The speaker reflects on how the Qur'an selectively presents stories for timeless guidance, highlighting a seemingly minor detail about how a woman walked shyly when approaching Prophet Musa (Moses). He emphasizes that this small moment reveals profound lessons about modesty, presence, and the societal impact of women. Despite cultural attitudes and potential risks, the woman's confident yet modest behavior illustrates the balance between engagement in society and self-respect. This example underscores the depth and relevance of Quranic storytelling.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Allah gives us universal lessons in the course of just telling the story.
00:07Everything in the Qur'an is of timeless value.
00:09You know, there's lots of things that happen in a story,
00:11especially in historical account.
00:12But Allah is very selective in telling a story
00:15and He only tells us bits that are the most relevant for our guidance.
00:18So one thing that really struck out to me is when Musa,
00:22Moses had fled and he was in Madian.
00:24And he helped these two girls get water for their animals.
00:27And then they left and their father asked,
00:30How did you get water so early?
00:31And he sent one of them back.
00:33And Allah actually, of all these details,
00:35like you would imagine Allah would highlight details about like,
00:38Judgment Day or the battle between the Pharaoh and Moses
00:41or when he was able to come back and challenge
00:44or how he escaped, like big details.
00:46But in the middle of all of that, in the final revelation of Allah,
00:49Allah takes the time out to mention this little,
00:52what seems like a minor detail.
00:53وَجَاءَتْ إِهْدَاهُمَا تَمْشِعَ لَا اِسْتِحْيَاءَ
00:55One of them came, came all the way walking.
00:58Now there's two ways to translate this.
01:00She came walking shyly, like in a shy way.
01:03And she came walking over to him despite being shy.
01:06And I was fascinated that Allah would actually go out of his way
01:09to highlight the way a woman walked.
01:11Like what benefit could that have?
01:12I realized that Allah عز و جل,
01:14He highlights things in his book
01:16that are so pertinent to human guidance.
01:19The way a female walks is a powerful thing.
01:22It has an impact in society.
01:24As a matter of fact,
01:25the female has a presence that has been talked about across cultures.
01:28Just her presence has a power, has an awe.
01:32It inspires something.
01:33At the very least it catches the attention of the male.
01:35But there's more to it than that.
01:37There's actually a psychological, even a spiritual effect
01:40when there's the presence of a woman and when she's walking by.
01:43This is something societies were so aware of
01:45that in many cultures the elite women of a society
01:48were actually kept hidden away.
01:49Like in Korean society, old Korean society for example.
01:52They wouldn't go out until the night time, the elite women.
01:54It has nothing to do with Islam.
01:55It's just they were aware of the power of the presence of women.
01:58And so Allah عز و جل describes
02:00and He's highlighting to women and to men
02:02the effect the role of a woman in public can have.
02:05And yet at the same time Islam is not saying keep women indoors
02:08because they have too much of an effect.
02:09They have too much of an impact.
02:10Guys know the ones that are watching this video,
02:12they're sitting in an auditorium classroom
02:14and a girl walks into the class, right?
02:16She doesn't have to be the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.
02:18But so long as she's a female,
02:20everybody in the room is gonna at least for a second look
02:23and then okay, yeah, it has an effect.
02:25A guy walks in, you know, that's what happens.
02:28So now Allah is highlighting a couple of things.
02:30One of the most beautiful things that's being highlighted here
02:32is despite her shyness.
02:33In other words, she has to engage in society.
02:35She has to go out.
02:36And yes, there will be people that stare.
02:38And sometimes if you have a vulgar society,
02:40people comment and whistle and make passes at them or worse.
02:43You know, there are societies
02:44where even harassing women on the street has become common.
02:46Sometimes verbally and sometimes even physically.
02:48It's become common.
02:49But yet she has to engage in that society.
02:51So she has to find a way of engaging in it.
02:53She can protect herself.
02:54And yet at the same time be a participant in society.
02:57The second thing that's really beautiful here is she walked shyly.
03:00In other words, she walked guarding her modesty.
03:03She realized that she has a presence.
03:05And she realized that this is something that has an impact on others.
03:08It's not just about her.
03:09It's actually about recognizing the presence that she carries.
03:12And so she walked in a way that is shy.
03:14She walked in a way that is not showing off.
03:16Or is not provocative as to get the attention.
03:18And she's walking over to a young man as a matter of fact in this case.
03:21A female must recognize the power that she has.
03:24And so even the way in which a woman walks is highlighted in such a subtle, beautiful way.
03:29And it's not like this girl was shy.
03:31It's not.
03:32She walked over by herself to this strange man and said,
03:35إِنَّ أَبِيَ دُعُوكَ لِيَجْزِيَكَ أَجْرَ مَا سَقَيْتَ لَنَا
03:38My dad's calling you, okay?
03:39He wants to pay you for the services you provided.
03:41And if she was all that shy and scared, she would have called her sister.
03:44And at least two of them would have come.
03:45But she came by herself.
03:46And her dad was confident enough in her to send her by herself.
03:49So there's this amazing balance between confidence and engagement.
03:53Even when you're on your own.
03:54And at the same time holding on to your modesty.
03:56All of it captured in just the way that she walked.
03:59It's incredible.