The Best Deed of Women

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “The best deed of the women of my Ummah is contentment and withdrawal from men.” [Shara’i Hijab]Contentment and withdrawal from men are linked. Contentment with whatever Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) has bestowed on one is required in order to keep away from mingling with men. Why does the need to unnecessarily mingle arise? It arises out of a desire for the things of this world. What are the attractions of this world? They are money (the luxuries and recreation it buys) and fame. We really need to ask ourselves how much shopping and recreation is necessary. After all, isn’t there an eternity in Jannah for this? When it comes to work, we need to ask ourselves whether it is to fend off starvation or to maintain a certain standing in society by being associated with a particular career.For a woman to fully guard herself from the eyes of men she needs to keep her focus on the ocean of Akhirah and suppress her desires for this drop of a world. If she can rein in her desires for the things of this world, she will not feel the need to go out so much.

Eeman is like an airplane ride, the higher up you go, the smaller the things of this world seem. When my Eeman is high enough the things of this world will become invisible to me and I won’t notice what others are wearing and showing off, let alone want them for myself. But till I get to cruising altitude I’ll be burning a lot of fuel. It’s hard work, but the burning fuel is another name for Taqwa: the more I have of it, the higher my level in Jannah, inshaAllah.