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 Allah the
broken pieces of her soft heart which 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 concern about the Hereafter. Her only crime was that she
could not leave her head and chest uncovered like them and that she could
not put on skin tight almost transparent garments. She had always found
it hard to show interest in the topics 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 saw that she could not cope with the situation
anymore, she resolved that she’s had enough. She must quit going to the
college and shut herself up from the rest of the world!
Such an event may take place in the
life of many people with little change in the details of the scenario.
But they are often led to arrive at the same decision because of the morbidly
obnoxious treatment they have 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 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 but 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 towards their
sincere feelings is nothing new and has been so since ages. When we peruse
the Holy Qur’an 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 major 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
can flourish and the evil be put in check. The Qur’an thus reads:
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 Paradise without being
tested in this world. This idea has been expounded upon by the Qur’an
in the following words:
Did you think that you would enter Paradise without
Allah testing those of you who fought hard [in His cause] and remained
steadfast? (3:142)
The implication being that when a believer
undertakes to combat evil for the sake of Allah, he is not showered with
rose petals. On the contrary, he has to face great difficulties and full-blown
problems. But if he remains stoical and steadfast, he stands eligible to
be blessed with 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 have placed on Islam in their
struggle to renounce every religion that would endorse 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 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.
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