Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 12
12 Similarly , Islam does not say you should spend the entirety of your lives solely in S al ā t , nor does it ask you to forget all of your worldly obligations. Islam not only allows these [worldly] activities, but also emphasizes their importance. It stresses their importance so much so that once Ha z rat A’isha h ra told the Holy Prophet sa , “O Messenger of Allah ! Today a poor Bedouin woman visited me with her two daughters and seated herself next to me. She sat one daughter on her right side and the other on her left and a sked me for something to eat. O Messenger of Allah ! At that time , there was nothing in the house, but when I got up to look , I found one date. I gave it to her. O Messenger of Allah ! She put that date in her mouth and I thought she was going to eat it herself. Instead, she broke it into two halves with her teeth and gave one half to the daughter on the right and one half to the daughter on the left. ” Upo n hearing this , the Holy Prophet sa said, “ A’isha h ra , Allah has told me that if a person has two da ughters and raises them well , then due to that person showing love to the daughter and righteous tr aining, God Almighty grants Paradise to such a person. ” Therefore , observe how raising children, which is found inherent in a woman’s nature , b ecomes itself an act of great virtue. Mothers do no t nurture children because of religious laws; an atheist woman raises her children, as does a sinful woman raise her children. Even though it is a natural instinct, the Holy Prophet sa says that if a woman raises her daughters and makes them into decent citizens in order to gain the pleasure of Allah , she earns Paradise. The Significance o f Sal ā t i n Congregation In short, God Almighty does not stop you from your worldly tasks, but what He does command is for you to spend some time in His worship and seek Hi s pleasure through good works. For instance, the most important duty Islam has appointed us is our five daily prayers. Nowadays, not even all the men offer their S al ā t , and the condition of women is even worse. Some women believe that if they offer even a few prayers in a year, it is enough for their salvation. Others hav e devised the theory that if they have the opportunity to attend Jum u ‘ a h - t ul - Wida [ the last Friday in the month of Ramadan ] , it makes up for the p rayers for the rest of the year. Some others are under the misapprehension that if they have pledged allegiance to a pir [ spiritual leader ] , the pir will assume their