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Our Women: The Essence of the Ummah (by
Abu Qatadah) July 16, 2009 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “...It is not a coincidence that the Qur’an tells us
in ‘al-Qasas’ about the conflict between Musa and Fir’awn (Moses and Pharaoh),
and the Qur’an’s focus on this conflict is the verse: {“And We wished to do a
favor to those who were oppressed in the land, and to make them rulers and to
make them the inheritors.”} [al-Qasas; 5] So, this transferal of power began
with a woman, as Allah Said: {“And We inspired to the mother of Musa:
"Suckle him. But, when you fear for him, cast him into the river and do
not fear or grieve...””} [al-Qasas; 7] So, the woman is the focal point of our conflict
with our opponents, and the outcome of either victory or defeat will come
through her. These are not words for a speech or poetry. Rather, it is the
reality that we must all pay attention to. So, you see today the best of this Ummah – where are
its men? They are either in prisons, kicked out of their countries, or occupied
with this struggle. So, who will protect the family and raise the children and
see to the daily affairs of life? It is none other than the woman. And thanks
to Allah, the Islamic Da’wah has won the battle until now when it comes to the
woman despite the presence of some shortcomings in her being violated,
corrupted, and turned into a source of corruption. The conflict has begun in that the situation of the
woman in our Ummah is not purely Islamic, as many social restrictions placed
around the woman contradict the Shari’ah of Allah. For example, preventing her
from education, preventing her from her right of ownership, looking down on
her, and the spread of jahili practices against her – this reality gave a
chance for the modern liberal jahiliyyah to gain acceptance with some of these
poor women. With the help of their filthy devils, their goal is to transform
the woman into a product to be displayed. Because of this, those of us involved
in this da’wah have to free ourselves from these two forms of jahiliyyah – the
first jahiliyyah and the second jahiliyyah; the corrupt jahiliyyah of the
people and the jahiliyyah of liberalism. The correct path is with Islam, which
is to respect the woman and appreciate her and to protect her rights to
education and work that is within the guidelines of the Shari’ah, in addition
to her rights of ownership, inheritance, etc. And from the things we must struggle against in
order to tighten the way for Satan to spread his message are high dowries in
marriage, and to raise the excellent Islamic slogan of “The lesser your dowry
is, the more your blessings will be,” as the presence of unmarried men and
women who are at the age where they should be married is a hidden evil that can
destroy every good. So, lowering dowries will end this, without a doubt. Also,
we should break the shackles of this evil jahiliyyah such as the requirement of
equal social status between spouses. This is a baseless condition, as Zaynab
bint Jahsh – who was from Quraysh – married Zayd bin Harithah, who was a
slave...and I have seen those who prefer that their daughters remain unmarried
than to marry her to a Muslim who is not from the same country or tribe, and
such people are described in the Shari’ah as oppressive caretakers, and their
position as caretakers is nullified due to their inappropriate actions and
foolishness. The woman is the essence of our Ummah, and any
shortcoming from her is a true defeat. Therefore, we have to take care of this
aspect and to give it its proper attention. We see failure coming from some men
who are on this path. However, until now, we have not seen failure from our
sisters. Rather, we have only seen patience, resolve, faith, and true
determination. Our sisters and mothers in Palestine are miracles of Allah in
all of this, and some of them are unequaled by hundreds of Mujahid men in their
struggle, patience, and resolve. Likewise, we saw in the Gulf countries
awareness among the women that was much stronger than what was with the men,
and purity of heart in supporting the Mujahidin that we did not see from the
men. So, all praise is for Allah, the Lord of the worlds. As for the West, the
wives of the non-Arab brothers have Islam, faith, and awareness that we rarely
see with the men. As for the wives of the Arab immigrants, they are generally
much better and purer than their husbands. I heard many complaints from the
Muslim women about the weakness of their husbands in regards to their religious
practice, and this criticism proves the high status that our sisters hold and
that they are better than the men, by the favor of Allah. The attention that Satan and his soldiers give to
the religious woman in her Hijab shows us the importance of this conflict.
Therefore, it isn’t strange that France – with all of its problems – would turn
its attention to fighting the Hijab and legislating laws to ban it, and to have
many European countries imitate it in this devilish move. Likewise, if you
follow what goes on in many conferences and the attention and effort given to
destroy the family structure and the woman, you will come to realize that the
woman is a fortress that is quite significant. So, this battle is one that we
cannot ignore. We have to teach our women, because education is
what will protect her from failure. The ignorant woman is an enemy to herself,
her husband, her household, and her society. And we have to defend her rights,
and it is upon the propagators and scholars and religious people to distinguish
true Islam from jahili social customs, because baseless social customs are the
weapon that the modern jahiliyyah uses in its battle against the woman. Why do we hear today of misyar marriages? I am not
discussing the ruling on it here. Rather, I am discussing it as an unfamiliar
social phenomenon, because the norm is that marriages are announced and known
to all. The reason it now exists is because of the social deviation that is
manifested in high dowries and the existence of the baseless condition of equal
social status between the man and woman. So, the youth are turned off from
marriage and remain unmarried, and the natural result is this sick, twisted
form of marriage. This twisted form of marriage is what takes place when the
woman is conscious of her Lord. However, if she is like other women, the result
will be that she falls into a great offense, without a doubt... We have the utmost love, respect, and appreciation
for our believing mothers, sisters, daughters. And for our patient wives, we
have all the love, prayers, and gratitude. Were it not for them, we would be
nothing, and there would be no future for our children...” Our Women: The Essence of the Ummah http://forums.islamicawakening.com/f30/our-women-essence-ummah-abu-qatadah-26597/__________________ |
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