The companions' doctor and the first female teacher in Islam

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Today, there are men among us who deny the impact of women and their merit in the growth of Islam. Some of them prevent their daughters or sisters from learning and their inheritance is eaten, and whenever they start using the blessing of reason and thinking or objecting to the harm that happens to them, they are beaten severely by those who are not Muslims and distort the image of Islam.

In this article, I will present to you a noble female companion who was the wisest of the wisest men in the early days of Islam and Omar bin Al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him, used to put her opinion before others, namely "Al-Shifa bint Abdullah".

Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (may God be pleased with her)

: Who is she

Al-Shifa bint Abdullah belongs to the Quraish tribe. Her real name was "Laila", but she was known by the nickname "Al-Shifa" due to her skills in medicine and treatment. She was one of the first to believe in the call of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and she was one of the first immigrants with the Messenger of God and received the same harm as the immigrants.

Al-Shifa lived in a period characterized by the scarcity of education and the absence of reading and writing among women and men alike. However, Al-Shifa had learned these skills early, which gave her a special status among men before women in the pre-Islamic era and the Islamic community.

: Al-Shifa's role in spreading knowledge 

Al-Shifa was one of the few who knew how to read and write in the pre-Islamic era. After her conversion to Islam, the Messenger of God allocated a house for her in Medina and it became the first place designated for women to receive education. She invested these skills after entering Islam to teach women. Historical sources reported that she taught Hafsa bint Omar, the wife of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, to read and write, which indicates that the Messenger urged women to learn and be important, not the opposite, in addition to the fact that the Qur’an urges us to learn in more than one place, such as the beginning of Surat Al-Alaq {Read in the name of your Lord who created}.

She is one of the narrators of hadiths from the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, so Laila became a living model for the Muslim woman who combines religiosity and knowledge, which helped break the social barriers that restricted women’s education at that time.

: The reason for her nickname “Al-Shifa”

Before her conversion to Islam, Al-Shifa was a skilled and experienced doctor who was famous among the tribes for her incantations to treat the disease called “the ant” (this disease was a skin ulcer). When she converted to Islam, she doubted the matter of this incantation, so she consulted the Prophet, who permitted her, so she became the Prophet’s advisor in medicine after that.

This aspect of Al-Shifa's life confirms that Muslim women were not merely passive or limited elements in society, but were active and effective in improving health and caring for patients, a role that was very important in the emerging Islamic society.

: Her participation in administration and public life

Al-Shifa's role was not limited to education and medicine only, but she also had an effective participation in administrative life. Caliph Omar bin Al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him, appointed her to supervise the organization of the market in Medina. This administrative position required the ability to deal with people and manage affairs in an organized manner, which reflects Omar's confidence in her abilities.

Al-Shifa's assumption of this responsibility reflects the extent of Muslim women's ability to bear public responsibilities and participate in organizing society. This appointment was an unusual step at that time, as women rarely held administrative positions. However, Al-Shifa was able to overcome these limits thanks to her competence and shrewdness in dealing with matters.

Al-Shifa, may God be pleased with him, died in the twentieth year of the Hijra during the caliphate of Omar bin Al-Khattab.

Conclusion

Finally, this article does not mean that all men wrong their women and do not uphold the limits of Allah, but it angers me to see that most of the scholars are men who do not fear Allah in their women. Al-Shifaa, may Allah be pleased with her, gives the Islamic nation a lesson that we should not forget. So please, our mothers, sisters and daughters, do not let your minds be occupied with anything other than what Allah wants you to be occupied with. If men are the ones who build, then you are the ones who make them. If men are prophets, then you are the ones who give   birth to them. If it were not for you, Islam would not have been established. So thank you to each one of you