Women's role

Aouthou billah Minn ashshaytani rajeem
Bismillahi Ar-Rahmani Ar-Raheem

All praise is for Allah; we praise him and seek His assistance and his forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own selves and from our evil actions, Whomsoever Allah guides, then there is no one to misguide him, and whomsoever He misguides, then there is no guide for him. I bear witness that none has the right to be worshiped except Allah Alone and I bear witness that Muhammad is his slave and messenger.

Today’s topic is about the women’s role in society and the importance of being active in the community.

What is the women’s role in society?

The role of the woman is different to that of a man, in fact it is more demanding but both genders work for the same goal and in sha Allah that we have a happy, stable, and secure, prosper and healthy society. But this really rest on our shoulders because:

A- We are the mothers of the heroes and the criminals too.
B- We are in greater numbers.

Our role is to seek knowledge, rectify society, to be inspirational, to be upright, to be articulate, to be eloquent, to be wise, to do dawah and to be nurturing. I will be using the template of the ‘women’s role in rectifying society’ by sheikh uthaimeen (ra) and divide the roles in 2 categories, the first is the rectification within the home, Allah (swt) says:
And stay in your houses, and do not display yourselves like that of the times of ignorance, and perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), and give Zakat and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah wishes only to remove Ar-Rijs (evil deeds and sins) from you, O members of the family (of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم), and to purify you with a thorough purification.Surah 33 verse 33



This ayah according to majority of the scholars this ayah addresses the wives of the Prophet (saw) and in sha Allah they are our role models and almost perfect examples for us.

Thus for women the best purification starts at home where we are protected and safe.
We in general spend more time with the children thus they take a lot from our characters, speech, behaviours and actions, which by itself should be enough for us to watch behaviours but then the Most Merciful with His amazing Wisdom made it our job to take care of our homes ( our husbands homes) which includes everything within it. Allah azza WA jal says:

Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made 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 (e.g. their chastity, their husband's property). 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.
( سورة النساء , An-Nisa, Chapter #4, Verse #34)

The way i see things, naturally we are very nurturing, overly motherly in some cases, dignified, organised, sensitive and Allah (swt) who has created us in that fitrah, is saying to us believing women, Listen to yourselves within, do what is natural to you , that which brings satisfaction and happiness to the heart, and I will reward you!

Allah (swt) mercy is amazing.

I think we all know and have established that seeking Knowledge is one of the duties of each and every Muslim, and I do believe that the Muslim woman has a degree of responsibility when it comes to seeking ilm because they are the primary source of knowledge for the children, whether it is religious ilm, social skills, academic studies the woman has to be ready to teach and answer the deepest questions because children are masters in asking grownups difficult questions. So it makes it imperative to acquire Ilm, even though the intention should be to seek the pleasure of Allah (swt) but then again the Blessings and mercy of Allah (swt) are all intertwined.

In the society i live in ( England) i find the most frustrating Muslims in the world, they would be here for years, they children born and bred in this land but yet cannot express themselves in the land’s languages( whatever their reasons are i cannot understand it), in my opinion this is wrong because of these four points:

1-They would not be able to supervise their kids, nor help in academic studies.
2-They do not know nor understand what their kids get up to.
3-They are unable to do dawah!
4-They will not be heard nor have an opinion on how their communities should be ran.

Allah (swt) makes it the duty of each and every Muslim to call upon His way in this surah ( Fussilat verse 33):

And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands firm (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."

The second point is about the role outside of the home.

In my Opinion the Muslim woman should get involved with the community, engage with the sisters, the kids, the community fairs, play dates for the kids, the authorities and so on.

In mixing with the sisters we get to know them and we form a sense of ‘ummah’ everybody knows who to go to if in need of a letter written for instance for the non native language speakers, the sister has 4 kids 3 in school the 4th violently ill and need to visit the doctor but the other 3 need picking up form school, who is available? The single mother is sick, she’s in hospital, her family in Wales and she lives in England who would take care of the kids? Death in the family this is the time for each and everyone one of us to chip something in, take turn to babysit, cook the food for those who are coming to give the sister her right, get the drinks, answer the phone give directions.

The community we have to get involved in my humble opinion, the experience gained in volunteering can be productive, helps us be content and not only that i consider it ‘physical saqadat’ which is very much part of Islam reminds me of this famous hadeeth:

Every good act is charity. Your smiling to your brother is charity; an exhortation of your fellowman to virtuous deeds is equal to alms-giving; your putting a wanderer on the right road is charity; your assisting the blind is charity; your removing stones, and thorns, and other obstructions from the road is charity; your giving water to the thirsty is charity. A man’s true wealth, as regards the Hereafter, is the good he does in this world to his fellow men. When he dies, people will say “what property has he left behind him?” But the angels will ask, “what good deeds has he sent before him?”

The prophet (saw) couldn’t be any more specific about physical sadaqat than this hadeeth:
The Prophet said, “Giving charity is obligatory upon each Muslim.” It was asked, “What do you say of him who does not find (the means) to do so?” He said, “Let him do manual work, thus doing benefit to himself and give charity.” It was asked, “What about one who does not have (the means) to do so?” He said, “Then let him assist the needy, the aggrieved.” It was asked, “What do you say of one who cannot even do this?” He said, “Then he should enjoin what is reputable or what is good.” He asked, “What if he cannot do that?” He (the Prophet) said, “He should then abstain from evil, for verily that is charity on his behalf.” (Reported by Muslim)

When we get involved in society we see that for instance during Ramadan the masaajids need help in serving the food for iftar, during Christmas there is an opportunity as we do not celebrate it but a feast is given to the homeless people in most western country why not go and help them serve the food?

In many cities too you can volunteer to as a care giver some council would even pay for your training and courses, all of these type of work can be rewarding in the heart and most of there is a reward with the Most Gracious wal hamdulillah.

Working with the police, we know that our ummah has a disease and that disease is that young men and women are so poorly educated and confused they do not know their rights , they are also easily led, maybe one can volunteer with the police as a civil servant, a counsellor, work with the social services as a mentor, a Samaritan, volunteer with animal rescue companies which brings a hadith to mind....
Bukhari: Volume 4, Book 54, Number 538:

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that."

Or even make an allotment grown vegs share with the friends and family or even send some to the local mosque that has a cafe.

So on and forth Wal hamdulillah the means to attain Birr are there, we need to get up and get things going, we might be busy but i am sure we can give 4 or 8 hours for the cause of Allah (swt).

May Allah 9swt) makes us busy in pleasing Him amen, May Allah (swt) make us again the model of nation in good deeds, good manners and make us the perfect representative of Islam. May Allah (swt) guide us all to that which is closer to Him.

Subhaanaka Allaahumma wa bihamdika, 'ash-hadu 'an laa 'ilaaha 'illaa 'Anta, 'astaghfiruka wa 'atoobu 'ilayka.
As salamu 3laikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh.