge the Suta rahmatullahi alayhi personified.
Jazakumullah
Khaydah, we'll see you next time. Salaam Alaikumullah