Friday, March 01, 2019

An Address to Young Girls (Part 4)

Emulating the Elders




“A Muslimah’s Guide to Living a Blissful Life” 

My dear daughters! Carefully observe your elders and learn intelligence from them. Strive to become like them and imbibe modesty, bashfulness, intelligence and wisdom. By doing this, you will attain success and prosperity in this world and the next. Furthermore, you will lead a life of respect, happiness and dignity.

Until good and bad examples are not placed before you and a comparison is made between them, you will not gain a true understanding. Similarly, until you are not given a complete description of how things were in the past, and the manner in which people of the past lived, interacted and socialized, and how they educated and raised their children, and until the mannerisms and ways of the young girls of those times is not clearly outlined before you, you will never understand and will not be able to instil those qualities within yourself that are in actual fact the essence of being a civilized human being. Likewise, you will be unable to correct your weaknesses (and improve your character). 


Do you know what priceless gems are lacking in your life, what beneficial qualities and aspects you remain deprived of and which virtues you are bereft of? No, you have no idea (of what you lack)! The reason for this is that you are absolutely inexperienced (and naive), and you have not enjoyed the good effects of anyone’s teaching and upbringing. So much so, that you cannot even determine whether your own parents are pleased with you or not.

No comments: