DAUGHTERS are a great blessing because Allah has promised a place in Heaven on bringing them up. The one who has 3 daughters or sisters, or 2 daughters or sisters and he brings them up properly and fears Allah regarding their rights, then Heaven is made mandatory for him. And Islam does not condone this type of behavior, as such was the manner of the parents in the time of ignorance. In pre-Islamic times, the Arabs used to be disheartened and annoyed with the birth of girls, so that a father, when informed his wife had given birth to a girl, said, By Allah she is not as blissful as a son; her defense is crying and her care is but stealing. He meant she could not defend her father and her family except by screaming and crying, not by fighting and carrying arms. She also cannot be good to them and care for them except by taking from her husband’s money to give to her family.
The Qur’an led an uncompromising campaign against those cruel people who kill children-whether male or female. Allah says: And do not kill your children, fearing poverty; we shall provide sustenance to them as well as to you; indeed killing them is a great mistake.
The Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) made Paradise the recompense of every father who conducts himself well with his daughters, has patience in raising them, provides their moral education, and observes Allah’s commands concerning them until they come of age or until his. He made the place of the father in Paradise next to him. He said: Whoever brings up two girls till they reach the age of puberty, he and I will come on the Day of Resurrection like this, (and he joined his blessed fingers.)
In a Hadith that the Holy Prophet has stated that: If parents are kind and generous towards their daughters, then they will be so close to Him in Heaven, like one finger is to the next. He has also stated: The person who is faced with hardship due to his daughters, and makes patient, then his daughters will be a curtain between him and the Hell-fire.And whoever brings up three daughters or a like number of sisters, training them well and showing kindness to them till Allah enriches them (till they reach the age of puberty), Allah will guarantee Paradise for him.
A man asked: O Messenger of Allah! Does this apply to two also? He said: Even to two. If they had whether to one also the Messenger of Allah would have said that, even to one.
The beloved Prophet commanded: Whenever you buy anything from the market, first present it to your female children then to your male children. Daughters are a gift from Allah. Those parents who are kind towards them, then Almighty Allah is generous towards such parents.
Those who are merciful to their daughters, Allah is also merciful towards them. When a girl is born to a family, then between the parents and Hell, there shall be a distance of five hundred years.
When Imam Ahmad (R.A) would hear that one of his relatives or friends had a baby girl, he would say to them, Congratulations for the Prophets were mostly fathers of daughters.
With these open and authentic texts, with the enhanced and repeated good news, the birth of girls is not at all a fearful burden nor is it a bad omen. On the contrary, it is a blessing to be thanked for and a mercy to be desired and requested because it is a blessing of the Almighty and a reward to be gained.
Dear brothers and sisters! Rejoice on the birth of your daughters, love and guide them and give them that which is due to them from your belongings. Do not deprive them of their inheritance as they also have say in this. Remember! Daughters are a blessing and not a burden.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Islamabad.
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