Husn al-Uswa bima Thabata min Allah wa Rasulihi fi al-Niswa
- Author died
- 1307 AH
- Editions
- Mu'assasat al-Risalah
Husn al-Uswa bima Thabata min Allah wa Rasulihi fi al-Niswa (Good Exemplar Concerning What Has Been Established from Allah and His Messenger Regarding Women) is a thematic treatise by the Indian scholar Siddiq Hasan Khan (d. 1307 AH / 1890 CE) that compiles Quranic verses and Prophetic hadiths pertaining specifically to women and their legal and moral rulings.
Purpose and Scope
In his introduction, Siddiq Hasan Khan states that women constitute half or the majority of the Muslim community and are equal partners to men in the general obligations and virtues enjoined by Islamic law. Because general legal works already address the shared rulings between men and women, he dedicated this work exclusively to texts that mention women specifically or assign them distinct rulings, describing this domain as representing half of religious knowledge.
Structure and Methodology
The work is organized into two major parts followed by a concluding chapter:
- The First Part (Quranic Verses): Comprises 194 chapters arranged according to the sequence of the Quran. Under each chapter, the author quotes an individual verse mentioning women, provides its exegesis—drawing notably from his own commentary Fath al-Bayan—derives practical rulings, and occasionally comments upon and critiques earlier commentators.
- The Second Part (Prophetic Traditions): Comprises 482 chapters. The author provides a descriptive heading for each chapter and adduces relevant narrations, frequently citing more than one hadith per chapter and appending his own remarks at the chapter's end. His principal sources for this section include the six canonical hadith collections (al-Sihah and al-Sunan), the Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas, the collection of Razin, and al-Targhib wa-l-Tarhib by al-Mundhiri.
- Concluding Chapter: A dedicated chapter titled Bab bayan anna al-untha tukhalifu al-rajul fi ahkamiha ("Chapter Explaining That the Female Differs from the Male in Her Legal Rulings"), which outlines specific legal matters where rulings for women diverge from those for men according to the Hanafi school.
Reception and Publication History
The work has been characterized as a pioneering thematic reference on women's status and rulings in Islamic scripture, noted for bringing together diverse textual evidences in an unprecedented arrangement.
An early edition was published at Matba'at al-Jawa'ib in Istanbul in 1301 AH. In modern times, the work was published in Beirut by Mu'assasat al-Risala in an edition edited by Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut (1399 AH), as well as an edition edited jointly by Mustafa al-Khin and Muhyi al-Din Mastu. It has also been issued by Dar al-Ra'id al-Arabi in Beirut.
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