To my Sisters in God

Superstitious! Coward! Old fashioned! are the words that

still echoed in her head. Her face was soaked with warm drops that she had shed

during the past couple of hours while she had prostrated herself before the

Almighty time and again in this interval. She did not know how long she had been

up collecting and presenting before God the broken pieces of her soft heart that

was brutally hurt by the ruthless comments her friends made at the college this

morning. She had always been kind to them but they would always pass low

comments about her attire and for her fear and care about the Hereafter. Her

only crime was that she could not leave uncovered her head and chest like them

and that she could not put on skin tight or diaphanous garments. She had always

found it hard to show interest in the topics that they would discuss. She knew

that modesty was her real asset and that inner-purification was the real

objective of her life in this world. How could she go against the values that

the Almighty had inculcated within herself? How could she undertake to do

something that her conscience would vehemently disapprove of? Now at this moment

of the dark night, when she sees that she cannot not cope with the situation

anymore she resolves that she’s had enough. She must quit going to the college

and shut herself up from the rest of the world!

This exemplary event may take place in many people’s lives

with a little change in the scenario but they are often led to arrive at the

same decision because of the morbidly obnoxious treatment they are made to

receive for opting to live their lives according to the injunctions put forth by

the Almighty. This is awfully ironic that the world plays so insensitive a role

to the sincere feelings of those people who wish to take all of them to the road

that directly leads to the eternal bliss. It is sad that those who must be

respected and given an ear to hear soft words of good advice are mistreated and

branded as inferior.

This writer does not have an iota of doubt in his mind that

these circumstances are fair and just, yet his understanding of religion compels

him to humbly present the complete picture before all his sisters in God so that

they could know that ‘quitting’ is not what their Lord as well as this Ummah

expects from them.

What they must realize is that the unbecoming behavior that

their fellow human beings adopt toward their sincere feelings is nothing new and

has been so since ages. When we peruse the Holy Qur’a#n or even study history we

find that good souls always had to face hatred for showing unconditional love,

hurling stones for offering the Garden of Paradise, and harsh comments for

advancing words of wisdom and admonition. This however was their marvelous

attribute that they never gave up and remained steadfast unless they either

changed the world or sacrificed their lives for the sake of this holy mission.

This quality is no doubt hard to imbibe and retain but very desirable for those

who undertake to swim in the direction explored by their conscience instead of

drifting along in the immoral current with other people. Further deliberation

here reveals that while avoiding the circumstances resolves the crisis a person

is currently facing for the time being, it allows a minor problem to eventually

become a super one. To put it in other words, this attitude would surely permit

the evil to entangle each and every person on the face of this earth till no one

is left to proclaim the greatness of Allah. It is precisely for this reason that

the Qur’an has urged us to assume the status of the exhorter as well as of the

exhorted so that the good could flourish and the evil be put to a check. The

Qur’an thus reads;

وا

لْمُؤْمِنُوْنَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلَيَاءُ بَعْضٍ يَأْمُرُوْنُ

بِالْمَعْرُوْفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ

Believing men and believing women are friends to each

other. They enjoin what is good and forbid what is wrong. (9:71)

Another point that must be understood very clearly is about

the nature of the test we are put through in this world. This life is not

supposed to be a path adorned with roses that someone would have to tread until

death overtakes them. The truth of the matter is that we have no choice but to

prick our feet with thorns that have been scattered by the Almighty Himself on

our way in the form of financial problems, natural calamities and humans

themselves. We, therefore, must not suffer from the illusion that we will win

entitlement to Heaven without being tested in this world. This idea has been

expounded upon by the Qur’an in the following words;

أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَنْ تَدْخُلُوْا الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَعْلَمِ ا لله

ُالَّذِيْنَ جَاهَدُوْا مِنْكُمْ وَ يَعْلَمَ الْصَّابِرِيْنَ

Did you think that you would enter the Paradise without

Allah testing those of you who fought hard (in His cause) and remained

steadfast? (3:142)

The implication being when a believer undertakes to combat

evil for the sake of God, he is not showered with rose petals. On the contrary,

he has to face sheer difficulties and full-blown problems. But if he remains

stoical and steadfast, he stands eligible to be blessed with the everlasting

life in the Garden of Paradise.

As far as the expectations of this Ummah are concerned, they

must know that it wants them to become a role model for all women across the

world. Everyone knows that there has been much hullabaloo over women’s rights in

the last couple of centuries and much of the blame was placed on the religion of

Islam for violation thereof. Feminists clamorously put forward that Islam

hampers the achievements that women can otherwise accomplish in every sphere of

life. Although, it is a baseless allegation that the fanatics has placed on

Islam in their struggle to renounce every religion that endorses moral limits,

many people have gone astray because what they see in practice also

substantiates the veracity of the allegation. Innumerable articles have been

written to refute the claims of the feminists. But this alone won’t work. We

must let the world see that a Muslim woman while observing all the injunctions

of Islam can achieve astronomical targets that others would dare not to commence

at all.

Obviously, this business necessitates that Muslim women be as

daring as to challenge the evil in its makeshift safe-haven and as bold as to

overthrow all the absurdly fabricated claims of the feminists. They must be

creative enough to introduce new chapters in the field of fine arts and as much

intelligent as to make revolutionary discoveries in the field of science while

keeping the Islamic attributes that make them unmatchable ornament.