Why Allah Did Not Send Any Female Messengers?

Why when we read this book we do not find any name of a female messenger of God. And God said, send only male messenger and prophets and apostles. Why females are excluded? What is the answer? In chapter 16, Surat un-Nahl, verse 43, God says ''Wa ma arsalana min qablika illa rijalan nuhi ilayhim; fa as-a'lu ahl al-Dhikr in kuntum la ta'lamun'' (16:43). We sent no messenger before you oh Muhammad, save men, only men who received revelation from their Lord.

Now some people come and say look, God himself in his book he says we only sent male messengers, we did not send female messengers, and this means that they [women] are unqualified for leadership to be messengers of God. They are not good for this job. Other people argue that look at the Qur'an, even the Qur'an, even Islam has detracted a view of women. Because God says in his book only men are qualified. We only sent men as messengers of God. So what is the answer my friends?

The answer is this verse came at a time where the idolaters of Mecca, the Makkans, the pagans, they argued with the prophet. They said to him we cannot accept you as being the messenger of God. Why? Because you are a mortal. You are a human being just like us. And God, who is too great and too big, God is the omnipotent. God is the omniscient. God, who is the creator of this universe. God cannot be represented by a human being. He must send someone who is above a human being. And that person should be that person should be an angel. God is refuting the request. God is saying that no, I am sending a Messenger on purpose. I want him to be a human being. I want him to be one of you. I want him to share the feelings with you.

Because if I send someone who is alien stranger, he does not know what is going on. If we bring a scholar from outside America who does not speak English, he does not know anything about America and now he wants to give consultation, advice to the people in this country. He wants to speak to women, he wants to speak to the young generation, to the youth, to the adults and solve their problems. And he has no clue about America. He does not speak the language, he knows nothing about the culture.Would he be successful in his mission? He can not because he is unaware. He is ignorant of what is going on. You need to know what is happening.

Therefore God said to the Makkans I am sending Muhammad and I know he is a human "Qul innama ana basharun mithlakum" (18:110). Yes, he is a human. Because I want to send a leader from within you, someone from you, who knows you very well, who knows what we need, who knows our strengths as well as our weaknesses. So he can give us the best advice. If I send an angel, angel is going to be alien to you. Angels, they have no desires. They do not eat, they do not drink, they do not sleep. They do not trust, they do not have families, so they cannot even give you the best advice. They are strangers, aliens. This is why we send humans.

So when God said "Wa ma arsalana min kablika il rijalan" (16:43), He said man, he was trying to say that my messengers to the humanity are humans. But not necessarily, he did not mean to say they are male. He did not say male, he said men, and men in this context means humans, my friends, rijalan in this context of the Qur'an implies that prophets and messengers are humans, not angels, they carry human characteristics. So God did not necessarily mean to say that they are males. Rijalan means they are humans. You asked for angels. I did not send angels. I am going to send humans. This is number one.

Number two: we find in the same book, my friends. This is the Holy Qur'an, come to the story of the mother of Moses. She is a female. God says about her: "Wa awhayna ila ummi Musa an ardhi'i" (28:7). We inspired her, wahi here does not mean revelation, it means inspiration. So God talked to her what to do when she was busy carrying the baby, Moses and the enemies were running after her to murder the baby. God revealed to her. God inspired her, god guided her. So if she is not if women are not worthy of God's inspiration and God's speech, then why should God speak to the wife, to the mother of Moses? This is number one.

You come to another lady from the children of Israel, and that is Mariam. Angels spoke with Mariam. Angel spoke with Mary. Angel brought her food every day: "kullama dakhala a'layha Zakhariya al-mihrab wajada i'ndaha rizqa; qal ya Maryam anna laki hadha? Qalat huwa min 'indi Allah" (3:37). Every time Zakariah comes to the sanctuary to check on her, he finds food. So he is surprised. He says, Mary, where do you bring this food from? She says it is from God. So angels are serving her. If women are not good and not qualified, and they are secondary citizens, and they are inferior to men, how can angels come and serve them? This is a second example.

