#304: On The Hadīth: No Woman will enter Jannah Until She is Like The Red-Beaked Crow
*QUESTION*
_”Fun fact before you read the hadith: this bird in the picture is actually from the family of crows, which are very similar to ravens. They have similar habitats and flock together. However, the ones with a red beak and legs are very rare, and slowly becoming extinct. They’re called red billed choughs._
كنا مع رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم بمر الظهران فإذا بغربان كثيرة , فيها غراب أعصم أحمر المنقار والرجلين , فقال صلى الله عليه وسلم لا يدخل الجنة من النساء إلا مثل هذا الغراب في هذه الغربان
_Amr bin al-Ās: While we were with the Messenger of Allâh in a mountain path (during Hajj or Umrah); He said: “Look! Do you see anything? We answered “We see crows; amongst them is one that is white-footed, with red legs and a red beak. The Messenger of Allaah said: “No woman will enter paradise unless she is like this crow in comparison to the rest of the crows.”_
_[Source: Musnad Ahmad (v. 4, p. 197)]_
_But I don’t understand the main part_
_” No woman will enter paradise unless she is like this crow in comparison to the rest of the crows”._
*ANSWER*
Alhamdulillāh. I ask Allāh to be merciful to you and to make you of His Pious Servants, and to reward you for your pursuit of the Knowledge of the Hadīth of the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam, āmīn
As for the Hadīth to which you refer, then know that it is Sahih on its own and Sahih by several other Ahādith that carry the same meaning.
We know that Crows are of different kinds but the Red-Beaked crow is very hard to find. In the Hadīth, it is said _Ghurābun A’asam_ which was rightly translated as _’White-Footed Crow’_.
This particular kind of Crow is very difficult to find and the Arabs particularly use the word to imply rarity. They would say: _’So and so a thing is rarer than Ghurābun A’asam’_…
In the Hadīth recorded by Imām At-Tabarānī from Abū ‘Umāmah, the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – said:
مثل المرأة الصالحة من النساء كمثل الغراب الأعصم في مائة غراب
_”The like of a Pious Woman from among women is the like of Al-Ghurābu Al’A’asam in a hundred Crows”_
The Hadīth was graded as Weak by Al-Hāfidh Al-‘Irāqī in his Takhrīj on the Ihyā of Al-Ghazzālī.
Some ‘Ulamā mentioned that the _’Ghurābun A’asam’_ is the White-beaked. Some said it is the _White footed_, they all point to the rarity of it.
The Hadīth generally draws attention to the rarity of Pious Women among women. Just as it is difficult to find the White-Footed Crow, good and pious women are very difficult to find amongst women. This is true.
If that is said by the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – in his era, what would be said about Pious Womenin this era of ours?
Just as this draws the attention to our Sisters to the importance of striving to be among these very very rare crows, it also draws the attention of brothers to the kinds of women they should train their daughters to become.
We ask Allāh to increase the number of _White Footed_ Crows in the Ummah, āmīn.
Bārakallāhu fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran
13th Al Muharram 1439AH
📚 *IslamNode*
