Think First! Dawa at 1:30 AM

By Humairah Irfan

It was late in the night, around 1:30am, and I was studying in the kitchen. Engrossed in my work, I didn’t see when Anne walked in and was standing right in front of me. ‘Hey Humairah, what are you upto? Studying as usual?’ ‘Yea, have an exam in three days. Gotta work hard. What brings you here?

I live in student residence, and Anne was one of my suitemates. ‘Well, I did wanna ask you some questions. There’s this girl who works in the APUS office, and she wears a headscarf just like you. Anyways, I want to know WHY, Muslim girls can’t wear short skirts? Your religion is so harsh. I don’t understand how you follow it

I was tired, and the last thing I wanted to do was explain something about Islam to her. Plus, I wasn’t prepared. ‘Um…we cover ourselves because of modesty. Hair is also a form of attraction. In Islam, men and women are not recognized by their looks, but their personality. That’s why, as Muslim women, we don’t have to worry about how we’re dressed up, our weight, makeup etc’. ‘ I see. Well, that makes sense, but not completely.

So, why don’t men cover themselves? I can almost imagine them with a scarf…’she laughed loudly. ‘Men do, as well. Allah has ordered men to cover themselves from their navel to knees.’ ‘Yea, that’s fine, but….why not their hair? Anyways, forget that. And like, why can Muslim men marry four wives?! That’s so ridiculous…and I also heard, sons get twice as much from the inheritance, than daughters? That’s so wrong!’ ‘No, not really, you see, the daughter gets financial security from her husband when she gets married?’ ‘But, what if she doesn’t want to get married? So, in Islam, all girls should get married? I guess, that is the case, wasn’t one of your prophet’s wives like 9 or something when she got married? Holy cow! That’s just so wrong!...’

‘Hey, Anne, slow down, first, a girl, until she gets married, is the responsibility of her father or brother, or the closest relative…as for the Prophet, it’s true that his wife was really young, but she stayed with her parents for a while until she was able enough to live with him. But you know what? Islam was the first religion to give rights to women at that time. Moreover, Islam upholds the value of humans and their property first, that’s why if you still, then your right hand is cut off’, ‘OH MY GOD, THAT’S OUTRAGEOUS!’, ‘No it isn’t.’ Under my breath, I said to myself, ‘I’m doing more harm than good here…do something Humairah!’ ‘Besides that doesn’t happen, because so far, no Islamic country has a complete Islamic society

In an Islamic society, widows and orphans are a responsibility of the state.I know many men who married widows to give them financial & emotional support.’ ‘Oh! So that’s why Moslem men can marry more than once…they marry widows and support them. How about your dad? Does he have two…’ At this point, I was so irritated with her, but I fought hard to control my frustration. ‘NO Anne. I just have one mom. And, NOT everyone marries more than once. That was just an example- But you get what I mean. Plus, only those things that are good for us, have been made lawful. For example, pork and alcohol are forbidden’ ‘But, why? I guess you could take alcohol in small quantities, nothing’s gonna happen?’ ‘Yes, but you can’t define ‘small’ here. But, God knows best why He’s forbidden it. As for pork, pig is a completely unhygienic animal. It feeds on dirt and even it’s own faeces. The female pig attacks like anything when it comes to sex, it has no shame…’ ‘Yea, but pigs are grown in farms, they’re clean and inspectedOh c’mon!’ ‘Anne, pigs are pigs. You can’t change their nature by growing them in farms. It’s in their genes’ Humairah…you’re messing up! ‘

"Oh! and does the Qur’an or your Prophet say that women can’t drive?’ ‘Oh no! there’s nothing like that in the Qur’an. I told you earlier that Islam has given more rights to women than any other religion. Yea, UAE is pretty modern. It’s almost like Toronto. No restrictions’ ‘Really? But I heard that you can’t drive in one of those countries’ ‘Oh, you mean, Saudi Arabia. Well, yea, women can’t drive there. I know that doesn’t sound right to you. It doesn’t to me, either.’ ‘So, like…do you have a license?’ ‘Yea, I do.’ ‘That’s pretty cool. ‘That’s just so sad. I can’t imagine not being able to get on the road.

I really sympathize with them women. Why do they do that?!’ ‘I don’t know…it’s the government, I guess,’ I yawned. I had been talking to her for almost 2 hours now, and her exclamations meant I wasn’t doing a good job of dawah. Geeez…I should be prepared at all times, that’s one thing I learnt for sure.

Different aspects of Islam attract different types of people. You have to know what you shouldn’t say, or that might put an adverse and lasting impression about Islam. Anne is Jamaican, so her expletives were mostly inflated [I don’t mean to stereotype]. I mostly didn’t realize that, but she I know that she did go to bed thinking that Islam is too strict a religion and many of it’s practices don’t make sense. I had my microelectronics book in front of me, untouched for two hours and I decided against studying, but rather open up the internet to find answers to her questions…better phrased, and convincing!

‘Alright Humairah, I’ve learned lots of umm…new things. I should let you study…G’luck!’ ‘Yea, thanks…it was nice you coming and asking me…G’nite!’