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We were talking about our duties as a
Muslim nation toward international and regional situations. We
have to maintain some distinction between these though. We
ended our discussion at that we have to maintain our individual
and local responsibilities. Islam does not teach us to pledge
our oath of allegiance one day and break it next day. Islam
also does not teach us to leave our hungry uncared for people
and donate for other causes. Muslims are a nation of moderates
so we must do everything in moderation. Emotions and slogans
may provide us reason for suicide bombing but that does not
resolve any problems. We need wisdom to resolve these and
wisdom has certain requirements, for example let us have a look
at the prophet’s (PUBH) life in Mecca where he and his
companions were going through tortures but he did not order his
companions to fight. ALLAH directs us that “in such times take
strength from Salah and patience”. We claim that Islam is till
the Day of Judgment and it is a fact that Allah has given this
guaranty to Qur’an and Islam. For this reason Qur;an has
answers to all questions and that is the quality of a good
constitution. For day to day living we have to make by-laws
ourselves, however if we make the law makers to tie down to the
by-laws of over a thousand years ago considering these
sufficient with the result that we can not resolve even small
matters. So much so that for a century we have not been able to
settle the matter of the use of loud speakers as legitimate or
not. Some profess that it is appropriate for Aadhan while
others say that it is appropriate for Aadhan and Salah both. We
need to know that sound waves to make our speech audible to
others and stronger so that these sound waves could carry the
sound further than our own sound will reach. The quality of
sound does not change and it is the sound of the same person,
only the loud speaker makes it louder, which reaches others
easily. However we require modern education and if we try to
stay away from modern technology, then how will this happen.
Who should make by-laws for today and how should the consensus
be developed? Under these circumstances we have to decide
according to our own discretion and you should have access to
Qur’an and sunnah, otherwise everyone will be confused and
nothing will get resolved.
ALLAH has given us alternates for various
situations. For example Hajj is an international prayer and for
this we are ordered to wear Ahram for equality, however there is
one day when Hajies go back from Arafat to Mina and than Mecca
and change from Ahram to their national dresses and go to Mecca
for twaf-e-ziarah in these clothes they made tawaf and saee is
also performed in their national dresses. There is quite a
colorful scene between Safa and Marwa which makes it evident
that we are one as an umah as well as we have different
nationalities too. Allah wants us to learn from this that Islam
is a natural religion, which can face various situations.
Let us now go back to our topic. In case
some one thinks that we are changing the topic, Islam does not
teach us to turn away from our problems, but to voice them. For
this very reason “there is no priesthood in Islam” and this is
the saying of the prophet (PUBH) whom we follow. We might close
our eyes from this and blame it on our misfortune. Problems do
not wait for any one, and we have to solve them in time
otherwise we miss the opportunity and time passes on. Allah
says, “A person only gets what he has struggled for”. If the
elders do not make right decisions then the juniors have to do
this.
Since my focus is on home atmosphere as
this is the first unit of society, so let us get back to that.
Once the prophet (PUBH) was sitting with his companions, he
asked them if they knew what pleases the Satan most. They said
only ALLAH and His prophet (PUBH) know better. He said that
“Satan backs up his followers who create rift between husband
and wife” A lot of us and in particular women have fallen prey
to this disease as a little instigation can create a big gap in
husband and wife’s relationship. Witchcraft plays a big part in
this and a lot of con men take advantage of this situation. Why
does it all happen? First of all you start sharing your secrets
with others, particularly the women start telling this to their
supposedly close friends and they even with little knowledge
start giving them wrong solutions to these problems resulting in
widening of the gap between husband and wife and at times this
becomes the cause of separation. Do keep in mind that Allah and
his prophet (PUBH) both do not like that the husband and wife
share their secrets with others. For this very reason Qur’an
says about husband and wife that “you are a dress for each
other, thus treat your wife fairly” You notice here that an
analogy is given to dress which covers a person. If either of
you is not doing this then you are disrobing the other and in
this way are not only breaking the trust of each other but also
are sinner. In various traditions of our prophet (PUBH), it
has been continuously prohibited. It is the duty of women to
protect their sanctity, and the sanctity of home is the
protection of its secrets. If it is talked about to others then
there is no guaranty that it will not be talked about in public
and this flood will erode you away. By grace of ALLAH, in our
community, there are very few divorces in comparison to other
communities, because we take care that the sanctity of home is
kept.
If both husband and wife take care of this
then the home becomes a paradise and Islamic community’s new
generation stays in safe hands otherwise it goes to waste.
Conflicts at home are poisonous to the children. It is better
to practice this sanctity, and even if you have not done so, it
is never too late. Keeping your differences aside start
practicing this. You and your children will get saved. Putting
aside your ego, you should practice this so that you and Islamic
community benefits from this in future.
Since Islam is a communal religion, it is
ordered that if two people are traveling together you should
designate one as a leader. From this you can guess the
significance of leadership in Islam; however a leader should be
just and pious. Allah will treat Imam Adil on the Day of
Judgment among the prophets and sidiqeen (truth worthy people).
In our homes the man is considered as leader of the house in
Qur’an because he is the breadwinner for the family and wife is
given the responsibility for the raising children and protecting
their sanctity. If the leader is considered respectable, he is
also considered responsible for the ones he is leading. Thus it
is established that both husband and wife need to respect each
other since one is the king of the house then the other is queen
and without their mutual trust their children can not grow in
peace and cooperation. We will continue this discussion in the
next chapter.
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