Miracle Births and All That
By
Rashid Samnakay, New Age Islam
28 July
2022
In All
Cultures, Traditions And Religions; The Menstrual Cycle And The Process
Associated With Birth Of A Child Is Considered An “Impurity” Of The Mother For
Some Days, And In Some Societies Extend Over Months
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In all
Cultures, Traditions and Religions; the Menstrual Cycle and the process
associated with birth of a child is considered an “impurity” of the mother for
some days, and in some societies extend over months. In this process the poor
human female/ Mother is ostracised from normal Social contacts and oftentimes
prevented from entering Houses of Worship so that she cannot perform any of the
Religious rituals to avail herself nearness to her God. Is this, in case God
too is defiled by human activities?
This
practice, one may call “punishment” meted to her for being an adult female and
a mother, in some societies; is extended even further by preventing her from
entering her main residence and kitchen! Such is the impurity attached to her
services to humanity and the gratitude expressed for the female in the process
of propagating human species that God wants her to; suffering the trauma of
life threatening labour pains.
Strangely
also, delivering a female child; the punishment period of impurity for the
mother is extended to twice that of delivering a male child. So much for the
cultural and ritualistic frailties and religious logic of some societies.
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Also Read: Mythology of Mother-Goddess among Muslims
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No
exception is made for delivering even Godly Children; with whom various
miracles are attached! To believe in these miracles, one has to have implicit
faith in one's Religion, as its God has no limitations and is capable of
performing whatever miracle He wishes to irrespective of His own Laws of
Creation of Universe. Kun Fayakoon-- be and it was!
Ironically,
for delivering some of the famous Godly children, the mothers were not spared
of the ostracism of society and Religion......with the exception of One in the
Muslim Nation's theology......Fatimah bint Asad, the mother of Hazrat Ali, the
child who later was to become the fourth Khalifa and the first Imam of the
splinter faction, called Shia Muslims.
Fatimah
bint Asad was the wife of Abu Talib, the uncle of Apostle Muhammad ibn
Abdullah, whose mother Aminah too was attributed a miracle of having a Nur/Light
shining in her womb when she was carrying Muhammad. And many more.
(In
Indonesia a pregnant mother had tied a tape recorder to her belly, which she
switched on at the prayer time giving Azan. Even the President had visited
her!)
Largely,
the astonishing story attributed to Fatimah bint Asad, the mother of A'li goes
like this:
During the
days of her advance pregnancy, She was in the vicinity of the ancient Temple,
the Kaabah; often referred to later as the House of Allah/Baitullah.
She felt
the pangs of labour and looking for a place to rest, Fatimah walked along the
wall of the Temple. Miraculously the wall split open and she walked in. Giving
birth to her baby boy, she is said to have stayed there for three days, to
emerge out of there to go home. A holy miracle, in a Temple surrounded by
hundreds of idols.
Thus
Fatimah bint Asad becomes the mother of a child born in the House of Worship:
1-Without being accused of personal impurity,
2- Defiling a house of Worship....and
3-Perhaps the first such person to be a Mother of a Holy person born in
the House full of idols.
As said
above, one has to be a firm believer in one’s religious teachings to accept
some of the worldly events. If not, the following questions come to mind purely
on the basis of day to day experiences:-
Human
traditions from way back have treated females' periods and child birth process
as impure due to bodily discharges such as blood. Such discharges from males
too are considered impure.
Houses of
Worship are sacrosanct and therefore emphatically protected from being defiled
and made impure by such discharges.
A mother
having gone through the trauma of child birth needs special nourishment and
care after her postnatal ordeal. How is it that Fatimah stayed away from such
care for three days. A humanly impossible effort. Yes, Divine intervention and
Angels may have solved the problem.
How was it
that Fatimah's household did not look for her for three day? Again a simple
common sense enquiry.
Miracles
are attributed to the Holy Child in almost all religions, even illogical ones
that defy common sense. But Fatimah's story defies the human societal taboos
that govern societies. For example the famous saying that goes something like
this:
Baa
Khuda Divanaah Bashad; Baa Muhammad Hushiyar Baad.
You may get
away with being mad at God but may God help you should you say anything against
Muhammad.
When it
comes to us humans, elevating a person to godly status, we rob many of the
attributes belonging to God and impose them upon the person we have elevated
and revere. Then the issue of my Prophet against your Prophet becomes the issue
of Hushiyar Baad. Personality Cultism needs such esoteric props to cast
in concrete and to avoid them being eroded by the application of intelligence.
Could it
not be that Kaabah of the time was a mud hut and Fatimah bint Asad or even a
kind hearted person punched a hole in the wall to let her in to provide some
primitive privacy?
Could it
not be that she was too weak to get up on her feet to go home and so her people
brought the necessities to her for three days!
This story
is penned as a result of being chided for quoting an Urdu stanza to a friend
relating to something completely unrelated matter. Tu Zerey Saaye Kaabah Bhi
Ibaadat Nahin Kartaa! You don't even perform worship in the shadow
(influence) of the Kaabah.
This
offended his sensitivity with regard to the Kaabah, which to him is more than
the house of God; as Hazrat A'li was born inside it! I tried to appease him by
saying poets are Majnoon. May God have mercy on me, Ameen
----
A
regular contributor to New Age Islam, Rashid Samnakay is an Indian-origin
Engineer (Retd.) based in Australia for over forty years.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/cultures-traditions-religions-birth-miracle/d/127589
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