Dr. Rif`at Fawzi, Professor of Shari`ah at Cairo University, states the following: “The hadith wherein the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “The superiority of `Aisha to other ladies is like the superiority of Tharid (i.e. meat and bread dish) to other meals. Many men reached the level of perfection, but no woman reached such a level except Mary, the daughter of `Imran and Asia, the wife of Pharaoh” is an authentic hadith. Allah Almighty has granted certain privileges to certain women in the same way as he granted certain privileges to certain men over one another. Not only that, but He Almighty gave certain privileges to certain months over others, and to certain places over others, et cetera.
With this in mind, the privilege granted to a certain woman doesn’t mean that the other women are less fortunate, or they will not reach that high stage of ‘perfection’ and religious commitment. Some Muslim scholars state that the ‘perfection’ referred to in the hadith doesn’t mean that the women referred to in the hadith are ‘absolutely’ better than other women, but they are given certain privileges from Allah due to their staunch faith and real religious commitment; still the door is open before all Muslim women and men to exert efforts and please Their Lord in all times and in all places. Some Muslim scholars state that the privilege given to those women was so specific to their age and the time in which they lived and such privileges do not extend to other ages. Still other scholars declare that the ‘perfection’ referred to in the hadith is not in all aspects, but in certain aspects known to Allah and hence there is no ‘absolute perfection’ for those women.”
