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.
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