Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 109
109 do not raise successors who are content to be righteous and religious , then all the effort made by men will go to waste. Thus , the responsibility of a woman is no less than that of a man. If she forgets her duties and starts taking part in those jobs which are assigned to men , then this action of hers will be akin to a person appointed as a judge , who observes a traffic sergeant, w ho when he raises his right hand , stops all traffic on that side and who when he raises his left hand , stops all traffic on the left side. The [judge] is so impressed with this sight that he leaves his work as a judge and takes on the job of a traffic sergeant. Alt hough the work of a traffic sergeant is quite inconsequential but seems grand since he stands tall and with the single motion of his hand, is even able to stop an approaching car of a wealthy man , or a judge, or a military office r. But in reality, the importance which a judge h old s is [not the same as a] traffic sergeant. Similarly, God Almighty has made woman the educator of the next generation a nd this is a very big job which has been assigned to her. Look at it this way. I n the army, there are some who are fighters and some who belong to a team of engineers who pave the road, cut the bushes, blast through mountains, lay down railway tracks, and clear the way for the army. In no army in the world is this team of engineers considered any less [than the soldiers ]. They too have captains, they too have majors, and they too have colonels a nd it is understood that without this team , the army would be un able to fight. Similarly , if women do not understand their responsibilit ies , the next generations cannot be trained properly a nd if the next generations are not trained properly, national progress cannot take place. If the generation of Tabi’een ( those who had met the Companions ra , but not the Holy Prophet sa ) had been supervised properly, how could Yaz i d have been born? Yaz i d was born solely because the women said, “ O ur work is now over. ” When they brought up their children carefully, the n there were bred a people as righteous as the c ompanions ra , who provided great benefit to Islam and the Muslims. An d when they [the mothers] ignored their responsibility, the n those [people] were bred who caused great damage to Islam and the Muslims. When the Holy Prophet sa was appointed as a prophet , through his power of reformation , God Almighty created Abu Bakr ra , ‘ Umar ra , ‘Uthman ra , ‘Ali ra , Talha ra , Zubair ra , and thousands upon thousands of righteous people into this world. But to raise another Abu Bakr is the