Episode 4 - Women and the Forgotten Mission

Greetings.

Introduction: The Increase of Western Women Embracing Islam

In 2011, a study from Swansea University was published, said to be the largest on British conversions to Islam. It was reported by British newspapers like "The Independent" under the title "Women and Islam: The Continuing Rise of Converts," referring to women who have converted to Islam.

The study stated that the number of Britons who converted to Islam in the past ten years was one hundred thousand, a significant increase compared to the previous ten years (from 1991 to 2001), during which sixty thousand Britons converted. Notably, three-quarters of these new Muslims were women.

In a 2017 research paper that included several European countries, it was noted that large numbers of people had converted to Islam in Germany, France, and other European countries. Once again, the observation was that women were more likely to convert to Islam than men.

Why Do Western Women Accept Islam?

Why is this the case? Have you seen the episode "The Liberation of the Western Woman"? Have you seen the desert in which this woman was lost? If she is sound in nature, what do you expect her to do when she stumbles upon the oasis of Islam in this bleak scene? She sees the justice of Islam for her, and its regulation of her relationship with her Lord, herself, and her society, with a preserved compass and revelation, not the whims of politicians and exploitative capitalists.

Therefore, note that the countries whose women are most likely to accept Islam are Britain, Germany, and France, which are the countries where we saw the most suffering of women in the episode "The Liberation of the Western Woman."

Engineer Fadel Suleiman interviewed several women who had converted to Islam and later produced a documentary titled "Islam in Women," which is the opposite of the usual title "Women in Islam." Why is that? Why "Islam in Women"? He said that there was a phenomenon that repeated itself with several of the women he interviewed. One would ask, "When did you convert?" and she would say to him, "Do not ask me when I converted, but ask me when you discovered the Islam within you? When did you discover the Islam within you?" A great expression of the truth that it is the religion of nature. And you will learn what you will be exposed to as soon as you put on the hijab.

All of this, and most Muslims do not even think of the duty to call others to Islam, and some of them celebrate with the people of other religions on their religious occasions, instead of inviting them to the true religion.

Note that the number of women who converted increased after 2001, in the decade following the September 11 events directly, events that were expected to have the opposite result. But just the attention of these women to the existence of a religion called Islam, and their growing curiosity to know it, and a bit of increased activity of Muslims in calling to it afterward, had this great effect.

What are the things that attracted these Western women to Islam and made them embrace it despite all the difficulties? This question was raised in the documentary "Islam in Women." And you, the believer, may be surprised to know that what attracted many Western women to Islam is the same legislation that made some Muslim women doubt the religion or leave it, unfortunately. Divine commands that some Muslim women are embarrassed by, either due to their distorted standards or the misapplication of these laws in reality.

As for the Western woman, she has experienced it. She has tasted the bitterness, laughed at her a lot, and been exploited a lot. She has walked this path to its end. She saw its consequences and outcomes, knew the methods of the devils among humans in tempting her to take this path, and experienced confusion and loss for a long time. If her nature is sound and she sees the laws of Islam, it will be easy for her to see in them the truth and justice that many Muslim women have not seen.

The Shock of New Muslim Women from the Reality of Original Muslim Women

However, according to the study published by "The Independent," most new Muslim women complain of a state of confusion, not receiving sufficient educational support, and thus they seek Islam on their own and become confused. A number of them complain of a state of isolation, and they complain that when they converted, they were initially welcomed warmly by the Muslims.

It is as if the Western Muslim woman is saying: "Where are you, the one who was born Muslim, to save women like me and rescue others from the path of loss? Where are you to set an example for the women of the world with your success in your family relationships, your cooperation with the man in righteousness and piety, and your good upbringing of your children to fulfill the mission that God has imposed on you when He said to you: 'You are the best nation ever brought forth to mankind'? Where are you? A Quran I read its translation, and a Prophet whose biography I read, which has passed fourteen centuries and I converted to Islam because it is a religion that attracts people by itself. Where are you to embody what I read in the Quran and the Sunnah so that you are a living contemporary role model for the daughters of my gender who need you? I fell short in my call to you, and yet I was guided by the grace of God. Where are you to provide me with psychological and scientific support, and make me feel that I have a supporter, companionship, and family in this religion? Do you not defend your religion, O Muslim woman? Have you not realized that this is a religion, if it had men and women, where are you from us, O Muslim woman?"

Imagine and visualize the shock of this Western Muslim woman who screams with this question: "Where are you from us, O you who were born Muslim?" She is surprised to find that this Muslim woman has begun to take the same path from which the Western Muslim woman fled. The original Muslim woman insists on experiencing the experiment in all its chapters, instead of learning from others.

Imagine the shock of the Western woman when she sees from the Muslim women those who doubt the justice and fairness of Islam for her. She saw the misapplication of some of God's commands, so she hated God's command itself. She will not participate in calling others to Islam, but she herself needs someone to call her. When she sees from them the lost and confused ones searching for self-affirmation, when she sees from them those preoccupied with their personal problems, complaining of the man's injustice to her, and he may complain of her injustice to him, and she has completely forgotten that she is from the best nation brought forth to mankind. Indeed, some of them leave Islam and apostatize, "And if they turn away, then know that Allah is sufficient as a Witness over them."

The Forgotten Duty of the Muslim Woman

Undoubtedly, there are Muslim women who fulfill their duties and cooperate in righteousness and piety and call to Islam in the family, school, university, work, and society. Their goal is not only to save themselves but also to reform their families, societies, and nations, and even humanity. They are balanced, high-spirited, present believers, but they are few. And everyone chooses for themselves from the previous types what they want.

"O mankind, you are the poor to Allah, and Allah is the Free, the Praiseworthy. If He wills, He can take you away and bring a new creation. And that is not difficult for Allah."

Therefore, we will proceed in a series for you, O believer, a short, intensive series of episodes that will not do justice to the topic, but we ask Allah to make them lamps of guidance, so that we can return after completing it to proceed in one of the most important stations of the journey of certainty.

Series "The Woman and the Forgotten Duty"

This series that we have begun is for you, O believing woman. Its goal is to help you take the appropriate place in bearing the great responsibility towards the religion of Allah. Your duty in aiding the guidance of humanity is not a voluntary task, but an obligation. Neglecting this duty may be among its consequences that you become preoccupied with worries, problems, and injustices with people and with men. The woman in non-Muslim societies, the Muslim woman who falls short in her missionary role in those societies, and aiding the man in his role as well, may be afflicted with someone who oppresses her for her religion and deprives her of her religious rights there.

With the permission of Allah, we will proceed in a series that helps to crystallize your view of yourself, your religion, and your relationship with your Lord, and with the people of your human gender. And it will help you to explore what may have entered our psychological system, men and women, causing conflict within the Muslim ranks and the Muslim family, and made us influenced by the calls of misguidance instead of being guiding and rightly guided. We ask Allah the Most High to make this series beneficial, blessed, and a source of certainty.

{And the believing men and believing women are protectors of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Those - Allah will have mercy upon them. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.}

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.