Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 413
! ! 413 “ W orship Allah and do not associate partners with H im. ” ( Holy Qur’ān , C h. 4: V. 37 ) I s this commandment only for men and not for women? The same goes for believing in angels. J ust as men are required to believe in angels, women are required to do the same. The t hird point is to believe in revelation, or God Almighty’s revealed b ooks. Prophets h ave never said, ‘O men! Do this. ’ Rather, they always said , ‘O men and women! D o this. ’ Additionally, after the advent of the Holy Prophet sa , he would always say, “ O men and women! Do this work. ” In fact , the first person to believe in the Holy Prophet sa was a woman. When he sa received his first revelation, he sa was very worried. He spoke anxiously to Haz rat Khadija h ra , the Mother of the Faithful , and said, “How will I accomplish this great task? I am growing quite anxious. ” Ha z rat Khadija h ra replied : Z C َّﻼ َو ا ( )ِ َﻻ ]ُ ْﺨ _ 1 Eْ َﻚ ا ( )ُ ا C `َ ًﺪ ا “By God, God Almighty will never let you fail. How is it possible for Him to disgrace you after assigning you such a grand mission! You are kind to your guests , and you treat your relatives well. He will certainly help you. ” Thus , the first person to accept the H oly Prophet sa was a woman. Accordingly, w hen prophets convey the message of God , they address men and women in the same way. L ikewise , both men and women are addressed when revealing the issues of Divine Decree. The belief in [the concept of] reward and punishment is incumbent upon women as well as men. If you study our beliefs , you will not find one single belief, which is designated solely for men and not for women. Next, w e come to the re a lm of ‘ conduct ’. We do not f ind any distinction here either. F or example, the commandment of Salāt is the sa me for women as it is for men. The same r ak ‘ at which are prescribed for men are also prescribed for women. Then there is the commandment of Zakat , which is prescribed for women a s it is for men. There is also no distinction between the commandment of fasting. D uring Hajj , everyone stands on an equal plane and the