Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 300
! ! 300 turning into complete slaves of Europe. T hey say p u rdah leads to their decline, whereas [the reality is] that Muslims conquered the world while adopting p u rdah. The wives of Holy Prophet Muhammad sa would observe p u rdah , but still participate in battles. In the battle of Siffin , Haz rat A’isha h ra commanded the army herself. At the time , the highest - ranking generals retreated, but she remained on the battleground. Thus, blaming one’s own weakness on others is stupidity. P u rdah is observed here in Qadian, but our women are far more educated than women from other areas. Once , I made an inquiry and discovered that while t her e are very few illiterate girls, there are many more illiterate boys, and yet p u rdah is properly observed. Then there are many girls who have taken the Maul v i examination, and several are now preparing for FA [college] after having passed the e ntrance exam. In contrast, those who oppos e p u rdah remain engulfed in the same illiteracy and darkness. Undoubtedly, they have more resources and if they tr ied, they could overtake us; however, their progress will be the result of their wealth and not a direct result of discarding p u rdah. I t should also be noted that those who abandon p u rdah are supported by the governmen t. The wife of the g overnor was strongly opposed to p u rdah , so much so that she refused to go to a P u rdah Club, because she believed it to be insulting. M any Muslim women abandoned p u rdah solely because they did not wish to be deprived of meeting the g overnor’s wife. People of our Jama'at should remember that our responsibility goes beyond convincing people of the death of Jesus as. Although this is very important, it is also our duty to confront movements such as atheism, aversion to Islam ic injunctions , and the [erroneous] belief that Islam does not give rights to women. The best way to combat this is to fully establish a system of education for women. If we tell those women, who are determined to disobey the Islam ic commandments , that they tread on a harmful and detrimental path, they will not listen to our advice due to their prior convictions. They will respond , “You men are tyrants, and you have deprived women of their rights. ” However , if women go to them and