Woman Between Two Currents

In the world today there are stifling political crises, and camps among which the parties differ and tendencies take many forms. And in the world there are social currents that run counter to one another in their course and their direction, in their strength and their weakness. Amid this clamorous sea humanity suffers what it suffers between the interplay of opinions and the clash of creeds, each striving for its own principle and demanding stability along with victory and triumph.

A perpetual motion in existence, which beats with the pulse of a life seething in its springs, gushing with its force into every field and every direction of thought.

And woman, in the melee of life, has shown the first signs of her awakening. She looks toward release from the foolish illusions that settled like rust upon the mentality of society in the past; she walks swiftly and briskly, wanting to direct her movement toward the good, to prove her vitality and assert her being beside the being of man; and she wants to declare that man enters the gate of this life — wide in its expanses, manifold in its aspects — with both his body and his spirit. Bodies — death effaces their trace; but the great spirits that rise to the summit of life grow wide enough to pour themselves out with it, and to crystallize with their works in the frame of everlasting immortality.

So we see woman, having understood this truth, holding women's congresses and striving, pulled between two forces: one force that draws her back to the home, which is the nest of her happiness and the resting place of her affections; and another that pushes her out to public life beyond the home, where she aspires to share with man in work and in free movement. Between the one and the other she stands perplexed, clinging to this at one moment and drawn toward that at another.

Woman, then, is between two currents — or, in the common language of the politicians, between two camps: the camp of the home and the camp of the outside. Each camp has its conservatives, its approvers, and its ardent extremists; and each has its adversaries, its opponents, and its stubborn zealots.

O woman! The nature with which God has singled you out demands of you, first of all, attention to the home and labor for its comfort and happiness. Can you, then, free yourself from all that man has freed himself from, so as to work with him in every field on a basis of equality?

Even if you free yourself from the bonds of society, you remain bound by bonds of your own self and your own particular inclinations, which tie you to what man is not tied to. And you will never be rid of this swinging between the two currents unless you accept a middle solution between the two camps, and embrace moderate opinions between letting loose and binding fast.

No victorious camp can count its victory a complete triumph unless its principles come to accord with the principles of the second, stubborn camp, so that the two unite upon an arrangement that secures the success of both camps and guarantees the contentment of man and woman alike.

We do not wish today to go back to ages long past, when woman knew only that she was an instrument of amusement, her sole concern adornment and display, without a lofty aim for her heart to live for, and without high ideals gleaming on the horizon of her insight for her thoughts to hover about — when she was like ornamented figures passing across the page of existence and being erased without leaving behind any trace of forebears to gather in the waters of human memory, from which mankind might take a firebrand or an embodied guidance; except, perhaps, a barren progeny stamped with the stamp of her own particular character — a character with no elevation and no dignity to raise it, because it was the child of servitude and slavery.

Appearances and the tinsel of adornment, whatever the color of the pleasure they produce, are short-lived; they do not last beyond their hour. They will never be the means that take woman by the hand; from them will come no incentive to that enduring vitality, settled upon the summits, lit by the genius of thought, the loftiness of understanding, and the flame of the spirit. Nor will they ever be the fence of the homeland, the citadel of dignity, and the badge of renaissances.

Beware, then, O woman, lest the husks blind you to the kernel. Beware lest you be turned aside by the current of that extreme, counterfeit civilization which casts the sanctity of the home aside, mocks the bond of marriage, and to which the loosening of the ties of the family comes lightly.

For the family is the cornerstone of society: if the cornerstone cracks, anxiety spreads, chaos becomes general, and ruin reigns.

We know that this current dragged men into the Bohemian life and spread the spirit of aberrant license in certain countries of Europe before the last world war — and it was among the chief causes that led to the defeat of their peoples.

Nor is it any better for woman to withdraw, shrink, and stagnate in the corners of the house. Rather let woman take her part amid the sweeping movements, to show her authentic essence of dignity; let her contend with the raging storms in this society, to bring victory to the lofty human principles that rise above the currents of the passions, and so lead her peoples to the true, longed-for liberation, in which there is loftiness, dignity, and peace of mind. Otherwise the current will sweep her away, and the storms will ravage her dignity, while she in her weakness and stagnation is like a feather in the wind's path, driven toward no goal.

Yes, the civilization of the West is full of values to which its opponents blind themselves, seeing in it only what has sunk low and what conflicts with reason.

Before we take from the civilizations old and new, we have only to refine those values and take them up polished and luminous, building them upon sound scientific foundations, that they may spread through our souls the radiance of release and the tranquility of restraint:

the release of thought and of the human faculties, and the restraint of the animal inclinations and tendencies;

the release of minds from fanaticism, partisanship, and the prison of superstitions, and the restraint of the instincts from wallowing in the sink of self-interest;

the release of the feelings into the open space of beauty to taste its nectar, and the restraint of the emotions from sliding down to the depths of ugliness, lest they be disfigured by its bends and turns and slips.

O woman, bind yourself with the bond of dignity against cheapness and recklessness, and do not seek release from the moral bonds of society which the East has known — to which it clings and over which it watches jealously, for fear lest the spirit of modesty and self-protection vanish from its women, and for fear lest woman abandon the spirit of good motherhood, of tender daughterhood, of loving and affectionate wifehood.

Refuse to join man at the tables of wine and gambling — whether man be pleased with you or angry with you — and seek what is loftier than that. Seek freedom in the fields of learning, where the human mind lives with its bold opinions and its precious principles. From the deep, clear, inexhaustible springs of knowledge draw what you will and embrace what you wish; and let your faith in your creed be the force that whets your resolve and quickens your spirit toward the heights. Then seek freedom in the fields of the homeland, and carry of their burdens and responsibilities as much as you can. Let sincerity be your guide and the public good your direction — and then fear no blame, for sincerity and love are the emblem of righteousness and success.

Then will your equality with man be an equality in rights and duties, in learning and work, in bearing the burdens of the home and the cares of the homeland, and in the struggle for reform.

Then the two currents will turn from their two opposing directions into a single direction, good for the individual and the community, useful to the family and the homeland. And know that with the wise woman the two do not repel each other; in the hands of the prudent woman her interests do not clash, but combine and accord for happiness and reform.

Here is the example of the greatest woman in modern history, Madame Curie, the discoverer of radium: she worked outside her home and strove in the fields of knowledge, and she was the ideal mother and the faithful, loving wife.

And here is the example of a great woman of Arab history: Asma of the Two Belts. She used to carry provisions to the Prophet — God's blessings and peace be upon him — while he lay hidden with her father Abu Bakr in the cave of Thawr, on their way to the emigration to Medina; and she did not fear the assault of the enemies who in those days were hunting for him, seeking to kill him and his companions. Then this same woman was the excellent wife, and the mother who encouraged her son Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr in his war with Muawiya, and was his best helper and support. And though she was deprived of the blessing of sight, she performed what her homeland required of her in service and struggle, and what her sons required of her in help and encouragement, with firmness, heroism, and pride.

The example of these two great ladies shows the full measure of the service and work of which woman is capable, in the home and in the various fields beyond its bounds — provided she bear the mark of dignity, nobility, and righteousness.