Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 307
! ! 307 [from the noise of the cannons] and I may faint. E ither have these cannons re move d or kill me first. ” The K ing had the cannons removed at her request, which resulted in the loss of power for the Muslims. If this story is true, then the K ing was influenced by Zeenat Mahal’s excuse , for he knew that she was un accustomed to hearing the blast of the cannons. She could not have made this excuse , had the cannons been previously fired before her. For t he K ing would have replied, “ As y ou have heard their noise before, w hy would you collapse today?” Thus , the consequence of keeping women away from acts of bravery and courage , was that Zeenat Mahal was able to deceive the K ing. The Wis dom b eh ind Showing Military Exercises t o Haz rat A’isha h ra Haz rat A’isha h ra could not claim that her heart beat fast upon watching scenes of war, for the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa would show her military exercises and he always brought one of his wives with him during war expeditions. S ome have deduced f rom this that it is a Sunnah to take one’s wi fe along when traveling. Indeed it is, but a greater Sunnah is to inculcate coura ge and bravery in women, for unless they are brave , no nation can triumph. The greatest o bstacle to national progress is women exhibiting cowardice. I remember that once someone fell from a ladder in our house. I was about to rush forward to save him , but my wi fe held me back and said, “Do not go forward. ” Finally, I had to push her away. I nstead of admiring her husband for his bravery and courage, she did the exact opposite and wished to stop me. Thus, it is our Jama'at ’s duty to make women fearless. The companions of the Holy Prophet sa gained great benefit from their women’s bravery. Muslim Wom en ’s Brilliant Action s During a Critical Situation in the Battle o f Yarm u k At the Battle of Yarmu k, a perilous situation arose for Muslims. It is said that the Christian army numbered between six hundred thousand and one million and the Roman K ing intended to either destroy the Muslims or he would not return alive. Although he did not take part in the war himself, he made all the arrangements for