Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 145
145 Now, education has enlightened the mind s. I nquisitiveness and a search for answers has now developed and women are educated. If you tell them now that something is written in the Holy Qur’an , they do not exclaim, “ Subhan a llah ! Is t his how it is written in the Holy Qur’an ?” Instead they ask, “Why is this in the Holy Qur’an ? Explain to us why is it not written in another way ? It would have made more sense to us if it were written in another way instead. ” Now a days, if you tell your women, or the women around them, or the women who are influenced by them that , “T his is how it is written in the Hadith , they will not exclaim, “ Subhan a llah ! The Holy Prophet Muhammad sa has said it like this. ” Instead they will ask, “Why has the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa said it this way and what is the logic behind this ? What is the benefit in this?” Therefore, until the wisdom of the Holy Qur’an and Hadith is explained and principles and the logic behind them are clarified , women and th ose women who are influenced by them are not satisfied. Furthermore, there is a substantial revolution in daily activities. Circumstances have changed. When Ahmadiyyat began, there were no cinemas nor were there any phonographs. There were theaters, but only in big cities and even those were scarce a nd even then, w omen were not seen in theater s. It was easy to ask them to sacrifice their time back then. B ut now there are other demands upon their time, and i t is no longer the age when a hundred percent of their time may be dedicated for God. This is an era when only forty percent of the time is left for God. Now when they are reminded of Islam ic commandments and their responsibilities, the concern arises about not having enough time and that they have other things to do as well. Th e concept of ‘ fashion ’ which is prevalent today , w here was that before? In earlier days, they wore old scarves and simple dresses which women in villages and towns knew how to stitch. B ut now there is one dress for the morning and another dress for the evenings. If one dress is worn at night, then a different one is worn in the morning. This custom requires time and money. Then the [dressmaking] skills are also different and not everyone is skilled in them. Women go to tailors, and this also requires money. Hence when you demand the sacrifices of time and money from today’s women , they do not say, “ Subhan a llah ! I am ready for sacrifice. ”