Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 461
! ! 461 Holy Prophet sa said : Z W ﻠ o p W ْﻢ َر ا ع r َو s W ﻠ o p W ْﻢ َﻣ ْﺴ ُﺌ ﻮ ٌل َﻋ ْﻦ َر ِﻋ ﻴ ﱠ ِﺘ ِﻪ [ Each one of you is a guardian and will be questioned regarding his dependents. ] Every individual amongst you is a guardian and t he y will be asked regarding the dependents for whom they are responsible. They will be asked to what extent they participated in their care and upbringing and whether they fulfi lled their obligations. If husbands appoint their wives to oversee their children’s etiquette, morals , training, prayers, fasts , and education, then it is guaranteed that women will learn these things themselves and will then teach their children. W hen a woman is held accountable for this responsibility , she will inevitably ponder over ways to improve [her own] morals and will utilize these methods to improve the morals of her children. Just as [the teachers in] the schools are given educational training and after obtaining a BA or MA , they are conferred a BT degree [degre e in teaching] , which is actually just one way of of fering a higher education to boys. S imilarly, if women are advised on how to raise their children, they will be able to fulfill their responsibilit y in the best manner and will endeavor to perform it with enthusiasm and enjoyment. However, men g enerally believe that women should not be included in tasks requiring responsibility. Thus, i f a woman ventures to offer her opinion, her husband rebuke s her and questions her on what she knows of the matter. This not only discourages the woman, but also suppresses those very a bilities , which she could have most capably used to successfully fulfill her obligation of moral training. Those w ho Deprive Women of t heir Legitimate Rights Hence , the best means of moral training for a woman is thro ugh education and awaken ing in her an awareness of her responsibilities. Yet I am sorry to say that even now, this weakness of depriving women of their legitimate rights has been bred within some Ahmadis and still they expect the woman to serve the faith alongside them. In reality , as long as a woman is not accorded her rights , she will continue to hang heavy around the man’s neck and