Tying the Knot: Intensive weekend marriage course with Sh Fahimul Anam

Advice of Umamah bint Harith

”Awf ibn Mauslimah ash-Shaybani, one of the most highly respected leaders of the Arab nobility during the jahiliyah, married his daughter Um Iyaas to Al-Harith ibn Amr al-Kindi. She was made ready to be taken to the groom, then her mother Umamah came in to her, to advice her, and said:

‘O my daughter, if it were deemed unnecessary to give you this advice because of good manners and noble descent, then it would have been unnecessary for you, because you possess these qualities, but it will serve as reminder to those who are forgetful, and will help those who are wise.

‘O my daughter, if a woman were able to do without a husband by virtue of her father’s wealth and her need for her farther, then you of all people would be most able to do without a husband, but women were created for men just as men were created for them.

‘O my daughter, you are about to leave the home in which you grew up, where you first learned to walk, to go to a place you do not know, to a companion with whom you are unfamiliar. By marrying you, he has become a master over you, so be like a servant to him, and he will become like a servant to you.