Day 9 On race and women
Different nations have used different methods to combat racism and oppression against women.
The Prophet ﷺ, when he first entered into Mekkah victorious over the Quraysh (in the 8th year of hijrah); as the Quraysh observed, he ordered a black Abyssinian man – Sayyiduna Bilal – to climb atop the most sacred object the Quraysh had ever known: the Holy Ka’abah. It was from atop of the Kabah that Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him; who used to be enslaved and tortured in these very streets by the Quraysh who are now watching him, it was from atop this holiest edifice that he gave the first adhan/call to prayer in Mekkah ever. This is how to assert that racism has no place in society.
Women too, as we all know, had a sad plight before Islam; baby girls were buried alive to avoid the taboo that came with having a daughter. In the meantime, the Prophet ﷺ carried his granddaughter Umamah on his shoulders in the most spiritually intimate time with his Lord: during the congregational prayer. He did this while all of Medinah watched and by this, he not only lifted those baby girls from the ground that Quraysh had buried them in, he lifted them up and gave them a chance to be exposed to the highest spiritual states of their existence.
ﷺ .
