EXAMINING THE LADIES OF KERBALA – SISTER SHEILA TEJANI
Monday, November 26, 2012 10:04 AM
SJ Sisters Literary team held a seminar entitled ‘Examining the Ladies of Kerbala’ by Sister Sheila Tejani on Ashura day. The main focus for this talk was to examine those characteristics of the women at Kerbala that we can take and embody in our lives. It was suggested to find one role model and use examples from their lives in our own, and inshAllah next year to choose another role model to follow.
One example given was UmmeWahab, the mother of Wahab al Kalbi, who was a Christian. Although we do not know much about the life of UmmeWahab, we do know that Wahab would not have given his life at the battle without the insistence of his mother, because she understood the message of Imam Hussein (A.S). The armies in both camps present at Kerbala were not made overnight, and the kind of men Imam Hussein had in his army were due to the seeds sown by their mothers.
Humans are constantly making choices in their lives. Allah (SWT) is just and has given us a heart. When we need to make a choice, we can ask our hearts, what do we do? It will reply. UmmeWahab was not a Muslim before Kerbala, but she listened to her heart. Our hearts and souls like to do what is morally good, and this is the compassion and mercy of our Lord. It is when the voices of our heart and soul are drowned out by desire that we can make the wrong choice.
The future is affected by the choices we make in our everyday lives, and Sister Sheila Tejani reminded us then that we need to be introspective, look at ourselves, and ask the question:What are we doing with our lives? For human beings to become extraordinary, we do not need to do extraordinary things. Simple acts like kindness, such as when Tawa allowed Hazrat Muslim into her home - that is what made her an extraordinary woman.
Sister Sheila Tejani quoted one thing which shows how important women are. “In any revolution, half are women, and the other half are raised by women.” In the aftermath of the day of Ashura we can see just how important women were to the spreading of the message of Islam.
