Part of Women's Suffering (series completed)
· Lesson 15 of 18
The suffering of women in the time of Moses, peace be upon him | Episode (15) | Promiscuity is the most dangerous suffering for women
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Transcript
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The story of woman's suffering in the time of Moses, peace be upon him.
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Free mixing of sexes is the most dangerous form of suffering for a woman.
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The most precious thing a Muslim possesses is his religion.
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If he neglects it, he loses both this world and the Hereafter.
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As for the Hereafter, its loss is well known;
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but as for the loss of this world,
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it may be confusing to one whose evil deeds Satan has made fair-seeming.
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Thus, a woman may think that if she goes out to work
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in mixed environments,
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in order to help her family,
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or to spend on herself,
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or to assist her husband,
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or to provide for her children,
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she is rewarded for that,
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and that she has made a great sacrifice
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for their sake,
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which society ought to appreciate in her,
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praise her for,
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and even reward her for doing;
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and she believes that this sacrifice justifies her engaging in mixed work.
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What has caused women to fall into this misconception
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is simply the erroneous notions prevalent in societies,
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such as "work is worship,"
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by which they mean any kind of work,
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while overlooking the fact that worship
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consists only in that which pleases Allah,
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not in that which Allah has forbidden.
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An usurer works;
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is his work worship?
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A dancer works;
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is her dancing worship?
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Thus, not every work is worship.
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Among the guidelines for a woman's work in Islam
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is that it be far removed from mixing with men.
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If this condition is met,
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work becomes permissible for her;
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otherwise, it is forbidden.
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Reflect, my noble sister, upon these hadiths
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that nurture the women of the Ummah to stay away from men,
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and compare that with what takes place in our societies today
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and their workplaces.
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On the authority of Umm Humayd,
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she came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
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and said, "O Messenger of Allah,
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I love to pray with you."
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He said, "I know that you love to pray with me,
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but your prayer in your private room is better for you than your prayer in your bedroom,
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and your prayer in your bedroom is better than your prayer in your courtyard,
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and your prayer in your courtyard is better for you than your prayer in the mosque of your people."
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The narrator said:
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So she gave orders,
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and a place of prayer was built for her
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in the furthest and darkest corner of her house,
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and she used to pray there until she met Allah, Almighty and Glorious.
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Reported by Ahmad.
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If this is said regarding prayer—that it is better for her to pray in her home—
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what then should be said to her when she goes out into mixed workplaces?
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On the authority of Abu Usaid al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him),
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he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say while coming out of the mosque,
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as men and women had mixed together in the street,
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so the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to the women:
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"Step back, for it is not for you to take the middle of the path;
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you must keep to the edges of the road."
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Thereupon, a woman would cling so closely to the wall
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that her garment would catch on the wall from her closeness to it.
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Reported by Abu Dawud.
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Thus, the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not approve of women mixing with men even on the public street,
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through which she inevitably has to pass when going or returning from any place;
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rather, he organized her manner of walking on the public road,
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assigning to her the two edges of the road,
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and to men the middle of the road.
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Can it be said after this that she is not allowed to mix on the public street,
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yet allowed to mix in work offices?
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On the authority of Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him), he said:
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The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
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"The best of the men's rows are the first,
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and the worst are the last;
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and the best of the women's rows are the last,
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and the worst are the first."
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Reported by Muslim.
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Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
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"The last rows of women attending congregational prayer with men were preferred
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because of their distance from mixing with men and seeing them,
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and because the heart becomes attached to them upon seeing their movements and hearing their speech, and the like;
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while the first rows of women were criticized for the opposite reason."
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The Western writer Annie Rodd says:
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"For our daughters to work in homes as servants or like servants
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is better and less of an affliction than working in factories,
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where the girl becomes tainted with impurities that ruin the luster of her life forever.
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Would that our countries were like the lands of the Muslims,
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where modesty, chastity, and purity are a mantle,
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where the female servant and the slave enjoy the most comfortable living,
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and are treated as the children of the household are treated,
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and honour is never harmed!
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Yes, it is indeed a shame upon the land of the English
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to make its daughters an example of vices through frequent mixing with men.
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Why then do we not strive for that which makes the girl
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act in accordance with her natural disposition,
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by staying at home
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and leaving men's work to men,
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to preserve her honour?"
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Shah Waliullah al-Dahlawi said:
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"Do you not see a man whose eyes fall upon the beauties of a non-mahram woman,
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becoming infatuated with her,
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and plunging into perils for her sake?
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What then do you think of one who secludes himself with her,
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looking at her charms night and day?"
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And I think, my dear sister,
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that you know with certainty that this is precisely the reality of mixed workplaces.
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Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
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"Undoubtedly, enabling women to mix with men
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is the root of every calamity and evil,
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and it is one of the greatest causes for the descent of general punishments,
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just as it is among the causes for the corruption of public and private affairs.
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The mixing of men with women
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is a cause for the prevalence of indecency and fornication,
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and it is one of the causes of widespread death and continuous plagues."
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These are statements from contemporary women,
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speaking about Allah's favor upon them after staying away from mixing with men.
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Dr. Aya says:
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"The struggles I faced to stay away from mixing,
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when I decided to leave a prestigious job with no turning back:
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I faced accusations of madness,
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of shirking my role in society,
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the estrangement of my closest and most beloved relatives,
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and accusations of concealing knowledge and having a misunderstood view of religion."
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Hajar says:
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"Working in a public pharmacy frequented by all kinds of people
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brought much corruption and hardness to my heart.
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Among these was the impact on my feminine nature
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through performing inventory and storage tasks,
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and dispensing prescriptions to male employees;
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the eroding of modesty, which is a hidden pearl,
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whenever a man spoke to me about a medical complaint,
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which might be of a private nature,
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asking for a description of the appropriate medication;
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being hindered from my duties of caring for my household
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under the pretext of long hours spent outside the home,
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after which I returned exhausted, waiting only for sleep,
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then waking up early to repeat the painful scene all over again;
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and the growth of a sense of rebellion within me against everything that forces a woman,
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even indirectly, to work—
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such as their sayings: 'Fulfill yourself,'
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'Climb the corporate ladder,'
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'You must have a role in society.'
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Finally, and most importantly—
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which I left for the end to draw attention to it—
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is the gradual distancing of my heart from Allah,
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feeling a barrier between myself and acts of obedience,
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experiencing weakness and apathy toward acts of devotion,
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in addition to the inevitable falling into many violations
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during the work hours themselves."
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These are some examples of women's suffering today in mixed workplaces.
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But what is the second form of suffering for women in...
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We will continue in a coming meeting, Allah willing.
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Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
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The story of woman's suffering in the time of Moses, peace be upon him.