Tesneem Alkiek – Inspirational Muslim Women #02 Zaynab al Ghazali al Jubayli
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Assalamualaikum
Warahtahu Barakatahu and welcome back to another episode
of Sayeedati.
Today, I wanna fast forward a bit and
discuss the life of a resilient figure closer
to home that of Zaynab El Ghazali
who was born in 1917 in modern day
Egypt.
As a child, her father who was a
graduate of Al Hasid University
privately tutored his daughter Zainab and she eventually
received certificates in the fields of hadith, dawah,
and tafsir.
He also encouraged her at a young age
to pursue a leadership role within the community
and he reminded her of the strength of
the companion, Musaydah Bint Gab as a role
model
who we'll discuss in another episode inshallah
since she was granted the opportunity to study
at a young age with a scholar it's
no surprise but that by the time she
was 18 years old she had already founded
an organization for educating women and encouraging them
in being active in their communities
the organization known as the Muslim women's association
supposedly boasted over 3,000,000 followers before was later
dissolved by the government every week she hosted
lectures at the even to the mosque that
attracted thousands of listeners
and in additional to this educational aspect, Al
Ghazali used her influence to give back to
the community at a societal level
by maintaining an orphanage as well as providing
for poor families among many of her other
contributions.
In 1965
as she neared the age of 50 years
old Al Ghazali was sentenced to prison based
on fabricated conspiracies.
In her autobiography,
she described the degree of gruesome torture she
experienced.
In all honesty, it was to the extent
that I wouldn't even wanna speak of those
abuses myself, let alone imagine was sending them.
And yet, she held firm in her beliefs
and the truth she prescribed to, despite the
slander and political accusations she faced.
6 years later, she was finally released from
imprisonment after a governmental transition of power. And
for the rest of her life, she remained
steadfast as an activist in her community and
called upon other women to stand up for
what was right through her writings and contributions.
And only a little over 10 years ago,
Zainab El Hazari passed away. Rahimah Jabbar. So
here we have the example of a woman
who displayed
extraordinary resilience.
She committed her life to not only educating
her community, but also by ensuring that they
were taken care of at a public and
societal level. And of course she did this
all in spite of the pressure and physical
threats she was both threatened by and sustained.
Although we might not face the same circumstances
as Zaynab Lozada,
we too should take the necessary steps in
not only educating ourselves in our religion,
but ensuring that those around us have those
same opportunities.
It's not enough to be content that we
know a thing or two about the world
around us if our communities are suffering at
a basic human level. We need to educate
ourselves in order to transform that knowledge into
serving the people and serving our communities.
Take for example her simple dedication to orphanages.
That's enormous in the sight of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala and there's so much reward for
it mentioned in the Quran.
She knew that. She learned that and we
have too.
Yet she took that hard but necessary step
in the direction of doing something about it
and she committed her life to taking care
of orphans I hope the story of Zaynab
El Azadi inspires you to not only take
care of yourself and make sure you actively
find outlets for learning about your religion and
the world around you but also using that
knowledge to serve the community for the better.
Pick a social disparity that really gets you
motivated whether it's consistently volunteering at a soup
kitchen or being active in your local city
halls
do something that you know will help contribute
to those around you make sure to have
a friend tag along Izakumullah Khayden and we'll
see you next time insha Allah. Assalamualaikumullah