Heavenly Ornaments (BIHISHTI ZEVAR)

The stupendous task of the revival of religion undertaken in the fourteenth century of hijrah by Maulana Muhammad Ashraf Ali Thanvi, the hakim ul-ummah, needs no introduction. The honorable Mawlana has left behind a valuable treasure of nearly a thousand books catering not only to specialist scholars and researchers but also to laymen.

Bahishti Zewar is a distinguished book among the latter kind written for the Muslim woman. It is an amazing compendium of religious and temporal information. It has within its folds everything a woman should know and will need to know. However, since it also includes juristic answers, the book is also a guide for men and scholars of high rank. Indeed, it has the unique distinction of being written for women in a language suitable for them yet offering light to scholars and jurists.

The Bahishti Zewar has received Allah's approval in an extraordinary way. It has been published in uncountable numbers and is continuously in print. Very few books can compare with it in this regard. It is for one who begins his Urdu language and for everyone, stage by stage, till the mufti (the jurist scholar). Since it is equally useful for everyone - and, indeed, necessary- there might be an odd Muslim house that may not have referred to it at some time or other. Indeed, for quite some time the teaching syllabus of Muslim women centered around this book. Those women who may have read it carefully can easily outshine today's highly educated women. The sphere of the Bahishti Zewar covers salient points of religion and worldly learning - essay writing, calligraphy, and etiquette. In short, everything is the basic objective of learning. Perhaps the graduate women of today might not even approach the wide knowledge of the women of Bahishti Zewar.