Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (d. 751 AH/1350 CE) ؒ said:
Allah, Most High, has said concerning women in His perfect Book:
فَإِنْ كَرِهْتُمُوهُنَّ فَعَسَىٰ أَنْ تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا
“If you dislike them, it may be that you dislike a thing and Allah brings through it a great deal of good.” [Q 4:19] (excerpt)
وهكذا البنات أيضا قد يكون للعبد فيهن خير في الدنيا والآخرة، ويكفي في قبح كراهتهن أن يكره ما رضيه الله وأعطاه عبده.
The same applies to daughters: a person may find much good in them in this life and the next. It is enough to show how reprehensible it is to dislike them that a person dislikes what Allah has approved and bestowed upon His servant.
The Words of Imām Aḥmad
Ibn al-Qayyim then relates that Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad said:
كان أبي إذا ولد له ابنة يقول: الأنبياء كانوا آباء بنات. ويقول: قد جاء في البنات ما قد علمت.
“Whenever a daughter was born to my father [Imām Aḥmad], he would say: ‘The Prophets were fathers of daughters.’ He would also say: ‘You know what has been narrated concerning daughters.’”
Yaʿqūb ibn Bukhtān said:
ولد لي سبع بنات، فكنت كلما ولد لي ابنة دخلت على أحمد بن حنبل، فيقول لي: يا أبا يوسف، الأنبياء آباء بنات. فكان يذهب قوله همي.
“Seven daughters were born to me. Whenever a daughter was born to me, I would visit Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and he would say to me: ‘Abū Yūsuf! The Prophets were fathers of daughters.’ His words would dispel my worry.”
References
Al-Qurʾān, 4:19 (excerpt).
Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Tuḥfat al-Mawdūd bi-Aḥkām al-Mawlūd, edited by ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Arnāʾūṭ. 1st edn. Damascus: Maktabat Dār al-Bayān, 1391 AH/1971 CE. Chapter 2, p. 26.
