adopts, Islam does not let an atoms worth of injustice reach her, rather it saved them from the storm of oppression and coercion and granted them a new lease of life.

Islam was also instrumental in removing cruel and unjust age-old traditions which particularly discriminated against daughters, and it granted them a distinctive status in society. In regards to this, let us now hear of the heart-wrenching ordeal that young girls faced before Islam came.

The status of a daughter before Islam

Dear Islamic brothers! Before Islam, young girls were treated worse than animals. Sometimes, they were buried alive straight after birth, as this unjust society would consider the birth of a girl to be a means of shame. If a person found out he was now the father of a girl, he would not come before the people for many days, and think to himself: Do I spend my life raising this girl whilst being subjected to disgrace, or do I bury her alive and save myself from embarrassment?

Allah Almighty says in the 14^th Juzz of the Holy Quran, in verses 58 and 59 of سُوْرَۃُ النَّحْل:

وَ اِذَا بُشِّرَ اَحَدُهُمْ بِالْاُنْثٰى ظَلَّ وَجْهُهٗ مُسْوَدًّا وَّ هُوَ كَظِیْمٌۚ(۵۸) یَتَوَارٰى مِنَ الْقَوْمِ مِنْ سُوْٓءِ مَا بُشِّرَ بِهٖؕ-اَیُمْسِكُهٗ عَلٰى هُوْنٍ اَمْ یَدُسُّهٗ فِی التُّرَابِؕ-اَلَا سَآءَ مَا یَحْكُمُوْنَ(۵۹)

And when one amongst them is given the glad tidings of a daughter, his face therefore remains darkened for the whole day, and he is full of anger. (He is) hiding from the people because of the shame of this news; will he keep her with disgrace, or bury her alive in the sand? Behold! Very evil is the judgement they apply.^[1]

However, even during this age of cold-heartedness, there were some