~Words to My Muslim Sister~
This article appeared in a recent issue of the "Muslim Creed" [Vol. 3 No. 2, February 1995.
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My Dear Sister,
Know that you are man's sister and half of humanity. You are a mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, grand daughter or grand mother. The Prophet said, what translated means, Women are, indeed, men's partners. [Abu Dawood]. You are a member of the great nation of Islam, the best nation ever produced for mankind. No other nation on earth has more great men, leaders and conquerors than this nation. It is the nation of guidance and the straight religion, and it leads humanity to righteousness and truth. It transforms people from worshippers of slaves to worshippers of the Lord of slaves, from life's pressures to the pleasures of the Life after, and from the injustice of other religions to the justice of Islam.
Your ancestors, great women of Islam, were one of the main reasons for this great nation to take this great place among all nations. Allah, Who granted Islam to this nation, made a high place for Muslim women, and decreed that they share in the responsibilities of enjoining truth, forbidding evil and raising the flag of Islam. He said, what translated means, The believers, men and women, are loyalists of one another, they enjoin righteousness and forbid evil, they offer their prayers perfectly and give the Zakat, and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah will leave His Mercy on them. Surely Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise. [9:71]
Allah has given Muslim women what they can bare of orders and duties. He is the God Who knows His creation, Should He not know what He created? And He is the Most Kind, All-Aware (of everything). [67:14].
My dear sister, you are called upon today to truly become an active member of the Muslim nation, strive to establish victory for Allah's Word, implement the Quran and help build the generation of Iman.
What Do Your Enemies Want From You?
There are those who want to distract you from doing your duty. They want to distract you from meeting your noble obligation, that is, to defend the religion of Allah and raise His Word high. Those enemies use many methods:
First: They distract you from what Allah created you to perform of worship, belief and Da'wah (propagating Islam). They use this worldly life as their bate: Jewelry stores, fashions that originate in non-Muslim countries, new models all the time, desires raised, hunger that can never be satisfied, pleasures and competition for them and endless ways for joy. Allah did not create us for this. Indulging in these matters is usually accompanied by wasting time and money and igniting enmity and competition between the rich and the poor.
Second: They ignite enmity between you and man. To those sinners, you are a daughter that is put down, a humiliated mother, an abused wife and an oppressed sister! Men are always unjust, hypocrites, dictators, freedom- preventers and suppressers, according to them. There is a fabricated war that those evil ones are starting for no reason other than to direct you to rebel against your father, be arrogant with your brother and disobedient to your husband. They do not call for justice, mercy and unity. They call for hatred, arrogance and destruction.
Third: They do not stop at their call for rebellion against parents, brothers and husbands, rather, they plot against Islam. They call upon you to rebel against the obligations of Islam and the decrees of the All-Knowing King. Islam, to them, is unjust and Islamic laws are imperfect and restrictive. They call upon you, day and night, to rebel and insist on the disobedience of this religion. They try to rid you of your religion. They try to rid you of comfort and safety under generous parenthood, happy marriage and good brotherly relations.
Those devils portray piety and honor as chains on freedom. To them, Hijab does not cover the head, but also covers the mind; prayer, fasting and Zakat are a waste of time and effort; and obedience to husbands is slavery and a retum to the stone age. They distorted all facts and changed all truths, all to serve their evil goals.
Dear Sister,
The goals that your enemies and the enemies of your religion are seeking to achieve are well known. They want you to be available for them to fulfill their evil desires whenever they wish. They want you to be a mistress that has no honor. They want you to be found everywhere, on roads and in places of sin, without honor, religion or manners. They seek for you only what they want you to do. The Western world has gone through this all. Women of the West are the part of society that is facing injustice and dishonor. They strive to please men who keep changing partners and seek pleasures but with no responsibility and no consideration of the evil consequences of their sinful actions.
O Muslim sister, read and know about those women who discarded shyness and honor and followed their desires, what was the result of their deeds? Was their end honorable and desirable, or was it a shameful and hated end?
Advice For My Sister In Islam
Be proud of your religion and the religion of your ancestors. Be a good example for your sons and daughters and sincere in your belonging to this mighty nation. Know that honor is an honor to all wise people, and that adultery is dishonorable to all nations, even if some called it freedom. Know that adultery is also done with the eyes by seeing, with the ears by listening, and with the mouth by kissing, as was mentioned in a Hadith related by Imam Muslim. Your happiness is in being an obedient and believing daughter, a loyal and generous wife and a pious and merciful mother. Know that prayer is the cornerstone of Islam. Fasting one day, for the sake of Allah, takes your face seventy years away from Hellfire, as the Hadith, related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim, states. Charity is a major cause for gaining forgiveness and for repentance to be accepted. Those women who are showing parts of their bodies to men, will not enter Paradise or smell its fragrance and are cursed, as in the Hadith related by Imam Muslim. Hijab is an honor and protection for you. Hijab must be modest in color and not exotic, wide and thick and not revealing, different from the dress of non-Muslim women and men.
My Dear Sister,
These are words from the heart. These are words of good and sincere advice. Beware of the loyalists of Satan who want to lead you astray. Be a slave of Allah, righteous and decendent of righteous women and know your role in building this great nation. Perform your duty and do not be a cause for destruction. Be a maker of righteous generation that will lead mankind, again, to what is right and proper, to the great religion of Islam.
