Turkey's first Muslim feminist women's association, Havle, is named after Khawla – a historical Muslim woman whose protest against marital injustice led to the revelation of the first four verses of Surah Al-Mujadilah in the Quran, and the inspiration behind the association's name.
The story of Khawlah bint Tha'labah (referred to in Turkish as Havle Bint-i Salabe) is one of the most powerful and legally consequential narratives of advocacy in Islamic history. Her refusal to accept an unjust marital custom physically altered the course of Islamic jurisprudence and permanently established women's rights to petition the highest authorities.
1. The Injustice: The Cruel Custom of Zihar
Khawlah was a woman from the Khazraj tribe in Medina, married to Aws ibn al-Samit. As they grew older together, Aws developed a quick, irritable temper. Following a domestic dispute, Aws angrily declared to her:
"You are to me like the back of my mother."
In pre-Islamic Arabian culture, this verbal vow was known as Zihar. It was a devastating, degrading form of constructive divorce. Once pronounced:
- The wife was permanently forbidden from having marital relations with her husband.
- She was left in a legal and social limbo—she was no longer treated as a wife, yet she was not legally divorced either, meaning she was entirely trapped and unable to remarry or claim financial support.
2. The Protest: Arguing with the Prophet
Khawlah refused to quietly accept a practice that stripped her of her dignity, children, and livelihood. She went directly to the Prophet Muhammad to demand a solution.
At the time, no divine revelation had yet been sent down regarding Zihar, so the Prophet initially advised her to be patient and defer to existing social customs, remarking that she appeared to be separated from her husband.
Khawlah did not back down. She fiercely debated her case, exclaiming that she had spent her youth with her husband, borne his children, and was now being cast aside in her old age. Standing her ground, she looked up and turned her grief into a direct mandate, saying: "O Allah! I complain to You."
3. The Revelation: Overturning the Law from the Heavens
While Khawlah was still protesting, the Prophet Muhammad received a sudden, heavy revelation. Allah responded directly to her plea, completely invalidating the custom of Zihar and establishing the opening of Surah Al-Mujadilah (meaning “The Woman Who Pleads” or “The Disputer”):
"Allah has certainly heard the speech of the one who argues with you, [O Muhammad], concerning her husband and directs her complaint to Allah. And Allah hears your dialogue; indeed, Allah is Hearing and Seeing." (Quran 58:1)
The subsequent verses (58:2–4) stripped Zihar of its power to dissolve marriages, branding it a "falsehood" and an "evil speech." To deter men from using such abusive language, Allah instituted a strict penalty (Kaffarah) that a husband had to fulfill before touching his wife again:
- Free a slave.
- If unable, fast for 60 consecutive days.
- If unable, feed 60 impoverished people.
Because Khawlah’s husband was old, poor, and unable to meet these penalties, the Prophet and Khawlah themselves gathered dates to feed the poor on his behalf, successfully reconciling the family.
The Lasting Legacy
Khawlah’s actions forever proved that individual women possess the spiritual and social agency to stand up against systemic domestic oppression.
Years later, during the Caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab, the Caliph was riding with a vast army when an elderly Khawlah stopped him in the street. He immediately halted, bowed his head, and listened to her advice and admonitions for a long time. When a soldier asked why he stopped an entire army for an old woman, Umar replied:
"Should I not listen to her? This is the woman whose complaint Allah heard from above the seven heavens. If she kept me here until nightfall, I would not leave her."
It is this specific legacy—of a woman using her voice to dismantle patriarchal structures and force systemic legal equity—that inspired the Havle Women's Association to take her name.
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References
- The Yaqeen Institute Video Series: You can watch the full presentation by Ustadha Lobna Mulla directly via Yaqeen Institute: Upheld by Allah Ep. 5.
- The Full Video Lecture: The direct multimedia link to her story is available on the Yaqeen Institute YouTube Episode.
- In-Depth Articles & Analysis:
- For a breakdown of her spiritual ethics and advocacy, read the analysis on MuslimMatters.
- To explore the theological lessons from her dialogue with the Prophet, see the overview on Al Jumuah Magazine.
- For a look into how her pursuit of justice transformed the legal frameworks surrounding women's rights, visit Muslim.sg.
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