Instant Acceptance with no Reluctance

Safiyyah bintu Shaibah (rahimahallah) reports:

On one occasion, we were in the company of Sayyidah ‘Aaishah (radhiyallahu ‘anha) when we made mention of the women of the Quraish and their great virtue. Sayyidah ‘Aaishah (radhiyallahu ‘anha) said, “Certainly, the women of the Quraish possess great virtue. However, by Allah, I have not seen women more virtuous than the women of the Ansaar or greater than them in accepting the command of the Quraan and bringing imaan in that which was revealed.”

(Sayyidah ‘Aaishah (radhiyallahu ‘anha) then elaborated saying,) “When the verse of Surah Noor was revealed:

وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَىٰ جُيُوبِهِنَّ

And they (the believing women) should wrap (a portion of) their scarves over their chests. (Surah Noor v31)

The men of the Ansaar went to their women and recited this verse to them. Each man of the Ansaar would recite it to his wife, daughter, sister and to every one of his female relatives. On hearing this command of Allah Ta‘ala, every single one of them immediately tore a piece from her sash (a cloth worn around the waist) and used it to cover herself, (as an act of immediately) believing and accepting the command of Allah Ta‘ala in the Quraan Majeed.

(Sunan Abi Dawood #4100 & Tafseer Ibni Abi Haatim #14406)

Note: Initially, it was the habit of Arab women that when they wore scarves, they would not wrap them beneath the chin. Rather, the scarf would cover the head and hang down the back. In this manner, the neck and the upper portion of the chest would remain exposed. Hence, this verse instructed the women to tie their scarves beneath their chins so that the scarf would also be draped over the neck and chest, thus covering this portion of the body. (Fat-hul Baari vol. 8, pg. 627 & Ad-Durrul Mandood vol. 6, pg. 184)

Lessons:

1. The remarkable quality that the women of the Ansaar possessed was their instantaneous and immediate submission before the command of Allah Ta‘ala. On hearing the command, they were so eager to obey and please Allah Ta‘ala that they did not delay for even a moment, but rather tore their sash and immediately used it to cover themselves. This is the response of a true believer – he immediately complies to the commands of Allah Ta‘ala without questioning, objecting or hesitating.

2. It is extremely important for a woman to dress in the appropriate manner, with her body concealed. In this regard, there are many women who know that their dressing is incorrect, yet find it difficult to dress correctly. We thus need to strengthen our imaan so that our spontaneous response to the command of Allah Ta‘ala will be like that of these Sahaabiyyaat (radhiyallahu ‘anhunna).