Which brings us to one of the main points that the Prophet (pbuh) emphasised – education.
A good choice must be an educated one. That is why Islam has made it compulsory on every man and every woman to seek knowledge. That is why as parents and as mothers we must emphasize the education of every boy and every girl in our society. And even after we leave formal schooling, we must continue to read, to discuss with others, to learn and to share knowledge.
Only then will a woman who stays home realise that she is its strength and foundation. That without her the family will disintegrate and only then will she understand how much power she has in her hands.
Only by understanding her own worth will a woman know that working is matter of personal satisfaction and not something she has to do to prove she is equal to men.
By educating ourselves we can then pass on the sense of self-respect and self-worth to our sons and daughters. We can teach our sons to respect our daughters and our daughters to respect themselves.
In every aspect of womanhood, you will find that that Islam took what the world thought was dull copper and polished it to show that it is actually solid gold.
Today, sadly, we have dulled the gold back to a copper. Look around you. When we are used by men for everything from visual pleasure to selling computers, does it makes us any better than our sisters who were used for the same centuries ago? Yesterday, politics and empires were sold using women, today insurance loans and cars are sold using women. Yesterday women dressed to attract and appeal to men, today we dress to attract and appeal to men. Yesterday women danced to the tune their men played, today we dance to the tune our men play.
Is there a difference between the women of the 21st century and those of the 6th? Yes, perhaps there is one difference. Women of the 6th century did these things because they were ignorant and had no rights of their own. Women of the 21st century do these things knowingly.
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