Once I heard a scholar talk about an event in Islamic history which I will never forget. He was talking about the invasion of Iraq by the Mongols. As it’s known that Mongols never took prisoners of wars as they would kill every single one. So after capturing Iraq they killed all the Muslim men and raped Muslim women and made them their slaves. Later these very Muslim women gave birth to the Mongols and raised them into Muslim men who restored Islamic empire back in Iraq. Who could have imagined that the very blood of those Mongols who came to destroy Islam later would become its saviors?
The point of mentioning this very fact of history is that we don’t need heroes to revive the Muslim Ummah at this terrible time. We need Muslim mothers who could raise Muslim men like those who restored Islam back in the land of Iraq. Today every Muslim should ask himself/herself that what it is we are doing wrong that we are suffering so badly. I believe the answer to that lies in our homes. Our mothers have forgotten their role in creating a successful Islamic Ummah. I will try my best to depict here what the mothers of Muslim Ummah are doing and what they ought to do. What are the reasons that we are getting the worst leaders with no Islamic characters like Saddam, Musharraf, Ghadaffi and the others?
Our mothers are too busy gossiping, watching TV shows, not knowing what their children are doing and worst of all too busy to spend quality time with their children because they are working 8 hours a day. They send their kids to big nice western schools and think that it is enough to make them good human beings. If that were true, then all the people who go through colleges would be good humans, but history proves it otherwise. They are too confused with their own personalities, not realizing what is good and bad for them and their families. Just look at what is going on in Muslim countries like Pakistan. The way women are dressed and intermingling with men. It’s just sad to see where our Ummah is heading. The main reason for this is that these women don’t take time to learn about their Deen, Islam. They hardly know anything about Islam and what it stands for. They think that by offering salaat (prayers) and paying zakaat their responsibilities as a Muslimah are fulfilled. What they don’t realize that this is where their responsibilities begin as Muslimah. No wonder our great Prophet (PBUH) said that marriage is the path to completing half of your Deen. I am sure that the Prophet (PBUH) did not mean that by saying “I do”, he or she has completed half of their Deen in that one instance, but that the fulfillment of the responsibilities that befall on the person after the marriage takes place, is the path to completing ones Deen.
So what are the responsibilities of a woman as a wife and a mother? The answer to this is clearly mentioned in the Qur’an and the Hadith - Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH), if we only care to read these books with open hearts to obtain their true understanding. No where in The Qur'an or Sunnah does it say, as far as I am aware of that a husband should stay home and the wife should go out and earn the living. Then why do women today not understand this simple duty. Allah made women in such a way that they should stay home and take care of their homes, whereas men should go out and make a living and provide for their wives and children with food, shelter and protection, all of which they need. I have yet to see a man being able to raise children in a better way than women and then why do we insist on doing it. Women have been given the main duty of raising the children, as Allah has made them suitable for such a role, in nature and personality. Allah (SWT) has stated the roles of both men and women in The Holy Qur’an and how could HE be wrong.
I can go on discussing what I think, according to Islam men and women should do, but I know there is only one way to convince everyone and that is they have to educate themselves about the teaching of Islam as in The Qur’an and the Sunnah. The Islamic education is very important for our survival as a Nation. We need to realize our roles as a man and a woman in an Islamic society.
I ask Allah to forgive me for any mistakes I have made. Any good that comes from what has been said is from Allah (SWT) and any errors are from my own short comings.