of homes for the inhabitants through whom they live. God filled the place within the man from which woman was brought forth with inclination toward her. His longing for woman is thus the greater one’s longing and tenderness toward the lesser. As for receiving assistance from women, he receives it from them for their sake, as the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, received it when he commanded them to give charity. He sought their deliverance after seeing them to be most of the Fire’s inhabitants, feeling compassion for them because they were from him. This is the human being’s compassion for himself. They are also the locus of generation for the image of perfection. Loving them is therefore a prescribed duty and following him, peace be upon him. The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said, “Three from your world were made beloved to me: women and perfume, and my delight was placed in prayer.” He mentioned women. Do you think what distances him from his Lord was made beloved to him? No, by God. What brings him near his Lord was made beloved to him.
ʿAʾishah, Mother of the Believers, understood the place women held in the Messenger of God’s heart, may God bless him and grant him peace, when he gave them the choice and they chose him. God, exalted is He, wished to comfort them, prefer them at that moment, and show regard for them, even if contrary to the Messenger’s wish, may God bless him and grant him peace. He said, “Women are not lawful for you after this, nor that you exchange them for other wives, even if their beauty pleases you, except those your right hand possesses” [al-Ahzab 33:52]. In mercy toward him, because of the love of women placed within his heart, He left him possession by the right hand. This was among the hardest verses sent down upon the Messenger of God,
