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 sallaallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam 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 truth and righteousness. It transforms people from being the worshippers of slaves, to being worshippers of the Lord of slaves; from the pressures of life 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. Allaah, 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 subhaanahu wa ta'ala 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 Allaah and His Messenger. Allaah will leave His Mercy on them. Surely Allaah is All-Mighty, All-Wise." (9:71).
Allaah ta'ala has given Muslim women what they can bear of duties and responsibilities. He is the Creator who knows His Creation, " Should not He 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, to strive to establish victory for the Word of Allaah subhaanahu wa ta'ala, to implement the Qur'an and help to build the generation of Eemaan.
However, 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 Allaah ta'ala and raise His Word high. They distract you from what Allaah ta'ala has created you to perform of worship, belief and Da'wah (propagating Islam) . They use this worldly life as their bait: jewellery stores, fleeting fashions that originate in non-Muslim countries, new models all the time, raising desires, fuelling hungers that can never be satisfied, pleasures and the competition for them, and other endless ways for joy. Allaah, The Most High, did not create us for this. Indulging in these superficial matters is usually accompanied by wasting time and money , and igniting enmity between the each other and the poor.
They also distract you by igniting enmity between you and your natural partner, 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 these misguided people 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. Rather, they call for hatred, arrogance and destruction.
However, they do not stop here at their call for rebellion against parents, brothers and husbands, but continue to plot against Islam itself. 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 the Sharee'ah (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 protection, safety and comfort under the mutual relationships of parenthood, marriage, and brotherly relations. These evil people portray piety and honour as chains on freedom. To them, Hijab not only covers the head, but it also covers the mind; prayer, fasting and Zakat are a waste of time and effort; whilst obedience to one's husband is slavery and a return to the stone age. These people distort all facts and change all truths to serve their own misguided and evil goals.
Dear sister, these 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 fulfil their evil desires whenever they wish. They want you to be a mistress that has no honour. They want you to be found everywhere, a commodity for sale, on roads and in places of sin, stripped of honour, religion and dignity. They seek for you only what they want you to be and do. The Western world has gone through this all. Women of the West are that part of society that is facing injustice and dishonour. They strive to please men who keep changing partners and who seek pleasures, but who accept no responsibility and spare no consideration of the evil consequences of their sinful actions.
O, Muslim sister, read and know about these women who have discarded shyness and honour, and followed their own desires, and know what was the hated and shameful end of their deeds.
The advice, then, for my sisters in Islam is : 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 honour is an honour to all wise people, and that adultery is dishonourable to all nations, even if some call 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 the hadeeth 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 the Hellfire, as the hadeeth, related by al-Bukhari and Muslim states, reported from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri radiallaahu 'anhu who said the Prophet sallaallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam said : " There is not a servant of Allah who fasts a day in the way of Allah, except that Allah removes his face from the Fire (Hell) by the distance of seventy years (because of that day)." Charity is a major cause for gaining forgiveness and for repentance to be accepted. These women who are showing parts of their bodies to men, will not enter Paradise or smell its fragrance and are cursed, as in the hadeeth related by Imam Muslim, where Abu Huraira radiallaahu 'anhu reported the Prophet sallaallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam as having said : " Two are the types of the denizens (inhabitants) of Hell whom I did not see; people having flogs like the tails of the ox with them and they would be beating people, and the women who would be dressed but appear naked, who would be inclined (to evil) and make their husbands incline toward it. Their heads would be like the humps of the bukht camel inclined to one side. They will not enter Paradise and they would not smell its odour whereas its odour would be smelt from such and such distance." Hijab is an honour and protection for you. Hijab must be modest in colour and not exotic, wide and thick and not revealing, different from the dress of non-Muslim women and men. But the question of hijab is not merely one of putting on a scarf, it goes further than that. Narrated 'Ata bin Abi Rabah: Ibn 'Abbas radiallaahu 'anhu said to me, " Shall I show you a woman of the people of Paradise ?" I said " Yes." He said " This black lady came to the Prophet sallaallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam and said " I get attacks of epilepsy and my body becomes uncovered; please invoke Allah for me." The Prophet sallaallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam said (to her) " If you wish, be patient and you will have (enter) Paradise; and if you wish, I will invoke Allah to cur you." She said " I will remain patient" and added " but I become uncovered so please invoke Allah for me that I may not become uncovered." So he invoked Allah for her." (al-Bukhari).
What can we learn from this hadeeth, the woman mentioned is not known by her name, rather she is known for her deeds, her modesty, her shame, her faith and her desire to remain covered. What sisters must remember is that hijab is not a piece of cloth a woman puts on her head as a head cover or scarf while the rest of her body is covered with tight or shape revealing dress (such as trousers or tight skirts) ( " dressed but appear naked" ), or while mingling with men and talking to them as some ignorant and deviant people have misguided our sisters into thinking this is permissible when in fact it is not ! Hijab is much more than that physically, morally and spiritually. The woman in the hadeeth - may Allah be pleased with her - preferred being patient in the face of this trial that she was confronted with, but she could not tolerate that her honour, her modesty and her chastity be damaged or even touched, nor that any part of her body be uncovered, even though she had no control over it. Indeed, she was a real slave and servant of Allah, she was faithful, she was a believer, she was a truthful woman, she was loyal to Allah and His Messenger sallaallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, she was a righteous and pious woman, she was a true Muslimah. Indeed, for those who yearn for a place in the Jannah, the way this woman conducted herself, the way she desired, so desperately, to retain her honour and dignity, it is surely a valuable lesson to us all.
My Dear Sister,
These words are form 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 a descendent 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 generations that will lead mankind, again, to what is right and proper, to the great religion of Islam.
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