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To Lajna at the National Lajna Ima'illah Ijtima UK On هوا ودهاا اﮐاﺭﺭﺣﻡﮐھھاﺭ Address delivered by Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih V (aba) to Lajna at the National Lajna Ima’illah Ijtima UK on 3 rd October 2010 After reciting Tashahhud, Ta‘awwuz and Surah Fatihah , Hudhur (aba) said: “As soon as the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) claimed to be a prophet, the kuffar (disbelievers) of Makkah at first derided and ridiculed him. Then, when the kuffar saw that one by one, he was gathering their people in his fold, and that having taken his Bai’at, the disadvantaged and the slaves among them were worshipping the One God instead of their idols, the kuffar began hatching every possible scheme to stop the message and the work of the Holy Prophet (saw) . They exceeded in their cruelty and oppression on his followers. None among the followers of the Holy Prophet (saw) , neither man nor woman, remained safe from these vicious kuffar . Islamic history relates the incident of a person whose legs were tied to two camels, which were made to run in opposite directions, tearing the body apart. This person was indeed a woman. Even though she was faced with a dreadful end, that determined woman – that woman who had pledged to always remain steadfast on Tauheed (the Oneness of God) – bore the torment of her body being ripped apart, rather than be disloyal to her God. In Makkah, we come across another incidence of cruelty when the entire family of Hadhrat Yaasir (ra) was being persecuted. On one such day when this family was being persecuted, the Holy Prophet (saw) happened to pass by. He saw that they were tied up with ropes and were being viciously beaten, so the Holy Prophet (saw) said, “O family of Yaasir, have patience! Allah the Exalted has made a house for you in Paradise; a house is being built for you in Paradise”.1 During this episode of brutality, Hadhrat Yaasir (ra) was martyred, and Hadhrat Sumayyah, his wife, was tortured into a terrible state. She was semi-unconscious; yet even in such a state, Abu Jahl struck a spear in her and martyred her most cruelly. Having taken a passport to the pleasure of Allah the Exalted, which Allah the Exalted had given them through His beloved Prophet (saw) , both of them left this world and attained eternal life. Today, even fourteen hundred years later, their sacrifices shine most resplendently in the history of Islam. Whenever you look into the history of Islam, their sacrifice will be mentioned. Women are weak by nature, yet Islam has produced such women who have continued to offer sacrifices shoulder to shoulder with men. They have left behind such exemplary models for the stability and strength of Tauheed , which shall forever be a source of fortifying our faith for times to come. Now see, it was during the Makkan period of the life of the Holy Prophet (saw) when the events of Sha’ab-e-abi Taalib took place. The Holy Prophet (saw) , Hadhrat Khadijah (ra) , his extended family and his followers spent two and half years giving continuous sacrifices. They endured constant hunger and thirst, and their children would cry with the pangs of hunger. Although the mothers were worried and agitated at the state of their children; and although they were sorrowful at seeing their children approach death due to hunger, they still could not even think of being disloyal to and turning away from that wealth of Tauheed and that living God they had attained. If the men were the embodiment of steadfastness and resolve, women did not lag behind them. Thus it was the spirit of sacrifice and strength of faith that Islam produced equally in both men and women. Then at the command of Allah the Exalted, the migration to Madinah took place and another phase in the expansion of Islam began. Even there the enemies of Islam followed the Muslims, and with an army, attacked Madinah. It was then that God Almighty gave the Holy Prophet (saw) permission to defend himself in order to stop the persecution of the enemies; commanding him that now was time to retaliate forcefully, because if the oppression was not stopped at that point, the tyranny would have escalated and continued to fuel fires against all other religions. And the perpetrators of this cruelty would have continued to raise the sword against those teachings that lay emphasis on the worship of the One God. Therefore, with the permission of Allah the Exalted, the Holy Prophet (saw) marshalled against the attackers of Madinah and stood up against them. The first battle was fought at the grounds of Badr and subsequently, whenever the enemy found the opportunity, they fanned the flames of war against the Muslims. Despite