Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 194
194 jewelry as chanda. If the Sikhs had looted these pieces of jewelry as well, what could I have done! Now, in any case, I will give this jewelry as chanda. Please do not force me to keep this. ’ Consequently, she gave her jewelry as chanda. That woman is still alive. Among the women who came to Pakistan from East Punjab, thousands can be found who reached Pakistan, robbed of all their belongings. At many p oints , Sikhs snatched their belongings and jewelry while a t other places , the women threw away their belongings of their own accord , out of fear that the Sikhs in their greed, would attack them for their belongings, and so they c ould reach Pakistan in peace. However, only one piece of th is particular woman ’s jewelry was saved and e ven that , she donated in the service o f Islam. Th us, women in Islam have always sacrifice d and will continue to sacrifice and in the hereafter too, Islam has exalted the status of women. Hence, Islam states that a woman who is a believer, is regular in her prayers , and pays her Zakat , will be appointed a high station in heaven. Christians say that Islam does not r ecognize that women have a soul. When I went to Europe, a Christian made this same objection towards me. I told him that this accusation is completely false. Islam fully recognizes the rights of women. In fact, it also declares women to be equal recipients of spiritual rewards and recompenses of the next life. At this, he grew embarrassed and admitted that this allegation levied against Islam , that it does not believe in the existence of a women ’s soul , is wrong. Thus, it is not only Islam ic history , but the history of other religions , which also proves that women have served religion to a great extent , and that women can do a ll that which men can do. They can d o tabligh as well a nd history tells us that when the opportunity to fight arose , they also t ook part in wars. When Qadian was attacked by Hindus and Sikhs, the women were gathered in a neighborhood outside the town and their appointed leader was also a woman who was a native of Bhera [ a town in India ]. That woman showed more courage than the men. It is reported that when Hindus and Sikhs attacked them with guns and swords, the women would force the enemy to flee and standing in the front of all these women w as