Aisyah r.a. ; The True Beauty (Book Review)

"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate"

From the cover itself, any woman who appreciates beauty would have been attracted by its colourful and stylish designs. However, the cover page, which entitles it in English is actually a book written in Malay or Bahasa Indonesia.

The author, Brother Sulaiman An-Nadawi has compiled what he considers the most comprehensive biography of Saidatina Aisyah r.a., the Prophet's youngest wife. That being said, I applaud his scholarly work which cites many historical data and hadiths.

May Allah give him many blessings for sharing this book with us.

The Book:

The first part of the book is written chronologically- depicting the life of Aisyah r.a from birth till her wedding with the Prophet s.a.w. Later on, the author tries to portray Aisyah r.a through various themes such as her relationships with the Prophet's s.a.w's other wives, her character, her intellectual discussions and contributions to the Islamic society and a few more.

The book is written in simple language, with footnotes explaining the context behind certain hadiths and incidents and in a nutshell, managed to make Aisyah r.a. very much alive and real in our minds.

One of my takeaways from this book, although I have only read 1/4 of it, is that the relationship between Aisyah r.a and the Prophet s.a.w is not only special but a basis for which his ummah can emulate. The stories inside this book shows us that our Prophet s.a.w. is also human and he too had marital problems which he always found solutions to. But it is without a doubt that he was a kind and gentle husband, father and grandfather.

As for Aisyah, although she was relatively young when the Prophet s.a.w was still alive, she has been described as a very intelligent child that had an excellent memory and was very curious and asked alot of questions. Her intellectual contributions after the Prophet's death are also laid out in the book; evident that women in Islam have been and should be given the right to knowledge, as are men.

As women of Islam, we should try to emulate the behaviour of the Prophet's wives and learn as much as we can about them because through their eyes we could see the Prophet from a lover's eyes and hopefully feel love for him and Allah as well. From them too we can learn what it means to be a good muslimah and a good wife and a good mother. Insyaallah.

May Allah bless us for our efforts to learn and acquire knowledge in His name.

Amin.