Letter To A Sister in Faith

[SaMaaH]

It's a long letter..hope you guys read it

 

Letter To A Sister in Faith

Umm Rashid

Article ID: 1155 | 1 Reads

 

 

Dear Sister Shabina,

 

Peace be upon you and the Mercy and Blessings of Allaah.

 

May Allaah always keep you in His protection and guidance.

 

I’m sorry you lost the case.

 

I’m sorry that Mr Justice Hugh Bennett deemed it “unrealistic and artificial” that your right to education was denied because you “abruptly changed your beliefs” and made the unforgivable switch to a jilbaab; after wearing your school uniform –a black and white shalwar kameez – for two years.

 

I’m sorry that Mr Akbar Dad Khan, of the Luton Council of Faiths has been quoted as saying that allowing you to wear a jilbaab “would not reflect well on the discipline” of Denbigh High, your 1000-pupil comprehensive, where 80 per cent of the students are Muslim.

 

I’m sorry that Mr Simon Birks, the solicitor who appeared for your school considers that wearing a jilbaab “could create two classes of people, with the ones who wore it claiming to be better Muslims”.

 

I’m sorry that solicitors for your school are citing “health and safety concerns” – I’m assuming yours – in their refusal to allow you to go to school dressed in correct Islaamic attire.

 

I’m sorry that the explicit guidelines of the UK Department of Education on uniform policy are being ignored in your case: “a pupil should not be disciplined for refusing to wear a uniform for religious reasons”

 

I’m sorry that your religious convictions –in considering the jilbaab an important part of correct Islaamic attire—convictions shared by millions of Muslim women around the world, are not being respected.

 

I’m sorry that prominent people are being quoted as saying “the present [school uniform] shalwar kameez , in my view, is decent enough” when the Qur’aan clearly says: "O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks [the word used here is jalaabeeb; plural of jilbaab] over their bodies (when outdoors)." [33: 59]

 

I’m sorry that at the tender age of 15, you have been pushed to the centre of a media circus which would faze even seasoned celebrities, what with tabloids inviting people to pass a telephonic verdict on whether you should wear the official uniform or not.

 

I’m sorry for you and all the other sisters in faith who have the spunk to stand by what they know is Islaamically correct, only to be blamed by a lot of people for going “overboard”.

 

I am not writing this letter to discuss the issue of requirement of jilbaab from the perspective of Islamic jurisprudence, nor to examine the legal merits and de-merits of your case – I’m not equipped to do either.

 

I am merely writing to express my solidarity with you and all the other sisters who dare to stand by the word and spirit of the Qur’aan in today’s times, when a lot of people are second guessing the Scriptures.

 

When the validity of the Qur’aanic concept of hijaab is being “re-evaluated”; when ‘rationalists’ are working overtime to prove that Islaamic hijaab is actually a redundant vestige that has crossed over to Islaam from Persian and Byzantine cultures, an empty “cultural symbol” that Muslims can very well do without.

 

Would it ease your pain if I told you stories of other sisters who have gone through the same ordeal? When an inner renewal of faith opened their hearts to the wisdom and blessing of following clear-cut Quraanic injunctions, and their path was needlessly obstructed?

 

In the United States, 12-year-old Nashala Hearn started wearing a hijaab to Benjamin Franklin Science Academy in Muskogee, Oklahoma in August , 2003. Initially, the hijaab came in for positive comment from the school’s principal and students and Nashala was even given time off during class to offer her prayers.

 

However, by the time the second anniversary of 9/11 came around, Nashala was called to the principal’s office and informed that her hijaab violated the school ban on bandanas or headgear of any kind. Her parents approached the assistant superintendent governing the school to have the ban revoked and succeeded -- the superintendent only asked that Nashala wear one style of hijaab to school everyday and not vary it.

 

Now, Nashala wasn’t given prayer time off because this violated U.S. Education Department guidelines that prohibit public schools from supporting religious practices of any kind. In October 2003, the superintendent ruled that Nashala could not attend school in her hijaab and had her suspended for three days. When she came back to school -- still wearing her hijab -- she was suspended for another five days.

 

Her parents then appealed against the suspensions but were told that both suspensions would be upheld. The school authorities further told Nashala’s parents that if she came wearing the hijaab again she would be suspended for a longer period. Later, thanks to the intervention of a conservative civil liberties group and the US Department of Justice, Nashala’s right to wear the hijaab and go to school were restored.

 

Nashala’s case is due in court on September 7, 2004 but her lawyer believes that she is still being singled out and “watched carefully” for any “little infraction” of typical student behaviour that could be construed as misconduct leading to another suspension. Although she lost only 8 days of school because of the suspensions, her grades plunged in school because of emotional stress. I’m sure you know the feeling.

