Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 336
! ! 336 and make them beneficial for your nation and religion. Knowledge is of two types: the science of religion , which benefits religion, and the science of bodies , which benefits the body. These two [categories] are labelled sciences and do not come under any other category. For example, a woman spends her life learning mathematics , but forsake s the responsibilities of rearing her children and household duties. W ho would say s he is intelligent and seeks knowledge ? Men are required to acquire this type of knowledge, as they are to earn a living, b ut why is it necessary for women to solve mathematical problems? This is not knowledge, but ignorance. The duty of a woman is to manage the household and raise children. However , people are in the habit of viewing the grass as greener on the other side. It is for this reason, in order t o mimic the European women , that our Muslim society looks to their daughters to acquire educational degrees. In fact, a woman is the queen of her domestic empire and is an officer of a military department, where she must raise her children. Women believe that the man ’s job is more comfortable and honorable and studying in colleges and acquiring degrees is an easy task , a source of much honor. However, i f women take over the work of men and men th e work of women, it would be disgrace ful. There was a period when the poets of Lucknow began to write and recite poetry in a feminine style and adopted a feminine conversational tone. However, when the King of Awadh adopted this feminine style of expression, he lost his kingdom. The Muslim children within India are spoiled , because the mothers are incompetent and do not know how to train them. When I went to Europe, I met an educated Indian person, who had adopted European culture so entirely, that he could not speak even a single word of his Indian language. This is the result of gaining degrees. In a way he had completely detached hi mself from India. In our country, if a person gains the slightest affluence , he believes himself to be different from the rest. In England , this is not the case , for they gain benefit from their knowledge, rather than causing harm to their nation by severing all ties with it, thus deprivi ng it of the benefit [of their