Wives of Prophets Noah and Lot (A.S.)

 

What aids in clarifying what we want to explain as the meaning of the verses cited above is to observe the following matters:

 

1. He has pointed out in the verse how a woman stood in the face of a man. Perhaps some people see men as having a distinction over women in certain areas which provides preference and priority in many matters.

 

2. Both men are husbands, and a husband enjoys a strong position, at least in the house of his wife.

 

3. Regardless of the above, a husband usually is the most knowledgeable of all people, including the parents, of the conditions of his wife, of her habits, of the points of her weakness or strength, because he is practically in continuous contact with her, and she usually lives with him. Such knowledge is most clear to him and is in the highest of degrees.

 

4. This man possesses attributes of perfection and means of power, especially in his awareness, management, mind and wisdom, and in his intellectual level and the soundness of such mentality, as well as in his ability to convince, let alone other things. He actually is the pinnacle in all of that, so much so that he has deserved to be a Prophet, even a Messenger of Allah. One of them, namely Noah, is one of “ulil-`azm” who possess the highest degrees of firmness, immunity and power. Who else more than a prophet/messenger knows the means of convincing others, its methods and tools? Or is there anyone else more than him in his acquisition of the intellectual diction or anything else needed to do so?!

 

5. Moreover, this woman lived in an environment of guidance, in the atmospheres of purity, cleanliness, straightforwardness, virtue, conviction, goodness and righteousness where all of this is personified as a concrete reality which could be directly felt, rather than being mere theories.

As regarding deviation, evil and apostasy, these will be in such an environment strange, rejected, outcast, having no freedom of movement, and they will never be accepted.

 

6. Both of these men/prophets, one of whom belongs to “ulil-`azm,” had to bear the responsibility of guiding the nation, defending it, distancing it from the slippery venues of deviation and their ills. Providing such guidance is their primary and basic responsibility, and it is everything in their lives of a guiding message. It is not something casual, such as money which can be compensated, or authority which one can live without, nor is it power nor influence, nor house management. And it is not a materialistic interest nor any of life’s affairs which can be overlooked. Rather, undermining it means undermining destiny and existence, the future, this life and the life hereafter. This mission is regarded and treated as a sacred thing from the standpoint of worship and adoration.

His wife defies him although she does not possess any of what we have listed above, rebelling against him in the depth of his responsibility and in the most precious thing he had.

 

7. Such defiance was a defiance of the environment and the surrounding because it sprung up from within the environment of righteousness, conviction, goodness and guidance.

 

8. What increases the pain is that she defied him in something towards which he aims instinctively, something to which his heart and conscience were tied, and so were his feelings, soul and all his existence.

Yet even more bitter is that she wants to be the antithesis which is not confined to mere deviation, but she tries to demolish what he was building, taking advantage of the deviating environment which could help her achieve her objective, grant her a boost and enhancing her determination.

On the other hand, this matter is not confined to one source which can be regarded as incidental or the exception to the rule, for this same matter repeated itself and included Noah and Lot, peace be upon them both, whom Allah puts forth as examples for what happened to them.