A wake-up call to passive women

14/12/2010| IslamWeb

This is a call to the women who are not active seekers of knowledge.

Wake up and discard your lassitude! Your long dormancy and passivity is no longer acceptable. Why is it that over the years you have neglected the duty of acquiring and propagating Islamic knowledge, while you sleep peacefully and with a clear conscience? Do you approve that your religion is considered inferior while you have still have breath in your body and your veins pulse with life? May Allah The Almighty help you! The veil of heedlessness has covered you, so that you no longer feel the pain of your Ummah (Muslim nation)!

Has the cry of the ant among its community not awakened you? It said:{O ants, enter your dwellings.} [Quran 27:18] Has the conscientiousness of the hoopoe over the sanctity of Tawheed (Islamic Monotheism) not made you realize the critical state you are in, when it called, threatening: {[And] so they do not prostrate to Allah} [Quran 27:25]? Has the sorrow of the deceased over his people not enlivened you? He said: {I wish my people could know.}[Quran 36:26]

Have the calls of falsehood not frightened you, inducing you  to withdraw from your somnolence in great horror? How can you sleep comfortably while there are wolves around you? The noise of falsehood has become loud and hidden catastrophes have appeared. The advocates of religious innovations openly declare what they used to practice in hidden corners; Shirk (associating partners with Allah The Almighty) has emerged with its odious head; temptations have sealed the hearts while you are in deep slumber. When will you wake up?

You are inclined to indulge in rest and peacefulness, and are busy with temporal pleasures -- you indulge in the pursuit and maintenance of unnecessary worldly trappings like houses, clothes, vehicles, food and drink. When will you be satisfied?

Perhaps you have devoted your efforts to acquiring the minor details of knowledge, thinking that many people have acquired the main fundamentals. What a niggardly collector you are! Has the time not come to unveil what is kept in your protected booklet? Relinquish the clouds of laziness and dismiss the intoxication of drowsiness from your eyes! The field of Da‘wah (Islamic propagation) calls for you and needs you greatly. Give away what you possess before the caller of falsehood reaches you and you are doomed!

Women are the peers of men and they have been assigned the same religious duties as men with the exception of what is proven to be excluded by authentic evidence of the Sharee‘ah (Islamic legislation) such as congregational prayer etc.

Hence, in principle, women are required to do what men are required to do. This includes enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil, as the Prophet, said: "Whoever among you sees evil, must change it with his hand; if he is unable to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is unable to do so, then with his heart; and that is the weakest degree of Faith."

The word “whoever” here applies equally to men and women, however, it is noticed that women are more likely to be negligent regarding enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil within their families, including their husbands and children and among other women in general.

Negligence in carrying out the duty of enjoining what is good and forbidding what is ‎evil is one of the causes of the rampant phenomenon of the unlawful exposure of women’s adornment before non-Mahram (marriageable) men.

Let me provide an example to clarify my point. If a woman wears indecent clothes at a wedding and only five other sisters from among the one hundred attendees advise her properly one after another directly, in writing, and so on, this would greatly influence this woman and she will most probably refrain from wearing such clothes again.

In fact, many of the women who wear such indecent clothes have never been given any advice. Therefore, the sisters who work in the field of Da‘wah and who seek the knowledge of Sharee‘ah, should undertake their duty by advising and guiding their fellow women.

They should be positive and attend women’s gatherings to advise their sisters, because this is better than refraining from attending such gatherings.

Whoever wants to enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil should accustom himself to patience and enduring hardships for the sake of Allah The Almighty seeking His reward. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {O my son, establish prayer, enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and be patient over what befalls you. Indeed, [all] that is of the matters [requiring] determination.}[Quran 31:17]