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“Does anyone know what Allah’s gift to women is?” This was one of the first questions proposed, and answered by Sr. Aminah Assilmi last Sunday. Sister Amina is a nationally recognized and well-respected speaker on Islamic issues. She was in town this week and IECNH had the opportunity to host her. It was our treat indeed! With her high energy and passion for the love of Allah, she entertained and enlightened her audience.
Sister Aminah was raised a Southern Baptist and became a feminist in her earlier years. As a college student with scholar’s awards, she was “mistakenly” registered for a theater class (due to a computer glitch, as she put it) and discovered “Arabs” whom she had only heard about. For the next two and a half years, she made it her mission to prove them wrong, and “show them the right way”. She studied the Qu’ran and hadith intensely, so much so that she says she forgot to go back to school! When she embraced Islam, she never looked back, even as her family and friends opposed her decision. A smile is sunnah as many Muslims already know. Sister Aminah showed the community of IECNH what it actually means. To smile to a non-Muslim or to your Muslim brother or sister is to show all of Allah’s creation love and respect (while still lowering the gaze to the opposite gender). To live Islam and to fill one’s heart with Allah’s love and mercy and to shower that on all people is what the Prophet (saw) taught. This is how Muslims can cure their hearts and relieve society and the world of its ills. Sr. Aminah told her audience that Muslims can practice their faith, but until they fill their hearts with Allah’s love, they will not cure their hearts of disease. So to be a “practicing” Muslim is NOT to lie or cheat or backbite, it is to LIVE Islam. So the gift from Allah to women that Sr. Aminah first asked about was an apparent one. It is the Hijab- the Islamic head cover. Hijab, she said, allows a Muslim woman to be recognized as a Muslim wherever she may be, across the globe. In every country a Muslim woman enters, she will be given salam by those who recognize her religion and will be asked about Islam by the curious minded. Men, she said, do not have that blessing. A Muslim man can look like any other man, he can blend in the background. As a Muslim woman, the obligation of da’wa (the teaching and calling to Islam) is more easily fulfilled. A Muslimah is completing her duty of da’wa simply by showing others that she is Muslim and that by living Islam, she is the best person from the inside and out. Sr. Aminah Assilmi gave a touching reminder of why we should love Allah and Islam. Her story of how she found Islam and was guided by The Almigthy Allah is one that shows her strength in faith, and the power of a Muslim woman. If you missed her speech, do not despair! She will be giving a talk at the Hackensack masjid next weekend, May 6th at 4:30pm. |
