Friday Nasiha

Whatever applies to the crime of murder likewise applies to committing suicide. Whoever takes his life by any means whatsoever has unjustly taken a life which Allah has made sacred. For since he did not create himself, nor even so much as a single cell of his body, the life of an individual does not belong to him; it is a trust given to him by Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. He is not allowed to diminish it, let alone to harm or destroy it.

The Islamic teachings require the Muslim to be resolute in facing hardships; he is not permitted to give up and to run away from the unexpected changes of life when a tragedy befalls or some of his hopes are dashed. Indeed, the believer is created for striving, not for sitting idle; for combat, not for escape. His faith and character do not permit him to run away from the battlefield of life, and he possesses a weapon which never fails and ammunition which is never exhausted: the weapon of his unshakable faith and the ammunition of his moral steadfastness.

The Prophet (peace be on him) warned that anyone who commits the crime of suicide will be deprived of the mercy of Allah and will not enter the Garden; he will deserve Allah's wrath and be cast into the Fire. The Prophet (peace be on him) said, 'In the time before you, a man was wounded. His wounds troubled him so much that he took a knife and cut his wrist and bled himself to death. Thereupon Allah said, 'My slave hurried in the matter of his life.' therefore, he is deprived of the Garden.' (Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim.)

If a person is deprived of the Garden because he cannot bear the pain of his wounds and so kills himself, what about the one who takes his life because he has suffered a loss, whether great or small in his business, has failed an examination, or has been rejected by a woman.

Women at Public Places

The tradition of early Muslim Society was for women to attend all public meetings and festivals. Authentic reports about life with Prophet (peace be upon him) give account of women going to attend the two Eid (festive days) prayers. Even those who were excused from prayer, would also come to attend the congregation. Hafsah, the Prophet's wife (God bless her) is reported to have said: "We used to forbid young girls to go out to attend the Eid prayers. But a woman came to visit and stayed in Qasr Bani Khelf, and told about her sister, whose husband had participated in twelve military campaigns of the Prophet (peace be upon him), her sister took part in six thereof". She said: "We treated the wounded and looked after the sick. (Bukhari).

Another aspect of women in Apostolic society was revealed by an account of Sayidah Ayishah about how she attended a spectacle of the Ethiopians: "By God the Prophet was by my chamber's door while the Ethiopians were showing their spear games in Al Haram. The Prophet (peace be upon him) covered me with his shawl so that I may too watch their feats. I was watching them from behind his shoulder. He would pose there for my sake till I chose to break off". Ayishah suggests: "you should fully appreciate a young girl's interest in fun". (Bukhari)

Public life is no stage where men alone can play. There is no segregation of sexes in public domains which call for joint efforts. Thus both men and women are allowed to participate in congregational prayers. The Prophet, (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: "Don't stop women form going to mosques at night". A son of Abdullab bin Umar, on hearing this statement, said to his father: "We would not allow women to go out of the house at night for fear of any abuses". Ibn Umar reprimanded his son: "I say the prophet (peace he upon him) said so, and you still say you won't allow it". (Muslim)

From the foregoing, it is clear that the Prophet's directive is for women to go out publicly to frequent mosques even at night, and to attend and offer Eid prayers. It is also recognised that pilgrimage (Haj), despite its displacements and thick crowds, is a function performed in common by men and women. Some over-scrupulous Muslim rulers endeavoured to introduce some modification in this respect with a view of segregating men and women in the Tawaf (going round the holy Kabah). But scholars who upheld the Sunna and favour strict adherence to Tradition, opposed any change in the practice current in the Prophet's own times. Consequently, the traditional practice of Tawaf in common remained established and the change fell through. That was when Muhammed bin Hisham, the governor of Mecca, stopped ladies performing tawaf alongside men. Ata, the famous scholar of tradition objected: "How do you stop them when the Prophet's own wives did Tawaf of Kaba alongside men?" (Bukhari).

Educational assemblies too were attended by men and women jointly. The Prophet (peace be upon him), in teaching the Muslims, used to address men and women together even where he was giving instruction, relating to conjugal matters. (Ahmed, Abu Dawwod, and Albazar).

Separate meetings exclusively for ladies were sometimes convened, but that was for practical reasons, mostly the dominance of men, sitting close to the Prophet (peace be upon him) after prayer and the inability of women sitting behind to hear him well. Bukhari narrated, in a chapter titled, 'Is a day set aside exclusively for the education of women?', that women told the Prophet, "men have dominated us around you", the Prophet (peace be upon him) promised to give them a separate day. He would meet them on the scheduled day and deliver his lecture and instruction.

Source:
"Women in Islam and Muslim Society" – Hassan Abdalla Al Turabi