The third example. Third example, God says about Mary herself "Siddiqa". "wa ummuhu siddiqatun" (5:75). Siddiqa means truthful. And remember, this is not a small title, this is a big title, heavyweight title. Because God says about Ibrahim: " wadhkur fil kitabi ibrahim innahu kana siddiqan Nabiyi" (19:41). Remember in the book, Abraham, who was Truthful and a prophet. So God has given the same title that He gave earlier to Abraham, the patriarch, the leader, the most important prophet, the father of all the prophets, he carried the title Siddiq, Truthful. He gave the same title to Mary, who was a female.

So if females are inferior to men, can they deserve the same title? They cannot. But God says they are equal. We don't have inferiority and superiority when it comes to human beings. When it comes to male and female, no one is superior to the other. This is a misconception. This is a patriarchy syndrome.

Now, my friends, again, why do not we don't find a female who is messenger of God, who is the prophet of God. Yes, we find the mother of Moses, she is highly respected. We find Mary highly respected. We find Khadija, the wife of the prophet, highly respected, we find Fatima Zahra, we find Zainab, we find many women. But why, one of them is not a prophet or a messenger of God? Because my friends, at that time, because of this patriarchy syndrome that did exist and dominate all societies, not just Arabia, not just Arabia, go to every culture at that time, every culture, and in some cultures right now, they believe in the dominance of men, they believe in the patriarch society.

They believe that men are first, women are second. And this is how it was at that time. So if God sends a female messenger, people are not going to follow her. Trust me, people are not going to take her serious. Trust me, people are not going to respect her. Because in chapter 19 'Maryam', Hannah, the wife of Imran, the mother of Mary, her name is Hannah, when she made a vow that when she conceives a baby, she is going to dedicate that baby to serve the temple in Jerusalem.

Now, when she conceived and she gave birth, the baby turned to be what? Female. She said "Rabbi ini nathartu laka ma fi badni muharrara fa taqabbal minni. Anta as-Sami'u al-'Alim" (3:35). And then God says: "falamma wadha'tah qalat Rabbi ini wadhatuhu untha. Wa Allahu a'lamu bima wadh'at, wa laysa adh-dhakaru ka 'l-untha" (3:36), when she bore the baby, she said oh God, I born a female and God knows what she bore. He knows. And then Qur'an continues to say and male are not like female. "Wa laysa adh-dhakaru ka 'l-untha" (3:36), God is telling us this is in news, he is telling us that at that time, that society of the children of Israel, at that time in Palestine, they did not perceive men and women to be equal, on the same page.

They did not, women were not equal to men, "wa laysa adh-dhakaru ka 'l-untha" (3:36). Now, some people say, but God is saying this statement! Yes, God is saying this statement in the Qur'an, but God does not necessarily agree with it. Because God says many statements in his book, but he does not agree. The statement that says: "wa in yakadu alladhina kafaru la yazliqunaka be absarahim, amma sami'u adh-Dikra wa yaqooloona innahu lamajnoon" (68:51). The Mekkans, when they hear you reading the book, they say he is Majnoon, he is mad.

Does God agree with them? Is it God who is saying that Muhammad is mad, insane, or the Makkans? It is the Makkans. God only is conveying the statement of the Makkans, but does not necessarily agree with it. Not every sentence said in this book, God says I agree with it. Sometimes God is bringing you the statements of others and some of them are non believers, but he mentioned their statements in this book. So "women are not equal to men", this is not the statement of God, this is the statement of that society at that time. They did not accept women as leaders. And remember, Hannah is the wife of a prophet, Zakariya is a prophet, an important prophet, and she is saying about Mary, she is not equal to men.

If God would send females, they would not follow. And God wants people to follow the Messenger. So when God does not send female prophets, he is not saying that they are deficient. It is not about their natural deficiency. It is not about their moral deficiency or spiritual deficiency. It is about the deficiency of the society who cannot accept them.