Upheld by Allah: Women in the Quran
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Ep. 2: Keeping A Promise to Allah: The Mother of Maryam
Have you ever made an oath to God that you found difficulty sticking to?
Hinnah, the mother of Mary (as), made a promise to Allah that if He granted her a child, she would dedicate him to His service. When she discovered she gave birth to a girl in a time when it wasn't common for women to worship in the Temple, she was worried. Yet she never wavered in her commitment to her oath.
From naming her daughter to raising her, Hinnah demonstrated tawakkul in Allah through action—so much so that she and her progeny were immortalized in the Qur'an and upheld by God Himself.
Tune in to the episode 2 of Upheld by Allah: Women in the Qur'an with Ustadha Lobna Mulla.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Have you ever wanted something so badly that you made du'a to Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala that if you got this one thing, then you would do XYZ, change this habit, or start increasing your ibadah? And then after getting what you wanted, did you ever feel like you want to go back on that burst of enthusiasm? Like for example, if I pass this important final exam, I'll start praying Fajr, or I'll put on the hijab, or stop being so quick to get angry, and so on. And then when you finally pass that exam, you now all of a sudden think of several reasons why you shouldn't or couldn't fulfill your promise to Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala. Many of us have been there before. So how do we strengthen our resolve? Let's meet someone who made an oath to Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala and fulfilled it, despite several difficult obstacles that came her way. Meet the wife of Imran Alayhi Salaam, the mother of Maryam Alayhi Salaam, Hinnah bint Faiqut, may Allah be pleased with her. Hinnah bint Faiqut Hinnah bint Faiqut was a pious woman who was married to Imran Alayhi Salaam. They were not able to have children, so Hinnah turned her focus to Allah. She repeatedly made du'a to Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala to grant her a child, even though she and her husband were both older and had not previously had any children. Then miraculously, Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala answered her prayer, and when Hinnah found out the blessed news of her pregnancy, she expressed her deep gratitude by dedicating her child to the worship of Allah and in service to Bayt al-Maqdis. Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala says in the Quran, Remember when the wife of Imran said, My Lord, I dedicate what is in my womb entirely to your service, so accept it from me. You alone are truly the all-hearing, all-knowing. This was a very happy moment for Hinnah and Imran Alayhi Salaam, as well as for their people. Yet shortly thereafter, Imran Alayhi Salaam passed away. Let's pause here for a minute. Imagine how Hinnah must have felt. She wanted a child for so long, and after so many years, she finds out she was expecting. Imagine the elation, the excitement, the gratitude.
MashaAllah, Hinnah immediately expresses her gratitude with the dedication of her unborn child. Now with the tragic timing of her husband's death, there is such a stark change in her reality. Imagine the pain, the sadness, and all of the unknowns that come along with death. Yet despite this loss, Hinnah doesn't waver in her commitment to Allah, and she doesn't now take back her oath to him. And when Hinnah finally gives birth, she says, as is mentioned in the Quran, when she delivered, she said, my Lord, I have given birth to a girl. And Allah fully knew what she had delivered. And the male is not like the female. This statement of surprise is not one of dismay in having a girl, but rather out of her desire to be able to fulfill her oath, as it was not customary in Judaic law for women to worship in the temple. And for a child to be dedicated to the da'wah of Allah, this also was customarily more practical for men. So when Hinnah says, the male is not like the female, she's expressing her wish to continue her oath, despite it being against societal norms. How amazing is it that Hinnah notices this challenge, yet continues in her commitment. To further establish this dedication of her daughter to the service of Allah, she names her daughter Maryam, which comes from the Aramaic language, Mary, meaning Rabbi, my Lord, and Em, female servant. Even with the seemingly simple action of naming her daughter in the way she did, Hinnah teaches us what it means to have tawakkul. This shows the level of optimism in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. There was no question of, should I still go through with my oath or hesitation on her part? She could have easily tried to rescind her oath and justified by saying, well, I just lost my husband and can't bear to also have my future child be away from me. And again, when she discovered that she gave birth to a girl, Hinnah could have also justified going back on her oath by saying, well, girls are not allowed to worship in the temple. She had two moments where her commitment could have wavered, but she persevered instead. She trusted in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and stamped it with her certainty in Allah's mercy
by literally naming her daughter after her intention. If we look at it this way, before birth, Hinnah made the intention to dedicate her child to the service of Allah. After birth, despite it being against the norm, she still decided to fulfill her oath to dedicate her child to the worship of Allah and then sealed it by naming her daughter Maryam, the servant of my Lord. When you think about it, so much goodness comes from these heartfelt and sincere duas, all stemming from the dua for a child and dua asking her child and progeny to be protected from Shaitan. I have named her Maryam and I seek your protection for her and her offspring from Shaitan the accursed, as she says in the Quran. Never underestimate how far your dua can go. Allah gives with endless generosity beyond our imagination. Remembering that answering our dua sometimes is generously answered by not being fulfilled in the way we asked. This is one of the most difficult aspects of Allah's wisdom to accept at times. Why aren't we getting married to that individual? Why aren't I able to have children? Why am I not able to get into this university or get this job and so on? Although Hinnah did not explicitly make dua for a son, it is what she wanted so that she could dedicate him to the service of Allah, which again was more practical for men at the time. But Allah gave her much more than what she expected. A righteous daughter in her own right, miracles being bestowed upon her, forever memorialized in the Quran, and then Isa Alayhi Salaam, one of the most righteous men to ever walk this earth, bestowed with miracles upon miracles and set to come back to this earth. So since her grandson's book is not yet sealed, therefore hers is not either. Hinnah Radilo Anha got so much more than she could have ever imagined. So what about us? Can we make dua to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la with full yaqeen, that He will answer our prayers in the best way possible for us? Can we remember that not having our duas answered is in and of itself a blessing and mercy, since it is what is best for us? Can we ask of Allah without holding back, thinking that it is not possible to get what we want? We can.
All we have to do is believe and ask.
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