( The wasiyyah of ash-Shaikh Abdur-Rahman as-Sudais)
" My Muslim Sister, you will never be able to reach the perfection that you desire, you won't be able to regain your lost glory of the past, or achieve your highest rank and position unless you follow the teachings of Islam and unless you stop at the limits and boundaries of the shariah. This will make your heart love and appreciate the good qualities and will keep you away from bad and evil qualities.
So stay at your homes. By Allah you will be praised; you will please your household and make your home happy; you will perfect your hijab; you will perfect your chastity, relieve others and you will make yourself happy and comfortable.
Allah says " O Prophet ! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies. That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed. And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (surah al-Ahzab 33:59).
So with Islam you are a " protected jewel", but without it you are a doll in the hands of the wrong-doers; a mere object of amusement and a merchandise of trade in the hands of human wolves who will destroy your chastity, your honor and your dignity, and then throw you and disregard you as one does with a date fruit and its seed.
So whenever the woman abandons the teachings of Islam and neglects the proper Islamic dress and takes easy the matter of hijab, exposing herself to men (by) walking among them and wearing perfume, her dignity and honor vanishes and her brightness disappears, and her modesty dwindles, and she becomes a source of fitnah (temptation and trial) for others and the "evils" embrace her. Therefore, O Muslim woman, who cherishes and holds onto the honor of Islam (and is proud of the honor of Islam), and O free, honorable, chaste and protected woman, you are the best successor of the best past generation of Muslims. Hold fast to the book of Allah and to the Sunnah (way and teachings) of His Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam.
Beware of the hands of the wicked plotters and the jealous eyes, and people with bad character and evil souls, who want to lower you from the highness of your esteemed position and dignity, and lower you from your glory of higher rank, and take you out from the circle of your happiness. And beware of the deception and defeat before the open war between hijab and sufoor (revealing beauty), and between chastity and liberalism.
The enemies of Islam among the Jews and their followers are upset and sleepless over the fact that the Muslim woman is honorable, dignified and protected, so they put her under the spotlight, trap her in (fisherman-like) nets and shoot her with their arrows. Moreover, it is strange that some people from our skin and who speak our language follow them and spread their ideas and fulfill their aims, and wage in intellectual and cultural war against our Muslim sisters, who are the moisture of our faces, through the alluring and deceiving slogans and the charming articles here and there. Thus, they falsely and deceivingly call to the freedom of the woman and ask (and push) her to work, to coming out of her home. They spread rumors about Muslim women saying "... the conservative Muslim society (the real one indeed, The Muslim society can only be conservative) is that which half of it does nothing and breathes only from one lung..., and how can the Muslim woman stay prisoner at home between four walls...", and other misleading slogans.
They want freedom for the woman, but in reality they want to free her from her character and etiquette, and to strip her from her principles, dignity and honor, and lead her into evil and corruption. They want her to be a fashion model and an item for sale to the naive and simple-minded (assuthajj wal busataa').
Who is then left to the well-being of homes; to the happiness of the family; to raise and educate children ?
How many young women get trapped and how much tragedy happens when the hijab is destroyed and the jilbab (outer garment) is taken off and the 'wolves" (wicked men) devour the woman. Such is as a result of sufoor and mingling with men in jobs, schools, and market places.
Isn't it enough zajr (reminder) what the societies, who did not practice the teachings of Islam, fell into in terms of indecency, evils, and disappearance of values when they neglected and ignored the matter of the woman ? As a result of that, there are now repeated calls in these societies asking for the return of the woman to her protected fort; her home.
Would any man with the slightest bit of ghairah (honor) and rujoolah (manhood) be content to see his wife become a "pasturage" of the eyes of the wicked men, and to become a "serving on the dining table". The current condition of some societies is a witness that when the woman goes out of her home, it is a sign of destruction, loss, corruption, and spread of indecency and mischief in society.
Therefore, to all our Muslim Sisters in the east and in the west of the Muslim world, I call upon you from this holy and pure land (Makkah) to hold fast to the Qur'an and to bite onto the Sunnah of His Messenger sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, with the front teeth, and to follow the teachings of Islam and its adaab (etiquette).
And to the women organizations all over the world, beware of the stupidity and bad results of the disobedience of the woman to the guidance of Islam. Beware of being tempted by the flashing slogans and poisoned publicity against the character of the woman and her principles.
And to the people responsible for the Muslim child in her education and care, I call upon you to fear Allah and to fulfill your duty towards her while taking care of her belief, educational and ethical aspects.
A clear limit and divider (boundary) must be set against indecency, wicked movies and naked pictures that destroy honor and virtue and that develop dayaathah (absence of honor and manhood to the point where a man does not care about the females of his family in terms of what other men may do with them) and indecency.
As to the guardians of women, fathers and husbands, I remind them of their duty of qawaamah (protection and maintenance) of women according to what Allah said :
" Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means. Therefore, the righteous women are devoutly obedient (to Allah and to their husbands), and guard in the husband's absence what Allah orders them to guard. As to those women on whose part you see ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful), but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance). Surely, Allah is Ever Most High, Most Great." (surah an-Nisa 4:34).
So they have to fear Allah, and save themselves and their children from the punishment of Allah by raising and educating them according to the teachings of Islam, and they should be warned from being loose and neglectful in this matter. I call on their ghairah (honor) towards their women and their rujoolah (manhood) in order to preserve the honor and to protect their mahram women, in addition to protecting their values, principles and characters.
So, O wise people, take a lesson, and be aware and don't be deceived for the successful is one who is reminded through (the mistakes of) others, and know that the Ummah reached this sad state and crisis only after it was it hit in its system of life and when it neglected the appropriate education and upbringing of its women. And remember that the trustworthy and trusted (the Prophet) sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said: " I haven't left behind me a fitnah more harmful to men than women (when they go astray from the guidance of the Islam)." (Bukhari and Muslim).
Acknowledgment : This article was translated to English by Sr. Abier Abdelhamid AbdelNaby from NJ.
Taken from Al-Mu'minah magazine. vol.1 issue.1.
Q. I read in a newspaper a Fatwa by a scholar, where he said that it is not mandatory for a wife to serve her husband because he married her for enjoyment and not service. However, if she serves him, it is only out of the kindness and to keep a good relationship. He also said that the husband must provide servants for his wife, if she does not serve him or is not capable of serving herself for any reason. Is this Fatwa true ?
A. This Fatwa is not right, and should not be taken into consideration. This Sahabiyat (Muslim women at the time of the Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) used to serve their husbands. Among them are Asmaa', daughter of Abu Bakr, who mentioned her service to az-Zubair Ibn al-'Awwam, and Fatima (daughter of the Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) who served her husband, 'Ali, may Allah be pleased with them and others. Until now, the common belief and practice among Muslims has been that the wife serves her husband, the usual service such as preparing food, washing clothes and dishes, cleaning the house and caring for the animals, milking them, harvesting and other similar tasks appropriate to one's environment. This has been the practice from the time of the Prophethood, until now without anyone objecting it. However, the wife should not be given any duties that are hard and tiresome for her, but duties should be restricted to her capacity.
(Answered by Shaikh Ibn Jibreen).
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