[ابوالوليد المسلم]

How to protect our families from the Fire (4/6)

Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid



Some dissolute female companions might teach our women matters which corrupt the nature or religion, as some men mention that their wives ask to have intercourse in an area prohibited by legislation, and she informed him that her friend does that with her husband, and refuge is sought with Allah the Exalted.
We must be keen that the women in our family should save their time and not waste it. Some women waste their time in long phone calls without any benefit that is worth mentioning. So, the caller to Allah the Exalted must guide their family and inform them of the value of time.
Likewise, one must teach women the etiquette of speaking to non-related men, the recommended mannerisms and perils thereof. They should be taught how to answer the phone if the caller is a non-related man. Also, they should make sure that when a woman is going to a wedding or feast or places such as those places, that nothing reprehensible occurs in such festivities.
They should also be watchful over the covering of the woman when she goes out, and should make sure it is long, covers the whole body, is thick, is not scented, does not resemble clothes of men or disbelieving women, and is loose rather than tight.
Unfortunately, some people who ascribe themselves to Islam display manners that are more suited to a cuckold or someone whose sense of right and wrong is dull.
Due to that, they do not care for the modesty and Islamic covering of their wife, daughters, or sisters. So, you find them allowing their daughters to go out however they want and with whomever they want. They have no one watching over them or taking them to account. If such an individual is reprimanded for that, his excuse is that she is still young and that he trusts her completely.
Some people take their womenfolk to gardens and parks, and there, he allows her to play around as they wish and do whatever they want. Some parts of their bodies might become uncovered and their covering would be neglected.
Even more disastrous is that some people do not ask their women where they are going and where they are coming from. A man would be ordered by his wife or daughter to drive them to a particular place, and he would comply without asking about the reason they are going there or the place they are going to.
Worse than that is that he drops her off there and allows her to return with a chauffeur. Does not this grievous matter lead to reprehensible actions that in turn lead to great calamities in society?
A man is responsible for all of this, and you have a good example in Allah’s Messenger, sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. He, sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to have great protective zeal for his wives, as reported that ‘Aa’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said that the Prophet, sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, entered on her while there was a man sitting with her, and that severely bothered him.
She said: “I noticed anger in his face, and then he, sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “O ‘Aa’ishah, who is this?” I said: ‘This is my brother due to suckling.’ He, sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Be careful of whom you consider your brothers through suckling, because suckling only occurs when the child is suckled at a young enough age that breast milk satisfies them, and they are suckled to the point that they are full.”[1] Meaning, before allowing a man to enter your homes and claiming that they are your brothers from suckling, make sure that suckling actually occurred in the timeframe that is recognized, or if it occurred in a timeframe that is not recognized, making the impermissibility of marriage thereafter invalid.
Fourth: Warning the family of the dangers of the people of misguidance:
One of the most important ways to save the family from deviation and misguidance is to teach them the practices and dangers of criminals and the people of misguidance in how they misguide others due to their vileness by presenting misguidance and sin in beautiful manners, and calling it by another name.
Two of the most important things that one must warn the women of are:
• Certain criminals try to incite them to remove their covering and take them out of their homes in order to enjoy themselves with her, and they call it "freedom" of women.
• Undermining the Islamic family and its size, and lessening the size of the Islamic Ummah, and they call it the plan of birth *******.
These calls have been given by many satellite channels that have been established solely in order to destroy homes and manners and to kill modesty and shyness.
Fifth: Safeguarding the home from blameworthy matters:
Many fathers are negligent regarding their families and children during these times.
A child might watch something reprehensible in the home, which would embed itself in their mind slowly and their heart would become inclined to sinful actions.

(Continued)

[1] Reported by Al-Bukhari (5102) and Muslim (1455).