the Muslims being smaller in numbers and short of weaponry, they continued to fight the enemy. During these battles, which were purely an affair for men, Muslim women played a full role. The courageous women fulfilled their duty, and fulfilled it superbly. The duties mostly undertaken by them were looking after the Muslim men who were fighting, supplying them with drinking water, tending to the wounds of the injured, moving the injured and the martyred from the battlefield and picking up and passing on arrows to the soldiers to use. Now, a woman, who is apparently seen as weak, can only accomplish this by keeping her wits intact and overcoming her weaknesses. Otherwise it is entirely impossible for her to accomplish this task. This is not all, in fact, I will relate some other incidents; and a particular incident that I have selected for now is most significant – it shows that women, like men, also fought with the sword. It was also the task of women to keep the army supplied with food, and to help men in digging graves for the martyrs. The women also played a great role in raising the spirits of the army. However, they did not accomplish this like the women of the kuffar, who sang songs and incited the men’s passions in improper ways, but they 2 did so by calling on their sense of honour for their faith and by vying with them to walk in the face of death. Thus, women have a distinguished status in the history of Islam. When war was imposed on them, Muslim women fulfilled their roles fully in the conditions of war; otherwise, this was not the purpose of their lives. These were the female Companions of the Holy Prophet (saw) who, according to the prevalent conditions of the time, gave excellent advice to the Nizaam-e-Jama‘at (system of the community) then established. The female Companions also accomplished academic feats. They set high standards of worship and they trained their children in such a way as to instil the realisation in them that they have to sacrifice their life, wealth, time and honour for the sake of their faith and their nation; and have to always be prepared for this sacrifice. Hence, their fearlessness and bravery was not the result of a warring or ignorant mentality, but they took these steps for the fulfilment of their duties and to achieve their objective. They were conscious of the fact that they had to discharge their obligations. If today, after the appointment of the Promised Messiah (as) , the jihad of the sword has been abrogated, then instead the jihad of the pen has been announced by him. Along with the jihad of the pen, these days there is the electronic media. There are various sources through which Islam and Ahmadiyyat is attacked. Attacks are being launched on the person of the Holy Prophet (saw) , on the Holy Qur’an and on the Being of Allah the Exalted. Today the number of these attacks has increased from before. While there is a need for men to use their energy and capabilities to repel these attacks, women too need to employ all their energy and capabilities for this. The Internet, Facebook and other websites should not be accessed only for enjoyment, passing time and fun, but rather with heartfelt compassion and zeal, like the women of early Islam did, who understood their responsibility and tried to undertake their obligations and even put their lives at stake for the objective. Now is the time to put one’s life at stake. It is the time to utilise all of one’s capabilities to obliterate and bring to naught every attack of the opponent. Girls and educated women should present themselves to the administration of the Jama’at for this. As said earlier, I will present some examples of women who took part in jihad . I have chosen one well-known example, which I will present before you here so you know how these women stood persistently in defense of Islam. You have heard examples of sacrifice of life for the establishment of Tauheed . But there are also such examples of what was done for the defence of Islam; defence of the religion that establishes the Oneness of God and for the protection of the Holy Prophet (saw) with one’s life. How these people, these women, protected the Holy Prophet (saw) by putting their lives on the line and stood by him, resolute and staunch. 3 First of all, I will present the example of Hadhrat Umme Ammaarah (ra) . Hadhrat Umme Ammaarah (ra) was among those early fortunate women of Madinah who went to Makkah and took part in Bai’at-e-Aqabah Saaniah (Second Oath of Allegiance at Aqabah). This fortunate convoy consisted of 72 men and 2 women, one of whom was Umme Ammaarah Nusaibah (ra) binte Ka’ab and the other was Umme Asmaa binte Umar bin Adiy (ra) .
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