Question:
I know that one of the signs of judgement is that there are more women than men & does that make them a curse because of their growing numbers? They didn’t ask to be females so is it their fault? This hadeeth that said that women will run to the anti-christ and the men will chain them down. What kind of women are these? Are they Muslim women and non-Muslim women? Since there are more women that means there are more women that will follow when the Prophet Isa Peace Be Upon Him just as there are more women will follow the anti Christ right? I know a Muslim girl that is scared of following the enemy and wants me to kill her when the time comes of the anti Christ because there are signs that already happened; she said she rather die without accomplishment her goals /dreams than to leave Allah.
Answer:
Salam alaykum, and thank you for your question. There is a hadith in Sahih Bukhari that relates some of the signs of the coming of the Hour, and one of them is this: the number of men will decrease and the number of women will increase, so much so that for every fifty women there will be one man to look after them. Some people use this hadith to say that women themselves are a curse. If we look closely at this hadith, however, we can see that the problem is not the increase in women per se, but rather that the drastically unequal numbers of men and women mean that many women will be left on their own, unable to be supported by a caring husband. There is nothing in this hadith that suggests that women are a curse or in any way lesser beings than men. The Qur’an, and the example of our beloved Prophet (saws), is all we need to understand that men and women are equally loved by Allah and equally fit to stand before Him on the Day of Judgment.
With regards to your friend’s concerns, there are a few things I would like to say. Her concerns are serious and come from a place of sincerity. It is important that your friend seeks religious knowledge – indeed, she will protect herself through that knowledge. However, asking to be killed out of fear means having no faith in God’s mercy and guidance. Tell your friend that instead of being afraid, she should be hopeful, hold fast to God’s rope and to love of our beloved Prophet (saws), and pray that she is among the righteous. Ask her to follow the sunnah to the best of her ability, to be good to herself and her family, friends and neighbors, to work hard and be an asset to her community. The Prophet (saws) will protect those who hold fast to him and who have faith and do good deeds.
My humble opinion is that the hadith about women and Dajjal is warning us that women, as much as men, need to learn about their religion. Too many Muslims focus on the religious education of their sons and are content with keeping their daughters ignorant, despite the fact that their daughters will go on to become mothers and will be expected to pass on the right morals and attitudes to their children. If someone is kept ignorant of their religion, how can we expect that they will not fall under the influence of falsehood or false charisma? It happens every day in all corners of the Muslim world. Your friend is wrong to lose hope in God’s mercy or to doubt her own potential for goodness, but right to educate herself in religious matters. May she attain tawfiq inshallah.
And Allah knows best.
Dr. Homayra Ziad
