Woman Between Islam and Western Society
5. Position of Woman in the Islamic Shari‘ah
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SIYAHAH (itinerancy). The virtues of undertaking
journeys for God’s cause are best explained in the
hadith
recorded by Abu Dawud: “According to Abu
Umamah, a certain individual once asked the
Prophet’s permission to become a dervish. The
Prophet replied that the dervishism of his
ummah
(community) meant struggling in the path of
God.”
30
Travelling for the cause of God includes, according
to Imam Raghib Asfahani, taking such action for
His sake as necessitate moving about from one
place to another. Examples of such travel are:
covering long distances in order to acquire a
knowledge of religion; emigrating for the sake of
religion; visiting scenes of natural beauty or places
of historical interest which have some lesson for
mankind; and, especially, undertaking journeys in
order to convey God’s message to His creatures.
31
These qualities, separately enumerated above, when
taken together constitute an ideal, not just for men,
but for both sexes. These are the qualities that form
the basis of Islam, and are the true means of
salvation in the world to come.
