Women assemblies

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds [i.e., people]. And peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), his family, and his Companions.

Women assemblies:

If assemblies and meetings are not connected and cultivated by religion and manners, they will become a room for gossip and sins including backbiting, lie, slandering, revealing secrets, disclosure of honors, and loss of shyness.

Some women do not stop complaining of their husbands and children, others assigned themselves as Muftis (those who give a Shari`ah-based opinions) and reformers while they are home destroyers. Others made their homes open for the public without any shyness, leaving out no corner, bed room, bathroom, even their private clothes exposed; and Allah is the only One sought for help.

There must be a serious stop, reminder, and percussion to hearts. These assemblies have spread out and moved to computer screens without shyness, and after these assemblies had been enclosed by walls, they are held in many places and before peoples' eyes. It is depressing to the heart to clothe these assemblies by the cover of religion and teaching, raising the following motto: There is no shyness in religion! Such assemblies may deem backbiting, disclosure of marital secrets, nudge and Gibe permissible, calling them other names, lifting the shyness of words and direction even before screens.

Shaykh Al Albany (may Allah bestow mercy on his soul) was asked: How true is the following saying: "There is no shyness in religion"? He said: We find a proof to sustain this saying in Sahih Muslim in the words of `A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her): "May Allah have mercy on the early immigrant women. When the Ayah: "That they should draw their veils over their bosoms" was revealed, they tore their thick outer garments and made veils from them." However, this issue needs to be limited because shyness is part of faith as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said. (Silsilat Al Huda wan-Nour, Tape No, 534).

`Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The one who speaks much, his faults will be many, and whose faults are many, his shyness will be little, and whose shyness is little, his piety will be little too, and whose piety is little his heart is dead."

Dear Muslim sister, how many people were backbitten in these assemblies even if they are the closest to you: Parents, husband, and even children?!

Allah (may He be Exalted) says: "O you who believe! Avoid much suspicions, indeed some suspicions are sins. And spy not, neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is the One Who accepts repentance, Most Merciful." [Surat Al Hujurat: 12].

As for gibe and everything that indicates underestimation or belittling others and trying to slander them, you may speak lengthy.

Let us give an example to our mother Zaynab bint Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with her) whom the Prophet asked during the event of salndering `A'ishah. `A'ishah said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) asked Zaynab bint Jahsh, the Prophet's wife, about my situation: She replied: I did not know, or I did not see. She added: O Messenger of Allah, I protect my hearing and sight. By Allah, I did not know anything bad against her. `A'ishah said: She was the one who was equal to me from among the Prophet's wives, but Allah protected her with piety.

Reduce your words and seek refuge against its evil

For affliction is correlated.

Maintain your tongue and gaurd it against its falsehood

So as to be as if it is detained.

Make your heart controler over your tongue and say to it

Words are weighed against you,

So weigh them and make it short

For elquonce exists in the little.

Dear Muslim sister, we should choose our assemblies as we choose jewels and clothes to increase our beauty. If these assemblies do not draw oneself closer to Allah, loving to obedience, and detesting from sins, we do not need them.

We should remember the Prophet's saying: "The faith of a person does not become straight until his heart becomes straight, and his heart does not become straight until his tongue is straight. And the one who hurts his neighbors shall not enter Paradise."

The crown of reverence and good looking of a Muslim is

The silence of a knowledgeable person mixed with the wisdom of a speaker.

I ask Allah, the Great, to accept these words and make them useful. And praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).