Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 302
! ! 302 having dispute d with his wife. He wrote to me that a holy man had advised him to strike her with a stick if she did not listen to him. Upo n reading this, I was ashamed and wondered how he could consider such a person to be holy who advise s him to beat his wife ?! Piety lies in instituting Islam ic teaching s and not in dismissing it. I t is possible that a person could subdue his wife by beating her, but he does not strike his wife , rather he strikes at Islam because h is wife and other women acquainted with her will feel apathetic towards s uch a religion. Beating may result in peace at his home , but it will be an a ttempt to ravage the house of Islam. So , if that so - called saintly man is present here now , he should listen well. H e is not considered righteous in the sight of God. I n fact , he is the lowest of the low. This world can only find peace with justice, equity , and compassion. U n less this is done, success cannot be attained. In short, women should be educated, given good training , and they should be provided the extent of freedom allowed by Islam. In fact, Islam has given them freedom. Actually, it should be said that men should not try to confine women beyond the limits set by Islam , for just as we have intellect, so do women. I expect the Qadian Jama'at in general and the outside Jama'ats in particular, to pay attention to this matter. There are many issues which the National Jama'at should pay more attention to and there are other issues which d emand more attention from Jama'ats outside [Qadian]. T his issue pertains in particular to the external Jama'ats. They should en sure that women understand the issues regarding p u rdah. After the [men] fully reassure them , the [women] should provide a means to el iminate false accusations against Islam. They [t he Jama'at s ] should strive to enlighten and instruct women about Islam , so that they can meet other women and reform the ir point s of view. If this movement grows , it will be very diff icult to overcome it. Matters which can be solved easily in the beginning , become far more difficult to solve later. ( Misbah , February 1, 1931)