Women around the Messenger By Muhammad Ali Qutb

From the very beginning, women entering the fold of Islam were not passive observers — they were builders. They were among the first to believe, the first to sacrifice, the first to emigrate, the first to teach, and the first to give their lives for the religion. Women Around the Messenger by Muhammad Ali Qutb presents the life sketches of the first generation of Muslim women, showing the important roles they played in the overall development of early Islamic society.

What This Book Covers

The Mothers of the Believers

The wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) are the mothers of this ummah — women of extraordinary courage, knowledge, and sacrifice who preserved the most intimate dimensions of the Sunnah and transmitted them to the generations that followed. Each Mother of the Believers receives a dedicated portrait: her background, her conversion, her relationship with the Prophet, her role in teaching and preserving the religion, and the lessons her life offers.

The Women Companions — Muhajirun and Ansar

Beyond the Mothers of the Believers, the book covers the women of the Muhajirun who left Mecca for the sake of Allah, and the women of the Ansar who opened their homes and hearts to the early Muslim community. Their sacrifices are documented here from the authentic historical sources.

Their Role in Building Islamic Society

The book addresses a specific misconception: that the women of the early Muslim community were confined to the domestic sphere. The historical record shows Muslim women participated in medical care on the battlefield, transmitted hadith, gave fatwa, taught men and women alike, and shaped the intellectual and spiritual life of the early community in ways that have no parallel in any civilization of that era.

About the Author

Muhammad Ali Qutb is an Egyptian author who has written extensively on the figures of early Islamic history for a general Muslim readership. This revised and annotated second edition includes new explanatory footnotes and a foreword by the translator. Translated by Abdur-Rafi Adewale Imam. Published by International Islamic Publishing House (IIPH).

Who This Book Is For

Every Muslim woman who wants role models rooted in the actual history of Islam. Muslim men who want to understand the status and contribution of women in the first generation. Parents raising daughters in the deen. And anyone who has heard claims about the status of women in Islam and wants to see what the historical record actually shows.

Continue Reading

For the same subject from the classical hadith masters, see The Illustrious Women of Islam (ad-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar), and Ibn al-Jawzi's Ranks of the Elite Volume 2, which opens with the Mothers of the Believers. See also our guide to the best Islamic books for Muslim women and the Muslim women collection.