The amount of pain, suffering, affliction, agony a woman goes through during her pregnancy period is truly beyond expression. No words can be put together to form a sentence which can be claimed to describe the state of a woman when she tries her utmost to keep breathing and remain alive while undergoing her labour pain. Those discomforts in walking, sleeping, sitting, talking; those limitations and restrictions in eating and drinking, all those constant inconveniences and torments she experiences for nine tough months seem impossible for a human like us to endure for such a long period of time, without even uttering a single word of complain for anybody.
On the contrary, the amount of reward she gets, as promised in Islam by Allah the Exalted, not only pays off each second of the bearings she had gone through but surpasses it to much greater extents that the amount of pain appears little. Pregnancy is indeed one of the greatest blessings of Allah the Most-High given to a woman. Allah the Most-Merciful has given her ability to bear a life inside a life. And for bearing a child inside her, Allah provides her with immense reward. Women are verily blessed to be pregnant.
Allah the Almighty says in the Holy Qur’ān, “And certainly did we create man from an extract of clay. Then we made them as a sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and we made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and we made [from] the lump, bones and we covered the bones with flesh; then we developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators.” [Surah Al- Mu’minoon, Ayahs 12-14]
The above ayahs describe the creation of the foetus into a child. Allah blesses a woman to such a height that He places the Jannah (Paradise) under her feet. As the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) has said, “Paradise is under the feet of the mother.” So, if one is pregnant, she has first to thank the Almighty and bear all the pain, all for His pleasure, she is given the reward of a person who fasts for Allah and spends the night in Ibadah. And when she breastfeeds her child, she would be rewarded for every gulp of milk. Imagine how much would the mother be rewarded for this. When she wakes up the whole night to take care of her child, she is rewarded equal to releasing 70 slaves in the path of Allah the All-Knowing. And that’s why women are blessed to be pregnant.
Addressing Salamah, the nurse of his son Ibrahim, the Messenger of Allah said: “Does it not please you (O Woman!) that when you conceive from your husband while he is pleased with you then that woman will receive such reward equal to that of a fasting person in the path of Allah and spending the night in Ibadah. When her labour pains commence the inhabitants of the earth and the sky are unaware of the stores of comfort that are prepared for her. When she delivers and breastfeeds her child then she will be granted a reward for every gulp of milk, and if she had to remain awake during the night for the sake of her child, she will receive the reward of emancipating seventy slaves in the path of Allah.”
And again he said: “O Salamah! Do you know who these women are? They are pious, upright, delicately-natured but yet are obedient to their husbands and not ungrateful to them.” [Al-Tabarani]
And even if the pregnant woman dies during the delivery, she attains the place of Martyrdom. This is how Allah the Most-Merciful rewards a pregnant mother. And she would be raised pure without any sins on the Day of Judgment for undergoing the immense pain.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) said: “The woman who dies during pregnancy gets the status of a martyr.” [Al-Tabarani]
It is narrated from Imam as-Sadiq : “Any time a woman leaves this world because of labour pain, on the Day of Judgment, Allah will raise her from the grave pure and without an account (of sins), because such a woman has given her life due to the hardship and pain of labour .” [Bahar al-Anwar, Vol. 101, P. 108]
No, one can repay the pain felt by a pregnant mother during her pregnancy period as well as during the time of delivery.
At the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him), a man was doing tawaf (circumambulation of Noble Ka’bah) while carrying his mother on his shoulders. When he saw the Prophet, he asked, “By doing this, have I repaid the rights of my mother?” To this the Prophet replied, “No, you haven’t even repaid one of her cries during the time of giving birth.” [Tafsir Fi Dhilal al-Qur’ān, Vol. V, P. 318]
Remember, Allah the Oft-Forgiving forgives sins, even if one gets pricked by a thorn. Then imagine about pregnancy. For each moment a woman is holding her child inside her, she would be rewarded immensely. She is rewarded for her swollen feet. She is rewarded for her nausea. She is rewarded greater for praying and fasting at that time, because of her Love for Allah, even at those difficult times. She is rewarded for each and every thing. Pregnancy is really a blessing for all women. And when the labour pain approaches, a large number of her sins would be forgiven and a great reward would be provided for her. This shows how women are blessed to be pregnant.