Women Finally on the Shores of Islam pdf download

Women Finally on the Shores of Islam by:  Muhammad Rasheed Al-‘Uwayyed Translated by: Noha Kamal Ed-Din Abu Al-Yazid, Edited by: Muhammad Ibrahim Kamarah

WOMEN FINALLY ON THE SHORES OF ISLAM

This Qur’anic verse is from the Surah (chapter), “Women”, which should make all those who accuse Islam of denying women their rights know that there is a chapter in the book of Muslims which shows that they are held in high esteem.

Thus, I challenge everyone to bring forth any religious book or law written fourteen thousand years ago, which gave women the same rights as those mentioned in this chapter, and the rest of the Qur’an.

When I was first asked to write the editor’s note on the translation of this book, I thought it was an opportunity for me to send a message to those who think that Islam suppresses women. But on second thoughts, I felt that the words should come from the horse’s mouth.

The reader will therefore learn for himself or herself what these women who embraced Islam have to say. Nearly all of them are well educated and became Muslims during their search for the truth.

The translator (herself a woman) did a good job in rendering this book, which I hope will give a true picture of Islam to non-Muslim, and help rid Muslim women of the inferiority complex which the materialistic and so-called advanced world has made them feel.

The new converts have discussed issues which non-Muslim women and Muslim women who suffer from inferiority complex think lower their status.

For example, the “Hijab” (veil) is considered by those who misunderstand Islam to be something that makes women hide their beauty.

But people must not forget that in those days when Christianity was taken very seriously in Europe and other parts of the world, it was unbecoming for a woman to leave her house without a scarf or to wear a short dress with short sleeves.

Because of the respect, women are accorded in Islam, they are not used as “human advertising products”, and material for pornography. Their beauty is supposed to be seen and enjoyed only by their husbands who are given this right, through the institution of marriage.

In everyday life, we know that the more expensive and valuable something is, the more the care, attention, and protection accorded it.

This is the case with things made of gold, diamond, pearl etc. This rule, therefore, applies to women, because human beings are the best of Allah’s creatures. Thus, Hijaab is meant to preserve the “value” which women deserve.

People who read this book must be warned against a certain misconception, i.e. linking Islam with the deeds of some so-called Muslims. This should not be criterion for proving the excellence of any religion or creed.

The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was sent by Allah to be a source of mercy to the world. So, wherever a Muslim may be, if he practices Islam accordingly, then he is the real Muslim, even if he is not in a Muslim country.

Also, it is also worth learning that there is no religious hierarchy in Islam. The Imam who leads Muslims in congregational prayers cannot claim to be the most pious Muslim, except if he puts his knowledge into practice.

Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, once said to his daughter, Fatimah: “Do good deeds for I will not, by my own power, intercede (with Allah) on behalf of you on the Day of Judgement.”

·Another thing that will catch the reader’s attention is that anybody who embraces Islam feels straightaway that he or she is duty-bound to propagate this religion, and also tries to learn the language of the Qur’an, Arabic.

One may ask that if we say the neglect of some Muslims of religious teachings is not the basis of judging the veracity of the message of Islam, what then are the criteria? The first of these is the Glorious book of Muslims, the Qur’an, which the British Muslim Marmaduke Pickthall described as “that inimitable symphony, the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy” “No one who is religious and reads the Qur’an with an open heart and without prejudice, can stop himself or herself from embracing Islam.”

The second criterion for judging the excellence of Islam as a religion is the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, the unlettered Prophet who, during a period of twenty-three years, was able to deliver the people of Arabia from darkness to light. He made those desert people move from the state of oblivion they lived in, to one of self-confidence, and through the strength of their faith, ruled the world.

Well-advanced nations became Islamic strongholds after the death of Prophet Muhammad, during the eras of the rightly-guided Caliphs, and later periods. For example, countries like Egypt, Persia (now Iran), Syria, Iraq, etc., came under Islamic rule and have remained as Islamic states up to this day.

Islam is a simple religion, a fact buttressed by the Prophetic Saying: “Make things easy for people, and do not make them, difficult.” Once the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, as angry when one of his companions said that he did not pray in the mosque because the Imam spent a long time in the prayer. He spoke to that Imam angrily and warned him that he should make his prayer short, as there might be old people, the weak, and those who have work to do, in the congregation.

Therefore, there are no rites for one who wants to embrace Islam. He or she only has to say, “I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”