Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 11
11 Allah has given me so much , am I not obligated to be thankful to Him? ” The Arabic words are: َا َّﻻ َأ ُﻛ ﻮ َن َﻋ ْﺒ ًﺪ ا َﺷ ُﻜ ﻮ ًر ا “ O A’isha h ra ! Is it only Allah ’s responsibility to be ‘ M u hsin ’ [ one who bestows favors ] ? Does it not behoove a man to fulfi l l h is responsibilities as well?” A personage such as the Holy Prophet Muhammed sa , despite his e xceptional sacrifice s a nd his strong loving bond with Allah , s till felt the need to rise at night and stand before God Almighty for so long that his feet would swell. He worshipped during the day and made himself worthy of meet ing God Almighty. So, is there any other person who could unfetter himself of th ese responsibilit ies? I ask you ladies , are you living according to the exemplary life of the Holy Prophet sa ? C an you say th at most of the days of your life are spent i n improving yourself for your next life , which is the only true life ? Or are they more often spent in performing worldly tasks? Islam is not from among those religion s which t each monasticism. It is clearly stated in t he Holy Qur’an that the re is no command ment for monasticism in Islam. I n fact, in Christianity and Hinduism, where monasticism is found as a teaching, even there [the Holy Qur’an] states that the command to do so was not sent by God but w as invented by them. Whatever the case, Islam is one of those religions which says that you certainly can take up worldly jobs. Islam does not prevent anyone from taking up employment if they need to ; Islam does not stop someone tra ding if they need to ; Islam does not stop anyone from working in any industry if the need arises. Islam does not command a woman to forego her household work. It does however require that everything must be afforded its due level of priority. For instance, a s a woman, when she is rearing her children she is not absolved of all her other work. For example , if she is poor, she is not excused from preparing meals or if she is well - off, she is not exempt from having the meals prepared [by someone ]. Raising children does not allow her to neglect her duties to her relatives and friends.