 

Elsewhere, French schoolgirls are facing the same either/or choice between wearing a hijaab and continuing their school education. The present ban on Islaamic hijaab in French public schools has its roots it Creil, France, where three young Muslims were expelled from high school in 1989, only because they had chosen to wear the Muslim headscarf. On October 24, eleven young girls were expelled from Fedherbe Middle School for the same reason: In November, twenty-four teenagers from the school Saint-Exupery of Mantes-La-Jolie suffered the same fate and protested. The protests slowly snowballed into an extreme counter-reaction – a complete ban on “religious symbols” in public schools.

 

Would it help you to know that the fascist desire to have women conform to an unwritten secular uniform isn’t confined to schoolgirls? Adult Muslim women are facing discrimination and discouragement for daring to look “different”.

 

From impolite stares and offensive “why do you wear those bandages on your head” questions, to (literal) stepping on their toes and physical intimidation – spitting, fist-shaking-in–their faces or worse; it’s all in a day’s work for Muslim women who wear the hijaab.

 

The latest outrage is that a Disney employee, Aicha Baha lost her jobs at Walt Disney World, USA, because her employers “baulked” when she returned from maternity -leave preferring to wear a hijaab, to the Disney-issued hats and visors that are permitted by the company’s headgear policy. As she said: “It [wearing a hijaab] wasn’t something for fun”.

 

A Muslim woman who wears the hijaab isn’t following a fashion fad, she is simply obeying the Qur’aan: And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things) and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc.) and not to show off their adornment except what must (ordinarily) appear thereof, that they should draw their veils over their Juyub. [24: 31]

 

A Muslim woman who wears correct Islaamic attire is declaring her submission to the Will of Allaah: It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His messenger have decreed a matter that they should have an option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, has indeed strayed in a plain error. [33: 36].

 

Does it bother you that a society that swears by a human being’s right to “be whatever they want to be” should recoil at a Muslim woman’s desire to obey the Word of God? Does it surprise you that in streets where spiked haired, tattooed and body-pierced punks don’t merit a second glance, hijab-clad Muslim women are stared at?

 

Does it bother you that a divine decree that was a protection for Muslim women has turned into a cause for their persecution? "O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) over their bodies (when outdoors). That is most convenient that they should be known and not molested" [ 33:5 9].

 

What can I say that will take away some of your outrage and give you solace?

 

Will you feel comfort in knowing that your can-do spirit has an illustrious precedent in the women of the Ansaar in Madina? A’ishah [radi Allaahu anhaa] narrated that When the verse was revealed that women should cast their outer garments over their bodies, the women of Ansar came out as if they had crows over their heads by wearing outer garments. [saheeh Bukhari]

 

Will you feel relieved by the knowledge, that by wearing correct Islaamic attire you are saving yourself from satanic intents and from being included in a group of women of whom the Prophet [sAW] said: In the later part of my Ummah there shall be women who would be naked in spite of being dressed, they have their hair high like the humps of the Bukht camel, curse them, for they are cursed. They will not enter Al-Jannah and would not even perceive its odour [saheeh Muslim]

 

Will you feel vindicated that your courage in taking a stand has resulted in a national debate on the acceptability of Islaamic attire in schools?

 

The argument that wearing a hijaab hinders national integration of Muslims is taking a beating, thanks to you. Many more Muslims are aware of the requirements of a woman’s dress, regardless of whether they choose to follow those requirements or not, thanks to you.

 

I know this may seem trite satisfaction compared to the enormous emotional toll you have had to pay, but I hope that one day you can look upon this unfortunate episode as just another trial, the kind with which Allaah tests the faith of believers.

 

I pray that you emerge from this trial with your faith and spirit strengthened and that Allaah opens for you His twin treasures of ‘ilm and ‘eemaan. The Qur’aan says: The Greatest Bliss is the Good Pleasure of Allaah. That is the Supreme Success. [9:72]

 

I pray that the sweet taste of that Supreme Success rescinds the bitterness of this day.

[Warrior of Light]

Mashallah, Such a beautiful letter.

 

A letter of hope, provided new energy to excel and stand firm and informed her that others care and share her ordeal.

 

Hadith

"Any man who provides for the need of a brother , Allah shall always keep fulfilling the needs of that man. And any person who alleviates some hardship of a Muslim, Allah on the day of Judgement will remove one of his hardships out of the many hardships of that day." Bukhari, Muslim

Jazakhallah kheir Silent sister.

[Rahima]

And then after all this, some Muslims are ****** enough to actually believe the propaganda machines which try to brainwash us all with rhetoric such as "this is not a war on Islam".

 

Allah already told us, that they would only accept us if we leave Islam and join their evil forces, therefore yaa muslimiin wake up and smell the coffee, whether you like it not, Islam is been attacked, protect it from your corner.

 

JZK for the beautiful letter.