Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 310
! ! 310 admiration of him] upon the mention of his name, she would c onsider that to be a betrayal. However, if she does act in this way, her second husband would become jealous. Haz rat Sa’ad ra was seated on high ground and was giving orders from there. He woul d write [his instructions] on pieces of paper and throw them down to the soldiers , who delivered them to the officers. The Iranians had a white elephant, which was especially large and which was especially trained for war. It had killed an entire tribe of Muslims , sparing no one. Ha z rat Sa’ad ra sat restlessly, but due to his illness, he could not do anything except write orders. His wife was also very dis tressed when she saw the Muslims being crushed in this way. S he inadvertently called out her first husband’s name, “Alas, if only Musna was he re today!” Haz rat Sa’ad ra could not bear such a taunt because Hazrat Sa’ad ra had been the one to fight valiant ly in battles alongside the Holy Prophet sa. I f he had not been disabled , he would have certainly been present in the battlefield. However, his wife desired that he be on the battleground , no matter what. He grew extremely angry at her taunt and slapped her. The wife said, “What kind of bravery is this ? You slap a woman, but you will not go out a nd confront the enemy , who is killing Muslims?” Haz rat Sa’ad ra was deeply affected by this because he realized that if his wife thought this, it was possible that other Muslims also believed that he was not out in the battlefield out of fear. Therefore, he assembled the whole army in the evening and removed his clothes to show them the boils which covered h is body from head to toe. The Duty o f Lajna Imai’illah Members Thus, in the early days, Muslim women accomplished remarkable things , for th ey were given the opportunity to participate in battles. The Holy Prophet sa always included them in battles. He sa taught them the art of battle and made them practice these skills. However, n ow Muslims have abandoned this practice. I have established Lajna Ima’illah , but it is in its infancy. A number of women show courage at times, but many lose heart and give up. It is our duty to make them courageous. And if we cannot prepare them to participate in war, at least we should i nstill them with enough