Survey

clothes and jewels and cast her into the river Nile.” ‘Amr ibn al-’As told them that such practices were prohibited by Islam, which indeed had put an end to all idolatrous practices which had been prevalent prior to its advent. The people of Egypt, therefore, refrained from making the sacrifice, and waited for the water to flow into the bed of the Nile, but the entire month of Bauna passed without the water making its appearance. They then decided to migrate. At this point, ‘Amr ibn al-’As wrote to explain the entire situation to the Caliph, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab. The latter replied that the action he had taken was correct, and, in his letter, he enclosed a note which he said should be thrown into the River Nile. On receiving this letter, ‘Amr ibn al-’As opened the note and found these words written therein: “To the Nile, river of the Egyptians, from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, Chief of the Faithful and humble servant of God. If the flow of your waters is under your control then let your waters not flow. But if it was Almighty God who made your waters flow, then we pray to Him to make your water flow again.” ‘Amr ibn al-’As duly complied with the Caliph’s injunction and cast the note into the river. The very next morning, the people saw with their own eyes that the waters had started to flow — by the will of God. In the course of a single night its level rose by 12 feet. Thus God put an end to this inhuman custom of the Egyptians, and never again to this day has there been a repetition of it.5 A PRACTICAL NECESSITY The myths and superstitions of ancient times had affected people’s thinking to the point where their approach to most things had become unrealistic. This was especially true of society’s determination to regard woman as inferior to man. But there was an additional reason for this flawed concept having evolved, and that was the failure to recognize the importance of the home as the basic unit which collectively constitutes society, the training ground for future generations, in short, the cohesive force without which society would cease to exist. Just as the strength of a building lies in the quality of its individual bricks, so does the strength of society depend upon the quality of its constituent families. The work done within the home is, therefore, of prime importance. It may take greater gentleness and delicacy than responsibilities outside the home, which require greater vigor, superior physical strength and stronger nerves, but, for the survival and progress of human civilization, feminine qualities are just as essential as masculine qualities — which is why nature has cast man and woman in very different molds. Women are endowed by nature with more of the passive qualities in order to make them better suited to domesticity, while men are endowed with more of the active qualities which make them better qualified to shoulder responsibilities outside the home. This ensures a natural and effective complementarity in family life.